Philippines - Open Team - Day 1-3

Talk about a long start to a missions trip – try to follow this schedule…

We left the house around 1:45 AM on Friday morning, July 11.  We drove from Chattanooga to Atlanta, and met with Bevan and Ashlyn at the Waffle House 1 exit up from the Atlanta Airport.  By 10 minutes to 5, we were heading to the airport.  I dropped the team off and I took the van back to the rental place.

By 7, we were loaded up on the plane and were flying out to San Francisco.  We arrived after our 5 hour flight, but it was only 9:45 in the morning.  Then, after a 5 hour layover, we boarded the plane at 2:00.  By 2:30 PM we were off (actually we left 6 minutes earlier than the flight was scheduled – that was a first for me).  We arrived in Beijing, China 12 hours later at 5:30 PM.

Our 8:00 PM flight was delayed, and we ended up sitting in the airport until 11:30 PM.  Finally we were loaded up on a bus and taken to the tarmac where we boarded our plane.  By 4:00, we had arrived in Manilla, and by 5:00 AM (Sunday morning) we were at the corporate office – and our lodging for the next 2 days. 

Traveling over 39 hours (losing 12 along the way), traveling across the date/timeline, this has been a very different beginning to a trip.  As we headed toward our lodging, it was neat to again be a “newby” as I was seeing things for the first time.  Cool, weird-shaped busses that were short (in height), and had open backs to them were driving around, most looked like they were completely chrome.  It was the first time I had ever seen a bus like this.  They have things they call “tricycles” that are like a “tuk-tuk” and a “moto-taxi” combined.  It is a motorcycle that might (or might not) have a roof of some sort, with a fully enclosed side car and the third wheel.  They are very unique vehicles.  Other than that (and the English and Tagalog signs) the rest is familiar – even though it is distinctly Philippino.

The team was tired, so they went to sleep.  However, Harrison, who had slept pretty well on at least 2 of the flights, was refreshed, so he decided to stay up.  I took a shower and decided to stay up with him.

We had the privilege of attending the teen Sunday School class where they talked about David.  They spoke in both tagalong and English, so we understood most of the lesson.  The kids read in Tagalog, but allowed us to read in English.  Mark (the teacher) did an excellent job presenting the story of David.  It was neat to listen to the story and the lessons through his eyes.

After Sunday School, we went to the church service.   They sang in English and the teacher taught in Tagalog-English.  Again, it seemed like I could understand what he was saying, then all of the sudden, we got lost in the foreign speech.  It is nice being able to understand most of what is being presented.

The church service ended, and most of the team was awake – they were getting dressed and ready for the day.  However, the older teens were having another Sunday School class, so Harrison and I (and eventually Brooke) attended that as well.  They talked about Daniel and prayer.  Tith (her name is Teresa, but friends call her “Tith”) taught the class.  She handed out candy for kids that got answers correct.  I kept trying to help the kids (since the answers were in English) but they didn’t trust my answers – until I got a few right.  It was fun to be in the class with them – I felt like one of the students.

We had lunch – KFC – and the group interacted with the people here.  Liza took care of our meals for the day.

Immediately following lunch, it began to rain – torrentially!  Thunder, lightning, power outages – the whole shooting match – this was a real deal storm.  So, how do the Pilipino people handle it? Well, apparently they go out and play in it – or at least that is what happened today.  I walked out of the lunch area and saw kids playing in the rain.  I pretended to push Brooke out into the rain, but then decided to join the locals.  I was instantly met by some of the men who live next door.  Fredrick – I learned his name and story later – met me with open hands and we slapped hi-fives as I entered the torrential rain.  Water was running off the roof, and kids were “showering” in the cool water. 

What I had failed to mention so far was that – it is hot here!  Yes, I love being hot, but I am sweating most of the time.  So, the rain and the coolness of the air was a very welcomed event.

The rest of the team – or most of them – joined us outside in the rain (I think Don and Dee where the only ones who remained dry).  We were splashing kids, chasing them, just laughing and having fun with the local children and the adults.  For some reason – and my kids tell me that it is universal – when I went after the kids, they all ran away.  I was chasing kids all over the place.  My children said I am universally scary – apparently they are right. 

Eventually the storm subsided, and we headed back inside for basketball and volleyball with the church’s youth.  Some of the team remained outside with the kids singing songs, playing games, etc.  Some of the team played table games inside with the teens from the church.  It was neat to see the different strengths of the group used with the various kids in various ways.  From singing songs from “Frozen” to playing “I want the shoe” to the LRC game, our Pilipino guests were enjoying their time with us, and our group was enjoying time with them.

The time came for a “birthday” party, so all of the teens got together and we learned some new songs, like “I love my Jesus”  and we taught them “River of Life”.  Then we played games – “Gorilla, Man, Gun” and the “Ship” game.  We all had a wonderful time.

Eventually it was time for cake and ice cream – AND – some kind of noodle concoction.  But just as they brought it out for us, we had to go eat dinner – McDonalds Big Macs.  We feel like we have been eating constantly, and we haven’t even been here a full 24 hours.

Since we hadn’t had much sleep, we met and talked about the day, and then headed to our rooms for bed.  We were a little worried about sleeping (or at least I was) because, have I mentioned, it is hot here.  We prayed that God would give us the rest we need – in spite of the temperatures – and that we would be able to get the strength we needed to serve Him tomorrow.  However, as we were walking back to our rooms, Tith stopped me and asked why we hadn’t used the air conditioners in the rooms. J  Yes, there were air conditioners in the rooms, and since I didn’t go in the rooms, I hadn’t seen them.  I did find out that the team members had seen them, but they just thought we weren’t supposed to use them.  Well, prayer answered!  We went to bed in air conditioned rooms.  It has been a long three days, but I know God is going to do great things with this team in the next 13…

Thought for the day:  Culture Shock!  A concept that we discuss as we prepare for heading on a trip, but something that one cannot actually be prepared for.  How can we enter another culture and be prepared for the differences when you cannot know the differences until you have actually entered the culture.  The food, the language, the personalities, the norms…  things that are common place to anyone in the culture you are visiting is abnormal to you because you are not of “that world”.

How can the receiving culture help with culture shock?  Just like the people traveling, they can study about the culture of the visitors.  They can interact with others who visited their country, or talked with their people.  But frankly, unless they are actually from that culture, they really cannot engage the other culture fully and understand it well.

My thought today – we try to engage the culture of the world by challenging them to understand the culture of heaven.  Christianity is a new and living culture, but the world that we left is a dead and lifeless culture.  There are huge, HUGE differences between the two cultures (if there isn’t, we are doing something wrong).  We cannot expect the dead, unregenerate person to be able to understand, comprehend, and especially not engage Christianity apart from the Holy Spirit illuminating their eyes to the heavenly way, but we can interact with them by being sensitive to the reality of the culture they know and understand and helping them to see their condition without Jesus Christ.  We cannot expect them to understand our culture whatsoever!

God help me to love the people of the world that you love in the way that you love them, so that they might come to know you and be made alive in you.