Friday morning we woke up bright and early, it was going to be a big day, it was the last day of the evangelistic meeting in Mainit. We headed straight to the shelter where we had been holding the evangelistic meetings for the last 2 weeks.
First thing on the agenda was Children's Program "Graduation". Graduations in the Philippines is a very loose term with quite a bit of emphasis. Translation: They have graduations for EVERYTHING; 1st grade, VBS, 2-week courses. Any program in which you learn ANYTHING new, they have a graduation for it; hence the loose term. But these graduations aren't just simple little events. They are full fledged, 2-hour graduations that you dress up for and plan for weeks.
I was grateful that the Children's Program Graduation was watered down a little bit because of the small window of time we were given. But it still was going to take some work. When we first got there we kept ourselves pretty busy. Tanya and Shielah needed to run over a skit and a couple songs with the kids, while LeAnne, Andrey, and I got the kids "costumes" fitted. Since the final number of kids turned out to be 150 only half were allowed to get a costume for the program. After we gave out the costumes we were surround by numerous trees, flowers, and animals. They were all so cute.
We started off the program singing songs that the children had learn over the last 2 weeks. Then Tanya asked questions that were based on the stories she had told over the last 2 weeks and whoever answered correcting received a folder (donated by members of the Green Bay church). Then a group of 15 kids came up front and each recited one of the 15 memory verses they had learned from the stories. Afterwards the kids put on a skit and then sang a song.
Every night of the meeting the children would get a little character with the memory verse from that night and at the end of the meetings all the characters were going to form a fun picture. During the Graduation, Tanya presented her "big picture" which is what all the kids were suppose to have replicated over the last 2 weeks. It was a very creative idea and all the kids had a lot of fun watching their picture start to take form. At the end, each child was given a certificate and a present (contents which were donated by the Green Bay church). It was a very fun program, but when it was over you could literally HEAR the joint *sigh* of relief throughout the missionaries. lol.
Afterwards, we headed over to Mainit Falls, where the baptisms were taking place. After our 2 week evangelistic series, 36 people decided to take the next step in their relationship with Jesus and be baptized. All 36 were class-A bible students, which means that they had been attending church and having weekly bible studies before the evangelistic series.
There were SOO many people there it was hard to even see into the water. So LeAnne and I had to get a little creative. I climbed my way up the side of the cavern and LeAnne climbed to the top of the water fall. "It was really funny." LeAnne said "When I headed up there I had a group of kids follow me and they just stood behind me while I took pictures. Every once in a while I'd take a picture of them but they just stood there and watched me. Then when I got up to climb back down they all ran ahead of me, like my own little climbing gang."
It was truly an amazing event. It took at least an hour to get all the candidates through the line. At the end we said a prayer for all the newly baptized. Then we packed everything and everyone into the truck to head back.
I was so touched as I watched so many Filipinos that I have known for about a year now, crying tears of joy, as they give their lives to Jesus. It was amazing.
“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
~Matthew 28:19
First thing on the agenda was Children's Program "Graduation". Graduations in the Philippines is a very loose term with quite a bit of emphasis. Translation: They have graduations for EVERYTHING; 1st grade, VBS, 2-week courses. Any program in which you learn ANYTHING new, they have a graduation for it; hence the loose term. But these graduations aren't just simple little events. They are full fledged, 2-hour graduations that you dress up for and plan for weeks.
I was grateful that the Children's Program Graduation was watered down a little bit because of the small window of time we were given. But it still was going to take some work. When we first got there we kept ourselves pretty busy. Tanya and Shielah needed to run over a skit and a couple songs with the kids, while LeAnne, Andrey, and I got the kids "costumes" fitted. Since the final number of kids turned out to be 150 only half were allowed to get a costume for the program. After we gave out the costumes we were surround by numerous trees, flowers, and animals. They were all so cute. 
We started off the program singing songs that the children had learn over the last 2 weeks. Then Tanya asked questions that were based on the stories she had told over the last 2 weeks and whoever answered correcting received a folder (donated by members of the Green Bay church). Then a group of 15 kids came up front and each recited one of the 15 memory verses they had learned from the stories. Afterwards the kids put on a skit and then sang a song. 
Every night of the meeting the children would get a little character with the memory verse from that night and at the end of the meetings all the characters were going to form a fun picture. During the Graduation, Tanya presented her "big picture" which is what all the kids were suppose to have replicated over the last 2 weeks. It was a very creative idea and all the kids had a lot of fun watching their picture start to take form. At the end, each child was given a certificate and a present (contents which were donated by the Green Bay church). It was a very fun program, but when it was over you could literally HEAR the joint *sigh* of relief throughout the missionaries. lol.  |
| Ping-ping enjoys her treat. |
It was truly an amazing event. It took at least an hour to get all the candidates through the line. At the end we said a prayer for all the newly baptized. Then we packed everything and everyone into the truck to head back. |
| Baby Haddie, Danny, and a very pregnant Ging. Such a beautiful family! |
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| PAMAS team with the newly baptized. Can you spot us? We kinda stick out like a sore thumb...lol. |
~Matthew 28:19
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| Its all over. Now missionaries can take a nice, long, needed REST! |
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