One Week Notice

So, this update is coming a little bit later than I expected, but I feel like the week has flown by that there has been no time for the internet. But here we are, some quiet = some updates. By the by, I really wish I had pictures because there are a lot of things I want to describe and it is so much better to see it. Well, here goes....

Living in the Community

It has been four days (Monday we left for our host homes). And I have found a new appreciation for showers, flushing toilets, and mattresses. I know I said this before, but the culture shock going back to the US is going to be incredible. Here is a rough mesh of what my day looks like so far (and it will probably change).

• 5AM - Get up thanks to the roosters
• 5:30 - Send the daughter (Roschel - age 9) to school - though school has been canceled because of a typhoon that has hit us.
• 6 - Do some exercise on the way back (jogging or basketball)
• 7:30 - breakfast
• 8 - Get ready to go to the mountains (on Tues, Wed, Thur) - I have a more productive day before when I sometimes wake up!
  
• 8:30 - Go to a mountain community to renovate a CR (bathroom) and plant some trees
• 12PM - Get back, have lunch - Roschel is coming back home
• 1 - Spend time with the baranguay (community) kids (referring to any age between 3-17) - they roam about in bunches
• 4 - Settled time - I can't call it quiet or alone time since neither has any chance of possibly happening... maybe reading
• 4:05 - The baranguay kids want to read with me so we read together
• 7 - Dinner
• 8 - House church at one of the communities (one each night, so that means 5 of the evenings).
• 9 - Watch Zorro and Totoy Bato (filipino soaps)
• 9:45 - fall asleep on a chair because I am exhausted
• 10:15 - Wake up, dip bath, really go to bed.
• 1 AM - A mosquite bit my toe - it's really itchy
• 4 AM - Roosters, CR

I am really thankful that our host families have given each one of us enclosed space including a bed and a curtain and a feast for breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as merienda (snack time between the meals). That definitely helps me cope without a mattress, no flushing toilets, and dip baths. Oh yeah, a fan at my feet blowing air over me helps minimize mosquitoes, helps in general as well.

Official Schedule

This is the last time I will type the days of the week:

• Monday - 6am-5:30pm (getting to know the community), 6:30-7:30pm (high school bible study, reviewing the gospel)
  
• Tuesday - 8am-12pm (in the mountains), 1-9pm (getting to know the community)
• Wednesday - 8am-12pm (in the mountains), 1-7pm (getting to know the community), 8-9pm (my house church)
• Thursday - 8am-12pm (in the mountains), 1-7pm (getting to know the community), 8-9pm (Jon's house church)
  
• Friday - free day, 9pm (sleepover Kuya Willy's house)
  
• Saturday - 8:30-12pm (tutorial class at a Catholic church), 1pm-4pm (spending more time with the high school bible study), 8-9pm (Jason's house church)
  
• Sunday - Go to Catholic church in the morning, spend time with the community, 8-9pm (Dario's house church)

Getting to know the community is pretty vague, but it is pretty essential in developing future relationships for more house churches to be planted and for Kuya Willy's ministry of empowering filipinos (since there culture is heavily based on shame). This happens pretty easily too since whenever I go out of my house, at least one of the children in my house (Roldo {4}, Roschel {9}, and Ronnel {17}) follow me and introduce me to their friends. And from here, I am pretty sure my ongoing presence with the children will eventually lead me to get to know other family members. Also, if I stay in the house, at least someone visits every 5 minutes so I'm pretty sure I get to know the community better through the spectrum of doing nothting-to-something.

I really want to share a lot more about all the experiences I have plus the back log of what I wanted to share the last time I posted and pictures are a must... hopefully this will happen soon. But I am going to be late for dinner and it would be good to be there relatively on time (7pm).

Please pray for my host family that they will find steady jobs and be healthy... being jobless or sick are the two biggest threats to anyone who is poor in the community. Their names are: Kuya (older brother) Rolley, Atte (older sister) Lina, Ronnel, Roschel, and Roldo - and they have an older daughter in the provinces, but I don't know her name. They have been exceedingly generous and are a beautiful family (where the parents really love their children, which sadly isn't the case for many families in metro manila)

Thanks!

Magandang Umaga Po (Good morning {respectfully}) for anyone in the states
Magandang Gabi Po (Good evening {respectfully}) for anyone in Asia