Cambodia By Celiena Davis

Hi everyone! 

This is Hannah Pearson, with (very) warm greetings from the Philippine Island of Cebu! After a graveyard flight on Thursday night, we arrived to Cebu City early last Friday morning, with a full day’s schedule ahead of us. By the day’s end, we were all completely wiped. The next few days continued to feel a little hectic, partially due to our schedules, but also due to our exhaustion, our mixed emotions of leaving Thailand, and general confusion over expectations for our time here.

For me, I had a tough time the first couple of days here, just because everything we were doing felt random and disconnected. We didn’t have any context for our ministry activities, which made it difficult to be motivated or excited about what we were doing. But then I had the opportunity to have a conversation with Gay, the wife of Pastor Rainer Tong. This couple has been our hosts while we’ve been here in the Philippines, directing, guiding, and leading us every step of the way. When I spoke with Gay, I was able to hear her vision for our time in the Philippines (and honestly, I was just blown away that they had spent so much time thinking and praying about our arrival that they had actually developed a vision for us). 

Pastor Rainer and Gay are committed to showing our team what REAL life in the Philippines looks like, through the eyes of a small church’s weekly ministries. Rather than putting on special events for us, or having us put on special events for the community or church members, we are simply being plugged into the church’s normal, day-to-day life, in order for us to more truly see one example of long-term church ministry in the Philippines.  Hearing that context, my perspective totally changed. I can now honestly say that I am excited to be here, and I am so honored to meet and work with a couple as genuine, kind, and humble as Pastor Rainer and Gay. We’ve been doing a lot of children’s and youth ministry outreaches, we’ve visited church members at their homes, we’ve spent time in and taught in classrooms at the elementary school connected to the church, and we’ve eaten lots of Filipino snacks! 

Yesterday, we also visited The Children’s Shelter of Cebu, which was a very powerful and impactful experience for many of us. How humbling to drive through the city dumpsite where many of the children lived and savaged for food and things to sell before coming to CSC. 

We’ve also done some touristy things, like swimming with whale sharks (incredible!) and visiting what was basically a jungle paradise where we got to climb up waterfalls and cliff-jump.

It is a blessing to be here, though it’s not without it’s struggles. Please continue to pray for our team to fight exhaustion, both physical, mental, and emotional. Please also pray for encouragement for each member of the team and for even deeper bonds of community to grow between us.  Thanks so much! God bless!