Traffic

 

The traffic was very congested in some areas, especially in Manilla.  By looking at the taxis and jeepneys you can see the inovation that Filipinos are known for.  Sometimes they'll combine parts from different makes and models of motorcycles, so you'll see two or three different logos on one bike.  However, since there are many old vehicles on the road and there are no emissions control there is alot of pollution.  Therefore, many people walk around with handkerchiefs over their face to avoid inhaling the pollutants.  It is no surprise that we see many complication due to upper respiratory issues.  Then they attach a side car to that motorcycle to add more passengers.  Riding on the back of the motorcycle was one of the scariest rides of my life.  The driver was weaving in and out of traffic through both sides of the road and my legs were dangling off the side so I kept thinking I was going to get hit.  They don't use turning signals out there and the they constantly cross double yellow lines to overtake other cars, even if there's oncoming traffic from the opposite direction.  The unspoken rule is the bigger car wins, so if the smaller car usually just pulls over to the side when two cars are heading towards each other in the opposite direction.

We didn't help the traffic as when we were riding in the back of an open top vehicle or if we were standing outside we would stop the traffic.  The drivers would stop and stare or take pictures.

The last picture I got off the internet, but I did see 5 people on a motorcycle including a baby.  Sometimes they attach a long wooden board to the seat of the motorcycle so that people can sit on the board which hangs off the side of the motorcycle.  It seems crazy, but I guess if you gotta get there you gotta get there at all costs.  It really made me grateful for my car to say the least.

Speaking at the Elementary Schools

I went to a couple elementary schools to speak and help out with a skit.  It was fun interacting with the children and getting to know them.  Most of them were fascinated by my hair and some had watched me play basketball the day before.  They were a friendly and joyful bunch of children.  It's funny because sometimes the interaction seems like they're observing an alien.  They peek from behind their friends to catch a glance, the children upstairs were glancing over the rail, but they keep their distance and make a large path when I walk by.  That is until that one bold child comes up and touches my hair from behind or one student comes up to give me a high five, then before I know it I'm surrounded by and talking to a mob of students.  The children are generally very passive and observant initially, but they warm up very quickly.

The team leader led a skit where we made a chant where the first four people stated what gave them comfort and joy.  One person would say something like "I smoke, i drink, i blow my mind til I can't think" or " I'm buff, i'm tan, I'm the macho man..."  but were all sad at the end.  She finishes up by stating that Jesus gives her joy and comfort and she's the only one satisfied at the end.

Then I spoke about how sometimes it's tough to follow a life of Christ, especially if the most popular children are doing things like bullying, being disruptive, and saying bad things.  I tried to encourage them to continue to strive to do the right things and even if that means they lose some of their friends who are doing bad things it's okay because they'll always have a friend in... (and the students said on queue).. "Jesus!"  They were very attentive and interactive for the most part, except for the small group led by the student with the marijuana leaf hat.  He was singing an old Wiz Khalifa song as I was talking to him.  He was a funny kid.

I got interviewed by a third grade for his class project.  He asked a few questions like: what is your missions trip for?  What do you think of Filipinos?  How have you liked it here?...    That student was a good listener and very insightful.  Afterwards the students asked for autographs, so I signed them along with a bible verse.

As the students were playing basketball and in other areas, I noticed something peculiar.  Whenever i have been shooting around here in the States, you don't get the ball back unless you make it.  However, as they were shooting around in the Philippines the shooter gets three tries to make it, and if they do make it they don't get the ball back.  It's a small observation but I think it speaks to the overall generosity that I've noticed during my short stay in the Philippines.

To wrap up our visit we got a chance to talk to the principal.  It's amazing that we were even able to have an assembly on short notice.  The schools our team goes to speak at are not always Christian schools, however they still manage to accomodate us.  The separation between the church and state is not emphasized in the cities we went to, and Christianity is influential in the places of government that we visited.  What we did wouldn't be hard to do in a secular school in the U.S.  It was refreshing to see Jesus glorified at a public school.  She was very flexible and she thanked us for coming to speak to the children.  Then we prayed with her and took pictures.

Sunday Service

     

We took a plane flight to Cagayan De oro City, Mindanao from Davao at 5 in the morning.  We rode on a small airline and many of the players were cramping up.  The plane ride was about an hour.  Then we went to a youth rally at the church that supports our missions, the church of Pastor Ellpie.  We had a great time worshiping and fellowshipping with their church.  Then we split into small groups and went to various churches throughout Cagayan.  The church I went to was very small and most of the message was in Tagalog.  Me and the others got to share our testimony.  We also met another group of foreigners who were doing their 3 month Discipleship Training through a local school.  I met a family from Holland, and people from Jamaica, Ecuador, Hong Kong, and Egypt.  I can only how hard it is to manage a family with young children as a missionary, and I am praying for God's grace to be upon them throughout their stay.  

The children did a short skit/dance about this girl who was contemplating suicide.   She was tugging back and forth with demons until Jesus pushed the demons away and held them back as the girl ran to safety.  At the churches here the youth are really on fire for the Lord, and it is very inspiring.  They are generally not worried about their appearance or being cool and really focus all their efforts on praising the Lord.

Paradise Island

For our vacation day on Saturday, we headed to the beautiful Paradise Island.  I went scuba diving for the first time! I figured I should take the opportunity while it presented itself.  The tank and weight belt were heavy so it was a workout just to walk away from the shore into deeper water.   We didn't go too far out from the shore, only about 20-25 feet, but it was more than enough to see majestic When we first went underwater I was letting negative thoughts creep into my head: what if my tank malfunctions, what if I touch something poisonous, what if I can't float back up to shore...  It took me a while to mentally comprehend and be comfortable with breathing underwater.  However after a few minutes I just calmed down and was able to appreciate God's creativity through the marine life that he created.  I didn't take me long to find Nemo as there were a few coral reefs that housed the clown fish.  They weave in and out of the reefs with ease.  I also saw sea urchins, blue starfish, got to feed the fish, and saw many more beautiful fish that I didn't know the name of.  It was an amazing experience and it only cost 1200 pesos (about $30) for 30 minutes of instruction and 30 minutes of diving.  It makes it even more valuable because the island i'm going to for medical school, Dominica, is one of the best destinations for scuba diving.

In addition, we visited the small zoo.  Which housed various majestic birds, deer, and a python.  The python wasn't moving so we assumed it had just got done eating.  Finally, we watched a small carnival show which included four performers and one of the most flexible little girl I've ever seen.  They were entertaining and talented.


                                  

Meeting with the mayor of Gen. Santos

On Friday, the basketball team was invited to meet the mayor of General Santos (Gensan), the home of Manny Paquiao.  The mayor is Ronnel Rivera and he was recently inducted on May 14th.  One of his goals was to start a ministry division in his office, which was refreshing to hear.  He comes from a family of business people and he has been on the board of directors for various corporations.  His focus is to upgrade the city's health systems and services.  We were able to take pictures with him and his staff and they all were very friendly and happy to see us.  Basketball is the key to the city throughout the Philippines.

We were asking about Manny Paquiao, as there was a possibility that he would attend our game that night and maybe play.  Apparently Manny likes to hoop as well as fight.  We were the team that he owns, the Mindanao Visayas. Unfortunately,  the mayor said Paquiao was with his family at the beach so he couldn't attend.  We rode a motorcade throughout the city to promote the game and we were greeted with warm welcomes.  As we arrived in the arena they gave us a standing ovation.  We easily beat the team we played by about 35 points.  I got to start the game because of an injury to one of our players.  After the game we were waiting for a long time while talking to the fans, because one of the players unfortunately had his wallet stolen.  As I was talking to the fans, I was asking if they were Christian and this group of 3 children around 10-13 responded that they were Muslim.  I had an elaborate explanation of what I would say in that situation but it didn't go as planned.  They understood some English so I made it as simple as possible.  I tried to explain that Jesus loves them and that if we believe that He died for our sins and accept him as our Lord and Savior then we can go to heaven.  I told them that when we do bad things we get in trouble for them.  However, Jesus died so that our bad doings can be forgiven and we can go be with God in heaven if we follow and obey his word.  They proceeded to tell me that there was a Christian church across the street so I encouraged them to go there and learn from the pastor. 

Bob Marley

Yesterday I went to another town to help set up a clinic in a different city.  There were tons of people and I was helping with crowd control.  The patients were calling me Bob Marley because of my hair.    Many times they were prescribed cough and cold medicine, also broad-specturm antibiotics were also prescribed fairly commonly.  Since many of the patients didn't have access to dental care, sometimes pulling out the teeth was the most practical form of dental treatment for the patients.  We distributed basic sanitary supplies and clothes to the people who showed up. 

That evening we had a basketball game.  It was a relaxed atmosphere and their team wasn't very good so we let them have two of our players.  I scored my first few buckets of the trip and had a great time out there.  Pastor Banks' son, in jr. high, also got in the game and scored a few buckets.  Once again, we got mobbed after the game and were taking pictures and signing autographs/ bible verses.  We also distributed small packets with John 3:16 written out and information regarding living a life as a Christian.  

I will be uploading videos later, whenever I have access to wifi again. 

Medical Mission!

Setting up and helping operate the medical clinic was amazing.   I couldn't help but smile.  We began at 8.  I was helping the "pharmacy" with separating vitamins from the big bottles into small baggies, with labels and a week's worth of vitamins.  We were giving out adult and children's multivitamins and vitamin C.  I also got to learn a few phrases in Tagalog as I was talking to the Filipinos working beside me.  The funnest part was when I got to take the vital signs of the patients.  I took their temperature, blood pressur, and pulse.  They then proceeded to ask me if their blood pressur was okay, so I got a chance to play doctor.  I was informing the patients with high blood pressure to limit their sodium intake, do moderate exercise, and limit their fat intake.  The physicians and nurses from the U.S. and Philippines collaborated to see the patients, over 300 throughout the day!  There was one bad case of shingles, but other than that the cases were fairly mild.  There was alot of cold and cough medication given out as respiratory tract infection is very common in the Philippines.  There were also antibiotics and prescription meds available.   The patients were all very friendly.  I love the Philippines.  I am so grateful to God for this opportunity.

Post-game interaction

Below are videos of me interacting with fans after the game.  It is so ridiculous that they are so enamored with us.  I even play much but they were still lining up to take pictures with me.  It was a blessing to encourage the fans to build or continue to strengthen their relationship with Christ.  

After the game we were taking pictures for about 30 minutes with the fans and players.  Some of the players were were palying against asked for my shoes.  I didn’t play too many minutes because I am the walk on and the only didn’t play in college and didn’t have any points but they were still surrounding me and asking for picture after picture.  I signed autographs along with my favorite bible verse.

I'm looking forward to starting the medical portion of the trip tomorrow.  This has been such a memorable experience.  I didn't expect this but I have a little taste of fame.  People line outside of the restaurants we are at, they wave as we pass in the bus, and everyone is extremely polite.  

First day in the Philippines

The first day was eye opening.  We drove from the Manila airport through Davao to Digos.  As we were traveling on the bus we saw how beautiful the nature was on the island: beautiful trees, a few gorgeous tall houses, tall green mountains, and the ocean.  We also noticed the saddening slum conditions: small “houses” with tin roofs.  Many of those houses would be destroyed in the case of a heavy flood or hurricane.  We also noted people bathing in dirty swamp waters and collecting water from the swamps, children smoking, and walking with cloths over their faces.  Workers were climbing tall ladders secured only by being leaned against a single telephone wire.  Many of the residents of the city were waving at us on the bus.  The hotel we stayed at was going through remodeling, and we were quickly introduced to a different lifestyle.  Toilet paper as not provided, the shower did not get very warm, there was no separation between the shower and toilet floor.  We had 5 small beds in one room, and most of the guys are over 6’3’’ so it’s funny to try to seem them fit.  The traffic is on a whole different level here.  Little kids are riding on mopeds and we haven’t seen any traffic lights in Digos.  It’s more of a “bigger car wins” mode of traffic regulations.  People weave in and out of lanes, no crosswalks, tons of motorcycles, taxis, and mopeds.   However, there are very few accidents.  That night we played a basketball game…

Flight

The adventure started just getting to the airport.  We were supposed to leave Bakersfield at 1 to be in San Francisco airport by 5, but that didn't happen.  I picked up a CSUB basketball player, Rashad, who's also going on the trip then we went to meet our team leader Carl at his office.  We packed the luggage into a van that we're going to take.  Carl sent us to cash some checks then we went to go get some food.  Carl had to make another couple of stops before we finally got on the freeway.  We hit the roat at 3.  We made a stop to use the restroom, where there was a line, and their own dude sprinted like Usain Bolt to crowd the line.  I figured he had to use the restroom more than me.  There was some traffic on the way there, so the van driver was weaving in and out of traffic.  Then we got a call that one of the coaches who is going on the trip left his passport at home!  His wife didn't have her cell phone and his son was at work.  We had to change our route in order to get the passport in order for the coach to get his passport.  Rashad hopped the fence even thought a dog was in the backyard.  Luckily the dog was friendly and didn't bite.  We looked around for his spare key but couldn't find it.  The coach's son rushed home from work to find his dad's passport and give it to us.  This was at 7:30 and we were scheduled to arrive at the airport at 5.  We finally got to the airport around 8:45.  We had to shuffle some items around in the bags in order to meet the limit of 50 pounds.  We got to the gate around 10, but luckily our flight go pushed back to 11:10.  I got to meet the fellow members of the mission team, they all seemed really cool.  The flight was smooth, and I got in some good sleep.  Airplane was a huge double decker.  It was a long flight, 14 hrs, but it really didn't seem that long.