I know that it has been forever since I have last sent out an update. There is so much I want to share. But instead of just dumping it all on you, I figured I would give you a little glimpse into what a normal Sunday (if there is such a thing as normal) looks like here.

I woke up before my alarm around 4:30. It normally goes off at 4:50 but in general I am sleeping most days from 8:30 to about 4:30. On school days I will do my devotions, then leave for school between 5:15 and 5:30 for the 30 minute walk. Catch up on some things there then school begins around 7. Since today is not a school day, I rolled over and slept in until about 6:30. Then I checked my email (I had a paper due on Friday and I wanted to see how many people turned it in late.) After a slow and lazy morning I headed out about 8:45 to go to church (a 45 minute walk.)

Now I live in the middle of the jungle. I have a 15 minute walk through a squatters village to head east to Antipolo before I can catch public transportation (Trike, left) or a 20 minute walk through my community (Victoria Valley) to reach public transportation (Jeepney, right) head south to Cainta or Taytay. Today I was heading south, but I saw a guy sleeping in the middle of the road right before the path through the squatters village. I was heading in the opposite direction and he seemed to be just sleeping, not in any way troubled. But he was sleeping in the middle of the road. I didn’t get half a block before thinking, “You will never again be able to preach the Good Samaritan without feeling guilty if you just walk away.”

So sure enough, I turned around and went to check on him. He was awake, but incredibly hung over. When I asked if I could help, he just wanted water to help his headache before going home. Yes, he lives just up the hill. So I went back to the house, got him a bottle of water, and then continued on my way… now late for church.

But God’s timing is perfect. No sooner than I had walked down the hill and onto the main road when someone from church happened to be driving by and offered me a ride. This is incredible in itself since more than 90% of the people who go to my church are high school or early college age and none of them would have vehicles. You see, there was a revival during covid. When everything shut down a local ministry, Kids International, asked the local government what they can do to help. The government connected them with high school volunteers who would, at the ministry center, prepare and distribute meals through the community. In a few months time more than a hundred of these volunteers became Christians. Many of them didn’t have any prior church connections and so kids international did their best to nurture their newfound faith. Then when my church, Rockfish, was planted a year ago, they volunteered to focus on being a church home for these students. So this Sunday we had about 120 people in the adult service with maybe 20 of them being “adults,” and also about 90 kids in the childrens service who are largely the younger brothers and sisters of those new Christians.

After the message on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit (part of our overcomer series) the same family gave me a ride to Ortigas Ave where I was able to do some grocery shopping and then enjoy lunch at Jollibees (imagine McDonalds… filipino style) For about 16 US I bought milk, 2 bags corn chips, instant juice packets, coffee, deli ham, cheese, mixed fruit, ramen, rice, and saltines. For less than 5 dollars I had a 2 piece spicy chicken with rice, a tuna pie, a mango pie, and coke zero.

As I was starting the 1 hour walk back to my house, the clouds started rolling in. A couple weeks before I got caught on the exact same trek, took shelter, and when the Jeepney finally did pass by I had to go through knee high runoff water to get to it. This time just as the first drops started to fall, one of the middle school teachers happened to be driving by and offered me a ride. While getting offered rides seems fairly commonplace, the timing was nothing short of Serendipity.

Once back home, I saw the ants were back marching by the millions along their path right in front of my front door. I have taken to killing them off before they enter the house. For about the first month in my apartment, I was doing war with these ants inside my home. Almost every day there would be a new path leading somewhere. Into my cereal box. Into the breakfast dishes I didn’t wash before heading to school. Into the tupperware container holding my rice that wasn’t fully shut. Towards the random lizard poop that for weeks I thought was mouse poop. Fortunately, that war has been won. Outside of the occasional scout, there are no ants in my home. The same can be said of the cockroaches, and centipedes. Every now and then, one wanders in, but none have taken up residence. Now if only the misquitoes were as easy to control…

How you can pray.

1. This next week is our mid semester break. Pray that I get the rest and revitilization needed after a busy and challenging, and also incredibly rewarding first quarter.
2. I will be doing a couple day trips into Manila, but many other staff are traveling during the week off, pray for their safety.
3. The teacher who previously taught one of my current classes just had her first baby: Mia Joy Flemming. Please pray for her and also Grady Flemming, also a teacher and close friend, as they adjjust to this new family dynamic and also go on furlough this next semester.
4. I am teaching a doctrine class for 11th grade and this next unit after break will be on man, sin, and salvation. Pray that this time will make salvation real for some of my students who are not yet saved, and that the reailty of their salvation will become even more real for those who are.
5. I likely will have the opportunity to go to a conference in Jakarta, Indonesia in November. This conference is put on by ACSI (Accociation of Christian Schools International) of which we are a member. While the school covers flight, lodging, and registration, other transportation, food, and any additional expenses I will need to raise.
6. I love my beautiful, furnished apartment… but don’t love its location. This coming week, I will be doing some serious apartment hunting closer to civilization. If this is the right move, pray that the hunting goes well.
7. Last summer I had the opportunity to serve at Bethlehem Bible College in Palestine. The recent news there breaks my heart and makes me anxious for those Palestinians I know who are serving God in this area. Please pray for their safety and for a just peace in Israel and Palestine.