On Tuesday night in the Philippines our plan was to attend one of the small groups of the Journey Church Philippines. Ryan and I were really excited for this evening. Being so passionate about small groups ourselves we couldn’t wait to see what was in store.
The plan was to drive to a local restaurant owned by a Journey Church staff member (who gives all the profit of the restaurant to the church for their missions – amazing!) so that we could all try Filipino food that we knew was safe. After dinner we’d take pedal carts (or whatever these bikes with side cars attached to them are called) into the heart of Tondo where we’d attend the small group in someone’s home.
So – first the Filipino food.
I don’t think these rolls were necessarily Filipino. They probably just gave them to us knowing we Americans love bread.
Next were jalapenos stuffed with seasoned pork, wrapped in a type of tortilla, and then fried. We dipped them in a sweet/spicy sauce.
I’m not normally a fan of jalapenos but these were absolutely amazing. We ate them so fast they had to go make more.
Next was a seasoned beef thing. It was okay – I’m just not a fan of beef.
Then there was this double fried pork with gravy to dip it in. One bite caused my cholesterol to spike 10 points so I left it at that.
This is the blood stew they insisted we try.
My 10 year old tried it like a champ. I did not.
Call me a wimp if you’d like. I can take it.
Ryan couldn’t have anything they had brought out for us at this point. We felt so blessed that they brought in steaks to serve us all to make sure Ryan ate well and that we were all fully satisfied.
Ryan ate my steak as well. He definitely had his fill.
Before we left we prayed for the restaurant, it’s staff, and it’s success.
The time had come to go to small group. Some of us were feeling a tad anxious.
Not because of the groups themselves but more because of the pedal carts. We’ve seen the way people in the Philippines drive – both in cars and these pedal carts alike – and it just didn’t seem like the safest mode of transportation. We also were splitting up for the first time on our trip. Danny, Tim & Celina were going to one home with Pastor Marlin and Ryan, X, myself and Ryan G were going to another home.
I’m not really an anxious person so I was ready and excited to go. X on the other hand, I could tell was beginning to look scared. Ryan made the decision to ride with X in the pedal cart and I would ride with Ryan G.
Everything was happening so fast that I only got 1 picture of Danny as we all loaded our carts.
I totally wish I could have captured in pictures my experience on the cart. Ryan G and I pretty much laughed the entire time just at the fact that there we were squished into this little cart riding along a road in the heart of the Philippines.
That and the fact that we hit the pedal cart in front of us. Which caused Ryan and X’s cart to hit ours. You just have to laugh at that.
Oh yeah! and that our driver had to stop and ask for directions to get to where we needed to go. Lost in the back roads of Tondo…funny.
When we arrived we saw that the house was totally packed. They were just getting started, everyone made room for us and we squeezed into the back.
We sang. As they always do here in the Philippines. Every last one of them can sing and play guitar – it’s amazing to me.
People are standing in the doorway. And children watched eagerly through the window.
When we were preparing to go Danny had told us to be prepared to talk for 1 minute (no longer) as we might be called on to speak. I’m not sure if X thought that it included her because when Pastor Jerry began speaking he called “sister sushi” up to the front first.
First, I loved he called her “sister sushi”. They call everyone “sister so-&-so” so that wasn’t the big deal but I know that X despises being called “sushi” at school. I think God was working on her through that one.
She was super shy and had no idea what to say to anyone. We prompted her a bit and she made her way through it.
As did I.
When it was Ryan’s turn, Pastor Jerry asked him if he had a power point presentation for his message.
Gulp.
Ummm…message? Danny said to speak no longer than 1 minute!
Nevertheless, he did awesome.
The whole experience was incredible. Just being in one of these tiny homes with so many people passionate for learning more about Jesus was faith changing for me. Some of these people have real problems – like not being able to feed their children.
One woman asked us in Tagalog for change so she could buy milk for her baby, who she was holding. Someone translated for us and we gave her 1000 pesos ($25). She didn’t look at the money before tucking it away, thanking us and quickly leaving. I prayed that the money bought so much more than milk for her baby.
At Danny’s small group there was about 80 people. At this home, the woman had actually tore down one of her exterior walls of her home down and put in a garage door so that she could accommodate more people for small group (allowing them to spill out over into the street). Amazing.
After small group we gave toys out to all the kids who were in the home and outside in the neighborhood. We were going to take another pedal cart back to the van but the 4 of decided we wanted to walk instead (we had 2 Journey Pastors with us). That walk through the neighborhood was amazing. Seeing the homes, the people, the children…..they all came out to say hello to us. Crazy! We’re just normal people yet they treat us with such awe and respect. Definitely something you’d never see in this country.
It made me see how arrogant and selfish we can be as Americans. We have so much yet want (and demand) more. More possessions, more respect, more handouts, more because “we deserve it”. The Filipinos just aren’t like that. It made me yearn for hearts like theirs.
I didn’t take any pictures since it was dark and frankly I was too engrossed in taking everything in. This small group gathering and walk was definitely one of my most favorite moments on this trip.
