Philippines Adventure 🇵ðŸ‡
Philippines 2023-2024
I am two weeks away from the end of the first DTS outreach I have staffed. It’s been an amazing and crazy ride and I feel so blessed to have been a part of leading this awesome team. As the trip draws to a close I will attempt to put into words some of the memories and impressions that this country has had on me and on my team.
After our time in Laoag we travelled to the beautiful location of Bontoc Mountain Province. Here we were met with a bit cooler weather, a few more street dogs and the people were a lot more shy. We had a full schedule with a focus on friendship evangelism and we were curious as to how we would accomplish this in such a culture. However, the plaza where we did friendship evangelism soon became our favourite place and ministry. We purchased a basketball and played in the local court, inviting locals to join us, which they always did eagerly. Basketball is definitely popular all throughout the Philippines.
We were also able to minister in the local jail. Many inmates there were waiting years just to have their court case hearings. We were able to share the word of God, do presentations and pray for them.
From Bontoc we travelled by night bus and then by airplane to the lovely city of Cebu. During this trip I experienced really intense stomach and period pain and almost passed out multiple times. The travel was incredibly intense and by the time we made it to the airport I was already planning to go see a doctor as soon as we landed. I sent a text to my family to please pray for me before boarding the airplane. I saw that they had read my message and by the time I was sitting in my seat the pain had receded to almost nothing. I thank God so much for the power of prayer and his healing.
In Cebu we stayed at a larger YWAM base with over 20 staff living onsite. While there we got to participate in the ministries that the base has been running. A big focus for the base is kids ministries so almost every afternoon we all packed into a van with a big can of chocolate porridge and went to one of the 13 children’s ministry locations. There we would lead the children in dances, put on a Bible story skit and then went into small groups and either colour with the young kids or do a memory verse with the older kids. It was sometimes hard seeing the conditions that the kids are living in, but it was amazing to see that no matter how they grew up, they all still had the silliness and playfulness that little kids have.
With people from the Cebu base we travelled to Bantayan island where we partnered with a local church and joined in their ministries. At one time we joined the youth for street evangelism. We were divided up among the locals and went out walking around the park and port. It is common in the Philippines, when evangelizing, to just walk up to strangers and start up a conversation and then just start sharing testimonies or the gospel. As a Canadian I found this to be quite direct and sometimes rude, but in this culture it’s really normal. So I put aside my own cultural lens and stepped into the Filipino way. We approached a group of about 10 young people and the leader of my group started speaking to them. Some people listened but most of them stared at me, the only white person in the group. After two months in the Philippines, I am used to this kind of attention. White or lighter skin is prized in Filipino culture and because of that we are often called guapo or guapa, which means handsome and beautiful. Our leader then turned to me and said, okay now you can share the gospel. I have evangelized many times but I have never had to share the gospel in this manner. So I picked up one of the New Testament booklets we were handing out and I started sharing about it. Sharing how it can change their lives, the story of creation and what it all means for them. Some of the youths were snickering and whispering to one another. A few looked zoned out, but several picked up the books they were given and started looking through it. Others stared with fascination, either because of the words I was speaking or the colour of my skin, I don’t know, but I kept preaching. When I ended we prayed for them and went on our way. I have no idea the impact of what I shared that day, but it felt good to be able to share Gods story to those young people and I pray that the message landed in their hearts.
After only one week on Bantayan Island we travelled to Hope Village, near Bogo. This is a village that YWAM runs and built after the devastating tsunamis. This is a community that has to live by certain rules and come to Bible study every Saturday. We stayed in the village and hosted Bible studies at night and children’s ministry and evangelism during the day. After this we headed back to Cebu for our final week of ministry at the base. Afterwards we will close off our time in Moalboal for our debrief week. This will be a week of having closing off conversations with our students, reflecting on what God has done and anticipating our return back to the Netherlands for re-entry week.
I’m looking forward to coming back to the Netherlands but I’m also sad to say goodbye to this beautiful country.
Prayer points
Team (and myself) are able to have enough energy to close off our time here well
Transition back to the Netherlands will be smooth
That our health will be stable as some people in the team are struggling with a bad cough.