All Day Youth Event

I mentioned in my previous blog post that we would be helping host an all-day youth event on Friday. Thanks for your prayers, because it was a really great day and probably the highlight of our ministry here thus far. We had around 60 kids from different areas of the city, including a group from the Alternative Learning School (ALS) that Pastor Sam and Ate Evelyn teach here in our home.

Tejal and Charis did an awesome job of planning and leading the games, and the kids had a blast. Capture the Flag was especially popular.

Lining up for some games

Judging the toilet paper clothing game

Getting ready for an epic game of Capture the Flag

We also sang worship songs and  Jonas and Tejal shared their testimonies. I was then able to give the first part of the message about pressing on from Philippians 3, talking about how the forgiveness that Jesus offers means we can forget what is behind and press on toward the goal. It was a really cool privilege to share the gospel with these kids, especially since some probably have not have heard it before. In the afternoon, a family friend from Manila (only 18 years old) continued the message and talked about how Christ gives us the strength and motivation to press on in our Christian faith. Aside from a painful sunburn (clouds can be deceiving), the day was a great success.

Jonas sharing his testimony

Talking to the youth about pressing on in the faith

Jerome sharing a message to the youth

On Monday morning, we had the last session of the VBS at Camp 7, which went quite well. I think the kids all had a good time and learned more about the Bible. It feels good to have the first VBS under our belts, and I am excited to take what we have learned into the next 3 VBS's that we will be running in April and May (the next one, in Ambiong, starts on April 10). 

Last day of Camp 7 VBS- with some of the kids in my class

On Wednesday, we split up and went with Pastor Sam and Ate Evelyn to visit the members of the church. We walked up and down countless stairs and were able to share verses and pray with the people in their homes. It was a really good experience and I am looking forward to doing more of that next week.

Visitations in Balacbac 

We spent our day of rest on Tuesday going to a movie (Hunger Games) at the mall and eating some delicious pizza at Don Henrico's. It was a fun day, and I feel really blessed to be a part of a team that not only works well together, but truly enjoys having fun together. It has also been really good building friendships with Ralph (19) and Shown (16), young leaders in the church that help out with the youth and worship. It is really inspiring getting to know them.

I think we were hungry...

Playing darts with (l-r) Shown, Jonas, and Ralph in the shed

Next week is Holy Week, which is a big deal here in the Philippines. We will be taking time to convert the shed outside the house into a music room and working on other projects. I'll keep you posted; thanks for reading!

VBS, Youth Ministry, and More!

Things have started getting busy here, and in a good way. Last Thursday, we started a VBS with the ~400 kids at the Camp 7 Elementary School. Due to their schedules, instead of a five day program with sessions in the morning, we ran 2 sessions each day on Thursday and Friday, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. It has been crazy, tiring, challenging, confusing, and a lot of fun! The VBS was organized by Pastor Eric, a pastor at a nearby church, and each of us are helping out in one of the classrooms. I am helping teach the grade 6 class, which has 44 students. They are great kids and it is cool to teach them biblical values. The theme is "Flying with wisdom", so we have all learned a lot about birds and what they can teach us about wisdom.

We have one more session tomorrow morning (Monday) before we are done this VBS. In April and May, we will be taking what we learned and running three more VBS's in different areas around the city.

On the topic of lice, as I briefly mentioned in my last blog post, it is not a concern any more. The girls meticulously brushed their hair and are lice-free (still up for debate whether they actually had them in the first place). Jonas and I initially thought about shaving our heads, but then determined that we didn't actually have lice, but then decided that we should shave our heads anyway. (The nice thing about hair is that it grows back.)

We have also been helping out with the youth nights both here in Dontogan (the area where we live) and in Ambiong (the other church that Pastor Sam preaches at). It has been really fun getting to know some of them, and today I had the opportunity to lead a Bible study on humility this afternoon.

This Friday, we are helping run an all-day youth event. We are hoping for 70 to 100 youth to show up at one of the big parks in the city, coming from different youth groups and an Alternative Learning School (ALS) that Pastor Sam and Evelyn teach here in their home. Many of the youth, especially from the ALS, are not Christian, so it should be a really good opportunity to present the Gospel. I wil be leading worship and speaking in the morning, so please pray that God will lead me to the right things to say and that God wold speak into the lives of those coming.

The youth at Ambiong

Here are some more pictures of the last couple of weeks. Thanks for reading!

This is a better picture of the stairway we helped build last week

Sunday morning church service in Balacbac, at the bottom of 209 stairs

Lost in a cave at the Botanical Gardens

The Baguio Cathedral

The power was out all day on Thursday, hence the candlelight dinner.

Tagalog lessons with Ate (AH-tay) Evelyn

Team!

2 Weeks in the Philippines

Today marks 2 weeks since arriving in the Philippines. I am still amazed at how blessed I am to be here. The first two weeks haven't been too full, which is probably a good thing, as we have had time to adjust to the new culture (and the unceasing barking of dogs all through the night), build relationships with the Arcano family and meet other people in the church here. Life will start to get busy right away here, as our first of 4 VBS's is starting on Thursday. We are teaming up with a local pastor (Pastor Eric) in running a VBS or "Values Instruction Emphasis Week" (VIEW) at an elementary school near his church. Here is a picture of one of the buildings at the school:

The VBS will run all day Thursday and Friday and a half-day on Monday, so we anticipate being quite busy preparing for and helping with the VBS. We will then take what we have learned and run 3 more VBSs in various communities around the city throughout April and May.

Pastor Sam is involved in and preaches at 2 churches in Baguio: one in the nearby community of Balac Bac and another in a community called Ambiong. We have met some of the families and church members and have attended church in both locations. We have also started to get involved with the youth groups in each place, helping out with youth fellowship nights and talking with and discipling the kids. I was even able to start teaching some of the youth how to play guitar, which was pretty cool.

We also spent one morning building building "stairs" leading down to a family's house. They don't have a permanent staircase down the steep hillside because another house is being built uphill from them. Especially when it rains, it is very difficult to get up and down the hill to their house. We didn't have a lot of resources, but we were able to find a few tires and dig some steps out of the dirt. It is quite amazing to see how joyful and content people are here, despite having almost nothing. It has been really challenging and inspiring.

We have been learning Tagalog as well, with lessons every day from Evelyn, Pastor Sam's wife. It is pretty tough, and we don't get a lot of practice because most people either know English well or enough for basic communication. It is fun to learn though, and we are hoping to get proficient enough to have basic dialogue with people. Learning their language is one way we can express our care and commitment to them.

I will leave you with some pictures from our last week. Please pray for the VBS. It is a rare opportunity to be able to do something like this at a public school, and will be a great chance for the kids to hear the Gospel and experience God's love.

Walking up the 209 steps to the road after church- great exercice at 1500m with a guitar in hand

Ambiong church service

Charis and a cow

We walked through a network of tunnels underneath the city- really cool

Preparing crafts for VBS

A section of the stairs we worked on

Jonas and his friend Zach after the church service at the basketball court

Repairing a hole in the wall to keep the mice and rats and lizards out of our room

Riding a seahorse boat at Burnham Park on our day of rest

Walking along Session Road in the heart of Baguio

The Super Burger at Jim's Retro Diner. Jonas and I shared.

One additional note: as I was writing this blog post, we found out that we probably have lice! So that's fun. We are trying to figure out what to do about them right now so that's another thing you can pray for.

Salamat! Paalam. (Thanks! Bye.)

Baguio City, Philippines

We have been in Baguio for four days now and it has been amazing! There are a lot of new things to soak in and we are excited to see how God will use us over the next few months.

First of all, the city itself is pretty incredible. Built high in the mountains, everywhere you go has breathtaking views of the city and surrounding mountains. The pictures just won't do it justice.

We are staying with Pastor Sam Arcano and his family. They are great people and we are thoroughly enjoying getting to know them and living together in community. The food has been great as well (though I have yet to try balut).

So far, we have been spending our time getting to know the family and some other friends, touring the city with Pastor Sam, and playing some basketball on the court near the house. We are starting to learn Tagalog, the most common language here (although English is widely used as well). So far, we have learned some basic greetings ("Magandang Umaga" means Good Morning) and we are excited to learn more. Today, we will be visiting a youth group as well as a prayer fellowship group, and we will be doing some worship leading tomorrow in church. We feel really blessed to be here.

Pastor Sam in front of his house, where we are staying

The view from near the house

More beauty

Charis reading Bible stories to Pastor Sam's grandkids: Tim and Zach

Pastor Sam showing us the city

Living in the clouds

A jeepney (public transit) in the fog

We went to a military centre and sat in an old tank

The streets of Baguio (check out the Space Jam theme on the jeepney)

Jonas, Ashley and I challenged 3 Pilipino teens to a game of 3-on-3. We lost.

Pray that we would be open and flexible to the plans God has in store for us and that we would be sensitive to the culture. Pray that God would strengthen our relationships with the Arcano family and that we would have opportunities to build relationships with the youth and other people we come into contact with. Thanks for reading.

Ready to go!

I am writing this from the Vancouver Airport at the gate, gearing up for a 10 hour flight to Tokyo and then a 5 hour flight to Manila. It is nice to finally relax, knowing that all the packing is done and we are on our way.

Ready to Board! (l-r Tejal, me, Charis, Ashley, Jonas)

I think it is now slowly starting to sink in that we will be on the other side of the world for three months, but I think the reality will only really set in after a few days in the Philippines. There are still a lot of things that are unknown, including our housing arrangements, but we are pumped to soak in what God has in store for us there.


The last week has been quite busy, with some really good practical sessions during the day. We learned about children's ministry, music ministry, public speaking, and had some time to prepare in each of these areas. Each evening has been full as well: a banquet on Monday...

team!

 a bonfire Tuesday,

a Steve Bell concert on Wednesday for our team time (which was awesome),

a really inspiring commissioning service on Thursday, and packing and cleaning on Friday and Saturday.

Last weekend, some of us went to the Westminster Abbey in Mission and walked around, taking in the beautiful scenery and architecture.

We also had the unique privilege of touring a dairy farm east of Abbotsford on Sunday, thanks to David's connections. (Geoff and Alison will appreciate this.)

cows

So that was my last week in a nutshell. I'm sure the next week will look quite different! Pray for smooth travel and health, as a few of us have colds. Thanks for reading and thanks for praying!