The past few days have been a test of patience as Rachel and I have had to sit and watch the rest of our teammates move on with their ministries. As it turns out, Samaritana hasn't given us the go yet; because they have so few staff and so many foreigners (the InterVarsity team) coming to work with them already, they are trying to decide whether they have room for Rachel and I to join their volunteer team this summer. That is completely understandable, considering we asked to join so last-minute. Hopefully we will know sometime this week.
This past weekend, we saw our teammates, Daniel and Rebecca, move into the slums community to stay with their host families without clean running water or electricity, and with a higher likelihood of catching some kind of illness through food or polluted rain water. As we visited them on Saturday so we could help teach at the community school, we saw how they've already started building relationships and making an impact in that community.
We also saw our other teammates, Jacque and Elizabeth, leave the room Saturday evening to meet upstairs with the UP Diliman Navs leadership team for their orientation. When they came back down, they were laughing with excitement as they told us about how friendly everyone was, their plans to tour the campus, housing accommodations, leadership opportunities and evangelism. Yesterday, we dropped them off at the house they will be staying in close to the UP campus.
Meanwhile, Rachel and I have been spending as much time as we could with our teammates before we separated, laughing together, telling stories and encouraging one another. To tell you the truth, it hasn't felt like much of a mission trip so far, and I've been wrestling with feelings of guilt for that.
As James (our team leader) tells us, based on past short-termers' experiences, they have found it best that we do it this way -- spend the first week doing orientation and just hanging out as a team so we pace ourselves and adjust to the new culture instead of jumping right into ministry and getting burnt out quickly.
That makes sense to me, but it's been so weird sitting around and seemingly doing nothing, especially since Rachel and I are the only ones not jumping into our ministries quite yet.
But we are going slowly but steadily.
On Friday, we attended the Young Professionals (YP) Bible study that Ate Jean and Kuya Bobot also minister to. Before I talk about the group, first let me say that, originally, Rachel and I thought we would hear from Samaritana by this past Sunday. Also, there was a possibility that, instead of working with the PUP ministry for the two weeks prior to working with Samaritana, we would be able to live in the slums community with the former prostitutes and build relationships with them before we all headed to the Samaritana center. But if that weren't to work out, Rachel and I would be helping Ate Jean and Kuya Bobot with their PUP and Young Professionals ministry.
Anyway, this was a group of approximately 24 to 32-year-olds who were so friendly and mature. They welcomed us in as we all shared together of how God had played different roles in our lives that week, saying such things as, "God is my Refuge" and "God is my Father."
Yesterday Rachel and I spent the afternoon with Ate Jean, getting to know each other and spending a lot of time in prayer, specifically for wisdom and discernment. We knew that there was need in the PUP ministry because there are such few laborers -- Ate Jean and Kuya Bobot are the only ones meeting one-on-one with the students, and it is difficult for them to do so. Rachel and I are more than willing to help for the first two weeks while we are not serving with Samaritana, but if Samaritana does accept us, we will pick up and leave behind whatever relationships we have begun.
Do you see the need for discernment? We are waiting on a ministry we have a strong desire of working with, but we can't sit around for a week doing nothing while we wait. So because there is need in the PUP ministry, we will help Ate Jean and Kuya Bobot. But there is risk that once we build these relationships with the students, we will have to pull out too soon to go work with Samaritana. We might do the students harm in this way. But if do nothing all week, Samaritana does not work out and we end up working with the PUP ministry after all, we will have wasted a week we could have spent building relationships with PUP students.
We read 2 Chronicle 20, the passage I referenced at the beginning of this post. When Jehoshaphat didn't know what to do, he immediately resolved to inquire of the Lord. He started by recounting how God had provided in the past, claiming the promises of God, presenting the problem, and then asking God to direct them.
God replied that the battle was not theirs but His -- that they were to merely take up their positions, stand firm and see the deliverance He would give them. Ate Jean, Rachel and I took such encouragement from that passage. We have to trust that the Lord knows what He is up to. Whether Samaritana works out or not, He has entrusted this PUP ministry to us now. But He goes before us, preparing the paths and fighting the battles. We need only take up our positions, make ourselves available to His work, and watch His deliverance. We need not be afraid, but "go out and face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with [us]" (vs. 17).
If Samaritana can take us and the time comes for us to pull out, we will trust that the Lord will have used our short time with PUP and that He accomplished what He set out to do. And if Samaritana cannot take us, we will trust that PUP if where the Lord wanted us the whole time after all.
Does that make sense? I hope so, because it is an encouragement. And while this mission trip is looking a lot different than what I thought it would look like, I am starting to know the Lord's peace in this.
While the past few days have tested my patience, God has also been so faithful in answering prayer. As I said in my last post, I have a heart for women in bondage to sexual sin. Coming into this trip, I was praying I would be able to use that passion somehow in the Philippines. If Samaritana works out, that might be one way to do so. But God has provided another opportunity:
Saturday evening, Ate Jean and James pulled me aside and told me they had been praying about the testimony I had shared with them, and they asked me if I would be willing to share my testimony and give resources and encouragement to the PUP students, Young Professionals and the Nav staff children. They said that sexual sin, namely pornography, is a big thing here in the Philippines, and they know of particular men and women struggling with it.
I don't know when yet, but if the schedule works out, I will have this opportunity! Ate Jean also knows of a couple women struggling with this whom she wants me to with meet one-on-one to encourage. I am more than excited to do this, and it's an exact answer to prayer that, once again, I am in awe of how God answered!
So stay tuned for how God continues to work.
In other news, here in the Philippines it costs more to use a restroom at the mall than it does for public transportation. If your bathroom has toilet paper, paper towel and soap, you're fairly high class. Let me tell you, I took full advantage of that restroom today. ;)
--Karla
On Saturday, we paired up and taught different grades at Kuya Willy's school
(which he started for the slums community to have access to free education).
I paired up with my teammate Elizabeth. The first class we taught were 4 to 7-year-olds.
We taught them their ABCs and numbers, and it was very difficult because they barely
speak English. We ran out of material to teach them in the first half hour, so for the
next hour, we did a bunch of flash cards and Simon Says and random exercises,
anything they could understand. They were adorable, but it was fairly miserable, haha.
The second class was third year high school (so around 14-years-old), and we taught
English. We weren't given the lesson until we walked into the classroom, so we had to
relearn the material as we taught because we hadn't seen this material since high school!
We made a lot of mistakes and most of the time, the students just stared at us. But one of the
best feelings is teaching them something and seeing almost all the students nod their heads,
their eyes lit up with understanding as they say, "Oh!" The girls especially were very sweet,
and asked for our names so they could look us up on Facebook (some of the families in
the community have Internet access).
After teaching, we spent some time with the kids, playing jump rope.
The girl in this picture is Rachelle, one of the girls in our first class.
Halo-halo! I have memories of this dessert,
so being able to eat this often is so good for my soul!
For some of us picky eaters, the restaurant Inasal has become a favorite.
We have gone more than five times now. So good.
View of the city streets from the bridge over the freeway.
View of the Jeepneys grunting behind us, much like bumper cars, though their
bold colors remind me of race cars. Taken from the back of a Jeepney as the sounds
of whistles, honks, engines, brakes, yelling and pounding music filled my ears.
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