Day #6 - Wednesday, August 29th

This morning as we took a jeepney to the job site, we met several nice Filippino people. The young dude at the back of the bus is a dishwasher in Tacloban City, the girl next to him is a student, and the older girl is a teacher at a local school. Our conversations on the bus were centered around finding out where they were going, and then sharing that we had come to help build the church in Tacloban. We invited them to come on Sunday, but I don't think they were able to attend. Hey...just scattering some seed!


At the job site, the pieces needed to attach the roof were being connected. We were hopeful that we would be able to start putting the roof on, but we needed to get ready to pour cement first. That means we needed to carry buckets of rocks to cover the entire floor of the building.

Randle and I also went to the chapel services at Zion Bible College. Today, Pastor Johnny & Pastor Gerald came to visit the team and the church building project. They are both leaders within the Bayanihan Project (bayanihan means, "to work together)." The church building projects were birthed out of this Filippino concept. In the past, if a congregation needed a church building, they would ask the missionary to acquire the funds to do so, and it could take years to build, if the money was there at all. With this new approach, churches in the Philippines are required to acquire a piece of land with a clear title. (This may take a church a VERY LONG TIME when the average salary of a worker in the Philippines is only $2.50 per day!) Once the church has invested this much into seeing that the property is purchased, the Bayanihan project finds a church in the USA that will partner with them to give the $7,800.00 it will cost for the building itself. Some churches, like ours did, will also send a team to help build the building, as well. It was awesome to see the "family of God" from two very different cultural backgrounds working together. In my opinion...just a taste of what Heaven will be like!