Chels For China

we serve a mighty Father...He has given me the amazing opportunity to be in china...i just got back from our community meeting where i was able to gather with like minded people from America, Canada, Mongolia, Russia, Germany, South Korea, the Philippines, and a country that ends with -stan that im not quite sure how to say or spell =] our Father is doing a great work in this place and in me...while we cant gather with the chinese...we have the freedom to gather together which i am very thankful for.

i have been learning this month that the work here is very relational...when i was in the philippines i saw hundreds of people come to saving knowledge...it was awesome...the Spirit was moving and i am blessed to have been a part of that...but here in China the Spirit is the same...He is moving...but in different ways...pray for me as I am building a relationship with my chinese language tutor...she is a student at the local university and she has begun to ask questions...we have only been spending time together for the last couple of weeks but I pray that i would have the opportunity present the Good News to her clearly before i leave...and if not that He would send someone after me who could share with her...

the last couple of weeks i have been attending a ladies study of the Word with some of the foreigners here...mostly filipino...the theme of the study and the messages from the last two sunday services have really just run together and i feel like our Father is really pounding some concepts at me right now...isnt it amazing how he works...although we may not see the mass numbers of converts here He is still working and he has great things in store for this place...i am helping my tutor move today so i have to go but i just want to ask that you pray for wisdom and discernment on my part and an open heart and mind on the part of "xiao". i also want to share with you some lyrics from a song that ive really been thinking about alot lately...its called God of this City...i think its by Chris Tomlin:

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

Monday, July 6, 2009
I went to work about 7:30 this morning...Im having trouble motivating myself to go because I hate baking so much! But, Lord willing, I wont have to back much longer. Tommy has got to hire someone!! Today was not a good day, I really want to talk to Bobby, nothing was going right in the kitchen. I was almost in tears over the terrible job I was doing with the bread, but then...o but then! I made some amazing cinnamo rolls, banana brownies, and peanut butter choco-chip brownies and my day perked right up. But then the lunch rush hit and it was a communication nightmare....worse than usual...I was so frustrated, Young-Hee...the only english speaker wasnt in the kitchen and Tommy was no help...we were really busy as soon as the rush was over I went home, it was only 12:30 but i was totally drained...My roommate Helen is still in Spain and her boss and some other ladies had a bible study at our apartment this afternoon so i just stayed in my room and finished the book for my facebook book club, "My Sister's Keeper" it was a great book!! I read it in about 4 days so Ill probably read it again this month =] It was really sad, wiht a really shocking ending, Ive got to get my mom to read it!! After that I watched a couple episodes of House and then went to the Etter's apartment for Star Wars Episode 2...When that was over David and I had a meeting with some people about basketball camps in August. We went to Coffee Story and I had the best carmel maciatto of my life!! We also had green tea...it was a really interesting meeting and I am very excited for what August has in store for me...after the meeting I cleaned my room..some major reorganizing...it was intense! but im finally settled into my room so thats a relief!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009
I didnt work at Ginas today...I spent the morning planning the camps that I will be doing with the english department at Yan Da next week...The cord for my computer quit working yesterday so I text David to see if he was free to take me to the electronics store but he couldnt, so i spent the afternoon doing some recipe work for Ginas from what I could recall in my head...I met David, Valerie, and the girls at Ginas for dinner....everytime I eat at ginas I try and order something different so tonight i had the tomato and mozzarella sandwich which was really good...its a definite keeper on the menu =]After dinner we went back to the Etters and I was able to check my facebook...which was nice because china blocked it a few days ago so i can only check it through davids proxy...After the girls went to bed David and I watched Star Wars Episode 3...the younger girls arent allowed to watch it because Anakin kills a bunch of little kids...sorry if i spoiked that for anyone...lol...anyways i got home about midnight so now i gotta get some sleep 5:30 am is gonna come quick....

Friday, July 3, 2009
I met some new people yesterday…Korean-Americans who are interning here for the summer with the NK BT team…their team leader, Regina, is super nice. There are also 3 guys from Chicago that will probably be coming to the camps at Yan Da. Also, we talked about just getting together and playing some pick-up.
So, my internet at the apartment stopped working Wednesday morning (my roommate is in Spain right now). I have been somewhat distraught without the internet but David figured out that our phone needs more money…everything is prepaid…people pay their rent for an entire year in advance! So pretty much I’m out of internet until Helen gets back on the 8th. So for now I brought my computer up to Gina’s…

Sunday, July 5, 2009
After work last night I went over to the Etters/Stirlings apartments. They had a 4th of Julyy get together, bbq sandwiches and such, but I didn’t eat, just had a few peanut m&m’s and a piece of cake. I was able to call my mom and dad and Brandi Galarza!! So that was pretty great. Brandi told me all about her trip to Mexico, it was really nice to talk to her. I’m going to get Kayla’s number from my phone and call her later this week. Regina, Rachel, and Torie, along with 10 other young people from our community left this morning to go to camp in southern China.
So, after the service at YUST this morning David, Charis, Alia, and I went to KFC for lunch. Then I went back to my apartment to clean up before my guest arrived. There is a girl from LA visiting Hele’s team and she is staying at the apartment until Helen gets back on the 8th. After a little tidying up I met David back downtown to look for basketballs and t-shirts. We were able to get 20 balss for 410 yaun, which is about $56, and that included carrying nets and delivery! So that was great! But we weren’t able to find the t-shirt place that we had been told about, so I will go later this week with Sarah, a girl from work. So after 2 hours of shopping we headed back to the Etter’s apartment. I spent some time over at the Stirlings apartment. I really enjoy Mrs. Stirling, Karen. The Stirling’s have two couples staying with them this week. These couple are here on “vision trips” which is basically trips to catch a vision…they feel led to do M work and they are trying to get a vision for what God would have for them…so I spent time talking with Karen and Corrin, one of the guests. Karen is such an encouragement and just a Godly example, I really love spending time with her…she makes me feel so comfortable. After our chat, I went back to the Etter’s where we had pizza (not as good as home, or Shakey’s, or even Gina’s) and watched Star Wars episode 1. We are planning to watch all six movies this week…which I’m pretty excited about because I’ve never seen episode 2 or 3….

so i realize it has been far too long since my last post...sorry about that...my last couple of days in Cebu were crazy! and then the wonderful people here in china have blocked blogspot...along with facebook, twitter, and youtube...but i have gotten a proxy and am now able to access blogspot!! so...i dont want to overwhelm you with 3 weeks of posts all at once...so im going to post them 1 week at a time over the next few days...ive been keeping up with the posts in a word document so im just going to copy and paste them over...so they are dated to when they were written....

Thursday, June 25, 2009
Today was amazing!! Dr. Jesalva recommended that I go to Bohol, an island that is about three hours from Cebu by boat. Bohol is home to the Philippine tarsier…basically the world’s smallest primate…its body is about 6 inches long and its tail is 8 inches long…but before I talk about the monkey…let me start from the beginning..Mam Mayla, Hazel, Alpha Mae, and our driver Ham, picked me up from the hotel at 4:45 in the morning. From there we went to the port to get our tickets….we were very early and there was a lot of just waiting around…but finally we were able to get on the boat…it was a big ummmm…im not sure what you call it…but we drove the van onto the boat…anyway…the ride was three maybe three and a half hours and then we arrived! Once we made it to the island of Bohol we drove for about 45 minutes…the drive was great..the grr! I cant think of the word…the landscape?? Anyway it was like driving through a rainforest, it was green and foresty….it was beautiful.
Our first stop was the Loboc River...we had lunch on a riverboat as we floated down the Loboc River…there we two guys onboard that serenaded us with acoustic performances of classic love songs?? They started with “love boat” and it just got better =] It was a really nice ride down the river…there was one stop where a group performed a native Filipino dances and sang some songs.
After the river cruise we went to visit a mission church started by BBC-Cebu, World in Need Baptist Mission. While we were there we had fresh coconut and fellowship with the pastor and his family. Mam Mayla and I created an amazing game called “Buko Ball.” It’s an intense game played with a coconut, it’s gonna be big I’m sure.
After the mission we went to see the tarsiers! They were crazy, creepy looking little things..there were also sloths and other kinds of monkeys and bats at the same place….it was fun…and after that we went to the natural bridge…it was a big suspended bamboo bridge…on the other side of the bridge we met the “Buko King!!” This guy could unhusk?? I’m not sure what it’s called exactly…but anyways he could unhusk a coconut with his mouth in like 20 seconds…it was crazy cool!!
And the day was not over yet!! We then went to “Simply Butterflies” a butterfly conservation…its not really my favorite kind of thing…but Mam Mayla was super pumped!! She absolutely loves butterflies!!
After the butterflies we went to another church started by BBC-Cebu…we ate dinner…and I ate like a “real filippino” lol basically I ate with my hands…it was messy and fun!! Before dinner got there Hazel, Alpha Mae, and I sang a few songs….in multiple languages and did a sort of video update…we did several video updates throughout the day….im going to try and post them…but YouTube is blocked here…so is blogspot but I have a proxy that I use to post this blog but uploading through the proxy is more difficult…
After a delicious dinner and washing my hands =] we went to another park to take some pictures but the park was closed by that time so we took a few pictures before getting kicked out by the security guard…after that it was back to the port where we waited for about 4 hours before the boat actually left….we slept on the wooden benches back to Cebu…our boat left at 1:30 am which put us back in Cebu about 4 am…and I got back to the hotel about 4:45….so basically we were gone for an entire 24 hours! But it was so much fun…and I love getting to see a few of the works that were started on Bohol…BBC-Cebu has started more than 49 churches on the island…they have an amazing church planting and soul winning ministry….just being around the bible college students and the other church members was very encouraging…their desire to memorize scriptures and share their faith was phenomenal….
The pics from Bohol are at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=90337&id=588667832&l=31fe55b770

June 26, 2009
Today was my last day in Cebu….Mam Mayla, Hazel, and Alpha Mae picked me up and we went to
McDonalds for some good ol’ americanish lunch…after that we went up to the mountaintop park that overlooks Cebu City…it was awesome…I was able to look down on the city from the same spot that Bob Hughes looked from and talked about in his message “I Sat Where They Sat.”
From there it was about time to go to the airport…but first we went back to the church and school…I was able to spend some time in the principal’s office…but I wasn’t in trouble =] I talked with the principal of the Bob Hughes Christian Academy and then was able to sit down with Mam Jasalva…she is an amazing woman and it was great to be able to just sit with her and hear her talk and have her speak into my life…
From there we picked up Mitch at the dorms and headed to the airport…it was tough…I did not wanna leave…the relationships that I made with these girls this week were indescribable. I can truly say that I love these girls…so it was a hard goodbye…but it had to be done…and so I left my friends in Cebu…it was bittersweet…while I hated to leave I am so very excited to be going to CHINA!!
The pics are up at this link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=91632&id=588667832&l=5e8b3c8b37

June 27, 2009, 5:30 am
Right now I am sitting in the South Korean airport…it’s 5:30 in the morning so everything in here is pretty well shut down…I am worn out! My flight left Cebu at 7:30 pm and then I had a 3 hour layover in Manila…I arrived here in SK about 20 minutes ago…I am tired!! So, I’m about to lay down on this bench right here and crash for a bit =]
June 27, 2009
IM IN CHINA!! So I’ve been in China for about 10 hours and they have been jam packed already! First of all, I’ve been sick for the past couple of days…I’ve had a pretty disgusting cough and a runny nose…neither of which is good when traveling internationally…so when we landed in Yanji health officials boarded the plane and checked everyonEtter’s temperature…I passed that test…and then another guy in a suit boarded the plane and had my name on a list….so I, along with the other white person on the plane, got off the plane and proceeded to go to a quarantine area…the entire time I am just thinking to myself, “I don’t have any way to get in touch with the Etter’s and tell them I’m stuck!” I was really afraid that they were going to keep me there for like a week…but thankfully the just took my temperature and let me leave. Basically the pulled us off the plane, even though I hadn’t been in the states for 6 weeks and the other guy hadn’t been in the states for over a year, because we were white…there was a whole group of Korean-Americans from LA sitting right behind us…but they didn’t get pulled off…it was pretty funny…once I got out =]
The Etter’s and two of their girls were waiting for me when I got out of the terminal…it was so nice to see semi-familiar faces…we loaded all of my stuff into 2 taxi’s and headed to Gina’s Place…which is the restaurant I will be working in while I’m here. We ate the pizza buffet…which was great! I got to meet a group of people from the states who are going to be teaching English at one of the universities here and they are going to help me with the basketball camp in July…After lunch we went to my apartment where I met my new roommate, Helen…she is Korean-American and is working with a team here. After dropping my things off at the apartment Regina, Charis, Alia and I walked down to the market to get some food for dinner…my apartment is in a great area…very central to everywhere I need to go! Basically, I live about halfway between the market and Gina’s Place…
So, tonight there was a “community meeting” this is a time that some local believers who are working towards the same goals get together for fellowship and updates…this is a monthly thing...the night started like any good gathering…with food!! =] we had a great Korean dinner, followed by worship, and then a time of prayer…
And now I sit in my room…small but sufficient…I am so excited about my time here…it is going to be amazing…I can feel it…already!
June 28, 2009
Today was Sunday…I went to an English service at YUST…a university here in Yanji…Chinese law allows foreigners to gather and have church services…but the Han Chinese cannot attend…so it was nice to have some semblance of normalcy…China is so very different from the Philippines…I knew it would be but it is still taking some adjustment… after the service we ate lunch in the cafeteria…cafeteria food is pretty much the same in any country…not the best =] david, regina, and I took the bus down to the west market and did some shopping…we got a fan for my room…the apartment is nice…but no air con so it gets a little hot…after shopping we went back to their apartment and I started to watch a movie with the Etter’s girls and a few other kids. During the movie Regina had a guest drop by, a woman named Gloria, she is a Filipino lady who is living here and working as an English teacher. I was able to talk with her for about an hour and it was nice to hear that familiar accent again and see the body language…someone who understands my eyebrow communication! Nothing much happened after that…we had egg salad sandwiches for dinner and David and Regina and I drank some coffee and just chatted for awhile before I ventured home in a cab all by myself!! I can say my address in Chinese…which I’m pretty stoked about!

Monday, June 29, 2009
Some other members of the Etter’s community have a coffee shop here in Yanji, Morning Dew. This morning Regina, Charis, Alia, and I went to Morning Dew and had some coffee and milkshakes and I played “Sorry” with the girls while Regina talked with her Korean language partner. After Morning Dew I headed over to Gina’s Place to meet with the manager in charge, Tommy. He is a Korean-American from LA…we had a good meeting and discussed goals for the summer and his expectations for me and my time here. Basically, his goal is to have a re-grand opening in two months. He is working on re-training the front of house staff…and my job will be to completely overhaul the kitchen and develop a system to make it run more efficiently…I will be analyzing the menu and food costs and developing new menu items…I am really excited to start…the baker unexpectedly quit a couple days ago so I start tomorrow at 8 am…I’ll be helping to bake the bread…I am definitely nervous because I am not a baker! It will be an interesting day……
I ate dinner with the Etter’s again tonight…we ordered in Chinese…it was the craziest thing…they delivered the food on regular dishes…we ate the food and then we just set the dishes outside the door and they will come back in a couple hours or days and pick them up…so that’s pretty cool…the food was delicious…and I picked up a peanut with a chopstick!! That was a huge accomplishment for me…considering I couldn’t use chopsticks at all when I got here…after dinner I sat down with the whole family and we just talked…they let me ask any kind of questions I wanted…just about life and what things are like here…it was really interesting…
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Today was my first day of work...Tommy met me at the restaurant…he made breakfast for us and we talked some more before getting to work…and then BAM!! I was in the kitchen and baking…Young-Hee is the wife of the other manager, John…they are from South Korea and she has taken over the role of baker for now…she was already hard at work when I joined her…we were mixing dough, kneading dough, rolling dough, and then of course there was the laughing…mostly her laughing at me…I didn’t do very well with the forming of dough balls…some would say it was disastrous…
I took a couple hours off in the afternoon and then went back to the restaurant at 5…we were dead…I had just one table in 2 hours…so I left at 7 with the Etter’s oldest daughter, Rachel. We went back to their apartment and just hung out…we ate Korean food this time and it was great! One thing I absolutely love is the food here…well so far! I haven’t tried anything I haven’t liked yet…and even though Sunny warned me to stay away from the Kim Chee….I love it! After some more talking with the Etter’s I went home…I have be at work at 6 tomorrow morning!
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Well yesterday was my first full day of work, going from 6 am until 8 pm…I get a small break in the afternoon..but it is still a lot of time at the restaurant…the baking is getting better…kind of…we made sandwich bread today and well…ill post the pics because it was bad…im not quite sure what happened to my loaf but I think it has something to do with my inability to roll and form the dough into smooth balls….Regina and the girls came to meet me at work so we could spend the afternoon together today (I didn’t work tonight) and they took pity on me and decided to by my sad loaf of bread (which tasted great…just looked…not so great) and John laughed when he saw it and gave it to them for free!! It was pretty funny…
Anyways, Regina, Rachel, Torie, and I went to the west market so I could buy some shoes for work….the shoes the kitchen Emo gave me were too small…big surprise! =] so I got some shoes and then we went and had pedicures done…which was a lot of fun…we got some waffles before heading back to the house…they were shaped like fish and were filled with red beans…they were not very good…I told the girls they have been living in Asia too long if they like those! We got back to their apartment and had a fun little girls night…we ordered Korean food, Kim Bop (which Is a lot like a California roll) and watched a movie…David is inside working for a couple of days so it was just us girls…

tonights sermon was titled "Remember My Bonds" and the pastor spoke about the apostle paul and the persecution that he endured and then the persection that people are going through now in countries like pakistan, laos, and china...God really spoke to me tonight...am i truly and fully surrendered to Him? am i willing to face persecution for His name? matt. 24:9

also pray for me because i seem to be getting sick again...im taking medicine and drinking some sort of warm juice something or other but i really need to kick this thing before i have to fly on friday!

more pictures...today i spent time with hazel, mitch, and mam mayla from the bible college...tommorrow i will spend all day at the school and going on visitation...

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=89195&id=588667832&l=f1309292e6

well i made it back to the hotel last night...although it took much longer to get back here than it did to get over to starbucks...and to be honest i did get a bit nervous and maybe scared a little...until i evaluated the driver and decided that if it came to a fight...i could totally take him...

so we had our outing to the beach today...it was alot of fun...we drove about an hour and when we arrived the students divided into their "groups" which is there groups they are put in when they begin school their first year and they remain there for the duration of their time at BBC...anyways...so we got with our groups and had devotions and games and then we went swimming before lunch...after lunch dr. jesalva arrived and i talked to him for a few minutes...he brought me a fruit basket...with mangos...i love this man!! mmmm yeah im gonna eat one of those mangos when i get back to my room! so good! ok well back on track...after lunch and my chat with dr. j...we swam some more and then a few of us went out on a little boat...it was great fun...except for poor jay....he was our "muscle" mam myla made jay accompany myself and three other girls..and we were crazy loud singing and goofing off..poor guy!! but i had a blast!! and that brings me back to sitting here in the restaurant of my hotel...praise God the wi-fi is fixed!

im not entirely sure what tomorrow has in store....maybe some visitation...i dont have any definite schedule that i have been given...

also, i have posted more pics
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=88943&id=588667832&l=6fae0f55de

enjoy! thanks for your prayers and your support!!

*chels*

so...i am currently sitting in a starbucks...somewhere in cebu city...the internet has been down for the past two days at my hotel...im not totally convinced that they didnt turn it off after the last time i was sitting in the lobby laughing like a crazy person at the comments bobby hughes left on my facebook pics! anyways...this lack of internet access is what has caused me to take my life in my hands and hop in a cab and say "starbucks or any coffee shop with wifi please!!" well 15 minutes and 70 pesos later i find myself sitting here...sipping a dark choco mocha frappuccino....getting my internet fix...and not remembering the name of my hotel...

well..lets get down to business! lets see...my day started out with a nice american breakfast of pancakes and bacon...which was delicious and then my friend hazel picked me up and we went to church! the church was awesome...the ministry there is just amazing...the people have such a passion to reach out and win souls for Christ! the messages in both sunday school and the main service were challenges to me...especially the sunday school lesson...the teacher spoke about the path God has for your life and surrendering to him...its amazing how God is still revealing himself to me on the otherside of the world..in a half english lesson...my prayer from the beginning of this trip is that God would shake me...wake me up...show me his will for my life...and he is doing so much more than i expected!! pray for me as i continue to grow and seek God's will during this experience....

dr. jesalva announced tonight after church that the entire student body of bible baptist college cebu will be joining me for an outing to the beach tomorrow!! so we are all really excited about that!! it is hotter here in cebu that it was back on luzon...it hasnt rained here once...yet...well...my internet time is about to expire so i will say so long for now....!!

o also tried alot of new food today...pics and explanations to follow later =]

June 20, 2009
Where to begin….well first of all…my last couple days in manila were great…I spent Wednesday night with the eberts….and then on Thursday I went with the interns working with MMI and Greg Lyons. I was able to go out on the “Fun Trucks” which is a ministry of Community Baptist Church. Basically we went out into different neighborhoods with a speaker, microphone, two mascots, a magician, and some songs. We would gather the kids and then sing songs and give a lesson. It was great! I was really glad I was able to be a part of this experience…after the fun trucks Sally and I commuted back to the house where the interns are living this summer…o my!! First of all, on Wednesday night Paul and Dennis Ebert told me quite a few stories about being robbed and stabbed while riding on a jeepney or in a cab. Then Sally and I took two jeepney’s home and then I took a taxi to the airport =] it was terrifying…lol no it was actually really cool!
So I arrived in Cebu yesterday afternoon…the flight from Manila was only 1 hour. At the airport, I was welcomed by a group of girls from the Bible college. The girls are great…they are a lot of fun. Last night we ate dinner at a coffee shop/restaurant near my hotel…it was really good. This morning we had a prayer meeting at 6:30 and then I was able to go out with the evangelistic teams to “the area.” This ministry is very similar to the fun trucks that CBC does in Manila. Two girls and I went out and conducted “Sunday school” out in the squatter areas of Cebu. We did three different areas this morning and tomorrow we will go out and do it in 4 other areas.
This afternoon Ate Hazel and Ruth…two of the girls from the college picked me up and we went to a Bible study with a couple girls that they had led to the Lord. We were there for a couple of hours and it was amazing…the passion and desire of these girls to win souls was a challenge to me. We spent time sharing things from our devotions and the Ate Hazel gave a lesson on tips for witnessing. It was a great time of fellowship. Ate Hazel, Ruth, and I commuted home from their house to my hotel and had dinner at McDonalds on the way.
So now I am just sitting in my hotel room, with no more plans for the evening. I will probably go to bed early tonight…the car will be here for me at 6:30 in the morning. So, I am enjoying my time here in the Philippines, and I have made some great friends already here in Cebu, and there are only 6 more days until CHINA!!!

so im sitting at starbucks with sally, rachel, and another intern from bbc in springfield, kristen. we dont have to be at the office until 11 but our ride to the city was only available at 5:45 this morning....so...here we sit! =]

i had a great day with the eberts yesterday...we did some grocery shopping and then ate dinner at chili's with paul's parents, dennis and gloria ebert. it was so nice and great to see the eberts again before i leave. today is my last day in manila...from here i leave for cebu tomorrow at 1pm where i will stay for a week before i go to CHINA!!

well i am back in manila...the last few days in rizal were great!! the anniversary celebration and service was great...dennis sabiduria...the man that started the church...and his family came up for this special time...three of his kids came...james, 24, ruth, 21, and jonathon, 18...so we had a good time getting to know each other...on friday..the day of the big anniversary celebration we had a motorcade around the city of rizal...where we walked...and some drove with balloons and postors to celebrate the anniversary...after that we went to the local high school gym and had a service...there were 6 preachers each with a 20 minute time limit...we ended up 2 hours behind schedule...lol...ahhh baptist preach are the same no matter where you are in the world!!
after the service we had a big lunch and then played some basketball!! it was alot of fun...i was even able to see a friend from my first trip, Mark!! it was an awesome day!

on saturday the santiagos and the sabidurias and i went to a water resort for swimming and celebrating the 3rd wedding anniversary of Ace and May..it was alot of fun..we cooked out filipino style and i ate with my hands like a real filipino =] ace is teaching me to become a filipino because he is trying to marry me off...and my dad is encouraging him in the venture!

well...im am back in manila now...im staying in a hotel for a couple of days while the lyon's are out of town and then i will be staying with them the last two nights before i leave for cebu....paul and tina ebert from iba, zombales are coming in tonight and i am spending the day with them tomorrow..im very excited...i havent seen another american in 15 days!! i saw a white guy in the lift this morning and got really excited...i stared at him a little...(see i am becoming filipino!) but when he talked to me he was british, australian or russian or something...

well...seeing as it has stopped raining...im going to venture out and try and make my way over to the mall for some dinner....ive posted some pictures from rizal on my facebook there is a public link to the album so you dont have to have a fb profile to look at it:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=87529&id=588667832&l=567509d173

also...as im sure you were all very worried...i talked to my friend josh today and i am in the process of receiving the season 5 finale of the office through aim...im pretty excited...im gonna get some popcorn...peanut butter...and some C2 and watch it later tonight....its a special occasion =] just wanted to share that little fact...love you guys!!

Oh!! also! ive received some more information about my basketball camps later this summer...amazing!! for our first camp we already have 60 college students signed up and classes havent even begun! we are expecting over a hundred participants! we are going to have 5 weeks of camp where we will combine basketball and english....

and with that i am going to venture out into the city...oh man! (said with enthusiasm) its raining again! thats awesome...now i get to wear my rainboots!! its a good day!

*chels*

so i talked to sally, one of greg lyons interns, and she gave me the offical camp results...
TOTAL CAMPERS: 79,965
SALVATIONS: 29,090
BAPTISMS: 6,357
BBCA APPLICANTS: 1,668 (Baptist Bible College-Asia)

Amazing!! Praise God for the great things HE has done!! Pray for MMI as they are now doing follow-up with the campers and their student center opened yesterday...their sc is a place for students to come before and after school and just relax and hang out in a christian enviroment..


well my first week in rizal has gone well..the services this weekend were great...there is much to be done in preparation for the anniversary celebration this coming friday...i have been sick the past couple of days...i thought that i was going to have to go to the doctor yesterday..but i avoided that...im still feeling kind of weak today...i cant eat much and my hosts just dont seem to understand that!! please pray for my recovery...i hate to spend my time here just lying in bed!

well i have made it to rizal!! on our way from iba we stopped at pizza hut and had pizza and some ice cream for habbakok's birthday..today was a pretty relaxing day..i went to the market with may and mary and bought some fruit and veggies..then we had church tonight..the service was very good...it rained alot today...maybe a typhoon...so many of the church members were not able to attend..they dont have any transportation in the rain...tomorrow i think we will go to cabanatuan with may's husband ace...he works at the radio station there and there is a mall =] but first we will be playing basketball at 6 am!! ahh!!

please be praying for my friend ezekial...he is going to be taking the exam for his nursing boards this saturday and sunday...and also pray for the church's anniversary celebration on june 12...all of the missions and daughter churches will be coming to rizal for the celebration

well with basketball at 6 am..i am going to bed!

ok so ive heard that people are having problems commenting on the blog...i think the best way to leave a comment is to have a google account...it is just you sign in with your email and a password...or you should be able to select annoymous and leave a comment like that...if anyone is still having trouble...email me at coach_chels@hotmail.com so i know and i can try something else...thanks

ok so i finally got the next video to upload..its just of the apartment where i stayed...ill post pics of the baptisms when i get a chance..well im back at the eberts for the weekend..sarah, rachel, and i made some videos today...music videos and fashion shows...but i dont think ill be sharing those with the world..ha! the girls found david archuleta on my itunes and accussed me of hiding him from them...we have listened to his cd all day now! lol

camp is officially over! so that part of my trip is over and now we are having a pastor and family retreat on monday and tuesday which freddie santiago and his family will attend...and i will go home with them...so phase two of the trip is beginning =] once i get to rizal my internet access will be much more limited..its been nice to have the wireless connection available at the camp..no such luck in rizal..so my updates will be much more sporadic im afraid..well anyways im gonna head to bed..its early but im tired..im sharing a room with rachel and sarah tonight...so we are going to sleep with some nice little mermaid music playing..ha! its nice..."under the sea!"



oh! i almost forgot the link for the video!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpXx1viEZM0

Well after numerous attempts and 5 hours of uploading I was finally successful in uploading a video of the camp...I just thought I would walk around and give yall a better idea of where Ive been working...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rp2bb3kNylE

Sally, Rachel, and I had dinner with Greg Lyons last night and he shared his vision to see 1 million kids in camp every year. Here at the Highlands this year they have had almost 80,000. His goal is 50,000 kids in 20 countries experiencing youth camp and hearing the gospel. We had over 400 kids saved last night, almost 20,000 this summer, the numbers seem unreal but when you are here and you can see how God is moving and the genuine decisions these kids are making it is awesome. Pray for us and the campers as we have our last two batches today and tomorrow and then this weekend will begin our NextStep Camp which brings back some of the campers who were saved and/or expressed an interest in Bible College.

Over the last couple of days I have had the opportunity to pray with some of the different groups around camp, the dancers, the production crew, and the praise team. Their passion for their ministries and their desire to see young people saved is amazing. The commitment and sacrifice it takes to work at the camp that started the third week of january and ends this week is enormous. I am in awe of them, I am praying for God to give me their vision, their passion, I want to burn with the same desire to see souls saved that I see in the workers here. I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had to be here and to hear the testimonies of some of these workers and to get to know these people. They have made a lasting impact on my life.

well im back at camp...i had a great weekend with the eberts...they are an awesome family!! we went to the beach yesterday...i knew iba was close to the beach but i had no idea how close...we went to lunch and when we sat down at our table i looked up and was like "wow...theres the beach!" after lunch and naptime we went back to the beach and swam and dug a car in the sand then we ate dinner at the resort again...it was great...it was a nice weekend with semi-american food! we had pancakes for breakfast this morning...it was so nice not to have rice!!



i am looking forward to this week at camp...last week i was getting adjusted to everything...now im ready to jump in head first and really be more involved in the ministry...

i met greg lyons this morning...just briefly but we are going to talk more later this afternoon...our batches of campers this week are even bigger than last week...we have 1500 campers this batch and the batches are only going to get bigger throughout the week!! pray for all the camp workers and volunteer as we are on this final stretch to the end of X-Files summer camp 2009.

Yesterday was a great day here in Iba. I was able to talk with Paul and Tina Ebert they are missionaries who live here at the camp and we went to church together in Springfield back in 2003 and 2004. They planted a church in the town of Iba this past November. I have made plans with them and will be staying the weekend here in Iba and will be ministering with them in their church. The difference between the type of ministry the Lyon’s have and the other church experiences I have had here in the Philippines in my previous trips is like night and day….one extreme to the other. It is funny to me that they have the same conservative/progressive issues here in the Philippines that we have back in the states. I look forward to experiencing the Ebert’s style of ministry, which I expect to be more of a blended style, this weekend.
Filipinos are required to learn English in school, my friend Nympha asked me yesterday, “ You are not required to learn Tagalog in your school?” She, along with most of the dancers, has been trying to teach me Tagalog. Rachel and the other American intern here, Sally, are picking it up very well. Me, not so much! The fact that I have a stuffy nose and a hoarse voice does nothing to help my pronunciation. But I will not have that excuse for very much longer…Tina Ebert gave me some cough and cold medicine and I am starting to feel some relief. The Filipinos use the word “nosebleed” when their brain is straining so hard to speak English that their nose is now bleeding. Well, I have been having “nosebleed” with Tagalog for the past few days!
Please pray for Sally, she is having some sort of allergic reaction to some bug bites, she has huge welts all over her legs and she has been in bed all day today. This is her third week here at camp and without her smiling face around all the workers are asking, “Where is Sally?” and “How is Sally?” So please lift her up in your prayers that she will get to feeling better, she does a lot with the production and games and worship, and it was a fight to get her to stay in bed today even though she needed the rest.
God is working in mighty ways here at the camp. My involvement is mainly in the production side of things right now. My assignment the past few days was to “observe.” Tomorrow I will be assigned a specific area of ministry. I don’t have specific numbers for this week (I’m working on getting them) but I do know when I talked to Greg Lyons 2 months ago they had seen 14,000 young people come to know Christ since January. So far this summer (Since January) they have had over 70,000 campers. The numbers are amazing, I honestly couldn’t believe it when he told me, Dad and I thought he must have meant those were the total numbers since the camp had started a few years ago. But now that I am here I can see how these are numbers from this year alone. I myself in just the past 4 days have seen over 4,800 campers. As I said, I don’t know specific numbers right now, but I do know that I have witnessed no less than 200 baptisms the past two mornings.

While the messages are all in Tagalog, the worship services are in English except for one song which I almost know. It is an amazing experience to have the opportunity for praise and worship three times a day! This is probably adding to my hoarse voice but it is totally worth it.

Tagalog Phrase of the Day:
magandang umaga = good morning

Good morning!! It is almost 10 am here in Iba...i have been up since 5 am...its getting easier to wake up early the more i do it...but the longer i am here the more friends i make and the more they want to "bond" which means staying up until 1 and 2 in the morning talking...i dont know where the get the energy!!

It may be hard to belive but it has taken me a couple of days to really "come out of my shell" if you will. I felt slightly overwhelmed when i first arrived here. But i have made some friends now...most of them being the dancers...lol..so they are teaching me the dances and tagalog also. It is alot to take in at one time!! But i am definitly beginning to feel much more comfortable.

Please pray for me...i have not been feeling well since we got here and i thought it was just jet-lag or allergies...but my nose is very stuffy and i developed a cough yesterday...i left my bag of medicine at home!! of all the things to forget! anyway..i am going into town today to try and get some cough medicine before my roommates smother me in my sleep for all the coughing...lol!

Well, it is time for game stations now...so ive got to run...i am going to try the zip line today!!

*chels*

Well today is day two of camp...the first batch of campers will be leaving in a couple of hours and an hour after that our next batch of 1200 campers will roll into camp. There were many decisions made for Christ last night and this morning...and many kids were baptised this morning...God is doing some amazing things at this camp...it is very exciting to get to be a part of it. The heat isnt too bad in the morning and evening...i stay indoors around mid-day as much as possible...there is a mudslide and a zip line that im going to try and do tomorrow...

There is a team of dancers who perform with the praise team during the worship services...they are really fun guys and they are teaching me the dances...i have no rythym..ha! so we will see how it goes...we just finished lunch here and are getting ready for the last service session before this batch heads home and the new batch arrives....

Well, it is 1 o'clock in the morning here so I'm going to make this quick! We arrived safely in Manila tonight...all of our flights went smoothly. We will be getting up this morning and going to church and then we will head up to the camp in Iba. I will write more when I get more time...right now its time for sleep!

11 days!!

WELCOME!! I hope to use this blog to keep everyone up to speed on what is happening with my trip...

Let's see....where to begin?? Well graduation is only 10 days away...which means I am leaving for the Philippines in just 11 days! I am moving my stuff to Amarillo, TX tomorrow and then heading back to Springfield to hand in my final projects before Fellowship Week and GRADUATION!!!!