Spring Forward

BROWN OUT! As opposed to your American idea of a black out, which is unplanned and usually due to inclement weather or disconnection in power lines, a brown out is planned by the local government to conserve energy. We had a lot of these through late February and all of March down at the school I was working at because we were experiencing a significant drought and the island runs, for the most part, on hydroelectric power. These have not really been a horrible inconvenience for me, because the previous times I have lived in the Philippines we had very little electricity in the remote areas, which I was living. Some villages would have a generator they would run at night for lights and maybe one TV, so having several hours a day of electricity has been a nice treat.

Speaking of treats, I recently finished my time at SBC (school I was working at) and have since then traveled on to the Island of Leyte, which is adjacent to the island I was on in 2006, Samar. The missionaries that work here say, that when they visit the villages I was in, the children there still ask for me by name. Knowing that people remember me after four years, let alone ask for me by name, is knowledge that can only invoke pure tear-filled joy!

Here in Tacloban, the capital city of Leyte, they speak the dialect I learned in the summer of 2006, Warray Warray. However, I remember only a few words and some greetings and now my mixture of dialects is being tossed back through the spin cycle, again! Is it maayong butang or maayong aga or maopay nga aga (“good morning” in my three dialects)?!?! Is it sarap, marrasa, lamit, or namit (“delicious” in four different dialects) My head is truly spinning with every phrase that exits my mouth, because I have to access a memory bank jumbled with limited knowledge in 6 different languages and even more dialects. However, many Filipinos are the same way. Most Filipinos know two dialects well and a few more fairly well, so I seem to makes sense to them somehow.

DNIWER! (read it backwards…)

So I last left you, as I was about to embark on March. O March how I love thee! You see, March is the best month out of the year, because on the cold blustery day of March 8, 1986 the world was made warm and bright with the grand entrance of one extremely sassy yankee firecracker, who was to be called Andrea Renée Brazell!!!

However, this Birthday was quite different than all the rest. It wasn’t cold and my momma didn’t cook me salmon croquettes. This time I received two precious, morning long distance phone calls from my beloved parents and another dear friend; I was greeted by a chorus of elementary school children shouting, “Happy Birthday Ate Andrea!” and I received one of the most precious birthday presents of my lifetime: an official SBC faculty pin! It was a birthday I will never forget filled with priceless memories I will always cherish!

The following weekend I traveled further south to one of our Filipino Franchises to help to do some mobilization talks at a youth missions fellowship. It was a lot of traveling – not staying in anyone place for even 24 hours. However, it was encouraging to see work being done in other parts and getting to know some students who were passionate about missions. We had a great time of fellowship and some very intense discussions on home missions verse abroad, a subject that must be handled delicately, but truthfully.

The next week, I made plans for our own Nehemiah Teams fellowship at school. I planned it for that Thursday afternoon for anyone who had joined in the past, who was planning to join this year or was simply interested in learning more about the project and opportunities. We didn’t have a very large turnout and many people asked me if it disappointed or discouraged me. Of course I would prefer a large turnout, but I’ve been doing this long enough to know, that’s just usually not the case. I’m not offering them entertainment or electronic childish enjoyment, but I’m offering sacrifice with the opportunity for a long term heavenly investment, not something the youth of today are so eager to sign up for. So while it may not be my desire to have small gatherings, especially after much time was invested in planning, I have come to expect it and try to be grateful for the few willing souls that do join. It’s simply the same opposition mobilizers all over the world have to deal with and have persevered through.

The following week was very busy with the student recognition ceremony, an over night retreat with the seniors as their guest speaker and a weekend fellowship with some American missionaries from all over Mindanao (southernmost island in the Philippines). I then returned for my final week at campus. It was quite a whirlwind with two days of graduations ceremonies, graduation parties, packing and good-byes. Then I was off on the more mobile part of my mission. I spent two days in Mt. Carmel, promoting Nehemiah Teams at one of the largest youth fellowships in Mindanao, with three hundred plus students. That was the largest crowd, so far, that I have ever had to speak in front of! I was retrieved from the camp by my supervisor, spent a day with them planning my next two months of travel, had a 5 a.m. Easter sunrise service with the missionary family and was shipped of on a plane to Tacloban, Leyte.

Now that you’re up to speed, here is what the rest of my Filipina life looks like:

I will spend the next two weeks here working with the local missionaries and to help them plan for the American Nehemiah teams that will be working in their area this summer and this coming April 13, we will begin the training and orientation for the Filipino Nehemiah Team. I will then fly to Luzon (the northernmost island of the Philippines, which encompasses the nations capital of Manila). I will visit two orphanages during that week to prepare for our American teams working there and will spend two more weeks following up the Filipino Nehemiah teams working in that area. I will return to Mindanao in mid-May to speak at another youth camp and will have one week to visit some friends before returning to Luzon to finish out my time here in the Philippines. Our American teams will arrive June 8 and I will be responsible for the four teams that are in Luzon.

There is quite a bit a prep-work left to do and lots of traveling involved, but I’m thoroughly excited about what God will do through this year’s batch of students. We are even beginning to talk about next year’s teams. It’s a chaotic adventure that never seems to slow down…I’m just trying to hold on…and bring honor and glory to the Father in all that I do and say!