First time in the Philippines

As a newbie on my first mission trip to the Philippines, you might imagine that I had a pretty bad time, especially after my earlier description of how we took more than 3 hours driving from the airport to the church through heavy rains and floods!

It’s true that I was pretty confused – I had no idea where we were most of the time – which island we were on, whether we were in the north or the south, where we were to sleep in, who we visited, what food we were going to eat, what sort of transport we had to travel on… no idea at all! I simply followed the leader of our little team wherever he went. My chief concern at that time was not to cause problems for the group, since I was the “last minute” addition. Just hang in there, be invisible as much as possible, don’t talk, don’t complain, don’t touch, don’t do anything, don’t get into trouble!!

We went to at least four different islands, in the central parts of the Philippines. We did not stay at any hotel except for the final two nights of the entire three-week trip – we slept at churches, bible schools and brethren’s homes instead. There was even a family who vacated their home for a few days and moved in with their relatives so as to let us move into their house, to live and use everything as if we own the place!

The mission statement of a church we visited in the Philippines

I met many, many brethren for the first time – many of them serving full time as missionaries, bible teachers, pastors and their families, bible women, and even young bible students in bible seminaries who were preparing to be missionaries or for full time ministries as pastors.

We were constantly on the move, island-hopping or town-hopping all over the Philippines islands. Sometimes we visited up to four churches in one morning. At every church or house we called on, our friendly, hospitable hosts would have a spread of delicious snacks and drinks ready for us. Imagine eating four times before lunch!!

These pastors and missionaries, although having so much less than us, provided for our stomachs, and our comfort. What wonderful hospitality and love they showed us!