Day 5: Journey Past the 7 Rivers
The mission is coming to an end. Today is our last day visiting sites and serving the children in the different areas of the Philippines. We start our day with our devotional, delivered by Cherry, focused on Psalm 111. "Praise the Lord" is how it starts, with the remaining verses glorifying the things deserving of praise. My favorite moment in the chapter comes at the end: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." We fear the unknown, which makes this verse so poetic. I see the fear of the Lord as a willing and loving submission to His authority and plan. Though we may not know what is in store for us, letting the fear of the Lord replace our fear of the world will lead us to gain the wisdom of our God, who crafts the plan. All in all, a great passage to chew on as we partake in our journey to the jungle.
Our first stop was the municipal office, which is essentially the mayor's office. The Philippines is divided up into regions, which contain municipalities, each of which is essentially a city. We visited Joy, a missionary and recently elected council member, to reconnect, discuss future missions, and encourage her as she makes a positive impact both in her local government and in her ministry. From my understanding, politics in the Philippines is a "pay to play" game. Joy approached it differently. She came completely out of pocket for her campaign, stuck to her morals, and when she received the most votes in the election, she chose to use her newly acquired influence and resources to propel her mission work. This one woman is making real change in her local community through the power of God. It's what this country, and every country, needs. I get goosebumps just thinking about whether God is using us to help thousands of other children give their lives to Christ and follow in Joy's footsteps.
Our next stop was the palay farm, just outside our two sites. Pastor Arnel walked us over to the land he purchased next to the farm, just off the first river we would eventually cross, nestled amongst rolling green hills (pictured above). The vision for the land is a place for the youth to camp, learn about Christ, and get baptized in the river. We joked that it was the Philippine Jordan River and that we had to start calling him Arnel the Baptist (like John the Baptist). That got a belly laugh! We had an early lunch and loaded up the car for our site visits.
Loaded up and ready to go, we headed through the seven rivers to our first site, deep in the jungle, to serve alongside Bishop Jonaver. These areas are without electricity, relying on solar panels for simple things. They are without sanitation services, burning trash on the side of the road. They are without cell service or wifi (more of an assumption than a fact). But they do have an opportunity to know the Lord. Today, we gave our best performance of Jonah and the Whale and learned that even kids in the remote wilderness know what "six-seven" is. It's a little sad, but also special, that I finally felt as if I was getting the hang of this. We were really catching our stride, getting the kids involved, making them laugh, showing them love, and it was the final day of the mission.
Today we distributed the socks donated by the wonderful congregation at this church to these kids. The sock drive was my idea, from concept to delivery. However, I couldn't tell you exactly why I was adamant about seeing this through. What I can tell you is this. Not a single kid we saw on the trip was wearing socks. It was always bare feet or slippers (it's what they call flip flops over here). Now, a moment of vulnerability: I'm not sure socks are the most practical thing for kids who live in a hot and humid environment where it rains almost every day for at least thirty minutes. Regardless, they didn't have socks, and now they do. Ultimately, I put this trip in God's hands from the beginning, and who knows what He's planning to do with these socks now that the kids have them, but I know it will be something special and glorifying to Him ultimately. So, thank you church for rallying these supplies!
After five days of service, we visited eight sites, distributed slippers, food, school supplies, and even some socks to over 1,000 children, gave eight performances of "Jonah and the Whale," and preached the gospel message both in word and in service. Of the millions of things that could go wrong, the important things didn't. We were never stopped or slowed down by the rain (in fact, the rain would conveniently come down during moments when we were covered, it literally could not have worked out more perfectly). Nobody got injured or sick from the local food or water. We were never targeted in the lower income areas. Never a victim of pickpockets, scams, or violence. God had His hand over our group at every minute of the waking day.
As we get ready to leave, the work here is not finished. We go home to our security, jobs, and clean lives while the kids here remain in a very dismal situation. Erwin and Cherry always emphasized that the local pastors are the heroes of this story, because they are the ones fighting for these kids to have a good education, food in their bellies, clothes on their backs, shoes on their feet, and Jesus in their hearts. At the end of our activation here, the community awarded Impact 3:16, Bishop Jonaver, and Calvary Chapel with a certificate of recognition for their generosity in the community and with the children. All of that is great, but the heart of Impact 3:16 is to do what's in the name: leave an impact. For me, I hope my time out here left an impact on these kids, on my peers, and on you, the readers. My prayer leaving this experience is that everyone gets a full circle moment, because it leads us back to our devotional from this morning in Psalm 111:10.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!
