YWAM Balut - we're in the Phillipines!

Nathan was excited to feel the effect of a pedestal fan on his hand...

Arrival...

Well, we've arrived in Balut... and with some culture shock thrown in as well for good measure... I think in reality, most of us would have felt some culture shock arriving, but for some it was visible on faces & in quiet reflective body language... The journey here by air went smoothly... (To wilbys and my dissapointment!) 2 hours or so from Hong Kong... and then another 2 Hours, some in the base mini van and some in a Jeepnee... the local taxi cab here. Lucy, Jake, THE Canadian - Ben, me, Pip, Hye Won & Nathan were in the crazy old Jeepnee with the baggage for the team and all the others... Virmz, Jayce, Ashley, Carolyn, Jessica, Jeremy, Naomi, Richard, Miriam & Ben followed in salubrious transport to the rear... (by that I just mean it had closing windows and AC :-) ... Jenean was still in Hong Kong!... all alone... no doubt pining for us all... YEAH RIGHT... she'd stayed back to get her passport officially added to... blank pages wise... we all advised her against the "un-officially" option...

Our 2 hour journey in the Jeepnee was kinda cool, pretty un-comfy, seriously noisy... holding onto bags so they didn't spill out the truck sides mid corner... and within 20 mins, each of us dripping with sweat and with sore butts, headaches and watering eyes... The streets here are hot, humid & manic... full of trucks, the odd horse cart and loads'a Jeepnee's and our taxi was belching out some thick ...chewable black smoke... even with the side canvas' rolled up to get some air in and blow some smoke out - we were pretty much sitting in a diesel gas tent... "...fancy some carbon monoxide sir...? ...any opportunity for a quick swig of outside air and oxygen was gratefully and humorously received... it was poring with rain, adding to the visual experience as we drove along... from families living in tin shacks on the roadside... to teenage truck mechanics laying in mud & ankle deep black water... welding on the roadside... it was a visual and nasal overload and slowly sinking in... at one point 3 beautiful young girls ran to the rear door of our taxi and climbed on in some bad traffic... they were so sweet but had come from playing in a roadside sewage ditch and it was all over their arms... for all I'm sure except Virmz & Richard, that this was gonna be a whole lot different for the next 6 weeks!

Arriving at YWAM Balut, we were welcomed and settled in fast before, that evening, they laid on some full on entertainment with cultural dances and" have a go" challenges + a full on "Pig roast" for us and a few other visitors here... seriously it was GOOD FOOD and good fun!...and a welcome break from all the culture shock for a few hours... just looking around at our faces, some of us were wrestling with it that day... Gods call has brought us to what "looks like" a hard & intimidating environment... but... is it really?


He who is in charge knows what we're stepping into & what's to come for each of us... none of which is too much for any of us to deal with if we lean on Him... all the teaching... all the character development, everything before now is being drawn on... but daily we need His strength... sounds nice... heard it said uncountable times... but in these environments, thin rubber hitting pot holed dirty road... while nearly every day God touches another nerve in our own growth... it becomes a REALity, not an optional extra if we can remember to or feel like it... it's the first thing on our minds as we open our eyes in the morning, as we step into the mini bus, as we stand in front of hundreds of hardened souls on the streets of a poverty driven community... as we do things daily we've perhaps never done or prepared for before... as we stare into the eyes of the broken hearted and later hold children crippled by deformity and brain abnormalities... if we weren't getting His help we'd be a good example of "foolish"... apart from Him, we can do nothing... it's in the Bible somewhere! It's not just a good read... its REAL.


We split into two teams for ministry over the next 14 or so days... and we... (Jenean, Naomi, me, Pip, Nathan, Lucy & Ashley accompanied by the Lowe family) stayed here in Balut... while Ben, Jayce, Jeremy, Carolyn, Hye Won, Jess & Grace prepared to go to Cavite... Jenean joined us the following eve before we all split with her own cool stories from her arrival...
-"When I left the airport terminal I couldn't see Virmz... so after a little bit of time passing I thought - Oh CROW... now what do I do? ...LORD help me find Virmz! So I went to call him on the phone... well... they only took Pesos! So I asked a lady at the tourist info place where I can get some cash for the phone... she said "go back inside the airport upstairs to the exchange." On my way to do that 2 guards stopped me and asked me why I was going back that way - so I told them what I was up to... then they just said "you don't need to" and one of them gave me the money and even made sure the call worked for me and everything! It made me wonder if anyone else in other countries would do that? Hmm... I don't know!

Day 2

Were all good... and really close working as a team... quiet times are scarce here because of the schedule but we're all looking forward to what God has in store here... most days, looking ahead for us here in Balut, have 6 or 7 hour ministry each day with worship and team time laced in between. Quiet reflection time is becoming precious to each of us... and hard to keep among the distractions

Orientation took us out and about... into the housing development here on The Smokey Mountain and to the new dump site... the base is a stones throw from the duump. We'd heard about it... been briefed about it... nothing helped to swallow the sight of it... or the smell... or the reality of children working on it... it's just alien to even our imaginations!


Families live on here... and its BAD! Years of garbage... of every kind... makes up the floor and in some parts, its so deep, it's the walls as well! People just search all day... and all night for rubbish they can sell on to who ever... its re-cycling at it cruedest and saddest form.
Sobering to think people live, sleep and work here, it stinks as you'd expect...