So I was visiting my friend Megan in Davao the past 2 weeks. Davao in located in the south of the country on the island of Mindanao. She is working with an organization called Peace Builders Community that is heading up peace talks in the conflict plagued island of Mindanao. I learned a lot about the conflict and the issues talking with the team leader Dann Pantoja. Up in Manila we don't hear much about the conflict besides that its the Muslims against the Christians. In which that is no where close to being true (like a lot of the 'religious' tagged wars around the world). Yes there is a large population of Muslims in Mindanao who trace their heritage from Malaysia. The Moro people (this is what they call themselves) did very good in keep most of colonialism out of their land and this where the religious garbage comes in. The Spanish and the American colonizations are called 'Christian', so when they come in and try to take the land from The Moro people is turns into Christian-Muslim conflict.
The root of the conflict comes from land claims (a lot like the issues in North America with the Natives). The Spanish didn't have control of Mindanao when the American beat them in the American-Spanish war but instead of looking bad in a defeat they decided to sell the Philippines to the Americans. This sale also included Mindanao in which they didn't own. Although with the small pockets influence the Spanish had in Mindanao and then what the Americans did later is the exact same as what the Europeans did in North America. They bought some of the land for essentially nothing from the Moros and the Natives because these groups had the thought pattern that 'Allah' owned the land and it could not be bought or sold. So now there are huge land disputes on who is the actual owner. This is at the core but from the land issues comes political, economical, religious, etc. issues that make the situation so much more complex. *
So what Dann and Peace Builders are doing is getting peace talks going between the different groups, there are 4 or 5 including the government. The Peace Theology that they use for the reconciliation is rooted in Anabaptist Theology. Although after they have been accepted into a community they help out with community development that appears in many forms. One of them is Coffee for Peace, in which they help out coffee farmers selling their coffee. They have one store of Coffee for Peace, in which they also sell crafts that are made in the various communities they are a part of, but they are wanting to expand and God willing in the near future they will be exporting to Canada. You can check all of this out at peacebuilderscommunity.org. Dann also has written an incredible paper on what and how he is leading his ministry and that can be found at www.peacebuilderscommunity.org/documents/PeaceBuilding&TransformationPARFramework.pdf
This is going to be my last blog entry because I come home on November 3rd. There are a few things to wrap up and some people I have to see before I make the return home but no other big events are happening before that. If I can I want to ask for your prayers as I transition from Manila to back home, that everything will go smoothly. Thank you so much for your prayers and support that I have received over the past year. May God Bless you all.
Jared
*Disclaimer: This is just a summary or a brief overview of the conflict that I remember. It goes much deeper and has a lot more going on than what I have shared. Please do not quote me in a scholarly essay.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Parties
Sorry it has been a little while since my last entry.
On September 11th John Coffey, the guy that I live with celebrated his 26th Birthday at McDonald's. It was really great because he brought 50 kids from our children ministry to party it up with him. So needless to say it was pretty wild. McDonald's ran some games and had prizes and gifts that they gave out which was really awesome. The meal was spaghetti and fries with a sundae for dessert.
This past Saturday, the 25th we had a graduation for the end of a feeding program that IT Tender has been running for the past 6 months. They held a small program with special numbers, a small message, and some fun and games. Also every child that was involved got a certificate for participating in the feeding program. As for the food, it was celebration so we of course served spaghetti, Filipinos love having spaghetti at parties.
In between there somewhere I got conjunctivitis, also called 'sore eyes' (similar to pink eye) and I was out of commission from the ministries for 4 days. So that really sucked but I'm good now so upward and onward.
A friend of mine, Megan Enns, arrived here in the Philippines on Sept 13 but she is down in Davao City which is in the south of the country. She is here working with Mennonite Church Canada and I have the opportunity to go visit her and see what kind of ministries she is involved with there, in which I am excited about. I will be down there from Oct 7-20.
God Bless you all,
Jared
On September 11th John Coffey, the guy that I live with celebrated his 26th Birthday at McDonald's. It was really great because he brought 50 kids from our children ministry to party it up with him. So needless to say it was pretty wild. McDonald's ran some games and had prizes and gifts that they gave out which was really awesome. The meal was spaghetti and fries with a sundae for dessert.
This past Saturday, the 25th we had a graduation for the end of a feeding program that IT Tender has been running for the past 6 months. They held a small program with special numbers, a small message, and some fun and games. Also every child that was involved got a certificate for participating in the feeding program. As for the food, it was celebration so we of course served spaghetti, Filipinos love having spaghetti at parties.
In between there somewhere I got conjunctivitis, also called 'sore eyes' (similar to pink eye) and I was out of commission from the ministries for 4 days. So that really sucked but I'm good now so upward and onward.
A friend of mine, Megan Enns, arrived here in the Philippines on Sept 13 but she is down in Davao City which is in the south of the country. She is here working with Mennonite Church Canada and I have the opportunity to go visit her and see what kind of ministries she is involved with there, in which I am excited about. I will be down there from Oct 7-20.
God Bless you all,
Jared
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Visitors
Well I didn't really notice but it has been a little while since my last update. My excuse is that we had too many visitors here. First their was a team of 15 youth from the U.K who came for 10 days. I didn't have much to do with them but I did run into them when they were helping out at the ministries that I am apart of. Like IT Tender Ministries and our Church's children outreach. Then about half way through their stay John's friend Mike came for a week and Kara (my girlfriend) came for 2 weeks. So Kara helped at the ministries with me and I showed her around and city and a little bit of the culture. We also got to spend some time at the beach which was really nice. Then shortly after she left Andy and Mary a couple from Colorado who worked with the YM team 2 years came for a week visit. I actually stayed with them during my 6 week trip here in 2008 so it was really great to reconnect with them.
A few things that we need your prayers for here are for relationship and a way to reach out to the people who are in need and searching for a place to belong. With both the Night Life at IT Tender Ministries and our youth ministry at the Church have really gone down in number. For different reasons though.
A few things that we need your prayers for here are for relationship and a way to reach out to the people who are in need and searching for a place to belong. With both the Night Life at IT Tender Ministries and our youth ministry at the Church have really gone down in number. For different reasons though.
For Night life some has to do with the youth hanging out in a different areas so the center is too far for them to come to. Another reason is that they have been told to scavenge for plastic and metal to sell to scrap yards by their parents so they don't have time to come for a free meal and shower. Others aren't allowed to walk the streets at night so their parents don't let them come. Still others can't be bothered because they are too busy sniffing solvent. So we have (mostly Gabby, a worker and friend here at IT Tender) been visiting some of the places they live, which are very horrible living situations, to see what times would work best them. We, especially Gabby, are trying to build better relationships to find ways we can help them best. I ask for prayers of wisdom, knowledge and strength for the IT Tender Team as they are working on this. The Night Life might be change to the afternoon to best fit the schedules of the people we are serving.
Another way you can get involved with IT Tender is through sponsoring a child. They have just started a program in Sucat (the community they are serving) to help kids go to school, and to have a proper diet. It is only $20 a month. If you want to know more please get in contact with me.
For the youth outreach at our Church I feel they just don't want to or just can't be bothered to walk to the church building for an event. So we are feeling we need to go back into the community (streets) to start building better relationships again. So I ask for prayers in wisdom and knowledge about how to do this best. Also prayers for relationship to be built and people lives to be changed and brought to Jesus. We always have to remember that it is not us or the programs we are leading these people to, but Jesus, who is our everything.
Thank you all again for the prayers and support. May God Bless you all richly.
Jared
Another way you can get involved with IT Tender is through sponsoring a child. They have just started a program in Sucat (the community they are serving) to help kids go to school, and to have a proper diet. It is only $20 a month. If you want to know more please get in contact with me.
For the youth outreach at our Church I feel they just don't want to or just can't be bothered to walk to the church building for an event. So we are feeling we need to go back into the community (streets) to start building better relationships again. So I ask for prayers in wisdom and knowledge about how to do this best. Also prayers for relationship to be built and people lives to be changed and brought to Jesus. We always have to remember that it is not us or the programs we are leading these people to, but Jesus, who is our everything.
Thank you all again for the prayers and support. May God Bless you all richly.
Jared
Monday, July 26, 2010
Untitled
About 2 weeks ago we had our first Typhoon of the Typhoon season here in the Philippines. The season runs till about October. The Typhoon was miscalculated and no one was ready for it. It was suppose to hit north of Metro Manila and miss the city altogether but it ran right through the city. It was also suppose to be a level one but it was a level 3. Due to the miscalculations the President got real angry and yelled at the weather people through the media. The Typhoon was somewhat destructive. It took down some billboards, trees, some tin roofs and even a crane came down. There were about 27 death and we were without power for almost 24 hours and for some it was longer. But in a day everything was back to normal.
One big thing that I have been noticing lately has been that many of the workers and missionary here are in need of support. They work so hard, as hard or harder than I have seen anyway and it is for very little finical help. They will get a great reward from God later but that doesn't mean they have to suffer here and now. Most of them have families to support and they need and deserve much more than they receive. So I am asking if anyone one of you have any spare income to share with these so deserving. 50 dollars a month (or less) would make a huge impact for these missionaries here so they can take care of themselves, so in turn they can take care of their ministries. Some also want/need to go to school and that runs for about 500-600 hundred dollars for a semester if you would be interested in supporting that. Also they all have facebook and e-mail so they can keep you informed and updated on their lives and ministries.
This coming weekend I am going on a small missions trip to a small town about 3 hours away. We will be doing repair work on the church and will be doing some children and youth programs. Pray for safety as we are out of the city. Also on Monday Kara (a very special friend) will be visiting me for 2 weeks which I'm excited about. I will be showing her the ministries that I am involved with but also going to be taking some vacation time.
Thanks again for all of your prayers. May God Bless all of you.
Jared Peter Redekop
One big thing that I have been noticing lately has been that many of the workers and missionary here are in need of support. They work so hard, as hard or harder than I have seen anyway and it is for very little finical help. They will get a great reward from God later but that doesn't mean they have to suffer here and now. Most of them have families to support and they need and deserve much more than they receive. So I am asking if anyone one of you have any spare income to share with these so deserving. 50 dollars a month (or less) would make a huge impact for these missionaries here so they can take care of themselves, so in turn they can take care of their ministries. Some also want/need to go to school and that runs for about 500-600 hundred dollars for a semester if you would be interested in supporting that. Also they all have facebook and e-mail so they can keep you informed and updated on their lives and ministries.
This coming weekend I am going on a small missions trip to a small town about 3 hours away. We will be doing repair work on the church and will be doing some children and youth programs. Pray for safety as we are out of the city. Also on Monday Kara (a very special friend) will be visiting me for 2 weeks which I'm excited about. I will be showing her the ministries that I am involved with but also going to be taking some vacation time.
Thanks again for all of your prayers. May God Bless all of you.
Jared Peter Redekop
Monday, July 12, 2010
Camp
This past week I had the opportunity to be an assistant counselor at a youth camp for 4 days. The camp was put on by the organization Action International and they have a partnership with IT Tender Ministries (that is the drop-in center that I help out at on Tuesdays and Thursdays) and that is how I got the chance to go.
There were about 50 campers who were ages 13-19 years old who are out of school (or don't go) and don't have jobs. Most of the youth have very difficult lives. Most of them have had many forms of abuse done to them and there were social workers there at the camp to talk with them. Although the terrible thing is that they only that 4 days to work with the youth. We hope and pray that they keep coming back to their organization that they came to the camp with to work through their issues.
The camp's theme was quite radical but very necessary. It was on purity and the title was 'True Loves Waits', no this is not the radical part just hold on. It was based on the scriptures of 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and 1 Thessalonians 4:4-7, great passages by the way. The reason it was radical was because they were talking about sex, STDs (with pictures), and unexpected pregnancies and the bad stuff that can happen if you do drugs, drink and smoke while you are pregnant. It was awareness and advocacy in which none of these youth would have never had before. This school year (just started in June) is the first time ever they are teaching sex education in schools here in the Philippines. So these lessons/conversations that the youth were having at camp would have been thier first formal conversation ever to do with these issues. A big reason why they haven't been able to teach it in schools is the huge influence of the Catholic Church here, needless to say some people are really pissed off that these things are getting taught in school now. It is very much needed though because there are extreme amount of teenage pregancies in this country and most of them have no means of supporting their child. Also in many cases the man leaves and gives no support to the girl and she is left all alone to raise the child.
I feel the camp ran very well. For some of these kids it would be the high light of there lives becasue they get 3 square meals, a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in, councelors who care for them, and a relaxed atomsphere for them to be a kid. I could see and feel during the whorship time that they felt the Joy of the Lord. That the spirit of Jesus washed over them and all of their pain was gone. A very powerful and meaning experience for all of us there. Many of them cried when it was time to go home. They all wish they could stay there much, much longer. I hope you will continue in prayer with me for these youth for the Holy spirit to keep working in their lives.
May God Bless you all. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support.
Jared Peter
There were about 50 campers who were ages 13-19 years old who are out of school (or don't go) and don't have jobs. Most of the youth have very difficult lives. Most of them have had many forms of abuse done to them and there were social workers there at the camp to talk with them. Although the terrible thing is that they only that 4 days to work with the youth. We hope and pray that they keep coming back to their organization that they came to the camp with to work through their issues.
The camp's theme was quite radical but very necessary. It was on purity and the title was 'True Loves Waits', no this is not the radical part just hold on. It was based on the scriptures of 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and 1 Thessalonians 4:4-7, great passages by the way. The reason it was radical was because they were talking about sex, STDs (with pictures), and unexpected pregnancies and the bad stuff that can happen if you do drugs, drink and smoke while you are pregnant. It was awareness and advocacy in which none of these youth would have never had before. This school year (just started in June) is the first time ever they are teaching sex education in schools here in the Philippines. So these lessons/conversations that the youth were having at camp would have been thier first formal conversation ever to do with these issues. A big reason why they haven't been able to teach it in schools is the huge influence of the Catholic Church here, needless to say some people are really pissed off that these things are getting taught in school now. It is very much needed though because there are extreme amount of teenage pregancies in this country and most of them have no means of supporting their child. Also in many cases the man leaves and gives no support to the girl and she is left all alone to raise the child.
I feel the camp ran very well. For some of these kids it would be the high light of there lives becasue they get 3 square meals, a roof over their head and a bed to sleep in, councelors who care for them, and a relaxed atomsphere for them to be a kid. I could see and feel during the whorship time that they felt the Joy of the Lord. That the spirit of Jesus washed over them and all of their pain was gone. A very powerful and meaning experience for all of us there. Many of them cried when it was time to go home. They all wish they could stay there much, much longer. I hope you will continue in prayer with me for these youth for the Holy spirit to keep working in their lives.
May God Bless you all. Thanks so much for all the prayers and support.
Jared Peter
Friday, July 2, 2010
Some Filipino History
This past month I've gone on 2 field trips with my Tagalog school and went to the history museum when a friend was in town. Through all of it I have found a better understanding of the Philippines.
The Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan 'discovered' the Islands in 1521 and the Spanish oppressively ruled here until the Spanish-American war in 1898 (that same year The Philippines declared Independence) in where the Spanish navel was destroyed in 4 hours. The reason was the Spanish were still using their wooden ships and the U.S had steel ships and could shoot their canons about 3 kms further. So needless to say there were no American casualties. During the Spanish rule the Spanish separated themselves from the Filipinos and made themselves the higher class. They actually built a walled city in Manila that was only open the Spanish. Close to the end of the Spanish rule their was a man by the name of Jose Rizal, an incredible man,who was very educated and wrote a few books about the oppressiveness of the Spanish and Filipino pride. Jose became the figure head for the non-violent revolution against the Spanish. Rizal was executed by the Spanish but the revolution lived on, mostly through a group called the KKK who were not non-violent. The biggest impact that the Spanish left here is Catholicism. Although in some areas of the Philippines has turned it into some sort of idle worship with statues of Jesus and Mary, which is very very sad. I touched on it a little in my blog just after Easter. One thing I saw was when we visited a church was that it has a image of Jesus (in a very interested robe I might add) where people line up to touch and rub clothes on it to heal them or heal others or for good luck. So I feel that they are treating the most amazing gift of Jesus dying for our sins like a luck charm, it breaks my heart.
So after the Spanish were beaten by the Americans in the Spanish-American war the Philippines-American War began in 1899 and ended in 1902. After the war the the 2 countries had very good relations and nothing major happened until WWII. The Philippines got bombed by the Japanese the same day that Pearl Harbour did. The Americans and Filipinos didn't have much of a chance because they were using weapons from the WWI so the Japanese took control of the Philippines for 3 years during the war and terrorized the Filipinos people. The Philippines was recaptured by the Americans close to the end of WWII. Many lives were lost here in the Philippines on both sides but isn't talked about much outside the Philippines.
The ministries are going well and was pretty busy this week with randoms things going on. The 15th President of the Philippines, Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III was inaugurated on Wednesday so it was a national holiday. On Thursday it was Canada Day of course so John and I went out for dinner with 2 other Canadians we met at languages school and we had a great time. Although there is no hockey, Tim Hortons, back bacon, 24s, or beaver tails but we made the best of what we had.
This past Tuesday I was sharing the Bible story at the drop-in center for the youth. I shared the story of the prodigal son and it was a great refresher for me. Sometimes we forget how much our God loves us. It doesn't matter how much we mess up, our God will always take us back with open arms. He also always has a big party when we do.
May God Bless you all
Jared
The Spanish explorer Ferdinand Magellan 'discovered' the Islands in 1521 and the Spanish oppressively ruled here until the Spanish-American war in 1898 (that same year The Philippines declared Independence) in where the Spanish navel was destroyed in 4 hours. The reason was the Spanish were still using their wooden ships and the U.S had steel ships and could shoot their canons about 3 kms further. So needless to say there were no American casualties. During the Spanish rule the Spanish separated themselves from the Filipinos and made themselves the higher class. They actually built a walled city in Manila that was only open the Spanish. Close to the end of the Spanish rule their was a man by the name of Jose Rizal, an incredible man,who was very educated and wrote a few books about the oppressiveness of the Spanish and Filipino pride. Jose became the figure head for the non-violent revolution against the Spanish. Rizal was executed by the Spanish but the revolution lived on, mostly through a group called the KKK who were not non-violent. The biggest impact that the Spanish left here is Catholicism. Although in some areas of the Philippines has turned it into some sort of idle worship with statues of Jesus and Mary, which is very very sad. I touched on it a little in my blog just after Easter. One thing I saw was when we visited a church was that it has a image of Jesus (in a very interested robe I might add) where people line up to touch and rub clothes on it to heal them or heal others or for good luck. So I feel that they are treating the most amazing gift of Jesus dying for our sins like a luck charm, it breaks my heart.
So after the Spanish were beaten by the Americans in the Spanish-American war the Philippines-American War began in 1899 and ended in 1902. After the war the the 2 countries had very good relations and nothing major happened until WWII. The Philippines got bombed by the Japanese the same day that Pearl Harbour did. The Americans and Filipinos didn't have much of a chance because they were using weapons from the WWI so the Japanese took control of the Philippines for 3 years during the war and terrorized the Filipinos people. The Philippines was recaptured by the Americans close to the end of WWII. Many lives were lost here in the Philippines on both sides but isn't talked about much outside the Philippines.
The ministries are going well and was pretty busy this week with randoms things going on. The 15th President of the Philippines, Benigno 'Noynoy' Aquino III was inaugurated on Wednesday so it was a national holiday. On Thursday it was Canada Day of course so John and I went out for dinner with 2 other Canadians we met at languages school and we had a great time. Although there is no hockey, Tim Hortons, back bacon, 24s, or beaver tails but we made the best of what we had.
This past Tuesday I was sharing the Bible story at the drop-in center for the youth. I shared the story of the prodigal son and it was a great refresher for me. Sometimes we forget how much our God loves us. It doesn't matter how much we mess up, our God will always take us back with open arms. He also always has a big party when we do.
May God Bless you all
Jared
Monday, June 21, 2010
Back to School
Things have been a little slow lately because it was the end of the summer. Everyone was preparing to go back to school and this past week was the first week of school. Which meant the Day Care that John and Toph started is back in full swing. It runs in the mornings from Tuesday till Friday. The target was for 10 kids but 16 have showed up and now we are going to try and keep it under 20. We want a small group so we can really invest into them and their families and also to prepare them for school. To get them knowing their alphabet, numbers and other essential things. The kids are ages 3-6 and come from the squatter areas near by. On Tuesday we had the opening ceremonies with an emcee and everything. All the mothers of the kids came and some of the Church workers too. We got everyone excited about the day care and had enough food to feed about 100 people. So many people got take home some food for supper. I will be helping out with this ministry in some areas but it won't be my focus. I am still helping with the drop-in centre, feeding program, children's and youth ministry at our Church, and still attending 2 Tagalog lessons a week but this will be my last month of Tagalog.
Thank you once again for all of your prayers and support of all kinds. It is always appreciated. May God Bless you all.
Jared
Thank you once again for all of your prayers and support of all kinds. It is always appreciated. May God Bless you all.
Jared
Monday, May 31, 2010
Rainy Season
Well there have been a few rains in the last week and people are saying that the rainy season is here in which I'm pretty pumped because that means it should cools down. Also we can start quoting Forrest Gump now, "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath. Shoot, it even rained at night...". But it does have it's downfalls, as in sometimes the ministries shut down because it is raining too much. Also it can turn into Typhoons which can bring major flooding and do a lot of property damaging. So it will be a lot different for me because I come from Ontario where natural disasters happen next to never.
The youth has been going really well. I have really stepped back and let the older youth of the Church take charge and they are doing a great job. The first Saturday I was back from my trip there was 20 youth that showed up to the event and some that I had not seen before. The event was held at our Church and it was organized really well. Very encouraging. This past Saturday we had a movie viewing at our Church and there was a good turn out again. We watched Blindside, which is a great movie.
Our children's feeding (ministry) is going really awesome as well. We had 75 kids come out on Saturday which is a all time high. It gets a little crazy but it's really sweet to see so many kids come. Then on Sunday we had almost 30 kids in our Sunday School class. Also with this I want to give a shout out to Stratford, Ontario for their one and only Justin Bieber because all of the kids here love singing his songs. Justin's songs are downloaded on everyone's cell phones and every is jamming to him right now. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
Back on the 17th we took a group of 15 kids to Tagaytay which is a beautiful area about an hour outside the city. Its great to get the kids outside the city for a break from the streets. It was a park like area with a beautiful view of a volcano. It also had horses in which we rented and let the kids ride them. They had a great time.
On Sunday we held a dinner for a cause at our Church that was a great success. There were about 50 people who came out to support. The fundraiser was for Youth Mobalization in which are planning 2 different missions trips. One is to help out a Church that is about 3 hours away in which we have a partnership with. I am planning on going with this one. It is happening at the end of July. The other one is at the end of October and they are planning on going to Cambodia.
Thanks for all your prayers. May God Bless you all.
Jared
The youth has been going really well. I have really stepped back and let the older youth of the Church take charge and they are doing a great job. The first Saturday I was back from my trip there was 20 youth that showed up to the event and some that I had not seen before. The event was held at our Church and it was organized really well. Very encouraging. This past Saturday we had a movie viewing at our Church and there was a good turn out again. We watched Blindside, which is a great movie.
Our children's feeding (ministry) is going really awesome as well. We had 75 kids come out on Saturday which is a all time high. It gets a little crazy but it's really sweet to see so many kids come. Then on Sunday we had almost 30 kids in our Sunday School class. Also with this I want to give a shout out to Stratford, Ontario for their one and only Justin Bieber because all of the kids here love singing his songs. Justin's songs are downloaded on everyone's cell phones and every is jamming to him right now. Pretty ridiculous if you ask me.
Back on the 17th we took a group of 15 kids to Tagaytay which is a beautiful area about an hour outside the city. Its great to get the kids outside the city for a break from the streets. It was a park like area with a beautiful view of a volcano. It also had horses in which we rented and let the kids ride them. They had a great time.
On Sunday we held a dinner for a cause at our Church that was a great success. There were about 50 people who came out to support. The fundraiser was for Youth Mobalization in which are planning 2 different missions trips. One is to help out a Church that is about 3 hours away in which we have a partnership with. I am planning on going with this one. It is happening at the end of July. The other one is at the end of October and they are planning on going to Cambodia.
Thanks for all your prayers. May God Bless you all.
Jared
Friday, May 14, 2010
A little Travel
A couple (Josh and Randi Dookhie) that I went to CMU with just finished teaching English in Bangkok, Thailand and wanted to travel before they go home to Winnipeg. So I joined them from April 27-May 13 and also my roommate (Chris Vines) from CMU and Josh's cousin Caleb flew in from Canada for this adventure.
So we stayed in Bangkok for a few days for Caleb and Chris to beat their Jet lag and for the Dookhie's to show us around a little. Bangkok is a lot like Manila where it is a clash of new and old culture. The new being mega malls and everything western and the old being the street markets and street vendors selling traditional dishes. After our Bangkok experience we took the over night train to Chang Mai. In Chang Mai we went to an Elephant sanctuary where you could pet, feed, and ride the elephants which was real awesome. Elephants are such an amazing creator. After that we went to a snake show which was ridiculous. They had, rat snakes, pythons, jumping snakes, cobras and king cobras. The king cobra was one of the scariest things I have ever seen. I love snakes but the things guys were doing with them was insane. Cobras are very poisonous and the trainers (I use that term loosely) would put their finger on the cobra's nose and then they upped the ante and kissed them on the face. We were sitting so close to them that I would say we were in some sort of danger. There are no safety regulations over here but I think I like it Better that way. Also for all those Rambo fans this snake place is where Rambo 4 was filmed. I feel that much closer to Stallone now and it feels pretty good.
After Chang Mai we trained back to Bangkok and took a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. From there we went to see Angkor Wat, at sunrise non-the-less. Angkor Wat are ruins/temples of a lost empire. They were built in the 12th century if I remember correctly. They are the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. I just can't understand how they built them with such little technology. After that we bussed down to Sounooke Ville, which is a small beach town down in the south. We stayed there 2 night there and then crossed the boarder again back into Thailand and went to the island of Koh Chang where we stayed for 3 nights. Then we bussed back to Bangkok where I flew back to Manila and the other 4 made there way down to Malaysia.
All in all it was an awesome trip. One of great refreshment and re-connection with old friends. Thanks for the prayers while I was gone. May God Bless you all.
Jared
So we stayed in Bangkok for a few days for Caleb and Chris to beat their Jet lag and for the Dookhie's to show us around a little. Bangkok is a lot like Manila where it is a clash of new and old culture. The new being mega malls and everything western and the old being the street markets and street vendors selling traditional dishes. After our Bangkok experience we took the over night train to Chang Mai. In Chang Mai we went to an Elephant sanctuary where you could pet, feed, and ride the elephants which was real awesome. Elephants are such an amazing creator. After that we went to a snake show which was ridiculous. They had, rat snakes, pythons, jumping snakes, cobras and king cobras. The king cobra was one of the scariest things I have ever seen. I love snakes but the things guys were doing with them was insane. Cobras are very poisonous and the trainers (I use that term loosely) would put their finger on the cobra's nose and then they upped the ante and kissed them on the face. We were sitting so close to them that I would say we were in some sort of danger. There are no safety regulations over here but I think I like it Better that way. Also for all those Rambo fans this snake place is where Rambo 4 was filmed. I feel that much closer to Stallone now and it feels pretty good.
After Chang Mai we trained back to Bangkok and took a bus to Siem Reap, Cambodia. From there we went to see Angkor Wat, at sunrise non-the-less. Angkor Wat are ruins/temples of a lost empire. They were built in the 12th century if I remember correctly. They are the most spectacular thing I have ever seen. I just can't understand how they built them with such little technology. After that we bussed down to Sounooke Ville, which is a small beach town down in the south. We stayed there 2 night there and then crossed the boarder again back into Thailand and went to the island of Koh Chang where we stayed for 3 nights. Then we bussed back to Bangkok where I flew back to Manila and the other 4 made there way down to Malaysia.
All in all it was an awesome trip. One of great refreshment and re-connection with old friends. Thanks for the prayers while I was gone. May God Bless you all.
Jared
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Summer Continued
Our Church just held it's first DVBS ever and I feel it went really well. It was the same as the one we ran up in Kanawan, so it ran a little smoother this time. We did it in 3 days again by having it in the afternoon as well. We had about 35 kids and I was helping with the older group again, 10-13 year olds. Also another thing that is real encouraging about our Church is that last Friday we had 9 people that got baptized. Give God all the Glory. We also had a movie youth night last Saturday in which we watched Stardust which about 20 youth came out which is really good to see.
Night life's attendance has has been down for the last few weeks but this past Tuesday there were about 25 people and they were mostly young youth which was so good to see. Not that there are a lot of people in need but that these are the ages they are wanting to reach out to and that they feel comfortable coming to the drop-in center. I really love spending time with those kids.
Tomorrow I am visiting some Friends in Thailand for over 2 weeks so I ask for your prayers for safety. Once again thank you all for all the prayers, encouragement, and support. Take care and God Bless.
Jared Peter
Night life's attendance has has been down for the last few weeks but this past Tuesday there were about 25 people and they were mostly young youth which was so good to see. Not that there are a lot of people in need but that these are the ages they are wanting to reach out to and that they feel comfortable coming to the drop-in center. I really love spending time with those kids.
Tomorrow I am visiting some Friends in Thailand for over 2 weeks so I ask for your prayers for safety. Once again thank you all for all the prayers, encouragement, and support. Take care and God Bless.
Jared Peter
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Summer
The summer vacation for school here is April and May and is also the hottest time of the year. So needless to say it is nasty hot now.
Youth: 2 weeks ago we rented out the basketball court again and about 25 youth came. Mostly boys because we played basketball, but I feel it was a good turnout and fun was had. Then last week we didn't have an event because of Holy Week (ministries shut down during Holy Week, an oxymoron, I think so but more on that later). Then his past Saturday we took the youth to a water park, a small one but non-the-less a water park. It had a couple of slides and a wave pool. About 25 youth came out again and everyone had an awesome time.
This past week our YM team were up in a rural mountain village doing a DVBS. About 100 kids were in attendance ranging from 5-14 years old. The theme was on taking care of God Creation and I feel it went really well. We all had so much fun with the kids. Every evening we went swimming in the stream with them which was great fun.
Holy Week: Since everything was quite in the city (and it truly was, almost like a ghost town on Friday, this is because every leaves the city to go visit family) John and I went to the beach with a couple of our friends that were visiting. Needless to say we had an amazing time which seeing old friends and having a short vacation.
So Holy Week here can get really crazy. The Philippines is considered a Catholic nation because they were colonized by the Spanish back in the 1500s. I think it is from Catholic influence that they really identify with the suffering of Jesus and spend all their focus on the Friday instead of the Sunday (although I have heard it could be from some of the cult like practices as well). Anyway on the Good Friday they have big parades and plays that go on all over the country that deal with stations of the cross but still seem to miss the real point of Jesus' death. Also in some areas (mostly rural) people take it up a notch and do self-flagellation (flog themselves with bamboo whips) and some even get nailed to the cross (but not until death). They feel if they suffer like Jesus did they will be rewarded more, that they can identify with Him more. Or that they can pay for there own sins and buy their way into Heaven. In which is totally reading the scripture all wrong because Jesus died for us and paid the price so we never have to. It was a gift and all we need to do is accept it. It was out of his never ending love that he did it not out of ritualism as I feel a lot of these people do it for.
Also one thing I noticed was on the other side of the Easter, the Sunday, when Christ has risen isn't that big of a day. I feel they put all their time and effort on Good Friday that Easter Sunday is just like any other Sunday. Where I feel more of our attention should be on Him Rising. Yes Jesus had to die to take our sin away but Him rising from the dead made all the difference. He defeated death and lives in us and this is a reason for celebration.
Thank you for all your love, prayers and support. You are all so great. Take care and God Bless.
Jared Peter
Youth: 2 weeks ago we rented out the basketball court again and about 25 youth came. Mostly boys because we played basketball, but I feel it was a good turnout and fun was had. Then last week we didn't have an event because of Holy Week (ministries shut down during Holy Week, an oxymoron, I think so but more on that later). Then his past Saturday we took the youth to a water park, a small one but non-the-less a water park. It had a couple of slides and a wave pool. About 25 youth came out again and everyone had an awesome time.
This past week our YM team were up in a rural mountain village doing a DVBS. About 100 kids were in attendance ranging from 5-14 years old. The theme was on taking care of God Creation and I feel it went really well. We all had so much fun with the kids. Every evening we went swimming in the stream with them which was great fun.
Holy Week: Since everything was quite in the city (and it truly was, almost like a ghost town on Friday, this is because every leaves the city to go visit family) John and I went to the beach with a couple of our friends that were visiting. Needless to say we had an amazing time which seeing old friends and having a short vacation.
So Holy Week here can get really crazy. The Philippines is considered a Catholic nation because they were colonized by the Spanish back in the 1500s. I think it is from Catholic influence that they really identify with the suffering of Jesus and spend all their focus on the Friday instead of the Sunday (although I have heard it could be from some of the cult like practices as well). Anyway on the Good Friday they have big parades and plays that go on all over the country that deal with stations of the cross but still seem to miss the real point of Jesus' death. Also in some areas (mostly rural) people take it up a notch and do self-flagellation (flog themselves with bamboo whips) and some even get nailed to the cross (but not until death). They feel if they suffer like Jesus did they will be rewarded more, that they can identify with Him more. Or that they can pay for there own sins and buy their way into Heaven. In which is totally reading the scripture all wrong because Jesus died for us and paid the price so we never have to. It was a gift and all we need to do is accept it. It was out of his never ending love that he did it not out of ritualism as I feel a lot of these people do it for.
Also one thing I noticed was on the other side of the Easter, the Sunday, when Christ has risen isn't that big of a day. I feel they put all their time and effort on Good Friday that Easter Sunday is just like any other Sunday. Where I feel more of our attention should be on Him Rising. Yes Jesus had to die to take our sin away but Him rising from the dead made all the difference. He defeated death and lives in us and this is a reason for celebration.
Thank you for all your love, prayers and support. You are all so great. Take care and God Bless.
Jared Peter
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Changes
We've had a few changes around our place recently. One of our roommates, Brett, got married on the 13th so obviously he has moved out. Also his brother, Mike, who was staying with us left to go back home to Canada last Sunday. So our house of 5 shrunk down to 3 in a blink of an eye. So needless to say it is a lot quieter around our place now. I hope to get a lot more reading done now.
On the 20th I went to a missions conference the was held by the Church Of God (the other church I attend) which was really good. There were speakers from China, Canada, Lebanon, and of course the Philippines. They all shared about the ministries they are doing and it was a huge encouragement to me. One to hear about other people's ministries but also to get the passion back of why I am here. Sometimes it gets routine and just feels like any other job, so it is great to get the joy of the Lord back and be rejuvenated. The Chinese man who shared in living here in the Philippines because last year he got kicked out of China for 5 years due to preaching the Gospel. The man from Canada was actually the man who planted the Church Of God in Makati but now is the over seer of Church Of God in all of Asia. The man from Lebanon has been working with Muslims here in the city been teaching some of their kids Arabic and through that has been able to start a Bible study. He has gained the trust of the Muslim community and they go to him for many of their problems and he has also been able to send some of their children to school. Another man has been working in a small rural town and has been able to transform the poor community into a God fearing community through the power of the Gospel. It was a great conference and I was very happy to have the chance to go.
John and Toph, my 2 roommates had started a daycare a few months back and they had their graduation on Thursday which was really awesome. First you will have to understand they graduate from EVERYTHING here, they have a small graduation for every grade they pass. They also get to graduate from a 3 day vacation bible school. Their summer vacation here is April and May. So the students are between 2-7 and and they all came in their Sunday best and brought their mothers for the grand occasion. We had a award ceremony, a meal and a cake to celebrate. It was so well done and a lot of fun.
IT Tender ministry is going really well. That is the place I go to on Tuesday and Thursday's. They have just started a feeding program for the one of the squatter communities that have been involved with. So on Thursday we brought a small meal and vitamins for 60 kids (or was it 80?). I forget all I know is that it was a lot of kids. The program will run for 6 months because that is how much food was donated. They do it 3 times a week. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am hoping to get down there more often to help. It will be difficult in the summer months because we have many DVBSs that we are running with the YM team which the first one starts April 5th.
This past Saturday we rented out a basketball court for the youth and about 25 youth come out which was great. I feel we are really starting to build relationship with them. They aren't coming to our Sunday morning service yet but we are praying that they will soon.
This week John and I are having a friend visiting us. She is teaching English in Hong Kong and decided to come visit us so we are going to go to the beach for a few days. Hopefully it can be relaxing.
I think that is all. Thanks again for everything. Take Care and God Bless. Psalms 51: 10-12
Jared Peter
On the 20th I went to a missions conference the was held by the Church Of God (the other church I attend) which was really good. There were speakers from China, Canada, Lebanon, and of course the Philippines. They all shared about the ministries they are doing and it was a huge encouragement to me. One to hear about other people's ministries but also to get the passion back of why I am here. Sometimes it gets routine and just feels like any other job, so it is great to get the joy of the Lord back and be rejuvenated. The Chinese man who shared in living here in the Philippines because last year he got kicked out of China for 5 years due to preaching the Gospel. The man from Canada was actually the man who planted the Church Of God in Makati but now is the over seer of Church Of God in all of Asia. The man from Lebanon has been working with Muslims here in the city been teaching some of their kids Arabic and through that has been able to start a Bible study. He has gained the trust of the Muslim community and they go to him for many of their problems and he has also been able to send some of their children to school. Another man has been working in a small rural town and has been able to transform the poor community into a God fearing community through the power of the Gospel. It was a great conference and I was very happy to have the chance to go.
John and Toph, my 2 roommates had started a daycare a few months back and they had their graduation on Thursday which was really awesome. First you will have to understand they graduate from EVERYTHING here, they have a small graduation for every grade they pass. They also get to graduate from a 3 day vacation bible school. Their summer vacation here is April and May. So the students are between 2-7 and and they all came in their Sunday best and brought their mothers for the grand occasion. We had a award ceremony, a meal and a cake to celebrate. It was so well done and a lot of fun.
IT Tender ministry is going really well. That is the place I go to on Tuesday and Thursday's. They have just started a feeding program for the one of the squatter communities that have been involved with. So on Thursday we brought a small meal and vitamins for 60 kids (or was it 80?). I forget all I know is that it was a lot of kids. The program will run for 6 months because that is how much food was donated. They do it 3 times a week. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am hoping to get down there more often to help. It will be difficult in the summer months because we have many DVBSs that we are running with the YM team which the first one starts April 5th.
This past Saturday we rented out a basketball court for the youth and about 25 youth come out which was great. I feel we are really starting to build relationship with them. They aren't coming to our Sunday morning service yet but we are praying that they will soon.
This week John and I are having a friend visiting us. She is teaching English in Hong Kong and decided to come visit us so we are going to go to the beach for a few days. Hopefully it can be relaxing.
I think that is all. Thanks again for everything. Take Care and God Bless. Psalms 51: 10-12
Jared Peter
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Concerts and Camp
Some one was asking me about my schedule so i thought i would share it with you. This is how my week is suppose to go but usually never doesn't because something always comes up.
Sunday - Teach Sunday School at JKK then at 5 go to Church Of God Makati for an English Church Service
Monday - suppose to be my day off but never is. I meet with my mentor (man I met at COG) in the afternoon and then have a prayer meeting with some of my friends.
Tuesday - We have a Church meeting early afternoon then I go to Tender Ministries for Night Life. Where it's a drop in center for the homeless and they give them time to take a shower and give them a meal (twice a week). Also try and help them in anyway they can. They are mostly teens but they ages range from infants to 50
Wednesday - YM Team meeting in the morning and then Tagalog School in the afternoon.
Thursday - I go down to Tender Ministries a little earlier because we go to a squatter community and give a bible lesson and some food to the kids. They call it community based ministry. Then we go back to the drop-in center and have Night Life again.
Friday - I have Tagalog School in the afternoon and then we have JKK prayer meeting in the evening
Saturday - We have a kids ministry in the morning at our Church where we have a bible lesson,
some games and a meal for the kids. Then we have youth (JKK) in the evening.
On the 28th of February our Church put on a youth evangelism concert on the roof top of our building. It went really well, after the hour an a half delay before starting. Our friends from another Church (LJBC) helped out by sharing there musical talents. We had about 5 acts and then an open mic at the end but for some they didn't let share a song. Our team leader from YM shared a message as well and I felt that is went really well and everyone had a great time.
Then on the 6th I took about 20 of our youth to a concert. It was Rommel Guevara who works for International Teams and go all over the world doing concerts. We are lucky enough that he is Filipino so we can see him oven then others because he is amazing man and a lot of fun. Oh and of course is a great musician and singer. His wife also preforms with him and is a daughter who I think is 6 went on stage for a few songs and made her ax wail. So the concert was really good and everyone had a lot of fun.
This past week from the 9 - 11 we took 18 youth from Tender Ministries to Rizal Re-Creation camp. It's about 2 hours outside the city which was awesome because I love getting outside the city. The Camp is absolutely beautiful. It has a pool, beach volley ball, basketball courts, and an open field with actual grass. The camp is run by an American so the meals definitely had some western feel to it which was great. Although they had rice at every meal I never took it and the kids were very confused. It was buffet style and other then the 2 youth that had been there before I doubt ever had a buffet meal in their life so they just went to town. Although the first meal many of their eyes were bigger then their stomachs. The youth (12-18 years old) that came are either from Night Life ministry or from the Community based ministry. The program was very well put together and everything ran smoothly. The kids were surprisingly well behaved and participated in everything that was planned. Some testimonies were shared by the kids at the end and they were very powerful. They were all so grateful for the kind of experience and loved all the teachings that were shared because they learned new things about God. One girl said that she had to beg her father to let her come because her father feels that the Tender Ministries group is a bad group to hangout with. Also you can see the desire in her to change from her old ways so we are praying that she does. I would love your prayers for these kids, in that they can keep the fire in their hearts going and not let the world snuff it out.....Also they are planning a kids camp (5-12 years old) at the same place and are asking for prayers and finical support. So I ask for your help in this.
Once again thank you so much for all the love and support you have shown me. May God shine his face upon you and be gracious to you and grant you peace. Take Care and God Bless
Jared Peter
Sunday - Teach Sunday School at JKK then at 5 go to Church Of God Makati for an English Church Service
Monday - suppose to be my day off but never is. I meet with my mentor (man I met at COG) in the afternoon and then have a prayer meeting with some of my friends.
Tuesday - We have a Church meeting early afternoon then I go to Tender Ministries for Night Life. Where it's a drop in center for the homeless and they give them time to take a shower and give them a meal (twice a week). Also try and help them in anyway they can. They are mostly teens but they ages range from infants to 50
Wednesday - YM Team meeting in the morning and then Tagalog School in the afternoon.
Thursday - I go down to Tender Ministries a little earlier because we go to a squatter community and give a bible lesson and some food to the kids. They call it community based ministry. Then we go back to the drop-in center and have Night Life again.
Friday - I have Tagalog School in the afternoon and then we have JKK prayer meeting in the evening
Saturday - We have a kids ministry in the morning at our Church where we have a bible lesson,
some games and a meal for the kids. Then we have youth (JKK) in the evening.
On the 28th of February our Church put on a youth evangelism concert on the roof top of our building. It went really well, after the hour an a half delay before starting. Our friends from another Church (LJBC) helped out by sharing there musical talents. We had about 5 acts and then an open mic at the end but for some they didn't let share a song. Our team leader from YM shared a message as well and I felt that is went really well and everyone had a great time.
Then on the 6th I took about 20 of our youth to a concert. It was Rommel Guevara who works for International Teams and go all over the world doing concerts. We are lucky enough that he is Filipino so we can see him oven then others because he is amazing man and a lot of fun. Oh and of course is a great musician and singer. His wife also preforms with him and is a daughter who I think is 6 went on stage for a few songs and made her ax wail. So the concert was really good and everyone had a lot of fun.
This past week from the 9 - 11 we took 18 youth from Tender Ministries to Rizal Re-Creation camp. It's about 2 hours outside the city which was awesome because I love getting outside the city. The Camp is absolutely beautiful. It has a pool, beach volley ball, basketball courts, and an open field with actual grass. The camp is run by an American so the meals definitely had some western feel to it which was great. Although they had rice at every meal I never took it and the kids were very confused. It was buffet style and other then the 2 youth that had been there before I doubt ever had a buffet meal in their life so they just went to town. Although the first meal many of their eyes were bigger then their stomachs. The youth (12-18 years old) that came are either from Night Life ministry or from the Community based ministry. The program was very well put together and everything ran smoothly. The kids were surprisingly well behaved and participated in everything that was planned. Some testimonies were shared by the kids at the end and they were very powerful. They were all so grateful for the kind of experience and loved all the teachings that were shared because they learned new things about God. One girl said that she had to beg her father to let her come because her father feels that the Tender Ministries group is a bad group to hangout with. Also you can see the desire in her to change from her old ways so we are praying that she does. I would love your prayers for these kids, in that they can keep the fire in their hearts going and not let the world snuff it out.....Also they are planning a kids camp (5-12 years old) at the same place and are asking for prayers and finical support. So I ask for your help in this.
Once again thank you so much for all the love and support you have shown me. May God shine his face upon you and be gracious to you and grant you peace. Take Care and God Bless
Jared Peter
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Updates and a Request
We finished our sports fest yesterday and it was a total success. All of the teams had a really great time and for the finals we even had some fans come out, which was good to see. Our Church finished 2nd and we put up a good fight for 1st but couldn't quite pull it off, maybe next year.
On Saturday IT Tender took 10 kids (from the night life night ministry, which means they are homeless) to a children's Museum in Manila and which I went with them. It was a really awesome time, the museum was really well done with loads of fun things to do. They even had a performance of cultural dances and music. The kids had so much fun and it is really great to see them with smiles on their faces. You can see some photos on my facebook, I was tagged in some. After the museum we went to the park and played there for a bit and then had picnic which is always sweet.
On Sunday our Church celebrated it's 2nd anniversary in which we had big party for it. We had our service outside so more people could come. There were performances by the children and youth and even had games during the service. We made loads of food for a dinner after the service which was great. I am positive that everyone had a great time.
The Request that I have is that IT Tender is putting on a youth camp for the youth from their ministries and they want to bring 25 or more youth. The youth are either homeless or squatters and have never experienced a camp of any kind. It will be running from march 9-11 and they need about $1500 to make this happen. So I ask for your donations and prayers as we prepare for this camp.
Once again I thank all of you for your love, prayers and support. May God Bless all of you.
Jared
On Saturday IT Tender took 10 kids (from the night life night ministry, which means they are homeless) to a children's Museum in Manila and which I went with them. It was a really awesome time, the museum was really well done with loads of fun things to do. They even had a performance of cultural dances and music. The kids had so much fun and it is really great to see them with smiles on their faces. You can see some photos on my facebook, I was tagged in some. After the museum we went to the park and played there for a bit and then had picnic which is always sweet.
On Sunday our Church celebrated it's 2nd anniversary in which we had big party for it. We had our service outside so more people could come. There were performances by the children and youth and even had games during the service. We made loads of food for a dinner after the service which was great. I am positive that everyone had a great time.
The Request that I have is that IT Tender is putting on a youth camp for the youth from their ministries and they want to bring 25 or more youth. The youth are either homeless or squatters and have never experienced a camp of any kind. It will be running from march 9-11 and they need about $1500 to make this happen. So I ask for your donations and prayers as we prepare for this camp.
Once again I thank all of you for your love, prayers and support. May God Bless all of you.
Jared
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Highlights and an Incredible Experience
This month at IT Tender Ministry (the drop-in center that I help out with) they are holding a sports fest that happens every Thursday for the month of February. I went to the first one but had to miss the second week because of the trip I was on. They call it a sports fest but really it's just a small basket ball tournament. They have 4 teams entered, JKK (the church I'm with), 2 partner Churches of IT Tender, and a team made of of the youth/young men who attend the drop-in center. It's a great opportunity for fellowship for all who are involved. One thing I found out is how much I hate b-ball (sorry Dad). Why can't they like soccer here, is that asking too much? I didn't play in the game because we are getting the youth of our Church involved but we played around a little after and I am absolutely terrible at b-ball and don't enjoy it in the least.
Our last youth event was quite the turnout. We rented a near by gym (a cement b-ball court) and let the word out to the area that we are ministering to and about 50 kids showed up. Mostly youth but some young kids showed up too and everyone seemed to have a good time. We had 2 b-ball games (half court) going on and some soccer/volley ball/dodge ball going on in the middle of the court. The older boys were playing b-ball because it is a mens sport here and volley ball is the girls sport. It was a little chaotic but I felt it went well and about 75% of them stayed for the small bible lesson that I shared at the end which is encouraging.
This past week I got a great opportunity to go way up north (12 hour bus ride) into the mountains, in the province of Kalinga. John's mentor, Hart, came here for a visit because he spent 20 years in the Philippines with a Bible translating organization (SIL) and spent most of his time in a small village up in the north. The first day we spent in Banaue looking at their famous rice terraces (you can see them on google) which was amazing. Then we spent a night at SIL compound which was very encouraging. We spent some time talking with Hart's old co-workers about their heart and desire to translate the Bible so others can read the word of God. This is the place where a lot of the translating happened for the northern part of the country. The Philippines has about 70 different languages/dialects so their were many people who stayed at this compound working on translating.
Then we moved on from there to a village type community, Tabuk, it has about 50 thousand people but is nothing like the metropolis that is Manila. We spent 2 days there at Hart's friends place and they were incredibly hospitable. We were very lucky to be in Tabuk this past weekend because there was a cultural festival going on and we got to see many different tribal dances and rituals. It definitely sparked a new found interest in the native communities in Canada for me.
Then came the most interesting part of the trip. We went on a 5 hour jeepney ride to the remote village of Asabunglan. It was the worst road that I have every traveled on. It's just dug out from the side of the mountains and parts of it is unusable in the rainy season. Also the whole ride we had a live pig on the roof that I watched get butchered once we got there for the feast they prepared for us. This place has no electricity and they take showers by taking water from the mountain spring using bamboo as a pipe. I feel as if I should have grown up here because almost every has a foot long knife on their hip at all times and they always have a fire going. My 2 favourite things in the world! Fire and Knives! They prepared a whole evening of festivities for us the night we arrived because they are so thankful to Hart for bringing the gospel to them and were very honoured that John and I came to visit. They brought out their gong like drums that only get brought out when blood has been shed, that is why we brought the pig up. So from about 7 pm till 1 am they were playing their gongs, dancing, singing and sharing. Of course they got us to dance which was quite entertaining. It was such an incredible night. The next day the moment I woke up I was asked if I wanted to go get coconuts and of course I did. So we went on a short walk and 10 year old boy climbed up the tree and started throwing coconuts down and we cut them up and drank the milk, so sweet. Then later that day we went on a 2 hour hike through the mountains and it was so awesome. They also caught a bat for us to eat, it was good but far too much work for so little meat.
I read a book while I was gone and I have to encourage everyone to read it. The Heavenly Man is the title and it is a must read. I would love to go in to much detail about it but I don't have the time, it would be a very long sermon about how we need to get serious about our faith. PLEASE READ THE BOOK.
As always thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, they are always appriated. May God Bless you richly and reveal himself to you in a new way.
Jared
Our last youth event was quite the turnout. We rented a near by gym (a cement b-ball court) and let the word out to the area that we are ministering to and about 50 kids showed up. Mostly youth but some young kids showed up too and everyone seemed to have a good time. We had 2 b-ball games (half court) going on and some soccer/volley ball/dodge ball going on in the middle of the court. The older boys were playing b-ball because it is a mens sport here and volley ball is the girls sport. It was a little chaotic but I felt it went well and about 75% of them stayed for the small bible lesson that I shared at the end which is encouraging.
This past week I got a great opportunity to go way up north (12 hour bus ride) into the mountains, in the province of Kalinga. John's mentor, Hart, came here for a visit because he spent 20 years in the Philippines with a Bible translating organization (SIL) and spent most of his time in a small village up in the north. The first day we spent in Banaue looking at their famous rice terraces (you can see them on google) which was amazing. Then we spent a night at SIL compound which was very encouraging. We spent some time talking with Hart's old co-workers about their heart and desire to translate the Bible so others can read the word of God. This is the place where a lot of the translating happened for the northern part of the country. The Philippines has about 70 different languages/dialects so their were many people who stayed at this compound working on translating.
Then we moved on from there to a village type community, Tabuk, it has about 50 thousand people but is nothing like the metropolis that is Manila. We spent 2 days there at Hart's friends place and they were incredibly hospitable. We were very lucky to be in Tabuk this past weekend because there was a cultural festival going on and we got to see many different tribal dances and rituals. It definitely sparked a new found interest in the native communities in Canada for me.
Then came the most interesting part of the trip. We went on a 5 hour jeepney ride to the remote village of Asabunglan. It was the worst road that I have every traveled on. It's just dug out from the side of the mountains and parts of it is unusable in the rainy season. Also the whole ride we had a live pig on the roof that I watched get butchered once we got there for the feast they prepared for us. This place has no electricity and they take showers by taking water from the mountain spring using bamboo as a pipe. I feel as if I should have grown up here because almost every has a foot long knife on their hip at all times and they always have a fire going. My 2 favourite things in the world! Fire and Knives! They prepared a whole evening of festivities for us the night we arrived because they are so thankful to Hart for bringing the gospel to them and were very honoured that John and I came to visit. They brought out their gong like drums that only get brought out when blood has been shed, that is why we brought the pig up. So from about 7 pm till 1 am they were playing their gongs, dancing, singing and sharing. Of course they got us to dance which was quite entertaining. It was such an incredible night. The next day the moment I woke up I was asked if I wanted to go get coconuts and of course I did. So we went on a short walk and 10 year old boy climbed up the tree and started throwing coconuts down and we cut them up and drank the milk, so sweet. Then later that day we went on a 2 hour hike through the mountains and it was so awesome. They also caught a bat for us to eat, it was good but far too much work for so little meat.
I read a book while I was gone and I have to encourage everyone to read it. The Heavenly Man is the title and it is a must read. I would love to go in to much detail about it but I don't have the time, it would be a very long sermon about how we need to get serious about our faith. PLEASE READ THE BOOK.
As always thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, they are always appriated. May God Bless you richly and reveal himself to you in a new way.
Jared
Monday, February 1, 2010
NO BALLS IN THE PARK?
So the other week I took the youth to a park. It's not the biggest park or really the nicest but you have to take what you are given when you live in a concrete jungle. It is mostly a park for runners but we came to play and that didn't sit well with some people. About 10 mins of being there playing with our soccer and volley balls a guard came by and told us that we are not allowed to play with balls in the park. So we stopped for about 5 mins and then said to myself wasn't my old e-mail address the rebel_14 so I told the kids to just play with the balls anyway, so we did. The guard never came back until we were sharing the Word. So he stayed around for a little and listened, then just walked off without talking to us again.
Last monday some of us were able to go to an orphanage outside the city called Christian Grace Fellowship, which is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year. It is quite the amazing place, it is still run by the founder who is tiny 78 year old single women with a heart of Gold. The Orphanage has 70 kids at a time from 4-17 right now there are only 13 boys, a little unbalanced. Though it started as an orphanage the women started a school and a Church in which the surrounding community is apart of now too. All the helpers of the orphanage and the teachers at the school are all products of the orphanage. It was an amazing place to see and a great encouragement. It even has a small farm area to help with their needs. More about the founder, when we got there she was really sorry for keeping us waiting (which was only about 5-10 mins) because she was planting eggplant. She is 78 years old!
Yesterday we got a chance go to a different school once again outside the city. This one was started by an American women 20 years ago and her passion was to educate the less fortunate but now has turn into something so much more. There are about 150 children in the school ranging from 4-17 but they also have about 40 staff members who live there too. This orphanage/school is a little different because they are totally self sufficient. They have their own farm and provide all their own food and then sell their extra produce for extra funds. Also all the worker and teachers are volunteers, they just get free room and board. So they have no expenses but live but faith for everything else. One other thing this place does is put on seminars for Children and Youth programs to help other people who want to do what they are doing. They also put on horticultural seminars which I find is needed so much here. Many people need to be taught how to use their small plot of land to produce food they so desperately need. They call it F.A.I.T.H gardening Food Always In The Home. They are doing incredible things in this place and hopefully it spends far and wide.
Other then this I don't have much to report because I was out of commission for about 4 days with a nasty fever. Thursday afternoon I thought an alien (referring to the Alien movies) was going to come out of my stomach, it was so painful. But now I am better, so it's all good. Thank you again for keeping me in your prayers. May God Bless you richly, Take Care
Jared
Last monday some of us were able to go to an orphanage outside the city called Christian Grace Fellowship, which is celebrating it's 40th anniversary this year. It is quite the amazing place, it is still run by the founder who is tiny 78 year old single women with a heart of Gold. The Orphanage has 70 kids at a time from 4-17 right now there are only 13 boys, a little unbalanced. Though it started as an orphanage the women started a school and a Church in which the surrounding community is apart of now too. All the helpers of the orphanage and the teachers at the school are all products of the orphanage. It was an amazing place to see and a great encouragement. It even has a small farm area to help with their needs. More about the founder, when we got there she was really sorry for keeping us waiting (which was only about 5-10 mins) because she was planting eggplant. She is 78 years old!
Yesterday we got a chance go to a different school once again outside the city. This one was started by an American women 20 years ago and her passion was to educate the less fortunate but now has turn into something so much more. There are about 150 children in the school ranging from 4-17 but they also have about 40 staff members who live there too. This orphanage/school is a little different because they are totally self sufficient. They have their own farm and provide all their own food and then sell their extra produce for extra funds. Also all the worker and teachers are volunteers, they just get free room and board. So they have no expenses but live but faith for everything else. One other thing this place does is put on seminars for Children and Youth programs to help other people who want to do what they are doing. They also put on horticultural seminars which I find is needed so much here. Many people need to be taught how to use their small plot of land to produce food they so desperately need. They call it F.A.I.T.H gardening Food Always In The Home. They are doing incredible things in this place and hopefully it spends far and wide.
Other then this I don't have much to report because I was out of commission for about 4 days with a nasty fever. Thursday afternoon I thought an alien (referring to the Alien movies) was going to come out of my stomach, it was so painful. But now I am better, so it's all good. Thank you again for keeping me in your prayers. May God Bless you richly, Take Care
Jared
Monday, January 18, 2010
To God Give The Glory
This past week John and I started actual Tagalog lessons, we couldn't start earlier because the school didn't have any opening and we were to busy putting on the maximum amount of Christmas parties. The school is really unique in the way they are a Christian language school almost entirly made up of missionaries as their students.
The YM team here hosted a team from California and they put on a seminar on for us on Wednesday where they talked about studying your bible and discipleship. It was very well done and very informative. It was also really cool to hang out with some westerners even if they are from the the states (just kidding americans are great people) They were really awesome people and great to get to know them even if it was just for a couple of days. My strange sense of humour also got me into trouble again. When i was introducing myself to the team for some reason i looked over to John and Brett and said i was from the same small town as those 'crakers' over there. I got a lot of weird looks from the people in the room, but i just told them i could use that term because i am white and i'm taking it back and everyone seems to be ok with that. now the filipinos on our team are calling me cracker.
There have been a couple of changes to our ministries, the daycare we were running out of our church have become more of a kindergarten class now. we had to cut the size down but now we are actually getting some lessons in and teaching the kids some real education. John is in charge of it, this past april he just graduated from teachers college. the kids who come to the daycare are kids who are not in school and can't afford to go. Hopefully this is just a start to something really big in the future...The other change is a little more depressing. The street dwellers that i go and hangout with on tuesdays and thursdays at the drop-in centre had to move where they were haning out. They were hanging out just in front of a mall and used the over hang as shelter but a few weeks back one of them got in a little sqirmish with the guard. the guard pistolwhipped him in the head which gave him a nice gash. so now they are hanging out at a place where a fast food joint throws it's garbage. The way they survive is by eating the leftovers they find and collecting the plastic waste to sell.
I've got some better news about youth. Instead of them coming to the church we decided to go to them and there was about 25 youth there, all we did was play some games in the steet but it was a good fellowship. Also on wednesday some of our church members have started a bible study and about 30 kids showed up this last week. Although some of the kids dont quite get the message of jesus yet we are trying our best to spread the gospel. These things do sound nice but it definitely isn't easy, there have been some bumps and will continue to be bumps along the way. It's very difficult to think of things to do with some many kids in a limited space. It's not like back home for me, it's the city here with very very limited space and no churches with gyms, no church members with vechile to drive us places. also i can't speak tagalog so everything has to be translated and i feel a little ineffective at times. But like my friend Joeie pointed out that all this doesn't matter to God, he can do what looks impossible for us humans. He just asks us to believe and do what He tells us to do and He will do the rest. (she says it much better, look at the comments from my last post)
On sunday we had a better showing and the sunday school doubled in size. I had about 20 kids from ages 4-10 which was a little difficult to control at times even with 2 others helping me. I think that is all. Thank you so much for all your prayers. May God Bless each and everyone of you richly.
Jared
The YM team here hosted a team from California and they put on a seminar on for us on Wednesday where they talked about studying your bible and discipleship. It was very well done and very informative. It was also really cool to hang out with some westerners even if they are from the the states (just kidding americans are great people) They were really awesome people and great to get to know them even if it was just for a couple of days. My strange sense of humour also got me into trouble again. When i was introducing myself to the team for some reason i looked over to John and Brett and said i was from the same small town as those 'crakers' over there. I got a lot of weird looks from the people in the room, but i just told them i could use that term because i am white and i'm taking it back and everyone seems to be ok with that. now the filipinos on our team are calling me cracker.
There have been a couple of changes to our ministries, the daycare we were running out of our church have become more of a kindergarten class now. we had to cut the size down but now we are actually getting some lessons in and teaching the kids some real education. John is in charge of it, this past april he just graduated from teachers college. the kids who come to the daycare are kids who are not in school and can't afford to go. Hopefully this is just a start to something really big in the future...The other change is a little more depressing. The street dwellers that i go and hangout with on tuesdays and thursdays at the drop-in centre had to move where they were haning out. They were hanging out just in front of a mall and used the over hang as shelter but a few weeks back one of them got in a little sqirmish with the guard. the guard pistolwhipped him in the head which gave him a nice gash. so now they are hanging out at a place where a fast food joint throws it's garbage. The way they survive is by eating the leftovers they find and collecting the plastic waste to sell.
I've got some better news about youth. Instead of them coming to the church we decided to go to them and there was about 25 youth there, all we did was play some games in the steet but it was a good fellowship. Also on wednesday some of our church members have started a bible study and about 30 kids showed up this last week. Although some of the kids dont quite get the message of jesus yet we are trying our best to spread the gospel. These things do sound nice but it definitely isn't easy, there have been some bumps and will continue to be bumps along the way. It's very difficult to think of things to do with some many kids in a limited space. It's not like back home for me, it's the city here with very very limited space and no churches with gyms, no church members with vechile to drive us places. also i can't speak tagalog so everything has to be translated and i feel a little ineffective at times. But like my friend Joeie pointed out that all this doesn't matter to God, he can do what looks impossible for us humans. He just asks us to believe and do what He tells us to do and He will do the rest. (she says it much better, look at the comments from my last post)
On sunday we had a better showing and the sunday school doubled in size. I had about 20 kids from ages 4-10 which was a little difficult to control at times even with 2 others helping me. I think that is all. Thank you so much for all your prayers. May God Bless each and everyone of you richly.
Jared
Monday, January 11, 2010
2010? We must be living in the future now
Hello Everyone.
Sorry it's been a while since my last post. My Christmas was good but definitely different. On Christmas Eve we got invited to sing kareoke at our neighbours and we did that few a while, which was totally awesome. Then after that whole YM team and some friends got together at our team leader's house and had big meal together. Then on Christmas Day John and I were invited to a team members house for the afternoon and some of their family was there also.
Then on the 26th John and I got a chance to go to the beach for the week and that very very nice. Really got to rest and relax. It's always great to get out of the city especially for a country boy like me. We even got to go for a nice hike in the jungle and saw some monkey's which was wicked sweet. So we were there for New Years and we went to where the people gathered and they put on an amazing 30 min fireworks show. Although once we got back we were told was dinky compared to what happened here in Manila. They said the fireworks here in the city were going on for an hour and a half in every direction, just abosulte choas.
Then once we got back to the City it was meetings meetings and more meetings. We had meeting for our Church to figure out our driection and our ministries for the year. Also meetings for our YM team and our plans for the coming year. We really feel God is going to do big things in our community and through paternships this year. We just need to need to humble ourselves and totally summit ourselves before God in order for there to be change. Because without God we are nothing. On top of my youth leader role I have become the Sunday School teacher, it's only between 5-10 children each week but I always need a translator because my tagalog in still really poor. We had our first youth get together on saturday, it was a pretty poor showing (and so was our Church service on Sunday) which can get frustrating but I'm trying my best not to get defeated and just power through. Just keep praying for God to change the Hearts of the kids and Church attenders. If you have any questions or commets please feel free to do so.
Take Care and God Bless
Jared
Sorry it's been a while since my last post. My Christmas was good but definitely different. On Christmas Eve we got invited to sing kareoke at our neighbours and we did that few a while, which was totally awesome. Then after that whole YM team and some friends got together at our team leader's house and had big meal together. Then on Christmas Day John and I were invited to a team members house for the afternoon and some of their family was there also.
Then on the 26th John and I got a chance to go to the beach for the week and that very very nice. Really got to rest and relax. It's always great to get out of the city especially for a country boy like me. We even got to go for a nice hike in the jungle and saw some monkey's which was wicked sweet. So we were there for New Years and we went to where the people gathered and they put on an amazing 30 min fireworks show. Although once we got back we were told was dinky compared to what happened here in Manila. They said the fireworks here in the city were going on for an hour and a half in every direction, just abosulte choas.
Then once we got back to the City it was meetings meetings and more meetings. We had meeting for our Church to figure out our driection and our ministries for the year. Also meetings for our YM team and our plans for the coming year. We really feel God is going to do big things in our community and through paternships this year. We just need to need to humble ourselves and totally summit ourselves before God in order for there to be change. Because without God we are nothing. On top of my youth leader role I have become the Sunday School teacher, it's only between 5-10 children each week but I always need a translator because my tagalog in still really poor. We had our first youth get together on saturday, it was a pretty poor showing (and so was our Church service on Sunday) which can get frustrating but I'm trying my best not to get defeated and just power through. Just keep praying for God to change the Hearts of the kids and Church attenders. If you have any questions or commets please feel free to do so.
Take Care and God Bless
Jared
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