Born to be Wild

Daycare Field Trip to the Zoo

Dear friends & family,

Many of us consider the animals in a zoo "wild". However, I'd like to introduce to you a different class of wild - a class that's even more fierce, fearless, and wonderful - the "Class of 2011-2012" from our Educational Daycare!

Full of energy and excitement, our daycare students
climb onto a rented "jeepney" headed to Avalon Zoo.
(From left-to-right: Ally, Rhian, Nichole, Levi)

That's right - these kids aren't tame. But I love 'em. Recently we had the opportunity to take our daycare students outside the congested city on a field trip to the beautiful Avalon Zoo. This was the perfect place to teach them all about the diverse wildlife found in the Philippines and around the world. Even for such imaginative young minds, God's creation proved more fantastic and complex than they'd ever imagined. Lions, tigers, and bears are only the beginning of a vast collection of species that we discovered at the zoo. Many of the students' mothers who accompanied us were also blessed by this time of bonding and growth with their children.

Actually, I miss spending time with the kids these days! I realize how ironic that might seem, since my purpose for being in the Philippines is to serve the children and families in urban poverty. However, for now I'm still in Tagalog language school on weekdays in Quezon City - which is fairly far away from our programs for street kids. I'm just reminding myself daily that the more Tagalog I know, the better I'll be able to serve the urban poor in the long-run.

My daily life in Quezon City is not without it's own unique adventures though. Next door to my apartment building is a building under construction, and I'm often practising my Tagalog with the workers there. Most construction workers here don't have it easy. Every day they work from dawn to dusk in the immense heat, and every night they sleep in the rubble of the work-site. They may not see their wives or families for months. Sometimes when I'm walking home from the market, I'll share some snacks and conversation with them. One day they began asking if I had any shirts or shorts that I could give them. In fact, they'd even point at the very clothes I was wearing and ask if I could spare them - "kahit luma" ("even if they're old/used"). In truth, I have plenty of clothes that I rarely wear, most of which are too big to give to the street kids or youth. So one day I met with the men on their break and brought a stack of my clothes to distribute to them. They were each so happy to pick out a t-shirt or a pair of shorts from my collection that many of them said "Pasko na!" ("it's Christmas!"). Now, whenever I walk by the construction site, it makes my day to see them all wearing my clothes!

In other news, one of the workers and leaders of IT Tender (one the teams I work with) named Gela Basiwa has been teaching many of the workers in our little community church how to do case studies of urban poor children. For each of our children's programs (including the daycare), my teammates and churchmates are writing extensive case studies that detail the background of each child and their family. Ate ("Sister") Gela has been studying social work in college part-time for the last couple years, so it's been a blessing for both her and the team to apply her knowledge in our programs.

To write the case studies, we go into the community and meet
the children where they live - in their homes and in the streets.

An outside view of the homes of some of the kids in our children's programs.

Tata (one of the young workers in our church) gathers information
from the kids during her first experience in case-study writing.

Tin Tin (top-right) meets with Ate ("Sister") Marisa (left) and her daughter
Nina. Our church is sponsoring Nina to attend elementary school.
Two of Ate Marisa's other children are also  students in our daycare.

Finally, I'm thankful to announce that my 2-year missionary Visa application was approved! I'm just waiting for the Immigration Office to follow-up on setting an appointment to pick it up, give my fingerprints, and finalize the process.

Thanks for reading! Take care and continue being a blessing to others.

John

Family Bonding

Dear family & friends,

If there's anything I've learned about the culture here, it's that family is central to the Filipino identity. Family comes first. In the slums, the tension between trying to hold one's family together while continually failing to provide for them is enough to tear a family apart - despite the central importance of family.

My team and I are in the business of repairing broken families in these communities. Last Saturday, we held our own "Family Day" celebration in which we brought 85 clients from our outreach programs to a beautiful resort in Laguna, Philippines. This was a rare opportunity for the parents to completely relax, to enjoy the blessings of abundant food and bonding, and to attend training sessions on how to maintain a healthy family amidst their struggles.

Here's a "photo tour" of the outing so you can vicariously share in the joy these families experienced. You can follow the details of each event through the captions...

A busload of excited kids, parents, and staff
arrives at the resort at the break of dawn.

My first big test of the year - my teammates ask me to lead

the opening prayer completely in Tagalog. It's a delight for

the families to witness my efforts in learning their language.

Pastor John leads a devotion with the men and opens a dialogue
on the roles and responsibility of the father in the family.

Gela and Princess lead a devotion and seminar for the mothers.

My teammates Cecile, Jizza, Gabby, & Ryan lead the children in
a devotion and discussion on the advocacy of children's rights.

Toph, Lorna and I engage kids ages 2-5 in storytelling and colouring activities. 

Amongst other events, we enjoyed worship songs, prayer,
and a talk from Pastor Joshua on the role of Christ in the family.

We enjoyed family bonding at it's best with some teambuilding games.
For most, it was their first opportunity to experience swimming in a pool.

A little healthy competition through a relay activity promoting
problem-solving, trust, and the role of each family member.

Just enjoying being silly! After hours of play with the kids,
I agreed that this was the most fun I'd had in ages!

Food, food, and more delicious, healthy food.

...whew, all that fun and relaxation is exhausting!

Thanks for following along and keeping up with me here. And thank you also for taking a moment to pray anytime for these families. Your continued prayer is a blessing to our team's ever-growing family here in the Philippines.

John

"Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." - Psalm 90:12

Hi there friends & family!

As I take on things here one day at a time, I just want to touch base and share a few brief updates on what's going on. There's a few things for which I need your prayer and a lot of things for which we can be immensely thankful and excited for...

1) Tomorrow I have an interview/hearing at the Immigration Office as the final step in a very long application process for my 2-year Missionary Visa. Please pray that all will go smoothly!

2) "Kahit mahirap ang Tagalog, marami ang pinag-aaralan ko kasi magaling ang aking mga guro." In English I believe that means, "Even though Tagalog is difficult, I'm learning so much because my teachers are excellent." ...That or I might have said, "I pooped in the refrigerator and ate the whole wheel of cheese"...sorry, I'm not always sure what I'm saying when I speak Tagalog :). So continue to pray for my studies.

3) On February 10th, Pastor Joshua, Teacher Toph, and myself will attend an orientation at a place called The Institute for Foundational Learning. This is in preparation to send the teachers from our informal daycare/school (including myself) to receive FORMAL training and a detailed curriculum for teaching preschool and kindergarten education. I'm so proud of my Filipino friends for stepping-up to the challenge of making our little educational daycare a formally organized and accredited outreach for street kids.

4) Over the last couple weeks, I'm thankful to have had the opportunity to meet with and learn from some great Canadian friends and mentors currently visiting the Philippines. Hart & Ginny Wiens from WMB Church came "home" to visit the Philippines, where they'd spent many years serving as missionaries in a northern province with SIL and the Canadian Bible Society. Neil & Yvonne Ostrander, also from WMB, came to drop in on International Teams Philippines (Neil is the Director of International Teams Canada). But they also came to meet their very first grandchild! You've already seen pictures of her in my blog - Isabella is also a goddaughter of mine. Neil & Yvonne enjoyed plenty of quality time with their son Brett (my friend and fellow ITC missionary), their Filipino daughter-in-law Grace, and baby Bella.

Neil says a blessing over his granddaughter Bella at her dedication service.

My other goddaughter Micah is already one year old!
I often visit her and her parents - Mackie & Lerma.

Quality time with "Ninong" (Godfather) John

5) Finally, I've been thinking and praying a lot about how I can best use my particular training and gifts to continue helping provide an education for street children in the Philippines. After I graduate from language school, that will be my number one priority. Our educational daycare is already quite self-sustaining, and while I'll continue to assist and empower the Filipino workers/teachers there, I know there is so much more that I can do beyond the daycare. To really help impoverished children in a manner that is culturally-appropriate, empowering, holistic, and sustainable (each of which is as challenging as it is important) I need to undertake a LOT of research and networking with both government and non-government organizations here who are already experts in the field of Filipino education and poverty. Please pray for direction and guidance as I look forward to how God can further stretch me in this field. Please also pray for some of the dreams I've been having for the future. I've been a bit hesitant to share them, as they're quite large in scale and still a very long way off - hence the word "dreams". Nevertheless, I'm praying about the possibility of one day establishing or partnering with others to establish an "orphanage-with-a-school" for abandoned street children. BUT, that is the kind of dream that takes a lifetime of work, much more experience than I yet have, and many, many skilled hands. Of course, nothing is too great or impossible for God. Let's just see first how I can manage the few programs/ministries He has thus far entrusted me with - and we'll faithfully and patiently wait for what's in store for the future.

Thank you for your support, encouragement, and prayers. You may not have known, but you are in my thoughts and prayers too!

John

Snow in the Philippines, Gastrointestinal Catastrophes, and Much More from my Philanthropic Philippine Adventure

Close friends Heather & Scott visit the slums where creative
communities transform broken-down vans into homes.

Dear family and friends,

Throughout my trips to the Philippines, I've visited many emergency wards here. It's never fun visiting children or close friends who've contracted Dengue Fever, TB, or other ailments common in the Philippines. Late last night, I hurried to the emergency ward for the first time as a patient. Being the stubborn young missionary that I am, I was trying to ignore stomach pains that had been bothering me since 2 pm yesterday. I actually excused myself three times from my Tagalog class that afternoon to throw up. Each time I felt a bit better, so I figured I was getting rid of whatever stomach bug I had. However, when I tried to sleep last night, a sharp pain in my abdomen persisted and became so painful that I finally accepted that I wasn't going to be able to "sleep it off". I called up my schoolmate David (a Chinese missionary), and we took a taxi to the hospital at 11 pm accompanied also by his Filipino wife Norma and my language school principal Nenette. Thankfully, the pain became bearable after the doctor gave me some drugs, and a blood test revealed that I had a gastrointestinal bug that would naturally leave my system in a matter of hours. Thanks to the prayers of my Filipino friends and their speedy help, I already feel great today! I also thank God for my quick recovery and for the opportunity He gave Norma to share her faith with the patient in the bed next to mine. I could hear their conversation as I was waiting for my blood test results.

Please don't take that one story as a picture of how I've been doing lately here. I had a wonderful Christmas season with Filipino friends and family, despite being far from home. Actually, I had two close friends visit for the holidays - Heather Kendall and Scott Weber. They stayed here from Dec 21-29, and in that brief time we experienced as much of Filipino culture as possible. You'll see from the following pictures that I brought them to the slums to experience some of the poverty here in the Philippines. In contrast, we also went to the biggest mall in Asia - appropriately named "The Mall of Asia" - where we went ice skating at Christmas and chased fake snowflakes that fell from the ceiling.

Squatters stack their shanties in order to manage overpopulation.

 Heather & Scott quickly fall in love with the urban poor children.

 Nothing is more fun for me than playing silly games with kids.

 

Even in a tropical climate you'll find Canadian

hosers trying to keep their sticks on the ice, eh.

Our dreams of a white Christmas come true!

We also enjoyed a Christmas party and gift exchange at my Filipino Church - Jesus King of Kings Community Church. At the party, we made sure everyone in the community received a gift and every family received a bag of groceries courtesy of my team. As I mentioned in my last blog entry, for a week at Christmas my team/church adopted six children from the mountains who'd tragically lost both their parents in 2011. Heather, Scott, and I were able to spend some time playing with these kids at the party, and I helped tuck them into bed at night at my team leader's home. I was so moved when each of them said "Goodnight Kuya John ("Big Brother John"), I love you!" I was also inspired by the independence of the older siblings who fed, changed, and really took care of all the needs of their younger siblings. However, that's not unique to their family situation, as those qualities are common for older siblings in the Philippines. Children learn how to be parents at a very young age here.

 My good friend Toph leads our church in some carol singing at the Christmas party.

The "parol" is a traditional Filipino Christmas decoration seen

everywhere outside homes and in the streets at Christmastime.

 Teaching Ishmael how to make finger puppets at the Christmas party.

 Anne and I put Ishmael and his siblings to bed in Anne's home.

Scott & Heather experience their first jeepney ride!

The jeepney is a common mode of public transportation here.

 Scott & Heather discover that you can buy anything at the "Sari-Sari Store".

These common little shops sell everything from single-size

soaps and shampoos to snacks and one-penny cigarettes.

 That's right, we rented scooters for Christmas! Obviously I had no

clue what I was getting myself into (...as you can see from the sign).

 You can't visit the Philippines without sampling the delicious mangoes...

...or the famous Filipino delicacy known as "balut" -

the scrumptuous, pre-hatched chicken fetus.

And I leave you with this tasty image of Scott devouring chick fetus.

In other news, I've moved out of the dorm and into my very own apartment just a 30-second walk down the road from my language school! I finally have a kitchen to cook my own meals in. I'll have to learn how to cook rice Filipino-style, as my new fridge came with a free rice cooker. School is going well and I'm learning lots of Tagalog each day. My goal is still to become reasonably fluent first, then I will return to a more prominent role in our programs for street children. Please keep the Philippines in your prayers!  Thanks for following along with my adventures!

John