Culture day in the Philippines

Today is our personal Philippine culture day. The beautiful day dawned sunny under the cloud of haze and after meeting OMF workers, Sally, Phil and Rachel and their families, we set off with a group of NZ youngsters to Union church, a multi-denominational church in downtown Manila. The hour plus bucking bus ride was thankfully air conditioned . The subsequent 3km walk to the church wasn’t !! However it provided a great opportunity to “meet n greet” the Kiwis doing a gap year at Carey Baptist College. Unfortunately we missed the first half of the service but arrived in time for the sermon based on Revelation 2: 8-11 by Pastor Charlie Pridmore. Addressed to the church in Smyrna who inspite of their persecution, poverty n suffering were rich! Encouraged to be faithful to the end they will receive life as their ” victor’s crown”. We were challenged to consider what we would do if we had to choose between our faith or death at the hands of our persecutor.
“Whoever has ears, let them hear what the spirit says to the churches.The one who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death”. Rev 2:11
After a refreshing morning tea, we set off for the shopping mall where lunch was to be had. After another 3km walk by the scenic route ( I’m sure we passed those cafes before ) we surrendered ourselves to the blissful cool air n delectable delights of the food court. Personally, I just couldn’t go past the full suckling pig that beckoned at one outlet!! ?Cheryl on the other hand, having perused all that was on offer decided to give in to her McDonald’s craving!! Her reason : to provide quality control and we are glad to hear that McDonald in the Philippines met the international standard.  She did try however the suckling pig skin n a mouthful of Asian style soy milk. Score: one hit n one miss.

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It’s amazing the sheer number of people that can be queuing up at the same time at the checkout of the supermarket. There were 40 checkouts n the average wait was around half an hour at each one!
Next on our cultural experiences was the Ayala museum. Apart from housing famous Philippino artists, there are 50+ dioramas that depict the history of the Philippines from caveman time through to independence . Did you know that the Spanish actually sold the Philippines to USA for $20 million?!!
God answers prayers. Kim n I met an old friend just outside the museum, someone whom we hadn’t had the time to contact – God simply made it happen. Thank you Lord!

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