Fall Trusting

(Oops! This one actually written by KP)

During our team building day (Tues. Nov. 27) we had to do many activities in the bright, hot wonderful sun that we were blessed to work under. One of the activities was a trust fall. Not only did we do this with an individual partner but we did this as a group.

My partner Janice, who is also a teacher in the Tabitha Program as well as a worship leader - who incidently weighs only 42 lbs...err..42 kilos (she later corrected herself), came up to me and said, "I trust you." I promptly answered, "I'm not good at this trust thing!" (When you have to fall back into someone's waiting arms, there is no time to lie! Besides when I don't fall backwards, I think she'll know something's up!)

Janice falls effortlessly and trusting. Alas, after I put her arms only 3 - 5 inches behind me, so do I. (Ok...so I turned around a couple of times before I fell backwards, but who's counting!??!!)

Great success with that one! On to a new team building activity.

...Except that the new one is sort of like the last one: trusting others to catch you while you fall backwards in their arms 4.5 feet off the ground! Ok...I might have a little problem with this one!

Janice goes, then Glen, then another, then another...until there is only one person left who is going to fall...I go up the few steps that seem alot wondering if I'll really follow through. Another thought that comes into my mind is of course what happens if I fall down and my neck breaks or my spine splits...can anyone remember Joni Erickson Tada!!??? (Ok, so what if it was a dive into the water in her case....work with me...falling backwards is up there!) I mean you never know!??

Believe it or not I've only wasted 10 seconds thinking all of these thoughts. But by the time I yell, I'm falling....I am suddenly washed with a new feeling.

The whole time I watched other people go up the platform and fall, fear and amazment came over me. By the time I was walking up, there was only the feelings of fear, fear, and more fear. But IN the moment I decided I was going to fall...and I was falling, the feeling of peace washed over me.

So much of my life is characterized with fear; I am fearful of outcomes, fearful to reach for something and fearful of even the good things in life - that they can be mine. I so want to have the abundant joy/ life that Christ gives, and embrace it as my own, leaving the fear behind. I want to let go and jump off. Sometimes we don't get to choose where or what we jump off from or into - or even how. Backwards without seeing is NOT my first choice!! However, God, not people, are waiting. God is faithful. God is with me.

Fear, Fear, and more Fear....Peace! I want to be like Janice who says, "I trust you" God!
As the bed of arms caught me, I am suprised I want to do it again!! May it be so.

-KP

The Company You Keep

It's hard to believe it's already day 5 here in the Philippines. As you have read we have experienced so much in the last couple of days as a team that it seems like a huge task to even process.

One thing that impresses me is our amazing team:

Patrick - who is always ready to answer questions and guide.
Debbie - who is good at keeping us on track, and leads us in team worship.
Kim - who is easy to talk with and leads with listening ears.
Tammy - who is compassionate and prayerful about the animals around us that are starving and weak.
Hana - who suprises me with her humour, and is ready to claim for Christ what is already His!
Jean - who also suprises me with her humour, while she is ready and willing to help.
Tim - who is easy-going, trusting (us with his computer!) and ready to have kids climb all over him.
Alice - who is such an adventurer ready to try anything!
Alex - who teaches and prays with such power that we are truly witnessing God's Presence as she lives out her life's dream!

It has been a blessing to see how each of us fulfills a role here and how our skills and gifts work together for the common good. We bring with us our own styles, opinions and hang-ups, and I am thankful of how we bear with one another in true love, helping and serving one another...even if it's 'killing' a scrurrying roach!

-KP

Tabitha Feeding Program

Yesterday was our first day working with/observing the Tabitha Feeding Program.

The morning starts out with the kids coming in and taking part in a group activity like singing songs or having books read to them, while the pre-school aged children go to class. So much of the focus of the program is making sure that the children learn about hygiene and healthy bodies so each one is asked first if they had a shower within the past day. This seemed like a rude question to most of us, but I guess they are used to it now. (No, my co-workers, I will not start asking you every day now if you showered :) ). The organization of the program amazed me. I was impressed at how they had trained all the kids to follow their instruction. There were 70 or so kids ranging from babies (with mothers) to children aged 12.

Next up was the washing of hands. Each child lined up and washed their hands thoroughly while being watched by the leaders. Lunch time came after all the hard work of many ladies and the kids gobbled up their lunches. Some ate up every last morsel. You knew that was maybe all they had eaten since they were there the day before. After lunch, all the children brushed their teeth with the toothbrush with their name on it. We noticed that they liked to 'perform' for cameras so we would take lots of pictures to encourage them to keep brushing for longer!

Then all the children went home and it was time for our lunch. It all went by in a blur and we got to experience it all again today.

Guiding, training and feeding the children will (hopefully) lead to a brighter future for Agdao in Davao City.

Find the little boy in the blue plaid shirt from the photo

On the night that we arrived, in our jet lagged state, we were each given a photo of a young child. These photos reminded me of the World Vision photos that many have on their fridges at home. My photo is of a young boy (maybe 4?), wearing a cute button up short sleeved shirt (you know how cute it is when little kids wear little man clothes? that's him), shorts and he's smiling. We each received a photo and our task is to find this child during our two weeks here, find out about him/her, find out about his/her family, pray for him/her, and spend some time with them.

So far I know his name, I cheated and asked some neighbourhood kids! I couldn't quite understand them though so I'm not much further ahead. Tomorrow if our first day of working with the Tabetha Feeding Program, so hopefully he will be there. I wonder what he is like? Will he want to talk to me? Does he have many brothers and sisters? Probably.

I look forward to this child finding venture because the poverty here is overwhelming. And focusing on one child seems much more manageable than trying to think about all the kids that wander these streets. And as Mother Theresa said, "We can't all do great things, but we can all do small things with great love.". So, I will do one small thing and start with a smile and a hug when I find my new buddy for the next week and a half.

Lessons on Love

I'm reading a book right now called "No Greater Love" by Mother Theresa... the chapter i just finished reading was "On Love". i walked away with some tough-to-swallow-but-still-so-good concepts.

"In order for love to be genuine, it has to be above all a love for our neighbor. We must love those who are nearest to us, in our own family. From there, love spreads towards whoever may need us. It is easy to love those who live far away. It is not always easy to love those who live right next to us. It is easier to offer a dish of rice to meet the hunger of a needy person than to comfort the loneliness and the anguish of someone in our own home who does not feel loved. I want you to go and find the poor in your homes. Above all, your love has to start there. i want you to be the good news to those around you. I want you to be concerned about your next-door neighbor. Do you know who your neighbor is? True love is love that causes us pain, that hurts, and yet brings us joy. That is why we must pray to God and ask Him to give us the courage to love."

The courage to love? Ah, it all makes sense now...love and me aren't a natural thing...it's an intimidating, painful, frightening thing that comes with, in its own strange way, bliss, joy and peace.

I've got lots going thru my head right now (and it's only Day 2!)... pray for wisdom in figuring out what to do with it all, and how to process it.

much love,
deb

fear factor, Filipino style!

Greetings all,

It's Debbie here, following up from Tim's post. Today was a great day. Most of our team was able to sleep thru the nite, and woke up anywhere between 4am-7am from an assortment of sounds - roosters, children, plumbing, babies, and the like. After a delicious breakfast of pancakes, mangoes and homemade peanut butter, we broke up into teams to visit the surrounding community a little bit more. For some people, they were able to visit homes. Others, we were able to walk thru narrow pathways in between squatters houses and "normal" houses. It was indeed moving to see the joy of the children as they said to us "hello, what is your name?" despite their seemingly hopeless surroundings. It's times like this where I'm reminded of the important things in life.

Now, on to the more entertaining part of the post, and the above mentioned title....Fear Factor - Filipino style!

after presenting a couple of Filipino dances, the local youth decided to share their local delicacies with us. one of them was the beloved south east asian, DURIAN! this, i had no problem with. some may find it a little intimidating, spikey and all, but i think of my childhood when i eat it. sure, it smells like a fart, but boy, it sure tastes good! the other delicacy, however, was an 18 day-old egg/chicken. yes, my friends... it was the equivalent of a chicken fetus, complete with head, and yet egg yolk body. i personally could NOT stomach this and watched in fear, clutching on to Kim, as we witnessed a few teammates knock back a few eggs. here are some pics...and a quote from Jean...not yet pictured, but will be eventually...

"it tasted like a hard boiled egg, surrounded by chicken, with....beak. i mean...the feather's part was kinda gross..."

this is the egg...shell open...

and now...you see the beak...the full head...and a body of a yolk... :S

and Alice knocking one back for the team...

others will be posting now..enjoy :)

deb

Lane lines, who needs lane lines? Where we're going we don't need Lane Lines!

Apologies to Doc Brown :)

Filipino culture lesson 1: The concept of standing in line has ceased to exist. So I was standing in line at the airport on Sunday, right behind the rest of my team as we waited for the check-in agent to get us our boarding passes for our e-tickets. I was keeping pretty close because Patrick had payed for our tickets with his credit card, which obviously none of us had, so we were trying to go to the same ticket agent so that we only had to explain this once. As I was standing there, a Filipino man about my age simply glided in between me and my group and waited. This was perplexing, but since I really wanted to stay with my group I smiled at him and asked him politely if he wouldn't mind letting me go ahead of him as I wanted to stay with my group. He look confused for a second, smiled nodded and stepped back. I thanked him and took a step closer, just to clear up any remaining confusion. A moment later, it was now my turn to go up to the counter. Grabbing my bags, I stepped towards the counter, but was alas too slow. The Filipino man had once again glided in front of me. Oh well :)

This is also, by the way, how driving works. Lane lines are for the weak, Filipino driving is for real men.

Hopefully, I can talk some more later about arriving, as it really was a fascinating experience, but for now I'll leave you with a picture of Justin and Abigail and the tip that if you want to make friends with any of the kids around here, just take out a camera and listen for the shouts of "Picture! Picture!" Within moments, you will have made new friends :)

First Post

Heyas, everybody, we all arrived safely, curfew is in 5 minutes, more tomorrow! :)