Day 5 -Church, Exploring & more

Today was Sunday, so instead of visiting a center to see what was happening, and the work being done with the kids, we went to church at one of the places that is part of the compassion projects. We listen to a sermon from a passionate pastor in relation to “The Lords Lordship”. It was interesting to hear from a pastor from a different background than we are accustomed to, and there were some clear influences from the region in his preaching. I was also amused to see that they were struggling with their projector in the same way we sometimes do - it’s good to know we are not alone 🤣

After church was finished some kids came around and wanted selfies. In the Philippines we have gotten to know that the kids LOVE selfies!

We then got shown around the downstairs classrooms, the offices, and what a sponsored child's working folder might look like. It was interesting to see how info was kept for/about the sponsored child. There was some discussion around how many children this particular project might look after, and how many staff they had looking after those kids. Also one of our team got to meet one of the children they sponsor today.

After this we went upstairs and had lunch - as per the other generosity we have seen throughout our trip they had prepared a feast for us!

Myself and one of the others from our team sat at a table with a husband and wife where we had the opportunity to chat with them about the work they do. Their primary focus is in the the universities, where they seek to share the gospel with students, as well as look at ways that they can help university students. Their story of how they met was a lovely story to hear, and on the other side of the coin to hear some of the struggles that the wider community have faced around abuse of all forms to the kids was heartbreaking.

After dinner we were given some Mango’s and we went for a drive up to “The Temple of Leah”. I had already been here as part of the tour that I did which you can read about here, but it was nice to visit again. This time it was much busier being a weekend, and there was also a keyboardist playing some music. It was kinda relaxing standing and looking out at the view of Cebu with the breeze and music playing (although after some time you still overheat!).

After this we decided to head over to a Flower Garden called “Sirao PGCS”. This is essentially various flower gardens where they have also set up props that you can stand in front of/get into/get onto etc and make photos. As Grant would call it, this is Gram Land. We had a lot of fun looking around and taking some pics using the props.

After this we made the trip back to the hotel where we had about an hour before dinner. The highlight of the day was that at dinner we were joined by 4 people who had been part of the sponsorship program, but since “graduated” from it. Over dinner we got to chat with them which was nice, and after dinner they shard with us the impact of the sponsorship program on their life. Each person had a unique story about their lives, however they all carried a similar theme. This was that the sponsorship program via Tearfund/Compassion changed the course of their lives, and without it they would not be where they are now. Each of these people have got a college degree, and have a job. In the Philippines its difficult to even get a basic job if you don’t have a degree, so by having a degree they were able to get a job and support themselves/family.

After this we had the opportunity to ask questions, and the opportunity to pray for them and any needs they might have.

We then had a group photo, and also did a brief TikTok dance which was really funny to try and do!

Below some additional pictures taken as we drove around.