Building a firm foundation

During our last week in El Nido, we worked with Pastor Abus in beginning the construction of a new Zion Church in Danat. Those few days were probably my favorite!

For a while now, Pastor Abus had been trying to get this church started. Danat is a really small town, but it's residents are hungry to know God. Though it's only a 20 minute trike-ride from El Nido, it would be far to walk, and the people of Danat cannot afford to take a trike into El Nido every week for church.

It wasn't until our last week in town that Pastor Abus was able to gather all the materials (they don't need to buy anything! All materials are collected from the jungle), and so our work began!

This is the work site before we began:

After it was cleared, we were put in charge of readying the support poles by removing the bark:

Holes were dug, posts were placed, and clay was dug up and transported to created an even floor for the church

While we were working, some witchdoctors came out and helped us. We asked the pastor why they would come out to help, and he said that their wives were now Christians, and had told their husbands to go out and help build the new church! lol.

There's a lot more I could say about those 3 days, and what a blessing they were! Pastor Abus and his family are amazing people, filled with God's love! You can tell just by talking with him that the power of the Holy Spirit is alive and active in and through him! I look forward to visiting El Nido again someday and seeing his church fully built!! (yes, i will be back! =P )

You know what they say about assuming!

So you'd think, after all the priming Adventures in Missions put us through to NOT have expectations, that we'd be over all that.

It turns out, most expectations are subconscious, and aren't discovered until disappointments reveal them. Go figure. Honestly, I don't think there will ever be a time where we are completely expectation-free. Last week's unfulfilled expectation took me a while to get over...

Since 2006 I have been reading blogs from World Racers all around the globe - blogs filled with all the touching, fun, hilarious, miraculous, and thought provoking moments of their journey. Somehow, without realizing it, an impression formed in my mind that the World Race was filled with moments like these - that every day would be an adventure! What their blogs failed to reveal (or maybe I just missed it...) are all the day-in, day-out living-around-the-world moments...you know, the ones where there's nothing to do, you've finished ministry for the day, and there's suddenly a lot of down time to fill. Because of the rain, this past week was filled with those moments, and I really struggled with it. Boredom is not a feeling I expected to have on the World Race. I also wrestled with thoughts like, "are we really making a difference here?" and, "I could be doing this at home".

In reality, we are making a difference...it just took going through that week to realize it. When we're not building houses - when there's seemingly nothing to do - the opportunity to meet your neighbors and get to know the community suddenly opens up. We've had so many opportunities just walking around town, and stopping at our regular hangouts, to talk to people about what we're doing, and get to know them. So many people we run into remember our names, and are excited to see us and talk with us some more. Our presence in El Nido is touching people!

I love how God works in ways that are not always readily apparent. Though we may never see the full results, I know, through conversations, that God has moved through us in El Nido. He is doing great things in that little community, and I know even greater things are yet to come!

Filipino Matchmakers

Introductions in the Philippines are not limited to just giving your name. Here they also require your age and marital status! Here is an example -

This is a conversation between Erin and the pastor of a Baptist Church we went to today:

Pastor: "How old are you?"

Erin: "24"

Pastor: "Are you single?"

Erin: "yes"

Pastor: "You want to marry Filipino man?"

Erin: "I'm too tall..."

Pastor: "No, you're not too tall! Stand up!"

Erin stands to her full 6-foot height

Pastor: "oooh...yes we Filipinos are short."

At one preschool we went to, the children introduced themselves by name and age. At another one, they gave their name and gender. When asked to introduce ourselves, we followed suit:

"Hello! My name is Keri, I'm 24 years old, and I'm a girl!"

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 =)

Training Camp

Q Squad Training Camp

White, GA

Mission-Minded

This past month the June team has been in Ukraine. Tomorrow they will travel to their next location: Romania. Since the day they left on this mission trip, they have been in - what I like to call - ministry mode.

~My own definition of Ministry Mode ~

A laying down of one's personal needs and wants in an effort to put others' needs before theirs.

Rather than having an expectancy to be served and loved,

they go with the expectancy to serve and love all they encounter

(at the store, on the street, in the orphanage...etc),

regardless of how they are treated in return.

Their mission: to love, and allow Christ's love to be seen in and through them;

to share the message of hope and freedom that God has sent them with.

I actually cannot speak for the June racers in this area, but I know this is the mode I would be in had I indeed left, as planned, in June. I know this, because it is the mode I turn on whenever I go on a mission trip. In a way it makes sense. If your mission is to locate and expose a terrorist, you probably will not be in your "mission-mode" until you are actually sent on that mission. Then, that becomes your one focus.

ONE MAJOR DIFFERENCE between the two missions: God has not placed dates or parameters around the mission He sent us on. No matter where we are, no matter how old we are, and no matter what we do, we are called to love and serve at all times.

"Even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."

~Mark 10:45~

"Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other"

~Romans 12:10~

It is so easy to drift back into the selfish lifestyle of serving my own needs, and boxing myself into my own life when not in "Ministry Mode". Rather than beginning the day with "ok, Lord, who do You want to touch through me today? What is today's mission?" and actually seeing the lives around me and how God could use me to love and serve them, I begin with my to-do list, check things off as I go, and wonder why I don't feel like I accomplished much by the end of the day.

Yet, I have been called to love. When I consider putting down my own selfish ambitions in order to serve others, I honestly feel too lazy and selfish to do it...lol...yeah...

BUT here's the ironic part: By giving up something, you'd think you'd be losing something, but ironically, when we give up our own agenda, and focus on God's agenda (i.e. LOVE), we are filled with joy, peace, and even more love! Because it is what we were created to do, we feel most fulfilled and function the best when we choose to love. Since God IS love, His life flows through us as His love flows through us.

SIDE NOTE:

I'm not saying to

completely give up

what you need to

do each day...

Rather, when we put

God's agenda first in

our life each day,

God's love pours

through us to those

we encounter

AS we go about

what we need to do.


 "...if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us."

~1 John 4:12~

SO, I suppose the World Race has already begun for me, I was just so self-focused, I didn't see it.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith."

~Hebrews 12:1-2a~

With this in mind, I can see more clearly now the route God is sending me on during this mission (not mission "trip", but life-mission):

July 2010 ~ Virginia

August ~ California

September ~ the Philippines

October ~ India

November ~India or Nepal

December ~ Thailand

January 2011 ~ Cambodia

February ~ Asia (we'll know which country later)

March ~ Romania

April ~ Ukraine

May ~ Kenya

June ~ Uganda

July ~ Tanzania

August - whenever ~ The USA - wherever God sends me next ;-)