Where Your Streams of Abundance Flow

7/16
I don’t know where to begin to describe all of the wonderful blessings of the past few days. After my adventure with balot and starbucks, I crashed into bed knowing 5:45 would come too soon. I was up with the roosters (ok, they beat me) for two church services, Sunday school, and a farewell lunch to finish up my time in Bacoor. I thought the plan was to leave for Laguna at 3:00 with Eniboy, but I packed up as soon as I got back to my room at 1 anyways, figuring I could get some prayer time and maybe start Brennan Manning’s The Relentless Tenderness of Jesus. It’s my last reading material, and I was hoping to save it for plane rides home, but I was itching for some English, so I figured I’d read it anyways and just sleep on the plane. But after praying for only five minutes, Eniboy showed up. “Ready to go?” “Now?” Guess we’re leaving at 1:30. While this seems like an incredible reversal of Filipino time, I think it’s just further evidence of the spontaneity of this whole thing and the fact that I never know what’s happening.

From Bacoor to Los Banos was my longest trek yet. Bacoor is good two hours east of Manila, Los Banos a good two hours south, and you’ve got to swing pretty close to the city. Had I done this with public transit it would’ve taken something like 5 or 6 total tricycle/jeepney/bus rides. Not fun with my huge bag. But the church in Bacoor graciously had Eniboy drive me in a really nice car. I gladly covered the gas and rode my 3.5 hours in air-conditioned, decent-music, clear-view-of-the-scenery goodness. And in some strange way, I think I had missed riding in a car.

We arrived at New Century Church where I was instantly plunged into a chaotic mass of teenage Filipino church members and a group of Koreans on a short term mission trip. NCC is going to be my home for the next 3.5 weeks, and let’s just say, it is sweet. The pastor is married to Debbie Toribio, the country director for FH. And Ate Chill, my supervisor goes to church here. So they get a lot of foreign visitors. And they have a somewhat permanent Jamaican missionary from Queens staying there too. At least, that’s what the Filipinos tell me, he might just be from Jamaica, Queens, and that would be way different, but he seems like an awesome guy either way. Anyways, I immediately found Ate Jeomi (I’m sure I’m butchering the spelling of her Korean name, Jeoni?), one of my hosts and fellow sick-mate during my bout with the flu. We were so happy to see each other, and to both be healthy! The team was from her church in Korea, so she was quite busy, but having an awesome week. Then I got served some buko (coconut pie) pie, got to relax with my interpreter for the rest of the time here, Michael, and chat with Ate Chill. Goodness. But soon to be followed by even more amazingness.

Within the first few days of arrival here, I heard there would be another American guy, Justin, coming on his own for a few weeks in late June through mid July. So I was saddened to hear that we probably wouldn’t cross paths. But a few days ago I heard through Ate Chill that he might be around. As I’m chilling at NCC’s inspiration center with Michael, he asks “do you know Justin Cook?” I reply in the negative; the name doesn’t sound familiar, and what are the chances of me knowing this other American? But then this white face turns the corner… and it’s a familiar face. I was blown away. Justin and I met, quite randomly, at Urbana back in December. We both went to a seminar on urban poverty. Now before you start going, “oh right, makes sense, urban poverty, end up with FH in the Philippines” please understand that there were about 200 people at this seminar. And it was one of about 30 seminars taking place that you could choose from at that time. And there were 22,000 students at Urbana. And we happened to sit down together and start chatting.

Somewhere in the process of that conversation it came out that I go to PSU and he was doing Teach for America in Baltimore. Hey, I know someone from PSU doing TFA in Baltimore… and so did he. Turns out we have a mutual (and awesome) friend, Natasha. What are the odds? At Urbana, about 22,000 to 1 probably. We thought this was pretty cool, and both got a good kick out of it later with Natasha. And of course, I never figured I would see him again.

And then we ran into each other on the other side of the world. It’s really hard for my brain to grasp this. He left at 4 am this morning, less than 12 hours after I ran into him. Had either of our schedules shifted a little, we would’ve missed each other. At the time I met him, I don’t think I’d even talked to FH yet, and at no point in our conversation at Urbana did it come up that he’d been to the Philippines, knew about FH, or was ever planning on going again. God is seriously amazing… and seriously ridiculous sometimes. Incredible!

But the goodness doesn’t stop there. The Koreans were planning on running one last worship service/grand finale/goodbye for their time at NCC. And I showed up just before it started. As I’m hanging out in the church waiting for them to begin, I read a sign on the door. The worship team is praying for a new guitar, new speakers, a new sound system, a bass guitar, some microphones, and the list goes on. Basically, everything you need to run a praise and worship service. I turn around and, hey, there’s a brand new sound system with brand new speakers, and two nice guitars. The Koreans brought them a whole new sound system. And their worship leader was leading worship on his own personal guitar, given to him by a close friend, that he was leaving for them to have. Really sweet. And the worship was incredible! I mean, worship since I’ve been here has been a good release, and a good learning experience. It’s never quite the same as home, with a good chunk of hymns in Tagalog, some praise songs in Tagalog, and some familiar ones in English. But I didn’t realize how much I was missing some rocking, ACF style worship. Ahh… it was good. A little David Crowder ‘Undignified’ action. Plenty of good ACF standards. Can’t say I didn’t tear up during ‘Blessed Be Your Name’. It was just amazing. And then I sat back and contemplated that 17 Koreans were leading a hundred Filipinos and Justin (whose presence was still blowing my mind) and the Jamaican missionary and me in worship… and my soul was happy. God’s global church worshipping together in unity is a powerful thing to behold. We ended the service in small groups praying simultaneously, and just to be with some Filipino brothers and sisters praying in Tagalog, and a Korean sister praying in Korean, and me doing my best to hold my own in English, it was something special. There were then some heartfelt goodbyes for Justin and lots of picture taking as both he and the Koreans headed out today. And you could just feel the love in that room.

Then I hopped on a tricycle with Ate Chill and her mom so I got to sit on the motorcycle instead of in the sidecar, which I enjoy way more. And a Filipino boy hopped on top of the sidecar and laid down, superman style so he could ‘fly’, periodically turning his head and grinning at me the whole way to my new home. And I was just dripping sweat from the worship service and feeling like I was just dripping the Spirit too. It was really, really sweet.

The goodness just kept going though. Ate Chill lives in a house right next to the house of Mom Andres, my host for the next three weeks. Which is cool, as I get to see my boss a lot more often. And the place I’m staying is great! Mom Andres (or Ate Leah) lives with her youngest son, Kiko. Her other two daughters are grown; one is married and moved away, the other, Lani, works for FH in Indonesia. So she knows David, another FHUS intern for the summer, again, crazy connections. I get to stay in Lani’s room. And Lani, being a fulltime Christian development worker has books. Lots of really good books. Good books I’ve been wanting to read. I knew there was a reason I didn’t get to start my Manning book. Started on Myers Walking With the Poor today, and it rocks already. No way I can get through al the ones I’d like read in the next three weeks, but I’m going to give it my best shot. Not only that, but the house has internet. It’s dial-up, and slow, but it’s here.

I know this entry is getting ridiculously long, but one last good thing to share. So Paula must’ve shared my frustrations of not having any independence with Chill, even though that was definitely not my intention. But Chill, being an action oriented one, completely reworked my schedule. I’ve got, in theory, 3 days a week of solid interviews, and 3 days of writing. So for 3 days, Michael and I will head to a center, hook up with a pastor or area leader, and go meet some CDP families and such. But for the other 3 days, I’m on my own to do writing and work on the newsletter (my new project!). Today Michael and his girlfriend Thet took me around Los Banos. They showed me how to ride the tricycles and jeepneys to church, to the University of the Philippines Campus, to a grocery store, and to a couple coffee shops and about 20 internet cafes. As Ate Leah is ‘alone’, as they say here (hired help only once a week or so and only one son around), and woks full time, she’s not cooking for me. So I get to buy my own breakfast (bread and peanut butter and cereal and fruit!) and I will be eating out for lunch, and taking Michael with me on interview days. Of course, this week I have zero completely free days with no interviews, as that’s how scheduling works, but I’ll have a couple half days to just write and use internet and drink coffee. And once, Michael and I are going to some touristy waterfall thing. All of this is a wonderful change of pace, and I’m super excited to get going tomorrow.

All of this to say, God is good.