Our Philippine immersion team consisted of 13 adults and one child (Moriah Faith Olson daughter of Joel and Rachel Olson staff members of G.O.D. International). We flew into Manila and traveled to the Asia Center for Biblical Studies in Majayjay, Laguna Province. We were met at the airport by Rey German. Rey is a Tagalog and friend and employee of my friend Bob Haase. Bob has been living in the Philippines for the past eight years.

At the Asia Center for Biblical Studies my students were kept busy teaching classes and speaking in local churches. I enjoyed hearing Alison teach from John 4 and Ty teach from Micah 6. Brett and Craig and Joel spoke in some of the local churches. Nate stayed at ACBS while the rest of the immersion team took off for New Cabalan outside of Olongapo City to minister with Tarcela Dumlao and travel into the mountains to minister to the Aete. We took part of the day off to go and swim at Taytay falls just down the road from ACBS.

Tarcela is a wonderful woman of seventy years. She pastors a local church in New Cabalan and works with six different young men that serve the Aete peoples through providing education to their children. Jaimee’s adventuresome spirit and independence began to shine in the mountains. Jaimee led a portion of the immersion team directly up the mountain and into the homes of the Aete. Jaimee had Ty packing her medical supplies and a few of the girls along to help her treat the sick and infected. Craig and Jaimee are pictured praying for a blind Aete girl.

Joel and Rachel slept in the chieftan’s home on a bamboo bed, some others went to other homes and slept on the floots while a few of us stayed at the church building and slept on the floor and the benches. The girls enjoyed the Aete's pet monkeys.

We also spent time exploring Olongapo City. We bought a sack of rice and some toothbrushes and toothpaste and brought them to the local Jail. The prisoners will have no food or other supplies unless someone brings them. They were happy to receive the large bag of rice and the toothbrushes. Jason Carpenter spoke to the inmates an encouraging message from the scripture and his own life experience. The cell in which the men were held was dark, cramped, and contained more people than it should have. There was also a baclac (transvestite) looking more like a woman than a man that was placed in the cell with the men. The baclac was dressed in a halter top and wore makeup and had long hair.

We also went to visit the ministry of Shay Cullen. The PREDA Foundation (People’s recovery, empowerment, development, assistance foundation) is the work of Shay and his Filipino staff of 70 dedicated workers. Shay has been nominated three times for the Nobel Peace Prize. His work in the Philippines is primarily to stop the abuse of women and children by the sex industry and unjust practices of jailing the impoverished. The team was asked to sing some songs and perform a few skits. They sang Jaimee’s tagalong composition and it was a hit. I asked Alison to speak without giving her any knowledge in advance. She stepped right up and did an excellent job.

On Saturday morning we awoke early and began the journey back to Manila where we would take a flight to Cebu. When we arrived in Cebu the intern team had already been there for a couple of days. In Cebu we worked with Ray and Emerose Nemenzo and ministered at the Lapu Lapu City dumpsite. Our students were also privileged to teach classes every morning for a week at a local school.

Upon the conclusion of a week of ministry in Cebu we took the fast ferry to Leyte where we worked with Pastor David Pica and his wife Lyn. While in Leyte we fed the poor, sang, taught, performed skits and spent time with my wife’s family. We then returned to Ray and Emerose Nemenzo’s for a final weekend of preaching before we debriefed in Hong Kong and returned to Nashville.