Field Missionary

The Southwest Indiana District team is gone…  They left early Sunday morning.

The last few days have been somewhat of a blur.  Mostly because they were long days and short nights.  I was supposed to give you an update on Saturday, but our sharing time that night ended pretty late, and I had to get up at 3:30am to get the team to the airport on Sunday, so I didn’t have a chance to update everyone.  Besides the lack of sleep, we’ve also had intermittent internet, so I’ve had a difficult time uploading the pictures and videos.

Let me start my update back on Friday, the team’s day off.  For the team’s day off, we went to a place called Villa Escudero.  I don’t know the entire history of the property, but it appears that it used to be some sort of “Plantation” type estate (1,000 acres) with a couple of nice homes and a large church on the premises.  It’s still family owned, but they no longer grow any crops.  They’ve converted the place into cultural learning center.

You get another 2-for-1 special today!

Yesterday (Sunday) we went to a church in another province, Cavite. I thought it would be nice for the team to get outside of Manila for a little bit and see some countryside, so we took them to GMA, Cavite. Our field strategy coordinator, Stephen Gualberto, pastors this church.

We were greeted at GMA CotN with warm smiles and handshakes!

 

Something a little unique to the GMA church is that they have a dance team, and nearly every Sunday they prepare a dance routine that coincides with the worship music. The boys have flags that they use and the girls have tambourines. It’s a little hard to describe, so I thought I would provide you with a video.

After the church service, the church provided lunch for the team. It was unexpected, but a very nice gesture by the church. I guess I should have expected it, since the Filipino people are notorious for being hospitable.

Your daily (almost daily) update from the Philippines!

It was a little different today. The first timers to the Philippines were given a campus tour by Floyd Cunningham, the president of APNTS. It’s great when Floyd leads the team around. He has so much knowledge about the history of the campus and of missions in the Philippines. I think I learn something new about the campus every time I go on the tour with him.

After the tour, it was back to work on the second floor.