The team also prepared for months. They raised money, purchased and borrowed gear and went through training at SRC for this trip. They prayed and sacrificed so that they could come alongside us in the work we are doing here for just a short amount of time.
They flew for almost three days straight before landing in Butuan in the afternoon last Friday. We picked them up and went straight to Surigao on what seemed like a bus ride that lasted forever. After settling in to our hotel rooms with the 12 Amerikanos and the 6 translators and our family we went out to eat at Calda Pizza, a SRC Tubajon tradition now. The next day after breakfast we loaded all our things onto a 30 seater pump boat and traveled for a little under 3 hours to Tubajon. We were all tired but we were able to land right in front of the resort we were staying at, which is a major improvement from having to walk from the dock on the other side of town.
We had our first dinner there at another house right next door to where we were staying and had all our meals there. Then we had our first team meeting, going over the agenda and schedule for the next few days and trying to offer advice and make sure everyone knew what to expect. Then we all got some rest for Sunday morning, when the team would be leading worship for the local church there. The service went very well, with all the people in attendance we had to meet in the gym near the church to make sure there was seating enough for everyone. Hayden and Harper led singing while Brian preached and then Arnel got up and led his congregation in a Cebuano hymn or two.
Later that afternoon we had a basketball tournament where we were sharing the Gospel in between games and advertising the Bible Studies and VBS we were going to have the rest of the week. There were only minor injuries, mostly to Rosie, who tried to stick her fingers into a metal fan (!) and came out with only two little bitty cuts on her fingers.
Even with the little amount that we had done up to that point the stress was already killing me and Hollie. We were getting short with one another and, I'm sure, with others on the team. We have never done anything like this and even though we knew that in the Philippines nothing goes as planned we (read Jeff) hoped that having Americans in the mix would somehow even that out; because that makes sense right?
After a quick pep-talk from Brian later that evening we thought we were ready to start Monday off right and begin our Door-to-Door evangelism and Prayer Walking Groups. They went pretty well, it didn't take long to get everyone set up and on their way to where they needed to be and so I could concentrate on visiting church members with Arnel. But then the first scheduling "issue" came up. It was too hot for some of the Americans (not to mention that every one of them was experiencing jet-lag) and so they had to stop what they were doing and get back to the resort to cool down. Not a major issue, in fact an ok one to have: people were recognizing their own limits and didn't push themselves past in an attempt to simply do work and be busy. The only downside was that they had a lot of free time on their hands (to me at least), with up to six hours of free time because we couldn't do VBS or anything else for kids in the afternoon because Filipino kids are in school during this time of year, plus the early afternoon heat is awful for everyone.
So we made the decision to let people decide when to call their morning, no earlier then 10, no later than 11.30, so that everyone could be back in time for lunch. After rest time we had our first VBS and it was quick and semi-painless affair, which is good because the person who planned it out (Hollie) couldn't be there for the first few because the girls were napping. After we cleaned up the minimal mess from VBS we got back to the resort, ate dinner and got ready to be back a little later for the Bible Studies. These were my baby, where the Americans were helping to show some of the church members how easy leading an evangelistic Bible Study was supposed to be. When we got to the gym to meet the throngs of unbelievers who were supposed to be filling up the place waiting to hear about Jesus, we only found little kids playing basketball. Man, the disappointment was almost palpable. While we were waiting to see if there was going to be some guys who wanted to have a Study, we learned that we were invited to the Mayor's Office the next morning, and that meeting was a big deal, and everyone had to be in attendance, scheduling issue no.2, no more morning Door-to-Door or prayer walking the next day.
 |
| photo of SBC Tubajon by Jessica Lambiase |
The guys who wanted to have the Bible Study finally showed and when we found out that it was enough for one group Brian took the other guys back to their rooms while I got down to business with the small group. This group ended up being a HUGE surprise blessing, because Arnel and I have been praying for a small group of young passionate guys that we could train as pastor/church planters and send them out throughout the Tubajon region. With the exception of maybe one or two guys, we now have a group of trainable young men to work with and possibly send out into the wide open mission field that is Tubajon.
So the week went about as planned for the rest of the time. Aside from our visit to the Mayor's office (another post!)and the ensuing zaniness that event happened to cause, and one other event (yet another post!) it was fairly smoothish sailing. While I am glad that the whole stressful planning process is over, we have definitely learned quite a bit about how to plan and execute a mission trip. We are blessed to be apart of what God is doing here in the Philippines, in the next few weeks I hope to update everyone here on what we have planned as follow-up for the next few months (at least!).
No comments:
Post a Comment