Accidental Missionary: Detained by Police

A couple of weeks ago I was taking a walk back to Eastwood where I once lived with Jon and Carmi. I was just gonna head over to the mall and take advantage of the free airconditioners. I go and do my thing then decide that it's time to head back home. Now usually to cross the street there are numerous overpasses or bridges that you can use. The particular bridge that I should have used was very far away and I was in a very lazy mood at that point, so I decided to cross the busy street. It was like I was the frog in the game Frogger.

As I finally made it to the other side, there sitting in a police squad car were two officers. They shouted "Sir come here!!" (They said that in Tagalog but I don't know how to write it)
So I walk over and they tell me that jaywalking is a crime. I said I was sorry but I didn't know (I knew)
They then asked for my identification but I didn't have it on me. So they tell me to get into the back seat. I'm kinda thinking 2 things at this point. Either they are gonna ask for money or they're gonna take me to jail. If they ask for money jokes on them cause I ain't got none!! And if they take me to jail.... that's gonna be a pretty sick blog if I ever get out....

Anyway one of the officers says "Sir jaywalking is illegal and you have to pay a fine." I ask how much I have to pay and he tells me 10,000 Pesos.... The equivilant to well over $200. I began to tell him that I was just a missionary from Canada and that I didn't have much money. The sympathy was clearly not there. The I told them that I was working closely with Pastor Alex and Bishop Ef Tendero. They looked at eachother for a moment, then looked forward.... without even looking back at me they said "Okay Sir goodbye." As I got out I thanked God!!

The moral of the story is don't jaywalk and if you are ever in trouble, always always NAME DROP!!

Be blessed and stay classy

Accidental Missionary: You want me to be what?!

A few weeks ago, one of the kids on the worship team got sick so I was asked to fill in. Being the karaoke connesuir that I am, I gladly said yes. I didn't think too much of it cause I used to sing background at my home church back in Canada.

So Sunday comes and we sing and worship and it was an awesome time. After the service, one of the elders comes up to me and says "I think you should be the song leader next Sunday." I asked him again what he had said cause I didn't think I heard him right. Sure enough that is exactly what he said. I respectfully declined and said that I don't have the voice for a song leader.... I have a voice that belongs in the background.... far, far in the background.  He wouldn't take no for an answer though. As I expressed my insecurities, he walked away and said "This will be your baptism into the worship team!! See you next week!!"

A 4 letter word popped into my head and it started with the letter S.... SING?! I was nervous cause I had never done anything like that before, I didn't think I was ready, I didn't think I was good enough. Scenario after scenario played in my head. One was that I was singing in a voice that can only be described as coming from a banshee. Another would be that people would be talking about how bad it was.

As the days drew closer and closer to Sunday, I was getting more and more nervous. I hadn't picked the lineup of songs cause I was looking for the ones that I was most comfortable singing. For some reason I wasn't even comfortable singing the ones I thought I was comfortable singing. We practiced on Saturday and I still didn't feel ready. I still felt like I wasn't good enough.

Sunday morning I woke up and prayed. I said God i'm scared.... Just give me some words of comfort. As I sat there just waiting. It hit me.... When it comes to worship can you ever really be ready? Are we ever gonna be good enough to worship God? I don't think that there is a certain standard of how good your voice needs to be, or whether you know if you are an alto or soprano. Its worship. Anyone can do it, anyplace and anywhere. I quickly said "Thanks God!!" then head over to the church.

When I took out the fear of pleasing others with a nice voice, when I realized that it wasn't about anyone or anything else.... When I said I'm just gonna worship you God,  It was then that I felt ready.... and I rocked the roof off of that church!! Just kidding!!

That week I did something totally out of my comfort zone.... This week try something out of yours.

Be blessed and stay classy

Ang Aksidenteng Misyonero

Paano makakuha ko dito? Paano ako napupunta sa Pilipinas? Bakit sa lupa ay ko magpasya na maging isang misyonero?

Nagsimula ang lahat ng ito sa isang pag-uusap sa Tim Hortons sa aking buddy Jon. Nagtanong siya sa akin na dumating sa Pilipinas at mag-tambay sa kanya para sa isang habang. Kaya ko. Sinabi ko yes at isang pares ng mga buwan mamaya hopped sa isang eroplano at ulunan para sa Philipines. Ito ay doon na kung saan ang aking buhay ay nabago. Ako nagtutulog para sa 3 buwan, dumating bumalik sa Canada lamang sa mapagtanto na ang aking puso ay sa Pilipinas.

Kaya ko itinaas ng mas maraming pera bilang maaari ako, hopped sa susunod na bagay na pagpunta sa Pilipinas at dito ako ....

Ngayon na ako dito, ako ay dumating sa mapagtanto na mayroon akong ganap na walang bakas kung ano ako paggawa. (Ako ba ang aking mga supporters ay nasisiyahan na marinig na ....) ngunit iyan ay hindi kung ano mismo ang ibig sabihin ko. Alam ko kung ano ang aking mga tungkulin ay dito sa Pilipinas, alam ko kung ano ang responsibilidad na mayroon ako, alam ko kung ano ang gawain ay kailangang gawin .... ngunit mayroon akong walang bakas kung paano ito gawin. Ito ay lahat ng mga bagong sa akin.

Ngayon na ang aking mabuting kaibigan Jon at Carmi pakaliwa upang bumalik sa Canada, ako talaga nag-iisa dito sa Pilipinas. Ito ay kinda cool na dahilan na ito ay ang simula at dulo ng isang bagay para sa lahat ng 3 na sa amin. Para sa Jon at Carmi, ito ay ang dulo ng isang kahanga-hangang misyon sa Pilipinas at ang simula ng isang bagong isa sa Canada. Para sa aking sarili, ito ay ang dulo ng aking kaginhawahan zone at ang simula ng ... Isang tumalon ng Pananampalataya

The Accidental Missionary

How did I get here? How did I end up in the Philippines? Why on earth did I decide to become a missionary?

It all started with a conversation at Tim Hortons with my buddy Jon. He asked me to come to the Philippines and hang out with him for a while. So I did. I said yes and a couple of months later hopped on a plane and headed for the Philipines. It was there where my life was changed. I stayed for 3 months, came back to Canada only to realize that my heart was in the Philippines.

So I raised as much money as I could, hopped on the next thing going to the Philippines and here I am....

 Now that I'm here, I have come to realize that I have absolutely no clue what I am doing. ( I'm sure my supporters will be glad to hear that....)  but that's not exactly what I mean. I know what my roles are here in the Philippines, I know what responsibilities I have, I know what work needs to be done.... but I have no clue how to do it. This is all new to me.

Now that my good friends Jon and Carmi have left to go back to Canada, I am basically alone here in the Philippines. It's kinda cool cause it is the beginning and the end of something for all 3 of us. For Jon and Carmi, it is the end of an amazing mission in the Philippines and the beginning of a new one in Canada. For myself, It is the end of my comfort zone and the beginning of... A Leap of Faith.

A Prayer for Abby

I've been here just about a month now and this post really should be about what I've been doing here with the youth and what plans are ahead for me in the ministry.... but it won't be.

A couple days ago I got news from back home that my cousin Abigail who is only in her early 30's, married with 3 kids has been diagnosed with something that I can't even pronounce. When my family was telling me what it was called, the connection for the phone was getting really choppy so I couldn't understand it. From what I know, she is fighting for her life and the doctors said that they would do everything possible to help but Abby has to keep fighting.

It really sucks that I can't be there with her. She and I have a really close relationship and to know that she's over there going through what she is going through hurts cause I wish I could be there for her.
But I can be there for her in another way.... Prayer. I can pray for her.

This is where you come in.... If you took the time to open this up, I'm asking you to take the time to say a prayer for her too. You might know her and you might not, but she is someone who needs prayer right now.
So from one friend to another, please keep her and the family in your prayers tonight.

 Abby, if by chance you get to read this or someone reads it to you, just know that God is our rock, our sheppard and our salvation. No trials that come our way will shake us and we will fear nothing because our God is with us always.

Dying to Self

We tried a visual meditation exercise with the Open Table group. I tried it on myself and actually put myself to sleep. Since you've already taken the time to open up the link, you might as well give it a try. Whatcha got to lose?

Picture yourself walking in the desert. It's hot and you're getting weary. As you struggle to take each step, you feel this heaviness on your back. That heaviness is all the shame and the sin that you've been carrying with you throughout your life.

You continue to walk and you notice that there are lots of people who are also going in the same direction. You look at their faces and you can see the hurt in their eyes.... you can feel that they are feeling exactly how you are.

Something catches your eye off to the right. You can see a pond and in that pond there is a man. Something is telling you to go towards it but you don't want to because everyone else is walking in another direction.

Slowly your feet lead you to walk towards the pond. As you get closer and closer, it is getting harder and harder to walk. With everything you have you reach the pond and realize that the man standing there is Jesus. He says " I know the hurt and the burden you have.... the sin and the shame that you have been carrying with you. I can take all of that away.... but first you have to die.

Think about it and ask yourself if you are ready to die.... Are you ready to let go of that sin and shame that you've been holding onto for so long?

If you said yes, you start to feel His hands holding onto yours. You start to feel yourself being lowered into the pond.  As the water is slowly surrounding your body, those heavy feelings of sin and shame that were once weighing so heavily on your shoulders suddenly feel lighter.  As you are completely submerged, the weight is no more.

In the darkness you find peace and quiet.... take a few seconds to feel that quietness....

Now you feel that you are being slowly pulled back up. Slowly you start to hear things again, slowly the water that once covered you is now falling off you. As you are coming up you feel lighter and at ease. You open up your eyes and Jesus says to you.... "Welcome to your new life."

Stay Classy

Leaving on a Jet Plane pt 2

As I stand in line I can't help but think of those kids. So many thoughts ran through my mind. One of them being that I was secretly hoping that someone would call in a bomb threat just so my flight would get delayed. Another one is something one of the kids asked. Someone said "Kuya Kevin how come you are not crying." I never answered them for whatever reason but that question kept playing on in my mind. I'm next to put my bags on the conveyor to get scanned when something tells me that I just can't leave.... not yet.

I grab my bags and start walking back to the entrance through the crowd of people. I look around for everyone when I catch Thes out of the corner of my eye. She sees me and runs up asking me what happened. I didn't say anything but I grabbed her and gave her a hug. After a few seconds I said to her "thank you, thank you, thank you." The hug gets tighter and she says that all the kids are further down the terminal crying. I speed walk to find them. When I finally see them I run up to the first person I see. I hug them tighter than I've hugged anyone and I say "just because i'm not crying doesn't mean i'm not sad. I love you so very much." I did that about 15 times to each of the youth.

It's really time for me to go.... Actually it was time for me to go 15 minutes ago. As I walk away for the final time I say out loud to them. "thank you.... from the bottom of my heart thank you. You guys are my heart. I love you." That was the hardest thing by far that I have done in my life. I grab my bags and once again line up to check in. At this point I'm an emotional wreck but still I kept my composure and shed no substance you humans call tears.

Finally I board the plane and take my seat. Before the kids left they gave me a whole bunch of letters that they wrote and I thought since I was just sitting there that it would be a good idea to read them.... BIG MISTAKE!!
As I read each one it gets harder and harder to fight those things you call tears. I say to myself there is only one more and I can do this.... I can fight it. I pick up the last one and its from Chelly. On the front it says " To my daddy"

Needless to say that the barriers in my eyes that once held back the tears finally gave in. Tears started pouring down my face and as hard as I could try they just wouldn't stop. There was a lady sitting next to me on the plane and she asked me if I was okay. In the maniliest voice I could make I told her that I'd be alright.

It wasn't until the day that I left the Philippines that I realized how much my life had changed. To think that this all started with a conversation at Tim Hortons with my friend Jon.... Blessed.

You might be wondering why someone would call me daddy.... I'll explain everything on the next blog