Monday, May 28, 2018—Subic Bay Children’s Home, Errands Around Town
Psalm 68:19, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.”
One of the blessings of going on a missions trip is the chance to experience the realities of the daily life on the mission field. In the
midst of our constant hustle and bustle of life, God often reorients us to be thankful for those daily benefits—clean water, electricity, drinking water, hearing sounds in the night, and most importantly taking time to connect with people. Oftentimes, this may even involve a little creativity. To illustrate…
- After going almost two days without a shower and having no water available for a short time, several of our guys found out that they CAN take a shower using 3-4 bottles of water.
- When you’re in your room in bed and everything goes silent (i.e., the air conditioner just shut off), you’ve experienced the infamous Filipino “brown out” where some electrical line downstream overloaded and just cut out. It is amazing how hot a room can get at midnight.
- When you’re out fishing along the bay and realize maybe you should have brought a bottle of water, it is amazing how refreshing it is to see a 7-Eleven store and realize the happiness of getting a refreshing drink.
- When you’re not sure whether your alarm will go off in the morning, but that’s not a worry due to the extra “local” alarm clocks—the crowing rooster, the barking dog…
- When you’re out and about in town and spontaneously have a word of prayer with people, you realize all people long for relationships and encouragement.
Overall we praise God for all His daily benefits that we so often take for granted—the ability to shower, electricity and air conditioning, water, the ability to hear, and the opportunity to build relationships with and encourage people. Forgive us, Lord, for being so unthankful for the simple things of life.
Today began with Pastor Ronnie in morning devotions challenging all of us to follow the admonition found in Proverbs 14:15, “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” After breakfast, the team split up into two workshop
groups where Rachel did a phonics workshop and Tim taught the guys a thing or two about auto mechanics (…and also how to use Youtube to their advantage too!).
After lunch time, Pastor Odek took our group into Olongapo City where we converted our dollars to Filipino Pesos and then went to the City Market to do a little shopping. One thing that was definitely noticeable is how open the people were to us—very kind and considerate. For example, the lady at the Foreign Exchange Bureau appreciated the prayer we had with her for safety. The ladies at the market appreciated our prayer we had with them that God would prosper their business. Because of these prayers, each of these ladies were very open to receiving a Gospel witness and a tract.
After heading to the store to buy a couple of fishing poles, the guys headed out to be with Pastor Ted who was fishing along Subic Bay while the girls did some shopping. It was a great day just spending time with Pastor Ted and Pastor Odek and finding out more about them and their vision for the Children’s Home. Some of our guys tried their hand at fishing; thankfully, Caulin was with us spearfishing and helped get our lines unsnagged from the rocks. Although we were not experts at fishing, there’s just something about the tranquility of being out in an area by yourself looking across 
Subic Bay hearing the sounds of waves and feeling the slight breeze blow across your face. We could clearly understand why the disciples enjoyed fishing.
Upon returning to the Children’s Home, there is never a shortage of quality time playing with the children along with a somewhat constant basketball game. Warning: If you ever play basketball against Sami, be careful as she’s quite competitive, …in a jean skirt! Overall, both the team spirit and unity is strong and everyone is stepping up and doing their part to serve and encourage the children and staff of Subic Bay Children’s Home. Please continue to pray for our health, our safety, for daily strength, and that each of us would continue to maximize our ministry time and experience to show the love of Christ to these dear folks as each of us desire to say, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart…” Lamentations 3:51 Lord, thank you for allowing us to enjoy the simple things in life!
Thanking God for Each of You,
Team Philippines
