While we were starting training for Servant Partners, we were studying from the book of Nehemiah, which was very exciting, especially since I had never really read through Nehemiah. A few things that stood out to me is that non-believers were helping to give to Nehemiah's cause of restoring the city.....and that the city should be a place where God's name dwells. I have consistently been praying while in the Philippines and back in LA that God's name would dwell in that place....whether that be through His people, His ministry, His church, and His community!
And so the Philippines....where do I begin....I think to keep it short and simple...I will share 3 stories: my most favorite experience, my most difficult experience, and a funny/random experience:
FAVORITE: So while we were in Manila, we got to visit and stay with a host family for meal times on Saturdays and stop in whenever we had a chance. My host family had the parents: Rolando and Josephine, and 4 daughters: Jena, Jenni-paz, Ruth, and Jem-Jem. These daughters were all so adorable and way cute and fun. The oldest, Jena (10) was more quiet and reserved and would not always share as much....but one night we all of a sudden bonded! I was sitting near the doorway waiting for dinner to be ready, and Jena came out and wanted to sing with me...so we started singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and then she showed me her homework for science (her favorite subjects are science and math), and then she started showing me her math homework. We talked about multiplications...and then I started to teach her about how to multiply with her 9's using the trick of your fingers, multiplying with 0, 1, and 10. It was really cool, cause once she figured it out, I was quizzing her and all....and then later she was sharing with other people and teaching them also! It was just really neat to see that Jena and I bonded over these simple things....and since then our friendship/relationship grew with one another. :)
DIFFICULT: On Sundays, we went to different churches...the 1st 2 churches were in the community area....and then on the last Sunday, we went to a huge church in Makati City (the business district), and it was difficult. This church service was all spoken in English, and even though I was sitting amongst many Filippinos, along with a Korean family near me and some Americans....I felt that it was difficult to be there. This church and the lavishness of it reminded me so much of American churches....and I think I was just not ready to go through that reverse culture shock of experiencing what American ideals are like...and how they are so different than the Philippines...and especially of being in the urban slum (poverty at the extreme) community that we were in. I felt that being in the Philippines...simplicity was something that was just the norm....and I was so eager to learn so much from the people there...but then when I went to this church....it was not that at all...and it was difficult sitting there...and the sermon was not all that great.....and it was very uncomfortable....and I started to cry while I was sitting there at church. In my head, I was thining, "is this how God wants us to glorify Him...with all of this lavishness?...how does that make sense when God wants us to come as we are to Him....and live simple lifestyles....and to give and to care and meet each others' needs and nothing more?"....all these thoughts. I still have not quite processed through my church experience, but I do know that I am currently learning more of a simplistic lifestyle and what that looks like for my own life, and how I can share that with others.....and just take other cultural aspects from the Philippines and incorporate them into my life here in the states.
FUNNY/RANDOM: So in the Philippines, Balut is a delicacy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut . Balut is a fertilized duck egg that is not fully developed...and you eat it! I kept saying that I would not eat the balut just because I had seen it before and it did not look enjoyable at all. I had seen some of my friends/teammates eat Balut one night, and was grossed out again, and kept saying I would not eat it. Then one night I was going back to my apartment that I was staying in while in the Philippines but nobody was there and I did not have a key, so I went to a nearby neighbor where some of the guys from our team were staying with their host family. No later than 5 minutes, some random guy comes through the alley way and is selling Balut. Nobody ever does that...walking through the alleys selling anything, but this guy was selling Balut. So then everybody wanted me to eat the Balut and I did not want to and kept refusing. But then Ariel (the man of the homestay house) said to me something that I will not forget: "But, you are a missionary....and you need to be flexible" And when he said those words, I knew what he was saying was true....that as following God and going into a new culture, I would need to be flexible and willing to try new things and be flexible...so it was because of what Ariel said, that I agreed to eat the Balut...and when I did, it was not that bad! I actually kind of liked it....and then I ate another Balut the following night when our whole team ate Balut together. And somehow by me eating the Balut with Ariel and Luna, it "won their hearts over" enough...that they gave a present to me when we left! :)
So yeah...those are some stories from the Philippines...but please ask me more and I would like to share! :)
BEING BACK IN LOS ANGELES!
Every day is an adventure living in LA...and that has been really fun and enjoyable :-D So....last Tuesday my roomates and I went out to look for apartments....we drove around and looked for "For Rent" signs and then followed up with phone calls....we only got a hold of 1 apartment that was a 2 bedroom place....and we were able to see that place on Tuesday, get the credit check papers, and turn them in. Then on Wednesday night we heard back from our landlord and she said that we got the place! So exciting...and so we were able to move in some of our stuff on Thursday and the rest of it on Saturday/Sunday when our team and my parents were able to come to bring the rest of our stuff. Our landlord also has been really great and making sure that we have everything taken care of and has just been such a blessing and really hospitable for us! :) Soo exciting. So we are all pretty much settled in, and then I found out that my parents will be able to bring their extra fridge for us soon, and then all we need to get is a stove/oven and a microwave. It was just really neat to see God provide so faithfully and so quickly with our apartment!
Thanks for your continue prayer requests, here are some new ones:
-We are currently all looking for jobs, so for God to be guiding us to the jobs that He wants us to have....and so that we will also start being able to have incomes to pay things
-Opportunities to get to know our neighhbors and spend time with them and bless them in the way that Jesus would if He was here
-We will be starting to inductively study out of the book Luke, and so just that will be a good time for us, productive, and a neat learning experience from this gospel of the Bible! :)
-Continually being reminded of our experience in the Philippines....and prayer for the people that we met there and how they affected us. Also, prayer for the missonaries there: Aaron and Emma and their continual ministry in the community of Botocan.
Some pictures from the Philippines:
With Dave and Regina, riding on the Jeepney
With our host family...left to right, top to bottom: Rolando, Jena, Jenni-Paz, Eric, me, Ruth, Lisa, Josephine, Jem-Jem, and Polo (cousin)
A view of the rooftops in the Botocon community
Along with Sierra, as we are eating Balut
A group/team picture in front of the church in the Botocan community :-D <3
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