vegetarians will not like this post.

hello!


i feel like i am amazed every week at how much happens between two posts; however, life is very busy here, and it does make sense once i reflect back on the week - usually with the assistance of my journal. 


this past week we did another vbs (in balacbac), which was a good deal of fun, even more sun, and mostly chaos. we had over 100 children attend this vbs, which was really exciting!! we had 9 teachers, so things got a bit hairy sometimes - it felt like we had a LOT of kids and NOT a lot of us.. at all. 
but enough of my lamenting on short staff! this is trek. i am not here to be pampered or to take it easy. this is ministry.  and i am loving every moment of it. 
my class was called "junior A" - children ages 10-12, a new age group for me, as i had been teaching ages 7-9 for the last 2 vbs's. my class was.. unbelievable, actually. i have never seen a group of 22 young kids behave so well, listen so attentively, or participate so willingly in our potentially juvenile games. i was amazed, to say the least! 

some of my children this week, with kuya ralph in the middle of a lesson

this led me to think about how seriously filipinos take anything related to education, even in the summer! at home, vbs is a chance for parents to catch a break, for teenagers to add something to their resume, and for kids to have fun and eat free snacks. now, i know i'm being unnecessarily harsh on north american vbs's; while i know they have much value, stick with me as i try to make a point. at home, we have a great standard of education, with no possibility of failing any of the elementary grades. we take our education pretty much for granted, generally dislike school and its ... associates (ie homework), and can't wait to graduate. here, though, they see education as the key to living a life above the poverty line, a way to provide for their  parents and future families, and as something that can help them advance God's kingdom. this mindset holds the same for vbs. the children strive to do their best on everything, are attentive in class, and generally recognize the value of learning. i am beyond impressed. 
a word of encouragement any of you who are reading this who are enrolled in any sort of educational institution - don't take it for granted! we have an incredible educational system, and i don't think we know it. use it to make a difference in God's world and for His kingdom.

large group gathering at the start and end of every vbs day (9-11:30am)

this past monday, we headed out to a park and soaked up some sun. most weeks, my team tries to find something to "do" on our sabbath. this week, though, we did just what a sabbath is intended for - rested. we took books, sunscreen, a blanket, and water, and headed out. we found a nice sunny patch of grass and settled in. eventually, charis burned (pretttyyyy normal for her, have to say!), so we moved to shade, but those couple hours of pure relaxation were FANTASTIC. 
God reminded me there to take time to relax. i don't think i do that enough, and people close to me are probably nodding their heads right now. 

this is the life
(this is a terrible picture. i'm so sorry)

oh hey grass

homesickness hit me pretty hard this past week too, unfortunately. during training, the lead pastor at my church took me out for dinner as he was in town for some meetings. he warned me at this time that i would wake up one morning and want to go home, but, knowing i couldn't, he recommended i email my mum with these words: "I MISS HOME. SEND ME CHOCOLATE." 
well, that happened this week. i woke up, wanted home, and couldn't, so i emailed my mum for chocolate. i think it's on its way right now. 
that's actually something you could pray for, though - homesickness. we have all been away from home for more than 3 months now, which is more than most of us have ever been away. homesickness is hitting everybody, at least a little bit. the last thing we want to do is lose our drive for ministry here. we all signed up for trek knowing full well how long it was and that we were coming to serve, so i think it's the general feeling that we would all like to continue doing just that! 


this is now the part of the post my vegetarian friends will not enjoy. you can skip it if you want to, friends. 
so. i ate balut ("BAH-loot") this week. for those who don't know what that is, it's a partially developed duck egg - so there's a partially developed duck fetus in an egg, and it's cooked. and i ate it. it kind of grosses me out to think about it, but i did. brady challenged me to eat one when he did, and, being the person i am, i couldn't turn him down. the adventures live on! it was actually pretty okay - the yolk was HUGE and the duck was not. done deal. 

oh nast oh nast oh NAST. and i ate it.

probably one of the biggest highlights of my week was playing soccer!! we met a guy in the mall on monday who was wearing a german soccer jersey, so, naturally, jonas went to talk to him - and got invited to help out with a soccer camp for kids in the process! 
jonas and i were pretty excited about this possibility, and we (plus brady, pastor sam, and shown [sean]) headed out on thursday afternoon to go check it out. the kids were actually in the classroom at that point, unfortunately, but the gentleman we met lent us a ball, and there began one of the best hours of my week. i forgot how much i loved soccer, and this was a good reminder! it was a gift from God to be able to play again :) 

THE sport.
(this is probably super over-exposed, hence the
large white space at the top of the picture... sorry!)

on that topic, my mentor recently emailed me and encouraged me to take time to do things that bring me joy - she reminded me that these are gifts from God and that the enemy often tries to make us feel guilty for doing things that "aren't spiritual". i realized i often fall victim to that sort of thought, and i am resolving to thank God for things He gives me by taking time to do them this week. for me, this definitely includes soccer, as well as listening to steve bell's music, reading, and going for long walks. 
i would encourage you all to do the same! i think we try to be too serious sometimes - take some time, lighten up, and do something you love in which God gives you joy. 

I LOVE STEVE'S MUSIC

well, that's all i have for now. 
love!


tejal :) 

stella ella ola for the win

hello once again!


ah it is so good to blog. blogging is ... probably therapeutic for me, actually. i hope you enjoy reading my posts as much as i love writing them! 


the last week has been great! this is not unusual, which is a huge blessing i have been reflecting on lately. just think. i'm in the philippines with 4 other amazing people, able to serve with people who love Jesus from across the world! CRAZY. just blows my mind sometimes. 


this week we started - and completed - another vbs! this week's vbs was with the kids in the ambiong church. pastor sam's church plants hadn't done a vbs in ambiong before, so this was a first for everyone. we had a decent turn out of about 30 kids for the week, with 8 teachers. not too bad, if i don't say so myself! 
kuya ralph and i were teaching partners once again, with charis joining us to make the ultimate dream team! ;) just joking, working with anyone here is a joy. charis, kuya ralph, and i DID have a particularly excellent time together though, i'd have to say! we were working with the "primary" class, kids aged 7-9. we had 10 guys in our class and 4 girls. distinctly different than my schooling experience, as some of you may know! (i went to an all-girls school, for those of you who are unaware). 

not sure what i'm doing, but this is the best i have for a class picture, sorry!
our classroom was the roof! awesome :D

oftentimes during vbs, we have trouble filling some of the time in the "classroom" section (as opposed to the large-group-theme-song-etc time). the kids don't have a long attention span and you can only colour bird bookmarks for so long! so this time, charis and i decided to try stella ella ola as a game to play. for those of you who are unfamiliar with stella ella ola, it's a game where you sit in a circle and "pass the clap" while singing a short ditty. whoever's hand the clap lands on when the ditty is over is out, and elimination occurs until a winner is found! it's an easy game usually played by elementary-aged girls in north america, so charis and i thought it may be a long shot. surprisingly, the kids LOVED stella ella ola - no, seriously! it was unbelievable how much they enjoyed it! -, and we played it a LOT more than we had originally intended. that was fine, though, and totally worth the repetitiveness because we were blessed by the kids' joy, smiles, and laughter. who knew that my childhood fun would end up being a winner across the world!

rockin the hippie look as we play stella ella ola

last sunday was Easter, as i hope many of you know! we had a sunrise service to celebrate the rising of our Lord, so that was cool! it was also VERY early (5:30am). we were pretty tired at the end of that day, let me tell you! 
we also watched a movie called "to save a life" with the youth later that day. for those of you who haven't seen it, i recommend it very highly. while it may not be the most impressive or highest grossing movie, it makes a number of very good - and powerful - points. i may be biased on this one, due to my past and the bullying i experienced, but it is nonetheless a movie worth seeing. 

as the sun burns a hole through my camera,
my heart sees the beauty of God's creation

the mountains and the clouds in the background - WOW.

for those of you who are wondering, our time at the bibak Bible church was a lot of fun! we ate completely delicious - and normal - food, and enjoyed listening to ashley tell the congregation about her connection to the church, as well as some of her history. 
adventures occurred too! we were asked to participate in an igorot (traditional filipino) dance with some half-naked men (they were dressed traditionally, for the dance). my team is mennonite. mennonites don't dance. it was an adventure. 

not our team, i know. the men and women did an
 igorot dance for us before "asking" us to participate

last tuesday, we were invited to a local girl's 18th birthday party! now THAT was an adventure, even more so than the igorot dancing! brady and jonas were asked to participate in a filipino tradition in which 18 men and 18 women waltz together, as well as the 18 men dancing with the birthday girl, and each of the 18 women giving the birthday girl well-wishes and a candle for her birthday cake. it felt more like a wedding than a birthday party to most of us, though, as there were about 200 people there and the birthday girl was wearing a dress deserving of grad. crazy! we had a good laugh over brady and jonas towering over all the other people and dancing with 18 girls they had literally never met. 

jonas and brady in the waltzing circle. so proud of our boys!

the classic cute team picture that makes my blog post complete
(this was at the birthday party too, by the way)

my apologies for the length once more. we have been up to a lot! 


all the best to each of you, 
tejal :)

the tagalog version of my own life

HELLO friends! 


SO SORRY about the incredible delay in posts. i just have not been wanting to battle this wifi to put up pictures. 


ANYWAYS so life here is good. i feel like we are finally settling into a sort of routine. it has definitely been a shift mentally recently, in that it has begun to feel like home. i no longer think about my actual home as much, and i feel good here - i have a very distinct sense that this is where God wants me, now. it's cool to have affirmation in life like that - because so often i feel like i don't fully know what God wants, and in this case it is different. while it is still hard to be away from home for so long, i have a lot more peace about being here and serving right now. i feel... CALLED, actually. i am very encouraged! 


in the past couple weeks, we also went on what is known as "home visitations". pretty much, this is when we go to the homes of different members of the church and visit them. we ask how they are doing, hang out for a bit, share a small devotional with them, and pray with them! sometimes they will give us a small snack - coffee and bread, or that sort of thing. i was really interested in these home visits, and it led me to a lot thought as well. i was thinking about home, and why we don't do this sort of thing. i mean, of course, if someone is sick or a relative died, etc, the pastor will come visit you, but why not on a regular basis? the whole purpose of these visits is to encourage and strengthen the members of the body... so why not do this? 

members of the balacbac congregation we visited

on monday the 26th, we had the chance to go to a water park called "riverview waterpark" with the entire arcano family - at least, those who live with us! it was very cool to be able to hang out with our hosts in a non-stressful, non-work-related environment. we spent the day hanging out in the pools, on the waterslides, eating bbq-ed pork, and talking! we had a lot of fun, and we managed to avoid burnt skin all around. what a great day!

FLYING out of the waterslide - it was SO fast!!

on friday the 30th of march, we held an all-day event for all the youth involved in any of the ministries that pastor sam and his family run. we hung out at camp john hay, singing, listening to 2 speakers (one was brady, actually!), and playing games. it was really cool to be able to do this because many of the students in the ALS (alternative learning school, kind of a GED-equivalent program here in the philippines) program aren't believers and often haven't even heard of Jesus before entering the program. it was cool to be able to minister to all the youth we know, all together, and have a great day outside! we now are just praying that a seed was planted in their minds and hearts and that one day, they will meet Jesus. please pray for these students and that we would be able to follow up with them!

jerome, our other speaker, preaching during the rain - hence the shelter!

i also gave my testimony during the day, in tagalog! which is crazy. pastor sam had previously translated all our testimonies into tagalog for this exact reason - to give the story of our walk with Jesus in a language the people here can understand more easily than english. it was definitely a new experience for me, because i've never given a speech where i didn't even understand what i was saying! have you?

stumbling through the tagalog version of my own life

two days ago, my team CLIMBED A MOUNTAIN. no big deal or anything. ;) 
it was actually spectacular though. we woke up at 4:45am (URGH, i know. and we even did this voluntarily :P), got dressed, packed a little bit of food, and off we went! it took us about an hour and half to get to the top, and we actually walked up the road that goes to the top of said mountain. this makes it sound a lot less intense than it actually was. it was intense, believe me! 
at one point, brady, charis, sean (one of the youth in the church who is actually living with us!) and i took a short cut that pretty much involved climbing STRAIGHT up the mountain through the brush, instead of taking the more-gently sloped road. that was cool! real hiking right there. 
the view at the top was INCREDIBLE. we were actually above the clouds at more than one point, though they seemed to rise as we climbed... ? it pretty much looked like we were in an airplane part of the time, because all we could see was sky above us and clouds below - what an interesting experience!
anyways, it was a great way to start a day, and a good opportunity to hang out with sean more. it was actually his birthday that day too, so that was fun to celebrate with him :)

charis and i at the top. look at that view!

another cute team picture. we love each other a lot :)

tonight we are going to a church called the bibak Bible church for supper. ashley's grandparents knew people at this church, so they invited us to hang out for an evening. it will be a lot of fun! it also makes me a bit nervous, because they want to treat us to a "exotic, filipino supper" - which may involve all sorts of ... INTERESTING  food. prayer is welcomed. i think we are all nervous. i think we are all excited more than nervous, though, and it is still really cool to connect with other christians. 


and life continues. God is good. He is risen (... tomorrow morning. close enough!)


soon (sooner than this last gap, hopefully!),
tejal :)