Mission Impossible...?? (Part 2) -Manila-

I hope that you have read my Part 1 so you would not be confused with this part 2.
So, we reached Clark or Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark to be exact at around 5pm and we immediately took a bus to Manila. It took us 2 hours plus to Pasay bus station in Manila where Jude waited for us. The journey was just okay and most of us slept along the way. Somehow I managed to snap a few pictures for my own collection..hhaha... here you go.

 Happy that we arrived safely, but tired at the same time. This was taken right after we board the bus. Nice weather by the way. We were excited with what we're going to experience in Manila in just a few hours time.

 Snapped this while the bus is moving. :)
We reached Pasay at around 7.30 pm and Jude was waiting for us at the bus station. He took us to ride a Jeepney, one of the most popular public transportation in the Philippines to our lodging, a pension run by a catholic family in the middle of Manila.

 

 Pension Natividad, its a very nice place if you are looking for a cheap yet clean and comfortable place to spend the night in Manila. There is even a prayer room for the staffs and guests!! Yeay! 

So we checked in and Jude asked us to refresh ourselves a bit before going out for dinner. After dinner we had a short briefing on our mission exposure and off we went and officially started the mission at around 9.30pm. 

We were basically walking around the streets in that area. For the first time in my life, I saw a lot of homeless people that night. I did see a few back in my place but I never really walk and observe the homeless back home because I think it is dangerous to go and have a walk around these people. What more to talk or start a conversation with them. Just across the road where we stayed, a lady and her toddler son was sleeping in a pedicab, another type of cheap transportation in the Philippines. We greeted her and tried to make a conversation. She just answered us while smiling, but I can see that she was already in a deep sleep earlier and I felt that we were disturbing her precious sleep. So we just left her so that she can continue with her rest. 

Walking around the area, I can't help but notice that every corner, every street that we passed by, there must be at least a person lying there, sleeping comfortably on the cold pavement or stairs with either an aluminum sheet or boxes as their mattress. I was literally shocked and it took me a while to digest this new experience. Jude encouraged us to speak to these people and just be available to listen to their stories. I was paranoid at first that they might do something bad or they might chase us away or tell us to mind our own business.

 

But to my surprise, none of them did any of that. In fact, they were welcoming us and even asked us to sit with them on their small territory. Then some of us started to talk and we finally went in smaller groups to different families on the streets. We talked to them and introduced ourselves and told them our reason to be there. Then we shared about God and His love for each and every human being in this world. We wanted to share this to them because we encountered Him personally before coming for the mission and our main intention is to spread the good news to others and also to share to these people on how God also wanted them to have the same relationship that we have with Him.

 

This was our main activity during night time in Manila. The first and second day was visiting different slumps or poor areas around Malate. We also visited the local parish and church which is called as Malate Church. Its a very old church but it is a beautiful and big building. Even though there are a lot of renovations going on, the place still looks fantastic. We had our morning masses at the church and our mission reflections in the church's chapel every night before retiring for the day. Here's a quick snap of the church.

A little history on the church.

Church entrances

Some renovations ongoing to restore the church building to a better state

We did a little tour on our second day in Malate Church where we met with Father Martin, a very friendly person who showed us around the church and told us about the church history and how it survived the war back then. After the tour, we were brought to visit the slumps area. We visited some of the poorest housing area where the people have to build their own house and share it among a few families. It is very hard for me to describe it with words only. The area is not really big. It is right in the middle of the city and the gaps in between houses there were really narrow, that only up to one person can pass through at a time. 

I really wanna write more on this, but I think this entree is getting too long. So let me just put another suspense in you and continue the story in part 3.. hehehe..with more pics.. ^^

So, have a nice day!         

Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, for I delight in it.

    Psalm 119:35

Mission Impossible..?? Part 1

Wow..It has been quite some time since I updated my blog. My deepest apology.
However, This is my new and first entree for the month of February. Well, actually my precious red lappy crashed a couple of weeks ago. So its kinda hard for me to constantly update my blog. Sad but it was not really a big deal. Looks like I'm hunting for another notebook again..hehhehe..

Anyway, I had been busy with stuffs lately. I flew to the Philippines on the 20th of January recently with 6 other brothers and sisters in Christ for a mission exposure. So this entree will be chit chatting on the happenings during my mission visit there. Yeay!!! Claps~

First and foremost for all of you out there, I wanna say that I am a proud Catholic and FYI, a mission is an important assignment carried out for political, religious or commercial purposes, typically involving travel (google). So I went for a religious purpose mission. Let me just tell you how it all happened, how I suddenly end up traveling all the way to the Philippines and how God really provides. *winks ;)

I started my journey with my dear community in a local church about 4 months ago (October 2012 to be exact) when I participated in a seminar known as Growth in the Spirit Seminar or in short GSS. It was actually my first encounter with the Lord. It felt real and I know it is. Ever since that, I'm a true believer, worshiper, follower, you name it. I became so carefree even though I know I have loads of problems in my life. But all I did was surrender to Him and trust Him that everything will eventually be okay, and Praise God, it did. I never felt this happy. I was a very worried person back then, before the encounter. I worried all day and it stressed me a lot. I did not know that I can surrender my problems, my burdens and my whole life into His hands. But now I am grateful that I answered His call for the seminar. My life was renewed.

I thought that all is well and that is what I have to do all my life. Serve Him, follow Him and just be available for Him. Honestly, there are still times that I am ungrateful with what I have or whatever bad things that happened to me. Even after the seminar, even after the encounter. Anyway after the seminar, I heard that a mission is being planned for January. So when I heard this, I get a strong feeling, its more like a calling to say YES! So with a simple yes and no expectation of what might happen during the mission, I was already included in the team.

A few preparation was needed for the mission. We did a fundraising during Christmas (I did an entree on this if you scroll down, you will see it..hehhee..) and a few good friends (God bless them~ ^^) donated for our fund. Praise the Lord that we managed to prepare everything well. The preparation went smoothly and everyone was anticipating to start the mission. I must say that God is good all the time. He made sure that our preparation period went smoothly even from the smallest thing like our passport to the most important part, our flight tickets. We planned for the mission to be carried out later in February. But something made us booked the flight slightly earlier, by end of January. Right after we confirmed our booking, Airasia (the airline company) officially announced that they will be closing their route to Clark, Philippines commencing in February. Unfortunately for those who made their bookings in February, their flights were cancelled. Nothing comes by accident or co-incidence. God's will for my team to carry out the mission is greater than Tony Fernandes..Sorry to say..hahaha..

Spiritually and mentally, we were very not prepared. Or at least I can say that for me. When we saw the schedule that was emailed to us a few days earlier, all 7 of us freaked out when we found out that we were to be "main speakers". We did a gathering with the whole mission team and we spoke of our concerns and expectations from the mission. I think most of us were intimidated with the 'main speaker' thing. However, during our praise and worship session, the Lord kept on saying to all of us to not be afraid. All seven of us affirmed this. So I submitted to Him. I was like 'whatever happens, happens, and it happens because of Your will. I surrender myself to You, Father'. I think everyone was praying the same thing. I think everyone surrendered wholeheartedly, and off we flew to Clark.

p/s: Part 2 coming soon with pictures!!!woot woot..!!  :)