Week 2 Bulacan

      Thought it might be easier to just make one post so I'm going to take my journals and attempt to shorten them, this will still be long but its a week worth of VBS. First day in Bulacan running VBS. It was an early morning we had an hour drive out to Bulacan and the first session we ran was at 8 am for around a hundred kids. We got there and had a few bumps, we didn't know we were going to be running a morning and afternoon program as well as a youth night every night. Amber our team leader decided it would be best that we run both vbs but youth night only do every other night. I was in charge of games for the week which was so much fun. We did lots of songs with motions which the kids loved! Biggest thought of the day, was the joy of knowing that I'd get to work with the same kids everyday! 

       We ran the VBS program out of a church, in Bulacan. The church had some cinderblocks and a tarp over it. Pastor Jon-Jon was very gracious and kind to us. Some of the elders would come everyday to cook for us as well as make sure everything was going well. They were such a blessing as well! The church is raising up youth leaders who are in high school and college. The youth leaders were so wonderful all week helping us, translating for us, teaching us there songs with motions and just hanging out with us. It was so hard to leave them all.

       Tuesday we ran two VBS programs and had youth night. Got to enjoy watching the sunrise during my daily devotion. After the first VBS session after we had walked the students home me and Pastor Jon-Jon played basketball on one of the town courts. After lunch I walked to the church to ask pastor a question about youth night and found over a hundred kids waiting for us. They were an hour early and I heard they had been there for awhile waiting. So I asked Macy one of the youth leaders if she would be up to running a VBS program with me for an hour. So we had the other youth leaders join us and we sang songs and had the kids do the motions. Had them all recap monday's lesson and memory verse. Then used the wordless bracelets to share the gospel with them. I taught them the meaning and Macy did a wonderful job translating even with how fast I speak, which was hard for the other translators yet they all did such a wonderful job. All the young adults came over that night for youth night and we sang praise and worship songs and Sarah taught a message. We had a wonderful time playing games and relaxing all together on the roof of the house we were staying in, in Bulacan.

         Wednesday day 3 we ran two VBS programs and things went well. We got to buy trumpas, spinning caps. And the students taught us how to play it! It was a really relaxing day. Day four I gave a message on resurrection. We also had youth night which was sad because it was are last night there. The girls on our team had the girl youth leaders sleep over with them. 

      Friday....wow was friday hard this was are last day and we left at 1 pm. The first session my friend jolly was crying before it started and i asked him why and it was because he was going to miss Ricky and me that broke me down. Then the students had a skit performed on Pastor's testimony and that got all of us crying. then all the kids gave us hugs and more hugs and gifts. It was so hard to say goodbye. especially knowing that these kids ahve to go back to rough lives where they don't have someone to pick them up and give them a hug. one of the young kids is named Ishmael and for some reason the town calls him F U he is insulted by all and his own family treats him like dirt. That broke are team, we all wish we could take home some these kids. The  other hard part was leaving the youth leaders. They were so wonderful all week. They are so great with the kids and are walking with the Lord. I hope to be able to keep in touch with all of them and be able to see them again.

Sunday Day 8

       It's been a great day! Today we got up early and went to a church in the red light district of Manila. I shared my testimony, didn't feel like i ddi a great job sharing. It was a challenge to share without a translator, so i tried to use simpler words. I'm pretty sure i stuttered and stumbled on my words so hopefully they still got fed spiritually. Erika, our team singer she's got a wonderful voice. She sang amazing grace wile Tim played Guitar. Tim then preached a wonderful message. Enjoyed my time at the church I believe it was an assembly of God church.
   Ate lunch at Jollibee it's bigger then McDonalds over here, tasted pretty good. I like American fries better though. After Erika went to visit her family and Tito June went to visit his so I tagged along in order to hit up the largest and most dangerous market in all of Asia. Its like a giant flea market the size of a city. It was crazy if anyone of you ever come i recommend going but take a local you trust. Lots of snatchers and easy to bargain if you have a local. For instance nice shoes are less then 10 dollars sandals maybe 5 dollars. Samurai swords 10 dollars butterfly knifes like 3. Jewelry is bought for like a dollar and they come in bulk so cheap. Had a lot of time I mainly bartered more for fun the prices were already so much cheaper. in the Philippines the stands anywhere near Manilla gets there products from Divisoria market. I bought a samurai sword, butterfly knife, foot long knife, sandals, crazy high top kicks, tons of necklaces and bracelets, arm bands, and a swimsuit. Lots of fun also tried out a pedicab thats a bike that has a side car for 2 passengers.
           Oggie an old friend from when my family lived on campus at Michigan State , when I was 18 months old, came to take me out to dinner. His niece Julla joined us as well. They picked me up from the guest house and took me out to the College Oggie teaches at, UP University of the Philippines. Its the best school in the Philippines, we got dinner and desert on campus. The campus was very large and looked great! Dinner was wonderful, as well as the conversations. Got to hear stories from when I was a toddler. Asked alot about their lifestyle and culture as well.
           Week one and our 2 day break is now over but so far m time here has been wonderful. I already miss PBJ with Mark. VBS program starts tomorrow wake up in 5 hours then head out to the province of Bulacan to run VBS for the week. Pray for strength for the team. As well as sleep! Some of the team has been really suffering from a lack of sleep. I most likely will not have internet out there we are going to roughing it not like I did in the community last thursday but we will be living very simply. I might go use an internet cafe once while I'm there manly more for fun :)

-JR

Day 7 saturday (Day of peace)

         Probably my hardest day... I'm not a big fan of laying and relaxing even if its for recharging energy. For me relaxing days are slower paced ministry days or visiting other ministries. That being said it was way to long of a drive. The nice part of the drive was that it got me to play out alot of my thoughts out and think about whats been going on. We went out to sarah's family, one of the girls on are team. Here family livid in the Province of Laguna in an area called lumbon. We ate with her family and then went to a local pool and then they brought us more food. Then went to another aunt's house and ate there.

While at the pool we could look out over some low range mountains, and rice fields. So Tim, Ricky, Kevin , Tito June, and our Driver Erwin headed out to the rice field because we wanted to walk through it. we got some local kids to take us through the fields. We then headed over to the local basketball court to meet alot of the community. We played a game of ball 5 v 5. It was good, we lost by 1 point and had a lot of fun meeting people. Ricky, Kevin and I taught frisbee with a bunch of the Local kids and gave out the wordless bracelets to them as well.  This was my favorite part of the day because we got to go out and do some ministry. Yet the day was a little to chill for me.

Tomorrow we are running 3 local churches in Manila. So pray for that

Dupax Day 6

Woke up in Renee's place I slept on the floor that night and never knew when it was morning cuase he leaves a light on and there was no light shining in. He cooked a wonderful breakfast I really enjoyed it! If I get the opportunity to come back to the Philippines I hope to be able to stay with Renee again.

    Me and Eric caught a jeepney down commonwealth and walked over to Marks house where we met the team and spent he morning praying and preparing for a big day. The last day with Mark, the Mcdowell family truly blessed us while we were staying in Manila. We enjoyed another wonderful lunch with them and then loaded up for a big Pbj day in Dupax. It was awesome to see O'Neal, woods and the other guys, they couldn't go the day before for PBJ because they were afraid they'd get shot because it was a rival community so there's alot of gang violence. We did the same thing as the day before except with different people. Had a wonderful time here. 

       We went out afterwards to youth night with the PBJ Youth. Mark AKA AWOL, a rapper was MC. Interesting environment. The break dancers from thursday  came out and O'Neal and his boys came out as well. Coolest part is knowing that these guys come from rival communities and would never step into each other's community yet they gathered together here in the Lords name together. Shared some great worship together, and A local pastor preached on calling. Afterwards they had open mic, opened up with music celebrity here in Manila. We actually heard her on the radio saturday(today) some of the guys from the worship band joined some other guys and played their music, a local Christian band. Ricky rapped with help from Ron who dropped a sick beat. Then Mark AWOL rapped with another guy to close up the night. Great end to a wonderful time with PBJ. Im gonna miss all of them!

Day 5 night sleeping in Delapaz Squatter community

 Originally I was going to stay with a man named Alan and his family yet he was drinking when we got there so I couldn't stay the night with his family. THis is very common here because when you say you do something its not specific to when here. We knew Alan fro mBible study he had gone once, Be praying for him and his family. I ended up staying with Renee, his daughter Hillary and his son Jon-Jon. Hillary played with eric's camera alot he had been living with them for  a few weeks before our team had arrived in Manilla. Eric and Hillary exchanged words in English and Tagalog using a language dictionary. 

Heres a picture of when we had visited there the first day and these were some shots of the place I stated at this was the first time when we were just visiting. 

The kitchen of Renee's place. In the morning he cooked us a wonderful breakfast! And we got to sit and talk for a while down there. Hillary got a call from her sponsor in Washington D.C. so she had to the agency. They were a wodnerful family being praying for the Renee is looking for a job right now to support his family. His daughter makes the bracelets we had out the wordless bible bracelets. I got contact info so I can get them back in the states so we can support these people. The bracelets are made by over 12 families in Delapaz and helps support them. 

PBJ Thursday day 5

Finally had a chance to settle down and write down how things have been going. Thursday was a little bit relaxing in the early day. Spent the morning sleeping in and then praying as a team eating lunch together then packed up everything to head into the squatter area to share the gospel. 

     we drew a large crowd not just because we were white. We had a jeepney(Jeep bus) loaded with sound equipment drumming buckets  and basketballs. It had a basketball hoop that came off the jeepney. We set up a game where the kids would dunk on a hoop we would hold up while standing on a bucket. wed get them to do all sorts of trick dunks on it. The girls on are team had chalk and coloring pages for the girls. Eric set up sound equipment and pumped out some music for the crowds that were gathering. We had some buckets and drumsticks which we gave out and we started making some beats on the side. some break dancers from the community showed up and I did some gymnastics with them and learned some breakdancing. It was an interesting ministry, going into squatter areas and just chillen playing ball dancing rapping drumming, whatever tools we had to use we used. 

     We started a 3 on 3 basketball contest and formed a big circle around the court for everyone to watch the locals play ball. After we had a dunk contest on our hoop which was a bit shorter then a normal hoop. I joined in and took 2nd in the dunk contest definitely alot of fun. Ricky rapped again and had the guys translate the message of the his raps. Then Marc shared the gospel with the kids and we passed out the wordless bracelets. I lost track of how may we gave out this week over 3 thousand by now. 

      That night we came back earlier then usual and got to eat a meal with some of our team who was working at VBS. It was nice to eat a dinner with the team. Big prayer for this day and still now is my shoulder, doing tricks with the teenagers messed up my shoulder which has been injured since summer before junior year of high school from gymnastics. But its usually fine somehow popped it out while doing one handed handstand jumps with them.

Day 4

Today we had a busy packed day they then and very relaxing. Relaxed in the early morning and headed out around noon to some squatter neighborhoods. Spent time playing with kids and talking to people. Sharing more bracelets today we shared 1,200 more. I went into one mans house/shack where there was a open casket for his father who just had died got to spend time with the family they are burring him tomorrow. Be praying for them! 

            Many hard cases in these neighborhoods. Sat with 5 boys who were drinking, 2 were completely drunk. Spun around some more kids. noticed more deformed and special needs children here. 

One weird aspect here is that the poverty in the slums isn't the bottom. There are even homeless people on the streets who cant even stay in the slums. 

         Mark McDowell led a bible study with government workers in a government building and ricky was rapping. We then went to one last neighborhood where we ran into some friends from the basketball court last night with PBJ. O'Neal and Ron who live in Dupox(Cant spell) they were playing ball on the courts there so we got to say hi again. We spread the news that we will be by on friday. It will be a big show and lots of stuff happening. Big youth night, rapping breakdanceing, basketball...etc

We got done early then headed back to the guest house where we met up with the VBS team and went to the mall for dinner. Later in the evening Ricky, Erikka, Tito June and I went out and got some motorcycles for a joyride... 1 dollar for us to ride around for 20 minutes we had them race around the area haha lots of fun. 

     Be praying for the community Dupox(might be spelled wrong) the city of Manilla is tearing it down and forcing the people to move to a relocation area. Very bad! We will be ministering there on friday again. Pray for O'Neal and his family in Dupox who will be moving out to Bulacan. Pray for our team, many are tired, Ricky's foot is hurt, Nathan is sick, A few of us have colds as well. The prayers are very appreciated 

       

Day 3 PBJ Ministry

Wow today, crazy day headed out to Mark McDowell's house prayed as a team and then headed out to some squatter areas. His ministry is called PBJ (Philippino basketball for Jesus)  two missionaries one from Germany and the other from Switzerland joined us for the first half of the day. We spent the early day part of the day meeting the people of one squatter area/community. Played with hundreds of kids gave out a 800 of these wordless bracelets. the bracelets have 5 colors, yellow (Heaven) Black (Sin)Red (Blood of Christ) white (Forgiveness) Green (Grow) now we hand out these bracelets and then explain it in tagalog. Not many people speaks English in the squatter areas.
      I played lots of basketball with them and would do some gymnastics! The kids loved having me lift them up and throw them up in the air or spin them in circles. Played some interesting pool table games in some shack in a squatter areas. Many interesting stories from the area.
       We got some barbecue food from the markets and lots of mangos and bananas which are both amazing here. We headed over to the squatter area we went to yesterday its called Dupox (spelling is off)  its where Eric Strand is staying in one of the man made cave shacks underneath the metal shacks. played with the kids there. Then had a bible study with students in another part of Manila and then played basketball with the high schoolers that night as well as a PBA coach(NBA for the Philippines) came out to join us as well. Awesome day pray for the children we met today and the their families. as well as for the seeds we are sowing here. As well as for our team, foot injuries and any unseen sickness's.

A few quick pictures

Some of the first kids we met

They love that pose

Our team in Chicago

Day 2 plus some

The flights got confusing so here is the last leg of the flight and the first day here in Manilla.

            Slept most the flight to Manila (4 hours) I met a missionary named Raven and two other men whom I talked to for and half an hour while waiting to get through customs. We got to the guest house close to 2 am exhausted and tired we sat around abed cutting up donkeys for the team running a vbs program.

            Up around 6 and breakfast at 7, the days started with the samaritana team going out and the VBS team going out. My team went out for a two hour walk visiting the local markets and street shops. While touring the area we were greeted by everyone because they like to stop and stare at the white person. We caught a taxi which dropped us off near some squatter areas.The squatter areas were far worse then what I saw in South Africa. Shacks on top of each other man made caves where many families livid. The sewage flowed openly in some parts or just underneath you. We met some families and some children. We then went to get lunch at Mark McDowells house. 

            We then went out with 200 wordless bracelets in order to share the gospel with the street children. We went to many different squatter areas called communities and met the children and talked with them. Most kids were dressed very lightly some kids that were 3 and under didn’t even have clothes. We spoke with both the young and then teenagers and the adults. Very hard to communicate when we only know a few tagalog words and many of the children knew little to no English. Did some handstands and handspring with the kids who loved to play. As well as  talking with some carpenters and complimenting their work.  The city of Manila is covered in a layer of Smaug.

            One awesome takeaway from today is these bracelets and how to use them wherever I am just giving them to someone and explaining what it means. Gave them to the kids, the gas station workers restaurant workers whoever. 

-JR

Day 1

So I thought it would be sweet to use this blog to post every day about the day here in Manilla Philippines. Im here to share the gospel with the people. Working I'm the Slums around Manila.

            Day 1. leaving Chicago. I woke up earlier then I expected, probably over excited about the flight.  Spent some time doing my morning devotions said my goodbyes and got a lovely surprise by my dad and step mom who came down to wish me a goodbye. We took pictures as a team and we were off. At Ohare Airport Kevin Tim and I chased down Michael Vick. We talked with him in a cologne and perfume store… he accidentally sprayed himself with perfume and asked us to tell us what we thought, needless to say we didn’t have the heart to tell him he smelled like a woman. Yet we got some autographs then said goodbye.

            We flew first to Detroit and had an hour layover there. Currently its 1 am Chicago and Were two hours away from Nagoya Japan which is just outside of Tokyo. The flights been long got to write my message on John 20 the resurrection of Jesus, which was great just to do my own study on it J 

            So far I’ve watched the social network, interesting movie. Watched unstoppable, very intense definitely something to check out. After I watched hereafter, definitely a thought provoking film. Although I probably thought of stuff Clint eastwood wasn’t intending the audience to think of. One was over twin brothers one died and the other wanted to figure out what happened to him, he turned to religion yet fled because in short they had never gone to church and therefore he had gone to hell. Hard question to answer, what do you tell a young boy who just lost his brother when he asks you where will his brother go since hes dead. What do you tell him?  Just finished the town, which was a good movie yet for some reason I came away with more ministry questions. These are the people I want to live with, minister with, yet how can I effectively minister to guys that ant get out of gangs, to many threads holding them down. Their family (whatever’s left) their girlfriend.. whatever such a tight rope to thread.

            All in all day one has left me with some things to ponder for awhile. Hopefully I get some sleep going to sleep for the last two hours hopefully then goin to sleep on the flight to Manila.