This morning I was awakened at 5 a.m. by the shrill sound of a whistle. It was Pastor Bodie, announcing to the men at the retreat center that it was time to get up if they wanted to play in the morning competition between the SE and SW Luzon Districts in basketball. Tossing aside my sheet I put on my one pair of shoes, some dress socks (my luggage should arrive today…), shorts and a T-shirt. They loaded into a small bus and drove 1.5K to a court where in the darkness, wearing flip flops on their feet, they began to gracefully jog around the court, stretch, laugh, and warm-up. It was fun being there with them, even though I don’t play basketball. I was able to jog, stretch, and continue to build friendships with these leaders. I thought the neighbors around the court must have been wondering where these 20+ adults came from, being here waiting for the sunrise, on a Thursday morning. Cows grazed nearby and a vendor came out of the darkness with some warm bread which we bought as a mini-breakfast.
As the darkness in the sky began turning over to light, I continued my run by jogging back to the retreat center with Pastor Bear. He had been up since 3:30 a.m., jogging, and praying, as is his custom. We avoided the fast jeepneys which would occasionally force us onto the narrow shoulder of the road.
Once off the highway I picked up the pace, running alone, and enjoying the surrounding palms, flowers, hills and beautiful surroundings. After 40 minutes of running I returned to the retreat center where I found coffee in the kitchen and strolled about the grounds, enjoying the solitude, and eventually coming across Pastor Roy Villanueva (Head Coach of the UCPP), with whom I had a nice conversation recounting the events of yesterday.
For breakfast we had rice, dried fish, and eggs (sunny-side up), and some sweet bananas.
All around the grounds during the morning people could be seen praying, singing together and fellowshipping.
Our presenters today included Dr. Mel Luna of University of Philippines (also on faculty at Bakke Graduate University), Val Chavez (President of Foursquare Philippines), and Jim Hayford. For lunch we will be meeting with the members of the Task Force, who are the leaders of this project.
Tonight I will be playing an MP3 recording of Kelly Olson’s song (Toy Cars and Lullabies) with slides of pictures from the project. I expect it will really impact these workers as it is such a great song…
Although I am teaching at several sessions, my additional roles here include bringing encouragement to the leaders, building relationship with them, and helping them with their projects including articulating their vision and strategy…I also am helping with some aspects of the logistics of this training and will be speaking at the final session tomorrow night.
My luggage is supposed to arrive today at 1 p.m. It’s been OK not having many things to wear – all I have to do is remember the Philippinos playing basketball in flip flops and my internal complaints are silenced. Once it is here I hope to be able to post some photos.
The people here thank-you for your prayers and they ask about the many team members who have been here in the past. Thanks also for helping this project happen. Mars Rodriguez (Project Director) is doing better after not feeling well yesterday. Pastor Jim will be leaving tonight and heading back to Manila where he has a meeting tomorrow.
http://www.ucpp.org/.
As the darkness in the sky began turning over to light, I continued my run by jogging back to the retreat center with Pastor Bear. He had been up since 3:30 a.m., jogging, and praying, as is his custom. We avoided the fast jeepneys which would occasionally force us onto the narrow shoulder of the road.
Once off the highway I picked up the pace, running alone, and enjoying the surrounding palms, flowers, hills and beautiful surroundings. After 40 minutes of running I returned to the retreat center where I found coffee in the kitchen and strolled about the grounds, enjoying the solitude, and eventually coming across Pastor Roy Villanueva (Head Coach of the UCPP), with whom I had a nice conversation recounting the events of yesterday.
For breakfast we had rice, dried fish, and eggs (sunny-side up), and some sweet bananas.
All around the grounds during the morning people could be seen praying, singing together and fellowshipping.
Our presenters today included Dr. Mel Luna of University of Philippines (also on faculty at Bakke Graduate University), Val Chavez (President of Foursquare Philippines), and Jim Hayford. For lunch we will be meeting with the members of the Task Force, who are the leaders of this project.
Tonight I will be playing an MP3 recording of Kelly Olson’s song (Toy Cars and Lullabies) with slides of pictures from the project. I expect it will really impact these workers as it is such a great song…
Although I am teaching at several sessions, my additional roles here include bringing encouragement to the leaders, building relationship with them, and helping them with their projects including articulating their vision and strategy…I also am helping with some aspects of the logistics of this training and will be speaking at the final session tomorrow night.
My luggage is supposed to arrive today at 1 p.m. It’s been OK not having many things to wear – all I have to do is remember the Philippinos playing basketball in flip flops and my internal complaints are silenced. Once it is here I hope to be able to post some photos.
The people here thank-you for your prayers and they ask about the many team members who have been here in the past. Thanks also for helping this project happen. Mars Rodriguez (Project Director) is doing better after not feeling well yesterday. Pastor Jim will be leaving tonight and heading back to Manila where he has a meeting tomorrow.
http://www.ucpp.org/.
No comments:
Post a Comment