The last week

Hi from Samar, from Jayce, Lee, Pip, Jeremy, Hyewon, Jessica & Grace. This half of the big team.

It's the first time some of us have been together at all on outreach as a team.. (I'm not counting COR in Hong Kong... months ago)... but post HK, Pip & myself havent been with Jeremy & Jessica as our team leaders... or Hyewon or visa versa... so it's a week ahead we're all looking forward too... I think?! :-) It's sound for me to be back with Jayce again in a team... he's a solid... & grounded geeza of God!

...and... its arrived... the last few days of our last week of outreach ... I've not got much time in this internet cafe but realy wanted to stick a couple of pics up for now...

YWAMCalabayog... Samar, they have been awesome... they are seriously hospitable, like they are so servant hearted all of them... welcoming us all, making us literally at home, and putting on a welcome party the eve we arrived with awesome food! The next day... orientation... its usually predictably dull but necessary, no disrespect to any base yet... but these ladies... they're just full of mischief... they split us in half (not accurately, to prevent serious injury to one poor team member) & sent us out in 2 teams on a treasure hunt thing in their town, following written clues etc... it was pouring with rain... we got drenched... who cares, we were all loving the freedom & the fun... and to top it all off... it ended... (as perhaps all respectable orientations should)... in a local coffee shop for a minimum of 2 hours to enable them to prep the evening meal for us... like I said... they're good...

We arrived... in the torrential rain. The big old ferry that took us the 13 hours from Cebu to Samar, parked up... way out in the ocean... and to our amusement a small wooden boat came out to meet us. I guess the waters too shallow for the ferry? Anyway... the instructions came, someone shouting into the communal dorm... "disembark passengers!"... "OK... where's the passenger exit?" a small door... high level... it's gonna take some time to empty but... where's this door... guys, just go with the flow of other passengers... ......... no small door... every ones heading down... hang on this is the cargo deck... hello... that's the cargo door... that's the ocean... just 2ft lower & lapping against the floor of the ferry - mid ocean we boarded the small wooden boat... we waited until it had ferried 1 previous load of passengers to shore, a 30 odd minute journey, and then we staggered aboard via the highly stable 12" scaffold plank... sorry "walk way" over the middle of the ocean... made us smile.... we love Asia.

So our arrival went pretty sweet... no drownings... no swamped ferries... no dropped & therefore "sunk forever" bags or most importantly no loss of balance on "The Plank"! Jenean you would have loved it... perhaps you're having your own pirate-esque adventure?

Had we lost our balance...............






............ we might all have looked like this... ...

...zero luggage... lost clothing - from the possible shark frenzy ...and crowned in weed... some might say "a good day out!"

anyway...

...the next few days brought more adventure, another small boat trip to a remote island to see the local community there... to perform the skits... dances... songs.. and bring the good news to a village on the shore of a huge coconut tree clad hill... that best describes the island. It was a great boat ride... with "Pastor Meads" the boat captain on the right and his friend who is the Pastor for the islanders... he was once a street kid with leprosy... God healed him of that though.
Both really sound guys... to the point it's worth pointing out as a special note!
Half way across and the rain came.... I think God had been saving this one up for us all... did it rain! For me, and for Pastor Meads with a similar love for creation, & our WILD Creator, it was a gift! All views vanished, the islands vanished from sight... heck no one could see further than 20 feet out to sea... It was awesome!... lasted about 20 Min's, and then the sun, for once, came out to brighten things up a lot... for those of us who were sitting on the front deck bit & not under the tarpaulin roof shelter on the boat... the fishing net "pit" made a good but amusingly ineffective squall shelter... to be honest, I'd been wrestling with some God stuff & still was... I'd had a huge life revelation just a few days before and I was excited to see God in His Wildness and Raw-ness... and His un-tamed creation turn up... speaking for myself... I had no intention of hiding from that experience ... His rain literally washed some more rubbish away in my soul that day... & lifted me... that's for sure... thank you Jesus for your storms... another small way you restore me!

We enjoyed some games with the kids and the adults there as an ice breaker... we split into teams and did "The great race" basically running around this strange island village doing tasks at check points and following clue like instructions for the next place to find... tricky when you've never been there before! :-) it involved things like carrying bags of sand, shooting basket ball hoops... and my favorite (not!) stripping the husk off of an old brown coconut with our teeth... and they were strict... you HAD to do it and complete it... with your teeth before you could move on.... & it flippin' hurts! That eve we visited the island church... got involved in the CRAZY praise and worship... they jump, dance, shout, sing, clap, scream, trip over, fall over chairs... they really loose themselves in worship... we loved it! Then later Grace was asked to bring God's word for the service and delivered an awesome Holy Spirit led message...

check out our sun set that eve...

...and the next morning we woke up to this view at the village edge...

Spot Pip :-) among some kids in the village... Jeremy and Jayce looking hot after the race...

...we traveled back the next day and prepared for the rest of the day with ministry in the evening...

Our week (now only a day left to go) here has been challenging but awesome... a mix of street ministry, with kids, teenagers and adults... open airs ...church meets... sometimes us running programs once or twice a day for around an hour followed by free for all prayer... we've seen many people young and old make commitments of faith and it's been a real privilege in our last week to be a part of that and to pray with these guys for their needs... a few days ago, in a real poor & broken community, many children who right there and then, "believe", will minutes later will be laying hands on their friends and family and asking Jesus for healings... this season in all our lives is a privilege not a costly sacrifice.

I'm out of time... this has taken me a ridiculous 187 minutes and my eyes are stinging! ...I'm in a roasting hot Internet cafe... with a random guy sitting next to me ...no nearly on me... talking out loud to himself at full volume... in a language I can't understand... while he uses his terminal... random kids staring over my shoulder for minutes at a time to see what I'm up to and it's STILL pouring with rain outside... so, I have to go... enjoy some pics... we're all doing well on this half of the team... bye from Me, Pip, Hyewon, Jayce, Grace, Jess & Jeremy.

Man they smile when the food comes after some programs... it's great to see!

Jayce improvises at the drop of a hat on someone else's electric guitar, to Grace singing with her incredible voice... amazing guys!

Jayce and knives... not a combination that comes to mind readily... but look at the grin... I think he likes! We were both sure this shop will never been robbed... neither would you seek refuge here in a hurricane.

Jeremy takes drama seriously... he's getting into character well before we act out the "David and Goliath" story... even others around look impressed... nice one mate...

...meanwhile... Jess, Pip and Grace warm up the Philistine hoards on the opposite hill to the Israeli army to the left... a fine body of... err... random kids...

aah... here he goes... did some one warn Jayce that Jeremy really looses it...
... naa ... I guess not?

...that was either the time someone caught me on photo at a very bad time... just before I lost it... having been told to solo dance again 'cos it wasn't good enough the first time and the kids are complaining and refusing to clap....
or...
...it's just an awkward photo of a very innocent moment in the "Stinky Blob" skit... where I have to pretend to fart on the childrens heads repeatedly trying to make them my friend...before Jesus came and accepted me for who I am .... either way ... I think the face could be excused...


This half of the team for the last week or so of outreach... with Pastor Meds, his family and church friends on the island...

"Archie" with Pip after praying in the rain... some of the team had prayed with Archie
and he felt God's Holy Spirit touch him... he was wobbling and smiling and crying ...and just enjoying the experience I think! :-)

Ahh... Nokia, connecting people... smile Jayce...

...80 years old... hard life... and today he chooses to believe!


Hyewon... praying with some girls in a suburb of Calabayog... Samar... she has a real gift just be-friending people... and she's great with these kids, if you know Hyewon... you may know what I mean.. she's awesome!

...it's 25 - 30 degrees, but the dressing gown helps with Frances' rhemitism ... its raining loads here and he's feeling the cold...