"Maligayang Pasko!" ("Merry Christmas!" in Tagalog)

Happy holidays dear family & friends!

The Philippines may not be a winter wonderland at Christmas, but the last week has been nothing short of wonderful for my team. In just four days, we threw six huge Christmas parties, sharing such an abundance of joy and gifts that we almost put Santa Claus out of business here... ;).

Four of the parties were for children (two parties in Metro Manila and two in a more rural province called Laguna). Another party was for our church (which my friend Brett is pastoring), and the last one for youth. The largest party took place on the street in front of our apartment building - 300 kids came, plus many parents! We asked permission from the local government to barricade off the street. This was a carnival-style party with sack races, mini-golf, ring toss, bowling, cotton candy, ice cream, chocolate fondue, and much more. The kids from our church even prepared a dance number for the event. I've never witnessed so many smiling faces at one time, and the party lasted for hours. We're thanking God for making this event possible, because with our limited resources and manpower, we knew we couldn't pull it off on our own.

Balloons float down from the rooftop as kids applaud a dance number at the party.


Smiling with a purple ice-cream mustache.


Putting through a round of mini-golf.


The two greatest things in the world: friendship and cotton candy.


Packing the streets with as many children as possible.

At one of the locations of our Christmas parties, many homes and a church were destroyed by the latest typhoon. However, the locals now worship under a large tarp and praise God for the blessings they still have. We even happened to witness over 20 people being baptized in a river as a public declaration of their faith. Besides sharing Christmas gifts and food with the children, we also gave groceries to the parents.

Offering a bag of groceries to a mother affected by the Typhoon.

In other news, I recently met two kids who live in a squatter community near our apartment. Their names are Paolo and Jabe (brothers of age 6 and 8). They are homeless, and they beg in the streets daily for money. This is common here. Recently their father was put in jail with a life sentence for committing multiple murders. We were able to give them a shower in our church. We also gave them a box of new clothes, and I picked up some sandals for them when I noticed they didn't have any footwear. I was happy to see them show up at our big carnival Christmas party.

Paolo and Jabe.

Finally, I want to wish you a very, very, merry Christmas! I pray that God impresses great joy and thankfulness upon you as we meditate on the greatest gift I know, and the real reason behind this holiday - the life and the sacrifice of Christ. Merry Christmas and much love!

Medical Mission and Early Christmas Parties

Hello again!

I'm so excited to share with you my favourite experience of my Philippines trip thus far. From Monday Nov 30th to Wednesday Dec 2nd, my team traveled to the remote regions of Botolan and Kanawan. We came to bring medical support, groceries, Christmas gifts, and lots of joy.

On Monday, we joined with another church from Manila to run a medical mission. Many doctors came as volunteers to provide free health care in Botolan for the day. Jared (also from Elmira) and I helped out as dental assistants. We washed the dentists' tools between patients and held patients' heads as they were operated on. On Tuesday, we hosted a Christmas party for the children. We gave a drama presentation about the Christmas story, sang Tagalog Christmas songs, provided a meal, and gave each child a bag of toys and essentials. That night, we traveled to an even more remote community amidst the mountains and jungles of Kanawan. Here, we threw another Christmas party for the children (again providing food and gifts). We also provided groceries for the parents.

Now, let me give you a clearer picture of my most memorable experiences in Kanawan. On this brief trip, my faith in God and in love grew tenfold, and I can only describe a couple moments that might reflect that. Upon first arriving, we had to hike past mountains and across hanging bridges to reach the Kanawan tribe and their bamboo huts. Before the hike, kids came running up to our van to meet us with such incredible joy and kind introductions (it was great practice of my limited Tagalog). All the children were quick to carry our bags and supplies. The first thing we did upon arriving was go for a swim in a river that hugged rock walls and rushed through rapids. The children took MY hand to ensure my safety, and I marvelled at their boldness in diving into shallow waters. The next day, after experiencing the great pleasure of giving our Christmas presentations, distributing gifts, and sharing food, Jared and I climbed a small mountain with two of the teenage natives there. The view of God's creation was breathtaking...and despite already losing my breath from the climb, it was what I needed. Afterwards, we went swimming in another river with the children, and at this point I felt I'd already built relationships with some of the kids (...actually, just the previous night, some of the kids I'd connected with were sticking their hands through my window and handing me candies they could probably barely afford). While we were in the river, something both hilarious and powerful happened. One of the kids brought a small packet of shampoo, and they began washing my hair and my dirty feet. I was overwhelmed with their love and kindness, and at the same time I couldn't stop laughing. I should have been the one coming to provide hygiene care for them!! What a humbling experience.

So while the newspapers here were talking about the horrible mass killing that occured in Maguindanao, Philippines, I was experiencing the love and joy of young children in the jungles and mountains. Despite the terrible things that the news focuses on, I was able to witness a great capacity for love in children.

Hi there!

November is coming to an end, and everyone here is buzzing with excitement for Christmas. In fact, Christmas music was playing in the malls when I first arrived at the beginning of November. My team (the YM or "Youth Mobilization" Team) is also very excited for the many Christmas parties we will run starting this week. We will be hosting these parties for the children in particularly impoverished communities, including communities that have been affected by the recent typhoon. On Monday, our team will go on a 3-day trip to some rural communities in Botolan and Kanawan...there we will have a medical mission and a few Christmas parties.

Here's an update on what I've been up to for the last week though. Each day, I commuted by bus to Alabang (which is a one-hour ride from my place in Makati...both places are part of Metro Manila). In Alabang, one of our sister teams under International Teams runs a ministry called IT Tender (led by Pastor John - who is the best friend of the leader of my team, Pastor Joshua). I was able to help out with their weekly routine.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoon we provided a healthy meal to the street children in the community. IT Tender also provides a program for them which typically includes songs, games, and bible lessons. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, a squatter community living underneath an overpass comes to the IT Tender Center. We enjoyed meals with them, along with songs and fellowship. They each also took turns having a bath in the washroom (their only opportunity for a proper bath). This week, IT Tender provided a three-day seminar for mothers in the community which taught cooking, hygiene tips, and family planning. A government worker from the nearby Health Center volunteered her time to come help teach the seminar. Every Thursday afternoon, the Tender team goes to a very poor squatter community and provides food and a program for the children. I had the opportunity to organize a game and lead a song in Tagalog with those children (...believe it or not, I memorized all the lyrics and guitar chords for my first Tagalog song! yes, I'm very proud of that). On Saturday we provided groceries for families affected by the typhoon. Although right after the typhoon, the government provided food for families that were displaced from their homes and who came to government-run shelters, but many families decided to stay in their flooded homes and weren't provided with any aid. Pastor John recognized this and decided to create this grocery plan for them (I was able to help him shop for the groceries and package them). FINALLY, on Sunday we took thirteen kids from Alabang to the Manila Zoo for the day, which was great fun not only for them, but for me too, :).

Here are some pics from those experiences for you to enjoy...

A father and daughter from the squatter community living under an overpass who came to enjoy a meal, a bath, and some fellowship.

The groceries we packed for victims of the typhoon.

Enjoying a boat ride at the Manila Zoo.

Magandang umaga! ("Good morning!" - in Tagalog)

I've just returned to my apartment after staying one week in the city of Caloocan. My Filipino friend Mackie lent me his camera, so you can see pictures of my ministries there! As you can see, Caloocan is another impoverished area brimming with tightly packed shanties...
For the week, I volunteered in a church called Light of Men. The pastor (Pastora Betty) is also a teacher, and the church provides free schooling for the children in the area. This is a huge deal, because most schools here require a tuition fee that poor families simply cannot afford. I was able to help out at the school each day. In the morning during school, we provided a meal for the school children. Each afternoon, we provided a meal for all the children in the area (over 70 children).



Here are some other tidbits on what I was up to in Caloocan... Upon request from the pastor, I led a prayer meeting every morning at 5:30 am (yes, 5:30 am!!). In the evenings, I enjoyed fellowship and worship with the youth. The church basketball team had a game one evening (basketball is the most popular sport here), and I was their "stand-in coach"...of course, we won. Also, my newfound friends took me on many tours of the area to meet with various families in their homes - I heard many inspiring and heartbreaking stories of poverty, corruption, and redemption on these trips.

Tonight I'm attending a free concert in Manila with some of the friends I met in Cavite. Then starting tomorrow, I will be going to Alabang city each day for one week. I will actually come back to my apartment each evening, as it's not too far of a commute. Hopefully that will give me the chance to communicate with some of you personally by email/skype/facebook this week!

Take care!

Cavite City

Hi friends & family!

I've spent the last week in Cavite City (a few hours drive from Manila) on the first stop of my "mission-work tour". There were two main goals to accomplish in Cavite: firstly to feed the street children and secondly to assist in a small, one-room school.

Thanks to the donations from my supporters, I was able to fund a feeding for street children everyday from Tuesday to Saturday. The kids arrived at the church at 4pm, and with the much-needed help of the church members, I led games, songs, stories, and of course, we provided a meal. On the first day, 40 hungry but energetic kids turned out. By the last day, 75 kids came and packed the church!! Every single child was fed, and I could see the joy they experienced from the games and songs. Each morning, I assisted the teacher in the preschool-gr.2 one-room school in the church. I taught phonics for their English and read a story everyday (which was translated into Tagalog by the teacher).

Unfortunately, I can't show pictures of these experiences, as my digital camera was stolen midway through the week. On the bright side, whoever took it surely needs it more than I do (they'll likely sell it). As sad as I was to lose it, I actually found I was more present with the children for the rest of the week - I wasn't distracted with taking the best picture, but I was fully engaged in the activities.

Let me rewind to the start of the week though...when I first arrived in Cavite, I was truly terrified. I was dropped off at a church in the slums, but my friends in Manila told me I'd be taken care of by the people there. My room was small and dank with bare concrete walls. My bed was a few wooden benches pushed together with a blanked laid on top. My roommates were ants, mosquitoes, and cockroaches. While the church had a toilet, there was no seat, no lever to flush it, and no toilet paper. And for bathing, they provided a bucket and a scooper to pour the water on myself. All of this sounds negative, but really, it was a blessing for this experience to breakdown my heavily ingrained wants for comfort and indulgences. The truth is that the Filipinos in this church took wonderful care of me during my stay. They provided a personal aide named Edmond - the 28-year old caretaker of the church and supply teacher in the one-room school. He always made sure I was content, safe, and well-fed. By their standards, they were truly pampering me. I'm very thankful for that.

While I don't have time here for many stories, let me just give some background on Edmond. He works full-time in the church for 150 pesos a week ($3.50 Cdn) - enough for him to eat three days a week (the other days he goes home to his parents' for meals). This is all the church can afford to pay him, but he's so happy to serve the community in this way. He was once a gang leader and still has permanent scars from those days. He explained how the slums in Cavite are entrenched not only in poverty, but in crime, gambling, addiction, rape, and prostition (eg. prostition is the "norm", not the exception, for girls as young as 15). These things and poverty are so interconnected, but I can't say poverty leads to crime. Surely it puts pressure on people to act out of desperation or depression though. Edmond is poor, but is so good and compassionate. I respect that him and the church here want to offer not only feedings and schooling, but of course they offer something spiritually. This gives the people who are feeling hopeless something encouraging and bigger to live for, and is often the reason why people like Edmond now give more than he would take back when he was a gang leader. I hope that those who don't agree with religion can still recognize how this can be a good thing. Personally, I'm trying to serve and feed the poor with no strings attached (with no religious pressures), but I do appreciate helping people in every facet of their live - physically and spiritually.

Anyways, thanks for reading this essay! All my posts won't be this long, but I decided to write so much because tomorrow I'm leaving again to another city (called Caloocan) for a week.

My Crazy November

Hi there! I'm finally here in Manila, Philippines, and it's so amazing to be welcomed with countless hugs from the friends I've made on my previous trips here. I already miss everyone back at home, but it's nice to have a second home here.

After a brief couple days to settle into my apartment, I'm actually leaving this Sunday and going on the road for the month of November! Each week, for the next 3 weeks, I'll be in a different city and I'll be living with a different host family while volunteering at a local preschool/day-care for children in poverty. I've been asked to teach one lesson or activity each day at the various preschools...and I have just tomorrow (Saturday) to prepare! Talk about being thrown into the mission field head-first!

Also, while I'll be dropped off in each city by friends, I will actually not be working with anyone from my regular team during these 3 weeks. I'm going solo on this adventure. This experience will thus not only be great for some exposure to a variety of educational environments in the Philippines, but I'll also be submerged in Filipino culture and encouraged to make new friends. I will definitely be stretched to new limits this month. But on November 28th I will return to my apartment, and things will settle down a little. Don't be nervous if you do not hear from me much in the next 3 weeks, I will be in good hands with my host families. I will surely have some great stories after this adventure!!

Take care, and pray that I will have the energy and strength to serve the children I'll be meeting and teaching this month!

Goodbye Dear Friends!

Hi there! Thanks for checking out my blog! I just set it up, and I'll be using it to keep you posted on my ongoing activities in the Philippines. In the near future, you'll find stories, pictures, all that good stuff.

For now, wish me safe travels and keep me in your prayers as I fly out Wednesday, Nov 4th.