Mid-week thoughts

Oh Dear Friends…

What an incredible day this was. EmEm and I were up and moving around 5am and at the day care by 7. Em led devotions for the staff members, teaching out of Psalm 46 (God is our refuge and strength). We spent the rest of the morning helping the three ladies cook for the children.

**Side note: As a means of precaution, I won’t be using the real names of the believers in this community. Any names you read in my updates are aliases.**
After learning how to make the food, wash the dishes (in a very particular way, I might add) and helping to serve the children, Em and I got to walk around the community a little bit. Kuya (Older brother) Craig introduced us to a few children and their families. One of the MBBs in the community is having his house rebuilt, so his previous home needed to be torn down. We were blessed to assist with the demolition. I decided I would do well on a demolition crew…it’s kind of fun ripping things apart. Our productivity ended short though when I so graciously stepped on a nail, poking through my shoe and into my foot. :P Leave it to me to end the fun! We went back to the day care, got cleaned up, and enjoyed a delicious lunch with the staff members.

Around 3, the staff met together to begin our study through Proverbs. Despite the language barriers and the lack of understanding we have of this culture, Em and I were able to read through and talk about the high points of the 1st 6 chapters. God was faithful! Our method has been to ask questions about the text. “What does wisdom mean? What does God say about temptation, parenting, etc? What does it mean to fear God?” We got some INCREDIBLE and unexpected responses from this group. It’s neat to see how much they know and what things we are teaching them for the first time. Pray that God gives us wisdom as we teach. It’s hard to relate to a different culture when you don’t know what’s normal for people (I.E. what are their cliché phrases or inside jokes or methods of parenting or understanding of…???) We are doing a lot of LISTENING and LEARNING and PRAYING. Continue to pray that God gives US wisdom while we teach about it. Also, we just found out today that we’ll be teaching another weekly class on Thursdays about the book of James. WE NEED GOD’S UNDERSTANDING AND STRENGTH! (A little creativity might be helpful too!)

Unspiritually, one thing I love about the Philippines so far is that they eat about 6 times a day. Breakfast, mirienda (snack), lunch, mirienda, dinner, (and for night-owls) mirienda!!! Meals are smaller, but for rice lovers and people that just like to munch, this is the place for you! For our afternoon mirienda, Kuya Adam bought us “banana-que” and “some-other-fruit-name-I-forgot-que.” They’re fresh fruits, dipped in sugar and fried. DELICIOUS.

Em and I are learning to love roaches and heat. God is faithful to help us through even the small things that are difficult. These are SMALL prices to pay for the service of other believers and the glory of God.

I PROMISE PICTURES ARE COMING!
Blessings.