Philippine 2010 (Monday April 26th)
Day 3... The first day of camp! I was up at 4:30am to blog, talk to my family, and have devotions with the team before breakfast. No mango for breakfast this morning :( but the oatmeal was good. We left for the church at 8:30am. Upon arriving, Karen and Paul hit the ground running. They have such a powerful and unique relationship with the deaf here in Mandaue. I believe they communicate to with the deaf kids a lot better than I communicate with the hearing students here. I am so thankful for their ministry. They were at it all day until 8:00PM... What troopers!
My morning started off slow. I had to create small group questions for the basketball camp and work ahead so that the trainers could prepare a little.
SIDE NOTE: Almost all the trainers are compassion students who are thriving. They love the Lord and have a passion to serve Christ. It is a testimony to the compassion program and the heartbeat of MCBC. There are many reasons to love Compassion International and this is one of them. For all of you who support a Compassion child or an MCBC special child, just know that they are being developed spiritually by a church that genuinely cares for them! It is exciting to see.
I prepared sheets for Monday and Tuesday and was ready for a break. I had much down time in the morning and after lunch until 2pm. It felt strange since I am used to going from 9am-4pm for camp. We can't do that this year because of the heat in the middle of the day. Hot and sticky. The heat index yesterday was supposed to be 105 degrees but I don't know if that happened. It was hot, but there was a nice afternoon breeze by the time that camp started. We had a great time at camp! Focused a little on drills after our bible study and played Knock Out. It is a great game to develop your shot and promote hustling to the ball. I found it difficult to shoot at times because the breeze would push my ball, especially on a long shot where I had a bit more arc on the ball. One time the breeze caught it and shifted it pretty aggressively to the right... yes airball! I felt like I was lining up a putt... ok, which way will it break! haha! Camp ended at 5pm and several of us guys stuck around to play until 6pm. Their court was NCAA regulations. The full court was huge! I was dying out there running (more like jogging) back and forth. I have to remember to stretch, because my body is feeling the effects of the wear and tear. Today (Tuesday) through Thursday we will just be playing games at the new property. This is what the students really want to do anyway... it will be fun!
After camp, the trainers, Pastor Nigel, Pastor Jeck, and I ate at the hanging rice place. I discovered that I like pig belly (tasted like ribs). It was a great time of conversation. We began talking about Air-Soft and then the conversation developed into a discussion about the political system in the Philippines and the US and how they are different. They cannot play Air-Soft during election time because there is a ban on guns. They Air-Soft guns look identical to real guns so they are banned as well until the elections are over. Funny note... one of the trainers had heard that George W. Bush and his father were a part of some kind of satanic group... I laughed! Its amazing what these guys hear about our political environment. Most of their information comes from the liberal media and You Tube. We talked about the philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans. I hope I didn't bore them! lol
Then I headed back to the mission home and proceeded to shower and watch some of the Cavs game (delayed). Jenny and Tiffany were already here and then Karen and Paul made it back about 30 minutes later followed by the rest of the team. We had our team meeting and I fell asleep on everyone. All I remember was that we were meeting and I woke up an hour later to a fan on me and the rest of the team gone... Sorry Lois! They were taking care of me!
Its such a blessing to be a part of what is happening at MCBC. Day 3 is in the books... cant wait for day four!
My morning started off slow. I had to create small group questions for the basketball camp and work ahead so that the trainers could prepare a little.
SIDE NOTE: Almost all the trainers are compassion students who are thriving. They love the Lord and have a passion to serve Christ. It is a testimony to the compassion program and the heartbeat of MCBC. There are many reasons to love Compassion International and this is one of them. For all of you who support a Compassion child or an MCBC special child, just know that they are being developed spiritually by a church that genuinely cares for them! It is exciting to see.
I prepared sheets for Monday and Tuesday and was ready for a break. I had much down time in the morning and after lunch until 2pm. It felt strange since I am used to going from 9am-4pm for camp. We can't do that this year because of the heat in the middle of the day. Hot and sticky. The heat index yesterday was supposed to be 105 degrees but I don't know if that happened. It was hot, but there was a nice afternoon breeze by the time that camp started. We had a great time at camp! Focused a little on drills after our bible study and played Knock Out. It is a great game to develop your shot and promote hustling to the ball. I found it difficult to shoot at times because the breeze would push my ball, especially on a long shot where I had a bit more arc on the ball. One time the breeze caught it and shifted it pretty aggressively to the right... yes airball! I felt like I was lining up a putt... ok, which way will it break! haha! Camp ended at 5pm and several of us guys stuck around to play until 6pm. Their court was NCAA regulations. The full court was huge! I was dying out there running (more like jogging) back and forth. I have to remember to stretch, because my body is feeling the effects of the wear and tear. Today (Tuesday) through Thursday we will just be playing games at the new property. This is what the students really want to do anyway... it will be fun!
After camp, the trainers, Pastor Nigel, Pastor Jeck, and I ate at the hanging rice place. I discovered that I like pig belly (tasted like ribs). It was a great time of conversation. We began talking about Air-Soft and then the conversation developed into a discussion about the political system in the Philippines and the US and how they are different. They cannot play Air-Soft during election time because there is a ban on guns. They Air-Soft guns look identical to real guns so they are banned as well until the elections are over. Funny note... one of the trainers had heard that George W. Bush and his father were a part of some kind of satanic group... I laughed! Its amazing what these guys hear about our political environment. Most of their information comes from the liberal media and You Tube. We talked about the philosophical differences between Democrats and Republicans. I hope I didn't bore them! lol
Then I headed back to the mission home and proceeded to shower and watch some of the Cavs game (delayed). Jenny and Tiffany were already here and then Karen and Paul made it back about 30 minutes later followed by the rest of the team. We had our team meeting and I fell asleep on everyone. All I remember was that we were meeting and I woke up an hour later to a fan on me and the rest of the team gone... Sorry Lois! They were taking care of me!
Its such a blessing to be a part of what is happening at MCBC. Day 3 is in the books... cant wait for day four!
Comments
I also think it's really cool just how much you can relate to them through Airsoft and Basketball. I never would have thought that either would be popular there.
Well, it's 7:10 and i'm about to go get on the bus, so that is a good night to you! Lol