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
Monday, July 26, 2010
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
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