This week we celebrated Pastor Travis Lewis’ 37th birthday! In the short time that we have been here, Brother Lewis and his family have become our good friends! We’re so thankful to have them with us as we settle into our home and learn this new culture. Their experience has saved us a lot of hassle and frustration! I can defintely see the wisdom in a missionary partnering with a fellow-laborer, it has been a major blessing to us! For instance, our rental home is still currently being worked on (yes, unfortunately we didn’t move in on June 1st) and because of Brother Lewis’s advice I knew to keep an eye on the house as the work was being completed. Unfortunately, when Pastor Lewis had work done on his own home the workers stole all of his shovels and hammers, wrapping new tape over the handles in an attempt to disguise them. We’ve still had some trial and error but the Lewis’ have taken the time to help us settle in Cebu. Happy Birthday Pastor Travis! Thank you for faithfully serving the Lord on the field!
Nasipit Outreach
Shortly after arriving in Cebu we selected a target area to begin our outreach to the local people. Since we’ve been here we’ve gone every Saturday with a group from North Cebu Baptist Church and focused our soul winning efforts on that one specific area. The little town of Nasipit looks small at first but we quickly discovered several clusters of homes filled with families. There are no street names or real roads, just paths made of dirt or concrete leading you to the next group of houses and little stores. You always pass people on the road but since we’ve returned we’ve hardly met the same person twice. The people as a whole are friendly but it didn’t take us long to realize that Cebu is very Catholic, even more so than Manila. It was here in Cebu that Catholicism was first born around 1521 and the people have clung to its superstition and beliefs to this day. Even a large portion of the children go to mass everyday so you can imagine some people aren’t too thrilled that we’re here. We’ve been faithfully returning to this town for weeks now and have seen some become defiant. Now they post their catholic symbols on their doors when they were not there before. Praise the Lord, a few have responded well. One young mother actually came to church and made a profession of faith! A few children have also come but there are so much more that we need to reach! The benefit of returning to the same area is that over time the people will get to know you on a more personal level and will eventually want to talk. One thing we noticed right away were the requests for a backyard Bible School from several young children. Due to these requests we’re going to change our game plan a little bit next week and bring the church to the neighborhood! Lord willing we’ll hold a mini Sunday School class right in their backyards! Please keep us in your prayers as we try to reach the local community of Nasipit!
A Fancy Roast
Since our arrival in March I’ve tried a few Filipino delicacies (some more desirable than others) and this week I was able to enjoy another one. Lechon is probably one of the Philippines’ most recognized dishes other than balut and is one of my personal favorites. A whole pig is roasted over charcoal, rotisserie style, until the skin becomes crispy. It is a little intimidating to see the whole pig sitting on your dining room table as you get ready to eat but the taste is phenomenal! Sometimes you can see pig farmers transfer a live pig in a sack on their motorcycle! Fresh delivery for the buyer! The church just recently had a fellowship meal and someone provided a beautiful lechon for us to enjoy! Others also brought their very best and that was a blessing to see too. The people here do not have much but they have been taught to give and have seen the Lord bless them for it!
Camp in Cebu
We just finished a great week of camp with the teens from our church! The theme was Facing the Giants, Who is Your Goliath? Throughout the week we heard some great preaching on the giants of fear, pride, and public opinion. By the weeks end seven teens trusted the Lord as their Savior and others made decisions about their own personal giants. The devil fought hard to disrupt the week but the Lord still worked in the lives of the young people despite it all. We made a lot of good memories and Elizabeth and I really enjoyed participating in camp! At the end of the week I had to face one of my own giants, balut! I’ve never really liked the boiled fertilized egg but somehow there I was, standing in front of the whole camp holding the crunchy egg. Two other Americans were next to me examining their own balut. I tried to eat it in one big bite but that strategy didn’t work…I won’t go into the details but lets just say it was a failed attempt. I couldn’t get my wife to try one but perhaps she was smart. We had a lot of fun this week and really enjoyed seeing the Lord work in hearts! When it was finally time to take the kids home we had another interesting developement; our jeepney broke down! Having your one and only jeepney give out during camp is a major problem but thankfully some of the other churches let us borrow their vehicles. As a result I ended up driving for the very first time in the Philippines. Our journey began in the mountains so traffic wasn’t terrible…until we got into the city. I think I scared the teens a few times. Right before we started for home several teens asked me, “You sure you know how to drive Pastor Chris?”. Praise the Lord, after getting lost and just barely avoiding a couple of motorcycles we made it home safe and sound! That was an experience all on its own but I think it gave me a little more confidence about driving here in Cebu.