We arrived yesterday morning in Manila after 14 hours on the plane. The flight went well and I think a lot of were able to get some good sleep. After going thru customs and loading our boxes onto the truck we headed into a city which really seems to be changing my life from the inside out. Amy, Daisy, Ren, and myself piled into a car with a driver who we didn’t know and after a few blocks we finally realized we were with the right person..

The ride from the airport out to the Navigators headquarters in Cubao, Quezon City (metro Manila) was more intense than any rollercoaster ride I have been on. Riding into Manila was like walking into a world which I was not expecting. So much poverty, brokeness, and traffic. People riding on things that I am just learning the words for. All packed into streets which were probably made for 80% less..

All I can say is Tijuana on steroids. Wow! Manila is eye opening place.

After arriving we went to the market and walked the streets and had some opportunities for ministry. More to come.

David Nothhelfer

I hate interruptions.  I like schedules.  I like productivity, and I like accomplishments.  That has been the rule of my life from the time I was in junior high school up until about half a year ago.  When I became a Christian, I tried to accomplish great things for God.  Now, I am here in the middle of a culture that doesn’t recognize schedules or timetables, and that doesn’t even recognize that there is such a thing as a corporate ladder, let alone how to climb it.  Asaph wrote Psalm 79:1-4 in grief and outrage over the invasion, subjugation, and defilement of God’s people.  Today, the Filipinos are in the same place.  They were under the Spanish for 330 years, and they exploited them.  Then, they were under the Japanese, and they bled them dry.  Are the Filipinos regarded by God as less important than the Israelites over whom Asaph grieved?  What about the homeless guy on the street?  What about the co-worker who interrupts me in the middle of an important project?  What about …?  The list goes on.  That is a question I have to answer every day.  That was a question I had to answer last night.  I was trying to keep up with the group, paranoid about getting robbed, trying to get back to the hotel where we were saying.  I was actually angry when a small child tried to get my attention by tapping on my arm.  I resisted and I stiffened my arm.  The child got the message and didn’t interrupt me again.  Isn’t it amazing how kids can sense things without our needing to say a word?  I caught up with the group when Jesus used a sister in the LORD to show me the kids.  These were little ones, three or four years old, on the street, without any parents.  They wanted to eat.  Is my schedule or my convenience more important than a child being able to eat?  Well, I answered that without a word.  I also answer that when I pass a guy begging on the street, or I sneer, or I say something cynical under my breath (“Get a job, dude!”) or when I get interrupted by a co-worker who just wants to talk.  I hate interruptions.  Am I going to be resentful the next time Jesus wants to interrupt me?  What am I going to do?  That is a question that I’ll have to answer, and answer soon.

-Chris McFadden

Dear loved ones,
What a culture shock!  On TV, watching commercials like the World Vision which talks about poverty and hungry children in poor countries, I can easily turn off the TV or change channel to avoid responsibilities to respond but not this trip.  As God whispered to me this early morning “Get up and look outside the window, look at the impoverish, I am taking care of them too”.  “How?”  I asked (I know about how God takes care of the birds etc) but God says don’t worry about that, I am taking care of that.  He has a huge weblink of committed missionary such as the kuyas and their wifes Bobot, Kim, Wensey, etc.  The challenged for me is will I support the missionaries.  I am skeptical about trusting organizations financially because of the mismanagement of funds or the corruption within the organization that the poor don’t receive the hard work donation that I make on a monthly basis.  But God showed me in such a short period of time that the missionaries are sincerely committed to their ministries because of their love for Jesus.  They too have needs.  And I believe that God is calling me to serve the Missionaries at this time to meet their needs.  Health needs in particular.  I still don’t know clearly what I am to specifically do but I know He will let me know, and the question again will be “are you willing to obey”  I come Lord and I will

-Daisy DelaPena

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