Do you have a compassion child in the Philippines? It’s possible that his/her letter passed through our fingertips today.

Today we made our way to the main Compassion office for the Philippines. This is where all the letters that are written by all the compassion kids from all over the country end up to be sorted and reviewed. For about 5 hours we helped sort about a thousand letters written by the kids, it was pretty intense but we didn’t even make a dent in the amount of letters that they still to had to go through! Of course Lynnette turned it into a competition and somehow finished her basket of letters before me (she even paper clipped, rubber band, and put it in country alpha order). Lynnette felt bad for me and ended up working on mine.

We have an even greater appreciation for this organization after seeing the behind the scenes effort that goes into the quality control of the massive amounts of letters that are processed each month. It comes out to over 250,000 letters a month, just from the kids alone, from all the different projects across the Philippines!

Earlier in the morning we had a chance to visit my Uncle who lives here. He just had brain surgery a couple of days ago. He is doing really well, it didn’t even seem like he had any surgery. But we’re still praying for a full recovery for him. On a side note, the hospital they were in was a brand new one that felt more like a trendy hotel than a hospital! It was easily the nicest hospital I have ever stepped foot into (St. Luke’s in Global City).

There was supposed to be a Typhoon that was swinging by, but it just caused some heavy rain for a few hours and stopped. I guess this really is the beginning of the rainy season, at least it is cooler than I had expected it to be.

We went back to the church today to visit Compassions Child Survival Program, which helps new and pregnant mothers. Lynnette encouraged the mothers by sharing her testimony with them, while I helped watch the preschoolers. I thought this one little girl was ticked off at me the whole time I sat next to her, but it turned out that’s just the way she looks (see attached picture if you don’t believe me). After I realized it was nothing personal, I quickly became attached to her. Despite how cute the kids were I have definitely confirmed that I am not gifted with this age group. I think one of the pastors noticed this and decided to rescue me...we ended up talking story outside instead.

It was awesome to see God working through Lynnette and the story that she has lived. I could tell these mothers where really encouraged by her sincerity and vulnerability. They even made gifts for Lynnette. One of the ladies had been making a bag for her, which she had started a month ago when she found out we were coming.

We had some time afterward to eat some Filipino style spaghetti with them (imagine regular spaghetti but much sweeter) . It was just a snack, but for us it was a meal. It was great to just hang out and talk story with them. Even though we’ve only been at this church for 3 short days, they already feel like family to us and it was sad to say goodbye to them...for now.

Here's a little information on the area we are staying. I had mentioned in an earlier blog, that my Uncle and Aunty really blessed us by allowing us to stay in their new condo in Eastwood City. It is a fairly new development that has a really nice shopping mall and a "city walk" which is an outdoor area with shops and restaurants. The condo tower is literally built right beside the shopping mall. People flock to this area to hang out and eat, and because of the many call centers in around the area, there are a ton of young people.

Since we have been here we've had a couple interesting dance experiences. One was an impromptu dance by some guys taping themselves for youTube in the middle of the courtyard area. Another was when Lynnette and I were eating burgers at a '50's style burger joint, when all of the sudden the entire serving staff began to dance in unison. I have discovered that Filipinos love to dance and sing, which explained my secret desire to join them in the restaurant. I've included some videos so that you can enjoy the experience as well.

Last night we also had a chance to meet with Ate May, Jay Galido's sister, who so warmly took as around that last time we were here in December with Nolan, Jay and David Song. It was great to see her again, and like here typical over the top hospitality offered to us help whenever we might need it. Thanks Ate May!!!

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We made are way back to the church where I had the privilege to preach to the surprisingly young congregation. As usual, like every church I’ve been into in the Philippines, they are passionate worshippers led by super talented young adults. The majority could understand english, so I didn’t need a translator, which made it a lot easier for me.

Once again all the leaders were immensely hospitable, and they bought us the “Upwards” (scrabble) game that they had defeated me in the day before. Perhaps this is their way of telling me I need to work on my english vocabulary. It has already been such a huge blessing getting to know the people here, we would have no hesitation partnering with this church family. They’ve even offered Lynnette a opportunity at Compassion to be a tour guide for Korean visitors! It’s already feeling like a second home here, even the heat is getting tolerable.

We arrived safely in Manila (Friday) in the late afternoon, got ourselves settled in my Uncle’s condo in Eastwood, a fairly new and really nice shopping/dining area. It is a huge blessing for us to stay in it. We also had a chance to get a quick meeting with our Compassion International contacts for a briefing of what our days ahead would look like.

On our first day we anxiously jumped in a Taxi and we made our way to a Compassion partner church. I am starting to get used to the traffic and aggressive driving here (at least as a passenger), Lynnette on the other hand is going to develop an ulcer. Numerous times I would feel her nails dig into the flesh of my hand as our driver zipped around as if he had nothing to live for.

In the morning Lynnette taught 9 – 11 year olds for 2 hours. I was going to help the mom’s in the kitchen prepare the meals, but it I could see that I would just get in their way rather than be any kind of help to them. I got the hint when they smiled nervously and were silent every time they were told I’d be helping them. So instead I helped out Lynnette with her class. Which, now that I think of it, Lynnette also had that same look when I told her I’d help her out.  

After all the kids ate the lunch that the mom’s were preparing, we also had a chance to eat the delicious Filipino food with the Compassion volunteers/teachers. I got in a quick game of “Upwards” (a scrabble like game), with the staff. I thought my hours of playing “Words with Friends” on the iPhone and having English as my first language would be an opportunity to dominate, but I was put to shame for most of the game and narrowly finished in second place.

In the Afternoon I taught the 14 – 17 year old class, and Lynnette taught the 11 – 13 yr old kids. We talked about “God’s will for their lives” which was the topic that Compassion gave to us. It was encouraging to see how attentive, and enthusiastic they all were, which really made it easy for me. But I think they were bewildered by the fact that this Filipino looking guy in front of them could not speak or understand Tagalog. I really enjoyed teaching this age group, and would definitely do more of it if God opened more doors for it to happen.

It’s been such a huge blessing to serve with Lynnette and being partnered together as a husband and wife team. God is giving us both opportunities to use our gifts and it’s amazing to see us draw even closer together as we support and spur each other on as we do whatever God calls us to do on this trip.

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Come on by as we raise support for our Philippines trip in July to serve with organizations that focus on children in poverty.

It's a bun with a hole, but the inside is toasted and the outside is soft. Along with the portugese sausage, they put their secret garlic sauce in there. Crazy stuff. Washed it down with their freshly squeezed lemonade. Mmmmmm.

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This is Chris and Luiz helping to cook the Kalbi for our Philippines mission trip fundraiser that Lynnette and I are going on in July. Shortly after this photo was taken the uncleaned grill burst into huge flames. Unfortunately we had to stop grilling and lost a lot of valuable sales.

We're doing it again tomorrow, so come on down and buy a delicious bbq kalbi plate, homemade marinade by real Koreans!

Thanks so much to Lynnette's mom's church and the HCWO family for supporting us!

Lynnette was supportive of me making a little office area in our studio, as long as she had control of the design and layout of everything (normally I wouldn't stick a giant candle in my work area).