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!!!!
