The Wow of mission in Philippines 19 July 2009

19/07/2009
I slept at 1.45am to prepare for the Sunday School message and woke up again at 5.45am to finish it. I had barely 4 hours of sleep that day.
I took my breakfast at 7am and packed up my luggage to check out of the hotel. We had to leave for Bohol in the afternoon.
9.30am
We arrived at SMCI centre at 9.30am. I was told that there was no power supply and I could not use the projector to show my PowerPoint slides.
Wow, that was a big problem for me. I had barely 5 minutes to memorize my message since I could not use the PowerPoint. I realized I could not do much within the 5 minutes and decided to pray instead.
The team members had already gathered at the front of the hall upstairs to pray before the church service. I had no choice but to do what I could to deliver my message without the PowerPoint projection.
I wore a long sleeve shirt because it was the Lord’s day and it was really hot without the fan. Thank God I managed to deliver the message without the PowerPoint projection.
10.45am
Pastor Mike preached from John 14 about how we should not get stressed if we trust God. I could see that he struggled through the message because it was really very hot and he even said the audience was half dead. We were really struggling because of the intense heat. It was also very noisy because of the noise produced by the neighbour’s generator. The SMCI centre does not have a power generator.

Pastor Mechelle addressing the congregation

11.45am
Pastor Mechelle Peregrino of GLCC (Dumaguete)  gave his greetings and addressed the congregation before our lunch. We left the centre to head for Bohol island at 12.45pm.

Farewell to folks from SMCI Dumaguette

1.15pm
We arrived at the ferry terminal and waited for almost 2 hours to board the fast ferry to Bohol. We boarded the ferry at 3.15pm and arrived in Bohol at 5.10pm. The 2 hours ferry ride was very smooth. Most of us were able to take a short nap during the ferry ride.

Boarding the ferry to Bohol

Welcome to Bohol

5.35pm
We stopped by the road side to take a photo of the corrupted version of the Ten Commandments put up by the local folks. The portion of the commandment about idolatry had been removed. Are the local folks guilty of idolatry?

Ten Commandments

5.45pm
We finally arrived at the Bohol SMCI centre. We were introduced to the Irish full time staff call Kim and the local Filipino SMCI team. The Filipino team members were playing their electronic keyboard and guitars. Most of them are sisters in their teens and early twenties.
We checked into the East Coast hotel nearby. Derrick had to share room with Ivan because the room allocated to me was too small for two persons. I suddenly felt like an old man because the younger GLCC team members like Jeremy and Benz were so energetic and helpful. They helped to carry my heavy luggage to my room located on the third floor. These young men are all bible students in the GLCC bible class. Jeremy is 21 years old and he has just completed his National Service. He told me he found it more meaningful to pursue spiritual aspirations after his National Service.
The facility at this hotel was really quite bad. The toilet bowl did not even come with a toilet seat and there were no toilet papers. The blanket provided was just a piece of thin cloth. Well, at least the air conditioner was working fine and I was thankful for that.
6.30pm
We walked to the Jolly beans restaurant for dinner. It started to rain after dinner and we had to take a Pedicab to a nearby shopping centre to change some money. The first money changer outlet was closed and the second outlet only accepts US dollars. As such only Justin was successful in changing his money to peso.
Dr Chong and I decided to buy a few bottles of mineral water before taking the transport back to SMCI centre.

Photo of Pedicab

8pm
The GLCC and Bohol SMCI team members had gathered there for corporate prayers. Everyone prayed earnestly for the Gospel outreach mission to students in Bohol. I noticed that one particular Filipino sister call Princess was especially passionate in her prayer. She was in tears throughout her prayer.

Corporate PrayerPrincess praying earnestly next to Kim