On December 26th we packed up the kids and all our gear and drove 7 hours north to Pangasinan to speak at a four-day Mennonite Youth Camp. There were about 250 youth there and we spent three mornings with roughly 70 of the leaders, interacting with them about the Biblical story, Anabaptist history and beliefs and discussing how we, as follower of Jesus, are called to put our faith into action.
We stayed at an Elementary school with no running water (just pumps) and no kitchen... just like camping! The cooks made meals for 250 people by fire and kept the meat in vinegar overnight so it would keep. We had rice three times a day, although Cody was pleased that I brought along Cheerios and some fruit. The boys had a lot of fun.... needless to say, with so many youth and them being the only little kids, they got a lot of attention. Cody enjoyed the sand and got good and dirty everyday. The downer was giving him 2 cold showers a day... certainly hard to get used to!
Each morning we had two hours of class-time with the youth leaders. The first day, Darnell spoke about the biblical story and had them draw 6 parts of the story and share it with a friend and the class. On day two, I shared about Anabaptist history and they had lots of questions. I had different groups write a poem or a song about the Mennonites and one group acted out the story of Early Anabaptist, Dirk Willems, who saved his capturer from drowning... it was very entertaining! The youth loved performing and I could tell (with the help of translation) that they understood the concepts. And a first for me was speaking for an hour with my sleeping baby in the carrier!
On the last day Darnell discussed the mission of the church and Bryan shared a few inspiring case studies about how the church in action is transforming communities in urban and rural Filipino settings. He had the youth get into their church groups to discuss the issues facing their communities and brainstorm ways that they can help bring transformation. Each group then shared their thoughts to the class.
The youth were intrigued by the radical faith of our brother (and language tutor), Bryan Paler. With his mohawk and tribal jewelry, he's not your typical-looking pastor. While being an integral part of Peace Church, he also pastors a group of youth from his community, many of whom are gang members and leaders. He has seen many youth slowly come closer to Christ as he bears witness to the all-accepting love of Jesus and the radical way He calls us to live. Without the language and cultural barrier that Darnell and I have, Bryan was able to really connect with these youth and we're so thankful that he could come and get to know the youth of Integrated Mennonite Church (IMC) too.
We had a great experience.... we enjoyed sharing about the Good News of Jesus, getting to know the youth, learning more Tagalog, and watching Cody and Makai interact with so many Kuyas and Ates (big brothers and sisters). And we were excited to already be invited back to speak next year!
Oh, and Cody had his first ride on a motorcycle around the school campus. He was thrilled....
I hope Cody had a helmet on!! ;) Sounds like a great camping experience!
ReplyDeleteno helmet.... terrible, I know. but they were definitely going as slow as possible! we see families of 4, including babies & toddlers on bikes all the time. when in Rome? but now that we have our own vehicle, we are using car seats!
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for this wonderful interaction with IMC youth. It's great that Bryan could be there with you.
ReplyDeleteGordon