April to May Update

As the saying goes “time stands for no one.”  This has proven to be very true, as the past 6 weeks, since our arrival back in the Philippines, has flown by.  It seemed almost immediately after getting off the plane we were right back getting involved in everything again.  In reality we did have some time to get re-adjusted but it didn’t seem like long at all before getting right back to work.  Although we did find it a little difficult re-establishing our relationship with the people we work with most.  Even though we were only gone for 2 months the people had gone back to being quite intimidated with having us around again. 

Here in the Philippines kids are out of school for their summer break during the months of April and May.  The hope for Davao street children ICCM program that is in the area that we work in fills the summer with activities for the children to do to continue their development.  One of these activities, which ran from May 4-6, was a DVBS.  The theme was the lost world: reclaiming the world for God!  We had about 120 kids who attended, 88 of which are sponsored through ICCM but we wanted to make it open for any kids to attend.  It was a fun way to bring kids who don’t currently come to the church, to get interested in church.  The focus of the VBS was using dinosaurs to explain about our awesome creator and how everything is wonderfully and beautifully made.  Adam and one of the leaders in Bucana (the area we work in) designed and built a man sized dinosaur made from wire and paper mache which the kids loved!  It didn’t resemble any particular dinosaur but it was a blast to build!  The week of preparation was a great opportunity for us to re-unite with all the leaders and for them to become comfortable with us again.  By the end of the VBS we were laughing and joking with them again, but it is still a process.  The people we work with need lots of one on one time and even if we are gone for a few days it take a little for them to open up to us again.  The kids really had a blast and all learned a lot more about the world that was created for them by our Lord and Saviour.  Adam was the photographer for the 3 days and took over 300 pictures and then made a 10 min slide show for the graduation.  I was asked to lead the songs and actions with the kids and then was able to help mentor a new teacher.  That was a new experience going from the one being mentored to mentoring someone else.  I am thankful for the 10 years of being mentored by my children’s pastor from home because now I am able to pass it along to others who have the potential in being great in children’s ministry.     

The week after VBS our church was preparing for a weekend conference in which all the Oceans of Life Ministry Free Methodist pastors around the Philippines gathered for training, for renewing the vision, and also to celebrate the churches 10^th anniversary.  It was great to see how the church has spread across the Philippines and how on fire for God they are to continue spreading the good news.  On Sunday May 13^th the church celebrated their 10^th anniversary and they had planned a special service and I was asked to help with the children’s service that was separate.  There were around 120 children.  While we were home in Peterborough a church member donated a lot of art supplies so I was able to use that to make up a craft for the children.  It has been great being involved with the children because they are starting to be more comfortable with us.

Reflecting from last year, I personally struggled being “me” around the Filipinos because I was focused on their response which was putting us up at a hierarchy and being uncomfortable.  One of my goals coming back was to not worry about the reactions of people and to remain who I am.  Before, even with the children, I was resistant in showing the real me with them because of their reactions but this past month working with the children I stayed clinging to God for the confidence and I was able to be true to myself.  It was a huge accomplishment and growing experience because I even struggle being true to who God created me to be back home due to worrying what others think. 

For the week of May 14-20th I was asked to be the director of another VBS for a smaller group of children.  We used the same theme as the previous VBS and had 30 children participate.  This was for the church service that Adam and I attend on Sundays.  The congregation is comprised more of the professional group where as the area where we work in is below poverty.  The teachers for this VBS were all between the ages of 14 and 16.  They were all first time teachers so I had gathered some teachers that had done VBS before and could mentor the other teachers.  It was great to see them grow throughout the VBS and to conquer fears of nervousness.

So as you can tell the past 6 weeks have been so busy with a lot of children ministry so much that we have not been able to focus on our community development model, which is the reason why we came.  The quail are doing well, as we are now up to producing approximately 200 eggs per day.  We were expecting a little higher production but a few of the birds have died.  However, we are going to be getting 300 more birds by the first week of June so that will be a total of 600 birds.  We haven’t brought the eggs into the community it which we are working in yet because when we arrived back the leaders we were working with have really become discouraged and have fallen back into a lot of their mindsets that will not help in selling the eggs or help in their development.  So, we have someone from the professional group selling the eggs right now to help develop a model in selling so that we can bring that model into our community.  Right now we have noticed that we need to find stronger leaders who understand our development project and who can help build the model.  We would like to ask you if you can pray that God will show us the right people and also the right way in developing the model so that others will take hold of it so that it can spread throughout the community.  Finally, pray that we can be reintroduced into the community and be accepted again.

 I would like to give you an update on my arm.  Over the past 2 weeks there has been improvement in the pain and the strength.  God has been very faithful in helping with the cost of the MRI, as it was quite expensive and we would not have been able to afford if not for the provision of the wonderful people supporting us.  I have been doing physiotherapy 3 times a week and started swimming to help with the recovery of my neck. The results of the MRI showed two bulging discs in my neck.  This would have been from 4 years ago when I injured my neck at work.  God is healing the pain and I have been able to continue with all the activities throughout the day.

 We look forward to seeing where God will lead us in June here in the Philippines.  Continue to pray for our safety.  As well for continual wisdom and focus on what God wants us to do here.  Again we thank everyone who has and are continuing to support us while we are serving here in the Philippines, we miss everyone deeply!