I can't believe how fast time has gone! It is July 5th here (we are ahead of Central US by 13 hours) and I'm sitting in an internet café for the first time, a 5 minute tricycle ride from our apartment. We have been in Tagum City for 1.5 weeks now and the time seems to be going so quickly! My team has a blog going with photos, video, and write ups at www.teamphil.tumblr.com so check it out!!! (it's part of my work duty while we are on outreach).
Just to try to give you a feel of what it is like here, from my perspective... we are in a city that is less than 10 years old, and it is growing rapidly. There are 12 of us here on the team, and as we walk around the community we are literally seen as “famous” because we look so differently than the Filipinos (tall and white). This has been a huge blessing as people WANT to talk with us, but it is also overwhelming at times when people surround us, ask us to have pictures with them, and have even been asked for autographs! I must also add that I’ve never felt more beautiful in my life than here, as each day I’m being told I’m “guapa” which is beautiful in Talago, their native language in the southern area of the Philippines. It is wonderful, but at the same time sad as it shows a major issue here, that the Filipinos see themselves as less than other cultures. We are trying to show them how amazing God has made them!
We’ve had the opportunity to meet many people through activities that include:
- Attending a “youth on fire” event where we did a skit and prayed for over 50 people, and it included an opportunity to accept Christ that 40ish chose to do! YEAH!
- Playing Ultimate Frisbee in a park with locals, building relationships, and talking to approximately 30 young people in the park too. We sang songs, shared stories, and God even opened a door for me to be able to meet a group of engineering students there, and to share my story of God’s faithfulness!
- A group went to a prison north of us and they were able to share their testimonies with the guards and leadership! They were sitting in the midst of some of the highest leaders of the Philippines, police and military. Somewhat intimidating sharing Jesus being surrounded by men in uniform holding M16s, but God is with us and opening doors all over! J
- We’ve been in a number of churches here where we’ve made contacts, done skits (including the Everything skit), and my group even asked me to give the sermon this last Sunday in a Compostella Valley church. I wasn’t nervous at all, and God gave me some awesome words on the dreams He has for each of us being bigger than we can imagine (see my story and many in the Bible… Abraham, David, Noah, Esther, etc)
We are getting our schedule set for the remainder of the time that will include doing seminars with some local pastors to encourage them and teach them some new tools, as well as going into a number of high schools and colleges to evangelize and invite the youth to some larger meetings at the end of our time. There is a spirit of religion here, where people know of Jesus but don’t have a relationship. In fact at noon the malls even come to a stop as there is a Hail Mary prayer played over the intercom. It’s very different from home, so learning God’s heart for people in a new way.
Some of the additional “fun things” we’ve done include getting to know the Call2All Impact World Tour team through fellowship by food and playing volleyball together. For my teammate’s birthday we ate at a French restaurant to have a break from the basics of rice and vegetables that they eat around here. And shopping at the local outdoor market is always an adventure.
I’m so thankful to be here at this time. The cost of living is much less, 43 pesos equals an American dollar and to give you an idea, a specialty coffee drink is about 80 pesos, I can get an ice cream bar for 20 pesos, and we can get across the city in a tricycle for 9 pesos.
I’ll be trying to do more video on our group page, so keep a watch there. Thanks for all your support and prayers, it is an honor to be here! Please pray for opportunities for us to evangelize to open up in the area and for my heart to be open to the Filipinos. I’m such an action minded person, and the people here are very relational. Being an hour late is not abnormal, so I’m learning to appreciate that. My biggest request would be more intimacy with Jesus in my time here and I yearn to know Him more.
Salamat! (Thanks in Talago)
Rayelle
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