Daily life at CBI
As fun and exciting as missions work is and going to see different islands, that isn't the main reason I am here in the Philippines. I was asked to come to the Philippines by the pastor here who heard about the CBIs around the world. He wanted to start his own and was looking for someone who had been through the program and would have an idea of how things go. I've realized after being reminded a couple times that I haven't posted what I do for work on a normal day.
Sunday is definitely our busiest day. We start our day with an allotted time before service for fellowship. We provide coffee and cookies just so we can wake up while we hang out.
After the coffee we have 45 minutes that we put aside before service to pray as a church for the different ministries or prayer requests and for God's work to be done in and out of the church.
Then as would be expected we have our Sunday morning service. One of the opportunities I've had while serving here is teaching the Sunday service when the pastor is unable to. Not actually something I was expecting to do but I've enjoyed the opportunity and experience. This has also been an opportunity for one of the students who has a calling to plant a church after his time here at CBI. He asked for some practice with teaching opportunities and pastor Tony has been more than willing to help him out.
After service we have a lunch for the congregation and more fellowship. The lunch is often like a potluck and people contribute with different Filipino foods.
After lunch we hold a small class for those who want to learn more about serving in the ministry. We have also taught small topics on how to study the Bible and how to do evangelism. This group is our main church people who are serving regularly and are a blessing to the church.
Lastly on Sunday evenings we take a trip to the next town over to our daughter church in Talisay. This service is only in Tagalog so I understand nothing when I am there but they are always very welcoming and like to see us Americans there. Also I'll probably always refer to myself as an American because there is no such thing as a Canadian here: anyone who is white is an American, Australians are Americans, French are Americans, and as in my case Canadians are Americans. So I'll either be called the American or Joe because all American men are called Joe. So talisay is definitely more of an experience for the Filipino culture since it is away from the business and the city. I've also had a couple opportunities to teach in talisay with an interpreter.
That's pretty much the whole day on Sunday but we usually hang out and get street food down in talisay. I've tried as far as I know everything they offer at least once including chicken feet, pork and chicken intestines, solidified blood and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting.
Monday to Friday is for the most part the same each day as far as class goes. Each morning we start with devotions at 6:15 where we listen to an audio recording of a couple chapters and then we discuss anything we got out of the text. Our morning devotions are set up so that we will go through the whole Bible in the year. After this we all disperse for breakfast and prepare for the day since none of us are going to wake up earlier to prepare for the day before devotions. Then we all come back to the classroom at 8 where we usually go through a book of the Bible each week, taught verse by verse. Occasionally we get taught a subject like church planting or inductive Bible study. I actually got to teach inductive Bible study and homiletics because the pastor got sick last minute. Most of the time my job is to run the soundboard, camera and recording so that we can have a record of all Our classes to put up on our website. I've also had multiple opportunities to teach a subject for the class when we don't have a pastor to teach it. IBS was one of them but I've also taught Jonah, Galatians, and in a couple weeks I will be teaching through Deuteronomy. This was also not something I was expecting to do, when I first came here I was only expecting to work behind the scenes but I actually enjoy the times I get to teach because it requires me to study my topic more thoroughly than I normally would on my own and I end up learning as well.
Additionally during the week we have our midweek bible study on Wednesday which Tony passed on to me. I've been teaching through the book of Luke: one chapter each week so I should still be teaching in Luke when my time here comes to an end. Anyone who is interested we do have it live on our Facebook Calvary chapel Tagaytay city.
Thursday's I attend one of the students' Bible studies. He's the other American who leads it with his wife so thankfully it's in English. He's been teaching through the gospels going through all of Jesus' teachings. This group also gave me a surprise birthday the last week
Fridays we go to a Bible study held by one of the local businesses. Most of the attendees are employees of this business because they get paid to attend. This means that a lot of the people there aren't Christian so we are there to witness and assist in ministries there.
Saturdays are considered our day off but we manage to fill it with stuff anyway. In the morning we hang out in front of the church and hand out water and try to start up conversations with people. Our only intent at this point is to present ourselves as a welcoming place for people to stop by and hang out. We also have a bit of a youth group on Saturdays where we have small studies and games as well as teach them English.
That's pretty much my normal week but I also try to attend any other things that may pop up and support the students with their different outreaches. Last week I attended another one of the students' bible studies which was in Tagalog but I was able to have google translate transcribe for me. It wasn't a perfect translation but I could keep up. One of the attendees accepted Christ that night so I'm glad I chose to attend despite the language barrier.
Over all there have been many new experiences that would be too much in one post. I'll list a few though.
-One of the things I've enjoyed are the storms here. We have had many thunderstorms so far, especially this last couple weeks. There is a typhoon up at the top of the island so it hasn't stopped raining for weeks now. Rain isn't really my favorite thing but it brings down the temperature which is nice and the thunder is so much louder than back home. Markets are also cool; nothing like home.
-The markets are usually in unused parking garages and people come and set up stands.
-There is a small amusement park here that I went to with a couple students and forced some of them on a ride.
-I had a cat for a couple days. I found it on the road and stray animals are very common here so I took it home since it was very underfed. The door was left open and it ran off but it was nice for a time.
-I found a Tim Hortons here. It's an hour or so drive away but I sometimes have free time and I'll go there. I also brought one of the students so he could try it.