“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
I’m finally officially in the Philippines! What a wild rush of events. It’s been like 3 days since I’ve been here, but it feels like it’s been weeks. Definitely still getting adjusted to a different sleep cycle, language, and especially the driving/traffic situation. Thankfully, though it seems like a storm of new things, I continually am able to fall back on my rock in Jesus. While I could easily give you a word my word detailed account of the plane rides, new people, food, and all the other things I’m experiencing I’ll try and keep in short and sweet as I continue to live out this new adventure.
I hate flying. For the first 30 minutes of my flight to Seatle I was so memorized by the entire airplane experience, specifically the view. But after just one hour I decided that I never wanted to fly again. This decision was compounded upon when on the flight to Qatar I could not fall asleep. I was sooo exhausted, but I literally could not get comfortable enough to get an ounce of sleep. Finally, however we landed in Davao city and thus completed my three days of being in the air.
I love my team. Our team is made up of 14 people, 3 guys and 11 girls. While we had talked previously over zoom before embarking on this trip, I officially met everyone in Seattle and wow. These people are so kind, and excited, and passionate about their faith that it is 100 percent contagious. I am still building these friendships and getting to know everyone personally, but it is so exciting to see the heart for missions that these fellow team members have. Man, I really love these people.
My short story of the week. After getting settled in and learning the important information we needed to know about the culture and the city, our leaders sent us out on a scavenger hunt in the city markets. Once teams were decided we rushed out to find all the things on our lists, and I kid you not, it absolutely felt like I was on an episode of “Amazing Race”. First, we had to get a Jeepney (kind of like a small bus with bench seats in the back facing each other) and make our way to the central market. While it took a second, trying to find the right bus, and asking people which one it was, we finally boarded the Jeepney and found ourselves ahead of the others on our way to the market. After about 15 minutes of driving, we hopped off, paid the driver, and set out into the bustling market before us. There were so many new things to see. Multitudes of exotic fruits, slabs of fish, clothes, and venders waving us down to come see all their various wares. While it took a bit to find the varied items on our list, we quickly checked everything off and hopped on another Jeepney to go to our second location being the city mall. Once there, the first thing on our agenda was to get some pesos out of the atm and purchase an e-sim, laundry detergent, and some plastic hangers. However, I quickly ran into a slight snag when the whole mall experienced an untimely power outage and the atm completely swallowed my card. So, yah, stressful. After chasing down the phone number for the atm company, and literally yelling at the person on the other side of phone so she could understand my English, I finally surrendered and called our team leader to come help me. After a few minutes he showed up, helped clear up the language barrier, and helped set up a time to collect the card the coming Monday. So as of right now I am supposed to collect the card tomorrow. Praying that that turns out okay. Honestly, one of the worst things that probably could of happened to me in a new foreign country. Thankfully though, God is in control and as I trust him with my life, he is working all things for his glory and for his kingdoms good.
Again, at this point I want to once again thank those that have continued to give, specifically Scott Gordan, Erin Michelli, Caryn Diiorio, and the Anonymous donor, that have put me to an awesome total of 93% funded. Yall are amazing and I am so thankful, especially actually being over here, as I am experiencing all these new things because of everyone’s generosity. Praise God for y’all!
Finally, just a couple prayer requests:
- Catching up on rest as I get used to this new sleep cycle
- For this debit card situation to work out smoothly
- For God to continue to grow the hearts of these team members and prepare us for the work that is ahead of us
- For me to enjoy the quality time that I’m having with God in my early quiet times
- And overall, for general peace
Starting to run out of our scheduled screen time for the day so this is where I say goodbye and thank you for continuing to live out this adventure with me. Till next time may God keep you safe and continue to grow you in your faith as we seek to glorify him in all that we do.
