NewLife Mission Trip to the Philippines, August 4 to 18, 2008
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On Sunday evening, August 3,
we all went to Los Angeles International Airport, and shortly after
midnight on August 4, we took EVA airways to Taipei. Since we crossed the
international date line, we landed there on August 5.
Tuesday August 5 There was a 3-hour layover in Taipei, so we explored the airport. It had expensive Russian ice cream, lots of artwork on the walls, and three prayer rooms – one for Muslims, one for Buddhists, one for Christians. We used the Christian room for a meeting, and we played some games. Then we caught the flight to Manila. We were met in the Manila airport by Abel, David, and Rodmer (who went a week ahead of us so they could visit family) and Rex dela Peña, Orly Orsillos, Carlos Pizarro, and our drivers, Ross and Nolo. Orly was our constant companion, guide, photographer, treasurer and bookkeeper. Carlos, who is a dentist, was also a photographer and musician, and he interacted with the team very well. We went south to a small “resort” in Los Baños, Laguna province. The hotel had a swimming pool, so most everyone went swimming. Rex led an orientation meeting at the pool side, and we ate buko (young coconut) pie. Rex went home after dinner. The guys had two rooms; the girls one. There were only four mattresses for six guys, so we moved the bed frames outside, and put the mattresses on the floor so everyone could fit. The bathrooms were on an attached patio; flowers and ferns had been planted in the bathrooms. As the girls said “It is like showering in a garden.” Inside, the air conditioners worked a little too well. Wednesday August 6: We rose early in the morning and loaded the vans for our 12-hour trip south. Dr. Rey Taniajura (WCG area superintendent) joined us on our trip south. Some of our luggage had to go on the roof of the vans. The weather looked a bit uncertain, so the drivers put tarps over the luggage. As it turns out, we had good weather for a week. But it was a long drive – and since the price of gasoline had gone up, it cost almost as much to drive as it would have cost to fly. Flying into Legaspi City on a little plane would have been a great experience, as well as saved a lot of time. To make a long story shorter, we arrived in Tabaco City after dark, at the Carolyna hotel. The 8 guys had a room full of bunk-beds; the 4 girls had another room with bunk beds. Mike and Janet shared a room and Orly and Carlos shared a room. The drivers slept in their vans (to prevent vehicle theft?). The hotel had a restaurant, swimming pool, and a banquet room. It was convenient (and apparently less expensive) to eat right there. Thursday August 7: We used the banquet room for a breakfast meeting, in which we distributed all the supplies, ensuring that each of our four teams of people had the materials they would need for the Vacation Bible School We ate lunch at the home of Dr. José and Dr. Virginia Manzano (both were fisheries professors at Bicol University Tabaco City, but he is now retired). José is a member of the board of directors for the Philippines WCG, and as a volunteer, is assistant area superintendent for the Bicol region, and pastor of three churches. Virginia is the only female WCG elder in the Philippines, and helps pastor the three churches along with her sister Ate Nor. We were also joined by Myrla Dawal and Rey Taniajura, who was staying with the Manzanos. After lunch, we drove to the elementary school in Mariroc, on the slopes of the Mayon Volcano (much of the village is actually in the danger zone). There we met with the principal and some community leaders. They had planned for us to work in three classrooms, but after learning that we had four groups of teachers, they opened another classroom for our Vacation Bible School. Our curriculum is a series of lessons that present the gospel, and a take-home craft that outlines the gospel. Since the school does not have any electricity, we could not use boom boxes for our music in the classrooms. Some men ran an extension cord from a neighbor so we could use one boom box, and we gathered all the children outside to teach them some songs. After that we taught them some more in the classrooms. After class we played games with them – mostly “duck, duck, goose” and they had a great time. Many of the children asked us to sign their notebooks. The principal expressed appreciation that the children were learning a lot. Dr. Manzano asked a man (his employee?) to bring a carabao, and we all took turns riding the animal. It’s round and fat and a bit hard to stay on, so they told us to hold on to its tail. It seemed like a joke at first, but they weren’t kidding, and it did help. Two of our guys rode together and slipped off, causing the carabao to do a little dance. The video didn’t catch it very well, but it was all great fun. On the way back down the mountain, we stopped at a rice paddy to investigate the field, and the little hut (bahay) in it. Some people had spread their rice on the concrete road to dry (there’s not much of anywhere else to do it). If the road is wide enough, they use the shoulder, but if not, they just cover the road and we have to drive on their food. After dinner, we talked about how the day went, what we’d need for tomorrow, and the teens went swimming. Friday August 8: After breakfast we went part way up Mt. Mayon to a planetarium and small park. It had a great view of the area, and of the mountain. We left a bit early so we could visit the thatch-roof church building, which is accessible only by a short trail off the main road. Not exactly the best location for passers-by, but there is a small community of people within walking distance, and the land was available. The church is named Potters Field Christian Community. It has 30+ adult members. After lunch at Jollibee (the largest fast food chain in the nation) we went back to the school and finished the VBS lesson. Most of the children accepted Christ, and we sang more songs and played more games and signed more autographs. After dinner, a tired group debriefed and discussed our journal topics. Janet gave some lessons on how to make balloon animals – a skill needed for the next day. Saturday morning, August 9, we went to a pottery factory, and the local market. One of the girls at the market recognized us from two years ago, when we had an evangelistic concert at the Bicol University. After dozens of more photos traveling and eating, we went to the church at Pinagbobong (Community of Christian Weavers), also on the slopes of Mt. Mayon. This is a larger building – mostly a frame with a roof – that is close to the road so can be used as a community center. Our sponsors contributed enough funds to pay for a new water pump (with a good filtration system) and new “comfort rooms” – not too much comfort, but adequate. There were lots of people at the church, and a few fireworks as well. We separated the kids into two groups. The younger ones were given balloon animals and we taught them songs. The older kids were given Bibles, and several of our teens gave short talks about spiritual topics. Then for fun we climbed a coconut tree – not much higher than 10 feet or so – just enough for a picture. All the girls there liked David (a.k.a. guwapo). For evening dinner, Dr. Manzano brought a container of cooked shrimp. Steven and Kyle really enjoyed them. Sunday, August 10: We went to the beach in the morning. The water was calm and warm, unlike the beaches in California. After lunch at Graceland, we took tricycle pedicab rides to church. Our vans were being used to transport the children we taught at Mariroc school to church. Worship services were in the afternoon, to allow time for people to travel to get there (it was a combined service for all congregations in the Bicol region). The VBS kids were invited to church, and about 25 kids were stuffed into each of the 15-seater vans to transport them to Tabaco City. They sang the songs they had learned at the VBS, and some church kids performed a number they had learned at a VBS two months earlier. After that came the sermon. Problem was, that all the kids were sitting in a large group, up front, talking to each other. It was noisy. Janet suggested that all the children go outside, and there she and the team made animal balloons and played games. Adults inside had a chance to hear, and kids outside liked it better, too. After church was a going-away party, in which a representative from each church sang a song or did some form of entertainment. And to thank us, they gave us all a hat (probably woven from abaca, the banana-leaf fiber that is part of the Bicol economy), a shell necklace and some pili nuts (which come from the Bicol) etc. August 11: A 18-hour long travel day. We traveled along the coast north of Tabaco, and saw some beautiful scenery. Just before we came to Naga City, we stopped at a member’s home where some Naga City elders had gathered. After a snack (merienda), conversation, karaoke and (of course) a few photos, we resumed the arduous journey. We had a late lunch, and then dinner at a restaurant in Gunaca, Quezon province. We arrived in Manila rather late, staying at the World Team Mission House. There were bunk beds, and most people had hot water in the shower. It was a nice facility. Tuesday August 12: Breakfast at the mission house was good. Then we divided the supplies into our four teams, loaded the vans, and drove north about two hours to North Hills Village, Norzagaray, Bulacan province. We were a bit late because one of the roads was closed. Rex was sick, so Eugene asked Andrew Teng to come with us. He was invaluable as a translator. Jerry Demition, the volunteer pastor, was also there – he lives in Valenzuela, so he has to travel a couple of hours by jeepney or tricycle every Sunday. Loida and her husband live in NHV and were very helpful with the organization. The church building in NHV was an abandoned community building; the church was given permission to use it if they fixed it up. So they did. It’s basically four concrete walls and a roof. The acoustics are not very good. There were 100 children in there, lots of talking. We divided into four groups, one in each corner, and tried that for a while. But some of the children didn’t know English very well, and we needed four translators (and at least one of the translators answered our questions instead of translating them), and it was noisy, and things were not working well. Melinda told her dad that we need prayer more than pictures. Janet convinced the locals that it would be better to have one large group than four smaller ones (it was better only because we had a microphone). After regrouping, Andrew did the translating, and things seemed to go much better. Many of the children accepted Christ. By the end of the day, we were all soaked in sweat and drained of energy. We needed better crowd control and children with a better understanding of English, so the plan for the next day was that only 12-year olds would be in the building; the doors would be closed because we had a limited amount of stuff to give the children. We went back to the mission house and relaxed. Wednesday August 13: We hadn’t planned on it, but today was a school holiday in NHV. There were 100 kids inside the building, and maybe 50 kids outside, peering in the broken windows, talking so much outside that it was hard to hear inside. Time for plan B. Janet had Steven, Kyle, and Kassandra lead the noisy children away, about half a block, and taught them the songs out in the street. Rodmer eventually came along with a guitar. Well, that worked for about 10 minutes and then it was time for Plan C. We didn’t have a Plan C, so had to make one up. Let’s play “duck duck goose” with 50 kids – no, make that 100 kids – on a narrow street. That didn’t work. Let’s try relay races. Soon there were about 200 kids. Let’s try London Bridge. Let’s try Limbo. Have any other ideas? Leapfrog – that’s good for 10 minutes. How about Hokey Pokey? And so on for 2½ hours until the “Commitment” section of the VBS was finished. Meanwhile, inside the church, the VBS went pretty much as planned and the 100 kids who signed up learned about Christ and liked what he had to offer. So it was time to leave and we wanted to take a photo of our group and the local NHV volunteers. 100 kids wanted to be in our photo with us – a bit too many, so Janet did a little crowd control by taking a picture of the kids somewhere else. And we squeezed into the vans, said goodbye and took off. For dinner, we went to Bulalo Fiesta (bulalo is boiled beef), and there we met someone who is the captain of a barangay of 40,000 people. He brought us a dozen balut eggs (in which the ducks are partially developed) and some of the missionaries ate them. Thursday August 14: The morning was free time, so we went to a small mall and there ate pizza for lunch and had a little shopping time. In the afternoon we drove south to Silang, Cavite province, to a facility the church uses for teen camps. The church holds summer camps in May, but we can’t come in May. Their schools are in session in August, so the teens can come only on a weekend. Some of the teachers come with them as chaperones. Our sponsors helped pay for 50 some teens to go to the Leadership Retreat. They were bussed in from Bulacan to Cavite. For many of them, being able to go to a swimming pool is a rare treat. We helped set up the camp, scouted around for a place to set up teambuilding activities (not very good places for the spider web, and it was threatening to rain, so Janet switched the teambuilding activity to “Electric Fence” and “Trust falls”). Then the teens came and were assigned to dorms. Rex (who was still sick) came, too – good thing, since he knows what this youth retreat is supposed to be like, and we don’t. Len Joson was also sent to assist Rex. Larry and Rodmer were counselors; Steven and Kyle taught basketball and were assistant counselors. Deanna and Abel taught swimming and were also assistant counselors. Melinda taught a drama class, and was an assistant counselor. Kassandra was also an assistant counselor. Vi was supposed to help in drama and be an assistant counselor, but was sick from a cold most of the time. Alex, David, and Anthony called themselves dorm 4B. They assisted in team building, drama, and photography. The theme of the camp was leadership, and by being put in positions of leadership, we learned more about leadership than the campers did! August 15: The camp was like a condensed version of a week-long SEP camp, with activities, devotional messages, and some dorm chats that shared the gospel. We had some really hard rain a couple of times, but we were scheduled to be under a roof during those times, anyway, so the rain didn’t disrupt us much. Our band played, we did the “Everything” drama, and things went pretty well, except for a nasty cut on Kassandra’s scalp. Saturday morning, August 16: Camp ended with the baptism of one of the teachers, short talks from all our teens, and 18 roses were given to Vi in honor of her 18th birthday. We signed autographs and said goodbye several times, and had a short side trip to see Lake Taal, from the overlook at the Starbucks in Tagaytay. Then we went to a huge 5-story mall, where everybody found a bargain, and we did some more eating and some more traveling. Sunday, August 17: About 800 people came to the combined Metro Manila worship services. We all went on stage and gave a short message about our experiences on this trip, and then we went out with the children while Mike gave the sermon (we had already heard it at the youth retreat). We had run out of animal balloons before, but Carlos found a place to buy more, so we had something to give the kids. And then we played some games. In the afternoon, we went to the WCG office in Quezon City, and the teens did a recording (“Go into the world”) in the studio Carlos had set up there. We had chocolate birthday cake for Vi. We returned home via Taiwan on Monday, August 18. |
We’d like to thank the many people who helped make this trip possible:
Thanks for the prayers, and above all, thanks to God for the weather, the people, the safety, and the results in the lives of the people we served – and the results he worked within us, too. |
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