When I was on the plane flight from Los Angeles to Hong Kong I met a Filipino who was working as an electrician on a cruise ship in the Carribean. He saw me thank God for my food and saw me read my Bible while on the flight. He said that he went to church gatherings on the ship. When I asked him if he had been baptized, he said he was not good enough to be baptized yet. I tried to tell him that "good enough" doesn't matter, and about the grace of God. I do not know what happened to him after that. I think he said he was from Manila.

When over the Philippines I looked out the window and saw the forested mountains and what looked like land slides. When descending to the airport on Mactan Island (or was in on Cebu?) I saw houses that reminded me of those commercials to "help save the children from disease and starvation". The infrastructure and modes of transportation were different than I have been used to. Don't be afraid of the water buffalo, you probably won't have to ride them.The climate was nice and hot and humid.

The first two or three days we spent together as a group to get acculturated. That week we had some Bible studies and handed out pamplets, inviting people to church. While doing this, I didn't know exactly what to say, but since I was with others doing it (and far from home) I felt safe enough asking people if they wanted to learn more about the wonderful love of God or comments similar to this. I was dissapointed when we had to leave the mall, even though I didn't see a positive reaction that I could interpret as some marvelous revelation to anyone there. Actually we didn't have to leave the mall but my partners wanted to, so we did.

The first week I was there was busy but after that the two who were with me said it was too much time to spend, from 9am until 10 pm, but I liked the long hours even though I didn't feel I had enough time to read my Bible and write in my journal as I would like to.

The first Satuday we were there we had the opportunity to baptize a Baptist who was originally from Texas and was spending time in the Philippines looking for a wife. He found a beautiful girl in her 30's while he was in his 70's (are there any over there for me?). I had the opportunity to see him get excited about being baptized, and later enjoyed going to their wedding. When I was talking with him about baptism I emphasized how he should be willing to obey God. I found out with another person that focusing on baptism is not always the most effective way to convert someone. We need to look at where people are in their lives and try to help them with their problems even if it means showing them where they are wrong.

I would encourage people to give to the needy over there with a loving heart for the poor instead of spending the money on material things while there. One person brought 400 extra dollars to spend. Don't focus so much on going shopping while you are there, because while you are shopping, people are starving to death. I think it would be good if someone could work with the children there. It seems like there are a lot more children there than here in the States. Maybe someone can set up an orphanage and bring them up in God's word, showing them it is alright to be open about their love of God. May God bless you and keep you, give you strength of heart and mind to serve Him. Love always through Christ.

Calvin Kaskey
1999 Harding University Campaigner
ckaskey@hotmail.com

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