Tuesday-Wednesday, June 3-4, Subic Bay Children’s Home/Subic Bay Baptist Church (Subic Bay)
Mike gives us Tuesday’s update…this morning started out nice and early for us Americans doing a devotion time with the Subic Bay Children’s Home kids and staff. I was blessed with the opportunity to share the devotional this morning on God’s unconditional love. After the devotions we all left the church to go down to the children’s home dining hall and eat some breakfast before heading out to minister to the BPAT (Barangay Peacekeeping Action Team). The BPAT consists of both paid employees and volunteers who serve the community. We were able to introduce ourselves to them in Tagalog and sing a few songs for them before Dr. Cirone presented a challenge on communication from the life of Joshua.
After lunch at a local yacht club, we had an appointment to see the mayor and vice-mayor of Olongapo City. Brandon was able to pray over the mayor for wisdom and guidance in leading the city and God’s continued blessings while Dr. Cirone prayed over the vice-mayor. And what is amazing is that the vice-mayor joined us at a local Christian coffee shop afterwards! He brought some fried banana spring rolls for all of us to enjoy…and we certainly did enjoy them!
For the rest of the evening we will be at the children’s home enjoying some time with the kids and fellowshipping.
Adam gives us Wednesday’s update…Wednesday morning started with the typical expedition up the mountain of stairs to church. The speaker this morning was Adam, and after giving a short lesson about consistency through the life of Daniel, everyone went down to the kitchen for breakfast. It is interesting to point out that the children have already been up for several hours by this time. The older children wake up at 4 a.m. every day because of the work they are assigned to do at the children’s home. Some of the different places the work includes the farm, kitchen, or shop. The farm that the children’s home has includes a large patch of crops and several animals they use for food. Because so many of the kids wake up early, by the time 7am chapel comes around they are ready for the day. After breakfast, the team headed back up the of stairs to prepare the church for the Character Enhancement Conference. During this conference, over 100 first responders came to hear Dr. Cirone speak about Having the Right Foundation and Working with People. After the conference, the team helped serve the first responders lunch and enjoyed talking with them. That afternoon, the team had a few hours of free time to spend resting or playing with the kids before they headed to Subic Bay Mission Church. At this remote extension church, the team helped run a VBS-style meeting for roughly 20 kids and 10 parents. During the trip back, most of the team napped; this is an activity that the team has become very good at and enjoy practicing a lot. Upon arrival back at the children’s home, the men joined Pastor Fulfer in a Bible study followed by supper, and the ladies enjoyed a supper by themselves then spent time with the children.
