Re-entry

Well, I'm back. Back from a 160 day adventure of experiencing a new culture, developing life-long friendships, serving God in new and challenging ways, and growing so much in my faith and love of Christ. Being back in Saskatoon has been a blessing in so many ways. Seeing my family again, especially my 8 month old nephew, Cohen, has been awesome. It has been great seeing friends again and sharing a little bit about my experience. At the same time, it is difficult being away from my team (whom I lived with for almost six months straight!), the friends I made in the Philippines, the other TREKers, and everyone else I had the privilege of knowing in these last months.

Reconnecting with the Ukraine team during debrief

Canoeing during debrief

Eating a Filipino meal in Abbotsford 

We talked a lot during debrief about building on our experiences and continuing to grow instead of compartmentalizing them and returning to life as normal. I have thought a lot about how God has changed me and what that means for me now. The most important thing for me right now is to stay connected with God and trust in Him for my future plans. Prayer, Bible study, and memorization have become very meaningful to me as I look ahead to what's next. I feel that God is calling me to find a job (since I did just graduate from Engineering), plug into the church, and be open to whatever doors He opens for me to serve. It is a pretty cool place to be right now, not knowing what lies ahead but trusting that God has a plan.

Cohen

Thanks for your prayer and support during these last months. I may not be great but God can do great things in and through me.

Back in Canada!

Yes, I am still alive! When I last wrote, we were still in Baguio, getting ready for the evangelistic concert, our final big ministry opportunity. It seems like such a long time ago, though it was only less than 2 weeks. Now, I am back in the familiar world of Abbotsford for 2 weeks of debrief before finally returning to Saskatoon on June 16. 

Goodbye Philippines!

It has been a little crazy leaving our new home and family in the Philippines so suddenly and returning to the place and people I got to know so well in January and February. As I adapt to life here, it feels like I have been gone only a few days, but when I think back to all the memories of Baguio, it feels more like a few years. It is interesting how things I once took for granted now seem so different. Once example of this was seeing a little blond-haired, blue-eyed girl on the plane to Vancouver. After seeing so many Pilipino kids, she just looked so different and this really surprised me! Also, open spaces, the sparsity of traffic, seat belts, flushing toilet paper, the abundance of wealth, and many more things that were once so normal I now have to get used to again! It is very eye-opening having this broadened perspective on the world. 

The last week or so in the Philippines was awesome. A big highlight was the concerts that we held on Saturday and Sunday last week. The first was at Malcolm Square, in the heart of Baguio. It is a very busy area, so a ton of people passed by as we played, with many stopping for a while to check out the music. We had a lot of fun and it was great to finally perform after so many hours of practise. We were also able to share our faith a little bit in between songs. After the concert, Jonas and I were able to pray with a couple of guys around our age about some things going on in their lives. Pray that God used and will use this concert to affect people's lives even in ways we won't find out about.

Malcolm Square Concert

The crowds at Malcolm Square

Praying with John and Mark after the concert

Everyone involved with the concert

The next day, we held the same concert again in our house. We started playing outside in the front yard, but had to move inside due to the rain. There were a lot of people (mainly youth and others from the church) packed into the house, and everyone had a really fun time dancing around and enjoying the music. It was a perfect way to cap off our official ministry.

A few short days later, we had to say our goodbyes as we took a bus down to Manila. It was hard to say goodbye to all of the amazing people we had gotten to know, not knowing when we will see them again. But it was also really encouraging, as we shared notes and "remembrances", knowing that God used us to impact and encourage the family, friends, and church that we were leaving.

Zach!

I will miss these people!

We spent about a day and a half in Manila before flying out on June 2. We were able to reconnect with some friends we met in Banaue (connections from Ashley's grandparents) over supper, spend a morning with Heart (Pastor Sam and Ate Evelyn's granddaughter who lived with us for a few weeks just over a month ago), and take in a few of the sights of the city. It was hot and busy, but good to spend a short time in this big city. And then, in a matter of hours, I found myself back on Canadian soil.

Hanging out with Heart

A park in Manila

Leaving has been more difficult than I thought. As I grieve and process the loss (at least for now) of my friends and home in Baguio, I am also trying to discern what the future will hold for me, all while experiencing some major jet lag. Please pray that these two weeks of debrief will bring closure to the past and preparation for the future. I look forward to sharing more about what God has done in my life and the lives of others over these last six months.

Youth Camp

Time is quickly slipping away as we finish our part in God's work here in Baguio. In the past week, we have been involved in a lot of really rewarding ministry. The major event of last week was the 48 hour youth camp, held here at our house. We had around 25 youth and Tejal did a great job at directing the activities. The two days were filled with games, a movie (Narnia), a day of soccer and Capture the Flag at Camp John Hay, a banquet, worship, and 4 sessions with different speakers. Ashley really connected with the kids as she told them about the creation account and the greatness of God, as well as the fall. I was able to basically summarize the Old Testament (or at least try) and talk about how Jesus fulfilled the law and came to bring us back into relationship with God. I think the youth had a lot of fun and were able to learn a lot from all of the teachers, which also included Ate Evelyn, Tejal, and Shown.

Youth Camp!

Playing soccer at Camp John Hay

Worship Night at Youth Camp

Banquet

Ashley busting out the Hebrew for her talk. Awesome.

It was really great to spend time hanging out with a diverse group of youth, some of whom are familiar church kids while others were from Pastor Sam and Ate Evelyn's Alternative Learning System (ALS) class who were unfamiliar with the gospel. We saw this really pay off when one of the ALS students who was at the camp brought six of his friends to youth fellowship on Sunday. Ate Evelyn was able to present the gospel to them all and several of them appeared to accept the message and invite Jesus to forgive their sins. Pray that this decision would be real and lasting and that they would continue to grow in their understanding of the gospel and that God would work in their lives to bring them closer to Him. Praise God!



The day after youth camp ended, the church had a day of baptism. We travelled with around 40 people to the Asin Hot Springs about an hour out of the city. To fit everyone in the truck we were able to borrow, some of us sat on top of the truck, which was quite the experience.  At one point, with my head turned to the side, I got smoked in the head by a tree branch (don't worry, I'm ok), and on the way back, it started pouring on us. All part of the adventure of missions!

Transportation is so much more fun here!

Eight people, representing all age groups, were baptized Saturday morning. Pastor Sam asked Jonas and I do do the baptizing, so we were blessed with the opportunity to baptize these people. It was amazing to be a part of the decisions that they were making to follow the Lord and publicly declare their faith.

Baptizing Allan, one of the youth we have gotten to know

Jonas and I with those who were baptized

Since we were already at the pool, everyone had fun swimming, eating, and fellowshipping. On a side note, I noticed that a group near ours seemed to be preparing meat. Through closer inspection, I realized that they were butchering a dog.... on the table... by the pool. And it was very obvious it was a dog. I asked Pastor Sam about it later, and he said it is fairly common for people in the area to cook and eat dog while drinking. I was almost tempted to ask them if I could try some. Almost.


To top of a crazy five days, our team visited the Bibak Bible Church again on Sunday (the church where Ashley's grandparents went several decades ago). They asked us to sing a song, share (Tejal gave her testimony), and preach! So I was able to preach a sermon on David and Goliath. I preached a similar sermon a couple of weeks ago at the Balacbac Church, but this was the first time I was able to preach without a translator. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and people seemed to be really encouraged by it. I talked about how David needed to trust fully in God and not in his own abilities to face Goliath, and we should have the same attitude in our own lives, since "I can do everything through him who gives me strength" (Phil 4:13). I felt like I needed to hear this message for myself as well, since I needed to trust God to speak his own words through me rather than relying on my own abilities as a speaker.

Currently, we are busy preparing for our upcoming evangelistic concert on Saturday. We have been practicing for a few weeks now, and this week that is basically all we are doing. I am mainly playing electric guitar, which is new for me, but I am enjoying the challenge and we are starting to sound pretty good as a band. I'm quite certain that I have never played this much music in my life! It's pretty great.


Yesterday, we were able to perform a couple of our songs at a Baguio prayer meeting/concert, which was held at a really old, once abandoned hotel. It was a good time. We even met some fellow short-term mission participants based out of an Austrailan YWAM.

The historic building

I feel like this would make a good paintball location

Please pray for energy, musical togetherness, and healthy voices as we prepare for Saturday's concert. Most of all, pray that God would bring people to him through this ministry. Only nine days left here before we fly back to Abbotsford for debrief. It will be hard to leave!

Again, thank-you for your prayer and support! God bless.

Three more weeks!

It is difficult to imagine that in less than three weeks, we will be back in Canada for debrief. I am sure that this time will fly by, as there is a lot going on before we leave. From Wednesday to Friday this week, we are hosting a youth camp and we are all really excited for it. There will be youth from the Balacbac and Ambiong churches, as well as some ALS students, many of whom don't know the Lord yet. This should be a really good opportunity to reach out and bring these youth closer to God. Pray that the details of this event will come together, that the kids will really enjoy it, and most importantly that their relationships with God will be formed or strengthened.

I had the opportunity to preach in the Balacbac church last week about David's heart for following God. Next week, I will be preaching the same sermon in two different churches, which I am excited about.

Last week, we had our fourth and final VBS, here at our house in Dontogan. It was the first VBS hosted here, and we weren't sure how many kids to expect, especially when we found out that there were three other VBS's going on in the community in the same week! The previous week, we had walked through the neighbourhood with Ate Evelyn and invited families to send their kids to VBS. This seemed to pay off, as we had over 50 kids attend the VBS! It was fun, but tiring, especially since it was our fourth VBS in under two months. We are hoping that God will use this VBS as a starting point for a church plant in the house here. Pray that parents of the kids who attended will be drawn to the Bible studies that Ate Evelyn is offering.

Inviting kids to VBS in the fog

Playing with the VBS kids

We put on a midget puppet show to tell the Bible story one day

My awesome class

We have also begun practicing for the evangelistic concerts we will be holding on May 25 and 26. It has already been a huge blessing to make music with some very talented  people. The band consists of Ate Cha (or Charity, Pastor Sam's daughter) on vocals and keyboard, Grace (another daughter) on drums, Shown on bass, Kat (a good friend of the family) on vocals, Ashley on guitar, and me on guitar and vocals. I am playing electric guitar for a lot of the songs, which is a new, but fun, experience for me. We are practicing in the shed in the front yard, which is now officially converted into the music room. There is still a lot of practicing to do, and not much time to do it, so pray that God will bring us together as a band and that the songs we sing will be used to reach out to the people who come to the concerts.

Breaking in the new music room

In the last couple of weeks, we have really felt our relationships grow with the family here, which we are really excited about. It will be hard to leave, but we have been blessed to be able to serve with and learn from such amazing people. 

Waving goodbye to the kids after a prayer fellowship

The graduation/going away/belated birthday/early birthday party we threw for Shown/Ralph/Cha/Grace last week

"I'm a flying T-rex!"

That's all for now! Thanks for taking the time to read and pray. Your support means a lot!

Banaue!

From April 24th to the 27th, our team went to Banaue for our mid-term retreat. This was where Ashley's grandparents served as missionaries until 1988, and we were looking forward to meeting some of the people that knew her grandparents as well as seeing the famous rice terraces. We were definitely not disappointed. It was an amazing trip!

The drive there took 8 hours, despite being less than 200 km away. This was due to traveling through the windyest, mountainiest road ever. It was a very cool trip.

Caution: falling rocks

A few hours into the trip, at the highest road in the Philippines

In Bontoc, on the way to Banaue

While in Banue, we were able to meet a lot of great people who knew Ashley's grandparents. This is the hospital/clinic that they built 55 years ago.

The Good News Clinic

The first morning, we were invited to eat breakfast with the wife of the doctor that Ahsley's grandpa trained. She made a ridiculous amount of pancakes and told us we needed to eat all of them! I thought my 5 was a lot until Jonas ate 8! It was a blessing to receive the hospitality of the Banaue people. We also met a fellow Canadian from Hamilton who now lives in Banaue running an orphanage. We visited the orphanage and ate lunch with her, and it was great to see how God is using her in this community.

We happened to be in Banaue for a cultural parade/festival which we watched for a while. It was neat to see all of the Ifugao costumes.

The parade moving down the main street in Banaue

We were also able to see the Banaue Rice Terraces, which were absolutely incredible! Most of them were originally built over 2000 years ago, and have been maintained by hundreds of generations of Ifugao people. Each terrace is irrigated through a complex network of waterfalls and bamboo pipes flowing from the tops of the mountains. 

The main rice terraces of Banaue

One of the coolest adventures of my life began in the morning of our second day in Banaue, when Jonas and I decided to hike to Batad. People were telling us that no visit to Banaue was complete without going to Batad, but the girls all had colds and weren't feeling up to the 3 hour hike (or 1 hour or 5 hour... we weren't quite sure). 

So Pastor Sam drove Jonas, me, and our new friend Chester (also a friend of the Irvines) up the very sketchy mountain road (complete with landslides to navigate around) to Batad, or at least close to Batad. The village is not accessible by road, but you can get close by driving up an even sketchier mountain road to the top of a lookout and then hike down. Once we got to the junction, Pastor Sam attempted to climb the hill with his old Toyota Tamaraw but it quickly became apparent that the vehicle was not up to the task. As we got out to assess the situation, another truck pulled up behind us (see below). 

After a brief chat with the driver, Chester informed us that we would traveling the rest of the way in the back of this truck. So we hopped in the back, only to realize that the cargo was eight huge pigs! Apparently, there was to be a wedding in Batad in a couple of days, and it is tradition to kill and eat 12 pigs for a wedding, so we got to travel up the mountain with 2/3 of a wedding feast. We quickly learned how to push them away with our feet when they got too interested in us.

Oink!

Once we reached the top, we followed Chester down the mountain to Batad. Despite his age of 64, Jonas and I almost had to jog to keep up! When we finally reached Batad, one look at the village and mountainside affirmed that the trip was well worth it.

Chester rested at the viewpoint while we followed his friend, Romeo, on a tour through the townsite and terraces.

Imagine all of the work required to build and maintain these stone walls for over 2000 years. Incredible!

Romeo is probably the most awesome person ever

After stopping for lunch (pizza!) at a restaurant overlooking the terraces, we headed back up the mountain, where we met our pig friends a second time as they were carried down the path on poles. (It's safe to say that our trip to Batad was siginificantly better than the pigs'.) We eventually met up with Pastor Sam on the other side of the mountain, and thus ended our journey to the coolest place I have ever been.

So you are probably getting the picture by now that our trip to Banaue was really great. We were also able to meet as a team and discuss what we have been learning about ourselves, our team, the culture, and God. It was really good to dialogue about these things and refocus as we prepared to start our final month of ministry in Baguio.

This last week was spent in preparation for various events, especially the VBS that will start on Tuesday here at our house. We walked around the neighbourhood inviting children to come and we got the materials ready. We were also able to lead various youth events on the weekend as well as prayer fellowship today, since most of the young leaders that we work with were at a Christian Training Camp (CTC) for the last 2 weeks. We are gearing up for a busy last 4 weeks, with VBS, a youth camp, and evangelical concerts on the schedule.

I am also getting the opportunity to preach tomorrow at the church in Balacbac, which is really exciting. Jonas will preach in the afternoon in Ambiong, and we will switch the following week. Please pray for us, that the messages God has given us will make a difference in the lives of those in the congregation. For both of us, it is our first time preaching, and Jonas will be speaking in a language he only started learning five months ago! I will be talking about David, and why he was called a man after God's own heart. Pray also for the VBS here in Dontogan. This is the first one in this community, and we are hoping this ministry can be a springboard for a church plant here.

Thanks again for your support and prayers; they do not go unnoticed!

How to Eat Balut

by Brady Friesen

Step 1: Buy a balut from one of the many vendors walking down the street. You will recognize them by their occasional declarations of "Balut!" As seen below, balut looks like a slightly oversized chicken egg. But, as with people, it is what is inside that counts...

Step 2: Crack open the flat end of the balut by striking it against a hard surface. This allows you to peel off the shell in sections, as one would peel a typical hard-boiled egg.

Step 3: Once you have a small opening, you will notice a dark liquid surrounding the contents of the egg. This is the appetizer. Pour a small amount of water and vinegar into the opening, then drink.

Step 4: Once the liquid content of the balut is consumed, peel off more shell until the real treasure of the balut is exposed.

Unlike most eggs you have probably eaten in your lifetime, balut is fertilized, so what you are looking at is a little duck fetus after around 17 days of growth. Depending on the the age of the balut, you may see feathers and notice a developed beak and bones. The one pictured, however, is of the younger variety. This is the main course.

Step 5: Carefully peel the fetus away from its former home by the head and place it carefully in your mouth. (Note: When pulling it out, be carful to grab the whole head or you may rip it in two, exposing the brain.) You may also wish to add more vinegar and salt to bring out the flavour.

Step 6: Now, the reward. Take time to savour the balut. Chew slowly, enjoy, and swallow.

Step 7: Two sections remain. The first is the yolk, which will be familiar to those of you who have eaten a hard-boiled chicken egg. Eat this.

Step 8: Finally, the dessert. You will notie a white, rubbery substance stuck to the bottom of the egg. Peel the shell carefully from the substance- this may take some time. Then, place in your mouth and chew. This may also take some time, as the texture is very similar to that of a white eraser.

Step 9: Repeat from Step 1 if desired.

There you have it. The next time you have the opportunity to try balut, you will be able to eat it like a pro.


On another note, we have just completed our third (!) VBS. We held this one in Balacbac at the basketball court, which is also where we have church on Sunday morning. We had a great turnout of around 100 energetic kids.

We split the kids into 4 classes depending on their age groups, and I co-taught the oldest class (13 to around 15). Most of them are in the youth group, so it was cool to be able to connect with them more through teaching them. Despite being what I would think as a little old for VBS, they seemed to enjoy it and hopefully learn more about what the Bible teaches about wisdom.

My co-teacher, Kat, teaching the youth

Due to space limitations, our class met on the roof of a house, with all sorts of fun rebar sticking out of the floor ready to stub your toe and cables ready to literally clothesline you.

Playing '4 Corners' on the roof- don't get too close to the edge!

It was a lot of fun, but quite draining. Organizing and handling 100 kids is no small task, but at the end of the week, we all agreed it was quite a success. It is a great privilege  to be working alongside with our new Filipino friends to bring joy and love to a bunch of kids.

Jonas' favorite part of VBS

The 7-9 year olds practicing their graduation song

Mmmm. pansit!

It has been quite the week, with our second VBS in as many weeks, and our team is ready for a break. Tomorrow, we head north to Banaue for a 4 day retreat. This is where Ashley's grandparents built a hospital several decades ago. We are excited to meet some people who knew them and also to check out the 2000 year old rice terraces while we are there. Pray for safety as we drive the windy mountain roads, for Pastor Sam's old Toyota Tamaraw to get us there without mechanical problems, and for some good team bonding while there.

Thanks for reading!