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