I am currently sat directly in front of a fan which is blowing cold air onto my face due to the extreme heat we face here every day! It is now Summer here in the Philippines so every day you are constantly sweating and trying to find fans to make it more bearable. Some days I can find myself taking a morning, afternoon and evening shower just to try and keep cool, thats 3 showers a day! Even at night it still is hot and humid and you just carry on sweating! But the heat could never put me off doing missionary work here! I love it! One thing I still don't understand about the Filipinos is how in this intense heat they still manage to wear jeans!
The week long Transnational Leadership Seminar we ran here in the Philippines was such a success! The teaching I brought forth went pretty smoothly and I think, dare I say it, I may have mastered talking slow enough that they understood what I was saying! I found myself being pushed in areas that I had become too comfortable in. I was always having to communicate clearly and found that often I was lacking good communication skills, talking to people who don't speak English fluently. It was also really good for us all to work as a team and to learn more about each others needs and mainly our strengths and weaknesses!
The Hawaii Holo Holo Ministriy team left a few weeks ago which was a really weird feeling. I have been living life with some of them for almost a year now. I am now in the Philippines Naga base with just 1 other white person surrounded by Filipinos. They all speak good English here at base but they all speak Tagalog and in the area I am in they also speak Bicol. I am really trying to learn as much Tagalog as I can to help me communicate better with people. I have also started going to a church just outside of Naga. I travel there every Friday for Youth Fellowship and Sunday for Church. The Pastor and his family are very close to the base staff here and are connected with Ywam. They all speak Bicol and Tagalog at church so when I don't sit next to the Pastor's Son I am pushed to try and understand Tagalog. I am very blessed to have some amazing friends at that church and in the youth group.
Today we have family night at the base. Lots of different people come to the base for dinner, games and fellowship. Today I am cooking for every one which I think is quite scary cooking for 25 people in a new kitchen! One of my campers, who became born again at last years camp now comes to Family Night. Her life has been transformed through God and I love being her friend. There are so many people here in the Philippines who I know will be life long friends and that are really helping me to understand the culture more.
Every Saturday we have some of the children over from the slums to come and worship and to hear a small message. While I am here I have been asked to lead the youth and to bring a message every week for them. I am excited to encourage them and to try and make the Word of God more alive for them! We also have different outreaches we do every day so I always have something to think about and lots to do!
The more I am here the more I have a heart for the people. I do plan on going back to England end of June since I haven't been home since I set off to start my DTS, (Discipleship Training School) in Hawaii last September!
I am so sorry it has taken me such a long time to do this update. I would love to carry on writing more updates during my stay here in the Philippines!
The week long Transnational Leadership Seminar we ran here in the Philippines was such a success! The teaching I brought forth went pretty smoothly and I think, dare I say it, I may have mastered talking slow enough that they understood what I was saying! I found myself being pushed in areas that I had become too comfortable in. I was always having to communicate clearly and found that often I was lacking good communication skills, talking to people who don't speak English fluently. It was also really good for us all to work as a team and to learn more about each others needs and mainly our strengths and weaknesses!
The Hawaii Holo Holo Ministriy team left a few weeks ago which was a really weird feeling. I have been living life with some of them for almost a year now. I am now in the Philippines Naga base with just 1 other white person surrounded by Filipinos. They all speak good English here at base but they all speak Tagalog and in the area I am in they also speak Bicol. I am really trying to learn as much Tagalog as I can to help me communicate better with people. I have also started going to a church just outside of Naga. I travel there every Friday for Youth Fellowship and Sunday for Church. The Pastor and his family are very close to the base staff here and are connected with Ywam. They all speak Bicol and Tagalog at church so when I don't sit next to the Pastor's Son I am pushed to try and understand Tagalog. I am very blessed to have some amazing friends at that church and in the youth group.
Today we have family night at the base. Lots of different people come to the base for dinner, games and fellowship. Today I am cooking for every one which I think is quite scary cooking for 25 people in a new kitchen! One of my campers, who became born again at last years camp now comes to Family Night. Her life has been transformed through God and I love being her friend. There are so many people here in the Philippines who I know will be life long friends and that are really helping me to understand the culture more.
Every Saturday we have some of the children over from the slums to come and worship and to hear a small message. While I am here I have been asked to lead the youth and to bring a message every week for them. I am excited to encourage them and to try and make the Word of God more alive for them! We also have different outreaches we do every day so I always have something to think about and lots to do!
The more I am here the more I have a heart for the people. I do plan on going back to England end of June since I haven't been home since I set off to start my DTS, (Discipleship Training School) in Hawaii last September!
I am so sorry it has taken me such a long time to do this update. I would love to carry on writing more updates during my stay here in the Philippines!