It goes on and on and on!: September 2010

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Launch Week in Manila

Our first week in the Philippines - labeled Launch week - was spent at Kids International Ministry in downtown Manila.

Misconception of the Month:

I thought Tagalog (the national language here) would be spoken AND written all over the place...

Reality Check:

Tagalog is spoken...but the written language is mostly English! I think I've only seen one sign out of at least 500,000 that I couldn't understand! Also, communication isn't too difficult here. Even if someone doesn't speak a lot of English, they understand it well enough!

Launch week was a little overwhelming, but amazing at the same time. Michael Hindes and Allison Johnston led the last bit of our training/worship, and we spent a lot of time getting to know our teams and squads a little better. It was a relaxing place to get over jet lag and acclimate to the 15-hour time difference. We even got a surprise the first day! AIM staff loaded us up in vehicles, and took us to a beautiful waterfall for the afternoon! So refreshing!

I think the overwhelming part was just being in close quarters with 80 other people, but that will be over tomorrow when all our teams head to different ministry sites for the remainder of the month. (More on our ministry in the next blog)

Trivia!!

What are two major forms of transportation in the Philippines?

(provide your guesses in the comment box below)

The answer will be placed randomly in another blog this month ;-)

Random discoveries:

*Coffee Jelly is sold in drinks at Asian Starbucks...it's basically coffee jello in the bottom of your latte =P (it's pretty good btw!)

*The people here are SOOOO friendly! Honor is huge in Asia, and the Philippines are no exception. In some ways, this country is safer than America, because everyone is looking out for each other, and treated with respect! It does bring up one problem though...the answer to everything here is "yes" (even when it shouldn't' be), because it would be dishonoring to tell you "no". For example, the Starbucks near the airport says it's open 24 hours a day....yet their hours are 12pm -12 am. LOL...something about that just doesn't add up right =P

*Mosquitoes are not really that bad here, and Malaria is very uncommon. (Thank You, Lord!!!)

Today Manila, Tomorrow El Nido

Habibi's Ministry Site ~ The Philippines

We are soooooo blessed to be working with ICM (International Care Ministries) for the next 3 weeks! ICM has 6 sites on different islands throughout the Philippines, and focuses on the broad subject of community development. Tomorrow morning Team Habibi will fly out of Manila to Puerto Princesa, and then take an 8-hour bus ride to one of ICM's newer sites in El Nido, Philippines.
This site happens to exist on one of the top 5 beaches in the World (no complaints here!),

but behind all the glitz , glam, and tourist attractions, a deep poverty resides. ICM in El Nido is currently focused on a few important projects:
1. Rebuilding the many slums in the area to create more livable environments.
2. MCFP - Malnourished Children Feeding Program. Many children in El Nido are sick or close to death due to a lack of health knowledge and nutrition. ICM provides nourishing food-packs for these children.
3. Teaching- ICM provides classes for parents and children in three different areas - values, health, and livelihood.

Our job: To come alongside ICM in whatever way we feel God is leading us to! That could mean building houses, feeding children, teaching classes, prayer walks, listening to and documenting the locals' stories, or a little of everything throughout the month! Our ministry contact even said that if we see another need, or God lays something else on our heart to do, go for it! I love that they are giving us the freedom to hear from God and take initiative in this!

Please keep our team in your prayers! Here are a couple requests:
1. Our team is really unified! Yay! Please pray that this will continue, and that travel stress/petty complaints will not distract us from our purpose for being here.
2. We want to be a blessing and make a difference in El Nido. Please pray that we'll be tuned in to God's voice to hear clearly where He wants each of us this month.

By the way - there's a good chance internet will be as spotty as the electricity in El Nido, so blogs this month may be limited. I will update you as often as I can =)