The Correct URL for Photos

https://sweetphilippines09.sugarsync.com/albums

I have fixed the link in my previous post, but this is to send out another email in case you go directly from there.

Lots of Photos

So this isn't much of an update, but our team has been uploading photos to a shared site where the full picture can be downloaded. If you want to check out the photos, here is the link to the website:

https://sweetphilippines09.sugarsync.com/albums

The albums are listed by name and a description so I think it is pretty easy to navigate. Also, please feel free to nab whichever pictures you want. Thanks. Eventually I will post some of my favorites online to give a full recap.

Home Sweet Home

Made it back home!!! It's great, now I'm going to dig a hole and disappear for a couple of days. Probably I'll spend time with my family. It will be pretty great shaving as well, got a bit haggard.
It's pretty great to upload pictures in 10 seconds. When they come, this blog will be littered with them.

Hi Again Means Goodbye Sometimes

Heading out in four hours to the Manila airport. 31 hours later I will be landing in Logan. Nice? It will be pretty great to be back home (and recovering from jet lag). It was pretty great seeing some of the teenagers from the community come and visit. Yes, very good to be spending the last day with my Filipino friends and the rest of our team.

See many of you again soon and look forward to sharing some of the experiences. Thanks for all your prayers and notes of encouragement throughout this trip.

Winding Down

Flying out in 3 days... whoa

It was great to visit Los Banos, Laguna and the ministry in Metro Manila the past few days. The rest of our team left their respective ministries and we are back at the Filipino Navigator headquarters. There are plans for some rest and relaxing in the city as we debrief our time with each other. It feels pretty strange to be talking about leaving the Philippines, but this trip has helped me look forward to another year at UMass.

Also, I personally am hoping to spend maybe one more day with a couple of older guys from our community (Ronel and Darwin) if they can visit on Saturday. That would be pretty exciting for sure... it's pretty tough leaving friends by going halfway around the world.

True Fasting

I sometimes wonder if we are connecting with people's spirituality too much instead of too little. As in we are too concerned with what bible studies we get them connected with and miss out on people's physical/emotional needs.

Here's a chapter from Isaiah that is helping me process this thought:

Isaiah 58:2-10
2For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. ³'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves,and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. ⁴Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. ⁵Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? 6"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? ⁷Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? ⁸Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, 10and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

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It makes me think about this: to know the abundance of the Lord isn't simply to think rightly, but to also live justly.

Notes From Lunch

Jason and I had the privilege of meeting with Wency, the director of the urban poor ministries in Los Banos. I wanted to write down what I heard because I really love the vision of his ministry here.

• The ministry in Los Banos comprises ministry to the poor, high school ministry, and a college ministry (UPLB)... incorporating self-sustaining development programs, feeding programs, music ministry, and tutorials.
• The major mission points of this ministry is to: have a ministry that is able to be run by lay-people, develop real community, and be holistic - to minister to people's needs and their spirituality, speak to all of their lives with the gospel, minister to a wide array of people (H.S., college, slums/squatter areas).
• Holistic ministry is essential because people begin to follow you when you help their needs.
  
• Another reason why there are multiple ministries is because the poor in the Philippines are integrated throughout all of society - the poor and the rich mingle in everyday life.
• Being poor isn't necessarily better, though they are more ready to accept the gospel. The poor and rich struggle with the same inherent issues (sin, family structure, cultural pressures)... it is just the poor are more aware of their neediness, which is why they readily desire to connect their spirituality.
• The congregational church ministers to the community when individuals take charge of loving their neighbors (going beyond church and church activity attendance).
• The future vision is that laborers will be built up as the ministry speaks to each individual's wholeness... and they will go out to establish communities.

I am a little bit embarrassed with my broken notes, but what kuya wency and Companion to the Poor say really complement each other. I am really grateful for the hospitality of the people in Los Banos in welcoming Jason and I to visit their ministry. Seeing the ministry here helps me also process my time in Antipolo better as well.