UP AND RUNNINNG AND GOING STRONG!

Philippine Mission Trip

CRANKED UP AND RUNNING!

Don, Jamie Walker and Chris Gerber

April 25-May 14, 2013

Urdaneta, Pangasinan, Philippines

MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013

9:00 AM After breakfast in the hotel restaurant, we headed out.  Chris and Arnold were working in Pao and Asingan this week while Jamie and I were working in San Vincent teaching a VBS at sister Reggie’s house.  She is a new Christian from Urdaneta and hosted them at her home.  The first day they were very prepared and had name tags and coloring sheets for the children.  Jamie took the young children in the back and Richard took the high school age.  They had 64 children with 7 adult helpers. I was on the front porch and had 5 mothers of the children who I had Bible Study with. Our study was on God’s Expectations for Man from Genesis.

11:30 AM We went to the Magic Mall to meet Arnold and Chris and eat lunch. 

2:30 PM Our VBS was in Inamotan organized by sister Bren who is a public school teacher. When we arrived at the field with the mango tree, there were 22 children and 9 adults. It was a good session with very high temps and very little breeze. 

4:00 PM All three of us met with Arnold in a field in Mabanogbog (a barangy of Urdaneta)  with a group of government beneficiaries who Arnold is mentoring with advice on budgeting, life choices and moral issues.  I spoke on Making Good Decisions for our Children.  Chris then spoke on Sin, Grace and Faith.  After Arnold concluded his remarks we left. There were 17 adults, 19 children and 11 assistants and teachers and 8 chickens and 2 goats.

We returned to the mall and went to supper with our team of adult leaders at Shakey’s Pizza and then headed to the hotel for a nice night of rest.

 

TUESDAY, APRIL 30, 2013

 

9:00 AM After a good night’s sleep (the best since Wednesday before we left) we ate breakfast and headed out into the heat.  Heat index was already over 100 F by 8 AM! Jamie and I went to San Vincent and sister Reggie’s house for VBS.  When we arrived there were already a large number of children assembled.  There were 75 children in the two classes and I had 9 ladies in my adult Bible study.  We had 8 helpers besides Jamie and me.    

11:00 AM We went to Pao to have a Bible study and a fellowship lunch of Mongo Chicken and rice. There were over 35 adults and Jamie had about 15 children and we had about 10 helpers.  It was very good to get back together with those sweet folks.  There were a number of new babies last year and it is wonderful to see life going on!  I saw my little buddy, Daniel, who I loved and really enjoyed being with last year.  He was about 6 months old and I held him most of the time I there.  Today he was a little scared and didn’t have much to do with me….maybe SundayJ.

2:30 PM We went back to Inamotan for the VBS under the mango tree.  We stayed for about 30 minutes and sang with the children then I left the 25 children with Jamie and went to San Jose for a Bible Study.  It was with 5 Christians including at 97 year old brother who was nearly blind.  We had visited him before and his health was better this time.

4:00 PM Jamie and I reunited and headed to another field in San Jose for another meeting with Arnold’s government group he calls PPPP (which means something in Tagalog J) I spoke on God’s Plans for your Life to 38 prospects while Doc Blaise, Dana Zambrano, Jamie and Irene Ojerio taught 17 children in a mango tree.

6:00 PM We had supper at Chow King with the group and returned to the hotel for a night of rest.

 

WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 2013   

 

9:00 AM Susan’s car had mechanical problems today so Carlos our driver did not come but Celine picked us up in her truck with J.M. to go with us.  We went to San Vincent and sister Reggie’s for VBS.  They had 89 children with 3 adults helping while JM and I had 9 mothers for our Bible class. After a very good class, we headed to the SM Mall at Roaslies to purchase Bibles and snacks for VBS tomorrow.

12:00 We shopped at the National Book Store at SM Mall and got all the Taglog New Testaments they had in stock and ate lunch at Max’s in the mall.  Jamie and I were treated to Buko (Coconut milk) in the shell.  Quite interesting and very healthy!  And a lot of fun tooJ.

2:30 Went to Inamotan for VBS again that was organized by Bren.  Jamie had 28 children in class and was helped by Richard.  I had a Bible study with 3 adults with two babies and Celine and JM to assist me and translate. 

5:15 PM   We went to 168 which is a kind of open area in a mall but with just stalls set up with about anything you can imagine for sale! We looked around for a while and bought a few things and then headed to meet the Zambranos for dinner. 

After dinner we returned to the hotel and ate then turned in after a very hot day!

 

THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2013

 

9:00 AM Celine was driving again and we started the day at San Vincent with our VBS at sister Reggie’s.

Jamie had so many that they divided her class up and they had over 90- children.  I had 7 mothers present for my Bible study and got down to serious discussions today. I gave out the Bibles that I had purchased for them.  We had our most engaging study as there were a number of questions about various religious practices.  It continued until almost 11:30 and only broke up because of the invasion of their childrenJ.  Looking forward to what tomorrow brings!

 

12:00 PM Team met at Magic Mall for lunch together at Chow King and a planning session.  Also ate with MaryVic and Caesar as it was her birthday.  Jamie had her eyes examined by Dr. Blaise and got some suggestions for her vision since her previous eye doctor, Dr. Wessel’s, has passed away.  Dana and Blaise have taken such good care of Jamie!

 2:30 PM Were delayed heading to Inamotan as the President of the Philippines was appearing at a campaign rally beside the mall and it had traffic in a terrible mess.  Jamie and Richard taught one class while Blaise and Dana taught the other children’s class.  After a few minutes of singing, the skies clouded up and then the bottom fell out with a huge thunderstorm with hail.  Jamie and Richard had their class under one carport, Dana and Blaise had theirs under another one and Chris, JM and I taught our Bible study with 7 ladies on a porch during the down pour!  The greatest thing was it cooled things off for a while.  It still heated back up and the heat index was 115F at 8:30 PM.

4:30 PM We left Inamotan after VBS and headed to the By Pass Road and stopped and looked at the property we are making an offer on to build a church building on.  It is about 1.8 km out of Asingan and about 3.5 km from Pao so it is a nearly perfect location and a beautiful piece of property.  It is 1000 square meters and should serve the congregation for many years.  We are praying that the deal can be worked out.

6:00 PM Midweek services at Urdaneta.  Richard led singing and Chris spoke on A Christian’s Armor. 38 were present. 

8:15 PM Back to the hotel and we ate supper with Arnold, Dana and Daniel Zambrano before making a few phone calls, checking and e-mails and Facebook.  I got a good report from Mom about Dad.  She said the nurses said he had a good night and was getting stronger and waking up more.  He is still very ill and needs a lot of prayer but we are confident that things will work out for the best.  Heading to be and getting rested for another day tomorrow.  Sure am blessed to get to do this type of work in the Lord’s kingdom!  Thanks to all who are praying for us and helped with this mission trip!