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"Who is my neighbor?"

When the Scribe asked Jesus, “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered with a quote of the “shema” from the law in Deuteronomy six and Leviticus. He was intending to bring this teacher of the law face to face with living the truth. There we read, “Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself”. Jesus told him he could have eternal life if he would keep this law. Of course being legalistic this scribe looked for technical loopholes. He asked Jesus a question, attempting to trick him. The question was, “who is my neighbor”. It was at that point Jesus gave the illustration of the good Samaritan.
It’s not too difficult to find your neighbor in Masantol. Not like back in the USA, where I remember growing up, blessed to spend three of my childhood years living on a ranch. We had so much land; the closest neighbor was probably ½ mile or more distance from our home. Back in Monterey most of us have neighbors living much closer. But do we know them. And even more important, do we love our neighbors. Here in Masantol I probably have 25 or thirty neighbors living within twenty-five feet of the church building.
You know the story. A certain man was traveling the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We know from history that this was a dangerous road. The road of life is also dangerous. The man in the story, robbed and beaten, lay on the roadside as various people passed. Jesus spoke specifically of three. The Priest and the Levite passed by without helping the injured man. Only the good Samaritan stopped to help. He gave His all to help this man. Who was this certain man? The Bible typically uses this phrase to make it personal. You and I are the person robbed and injured by sin and the “evil one” on the road of life. Of course Jesus is the good Samaritan who loved us, giving His life.
When Jesus asked the scribe who was the neighbor to this certain man, there was only one answer he could give. It was the good Samaritan. He told the scribe to go and live likewise. We can only love our neighbors as Jesus lives in our hearts. I have no capability, apart from Him of loving my neighbors in Masantol. Some are raising roosters for gambling. Some are living together having left other relationships that didn’t seem to work. Others in poverty have resorted to stealing from their neighbors. Olive lives in a one-room home with no running water, by those closest to her. My prayer is that we can share the love of Christ with many of the neighbors of Masantol. Pray that they will choose to come to Jesus.

"Without Power"

Without power the Christian will always fall short. Without the light of God we are in darkness. That is fact in California and it is true in Pampanga. With "brown outs" you think about darkness and powerlessness a lot here in Masantol. The power went off at the church/house the other night. But not because of typical "brown out". It was only a CC Masantol "brown out". It was about a week ago we watched the wire on the transformer spark and then flame. We have our own transformer on a pole in front of the house. Just yesterday the same wire completely separated and broke off its connection. But at the same time all the neighbors still had power. It was a hot, humid and rainy night about eight o'clock. After two hours Jhek Jhek was able to have some men come and fix the wire. Amazingly they did not have a bucket truck to get to the transformer. They only had their jeep and two ladders. They had to borrow two flashlights to do their work. They used their regular household ladders to climb up the pole to the problem.
In Acts 1:8 Luke writes, "But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” We need His power, the Holy Spirit in and upon us. Jesus said in John 15 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." If we in any way become disconnected from Him by ourselves we are powerless. The transformer still had power. All my neighbors still had power. We were disconnected and left powerless. This certainly has much personal application to meditate upon.
Still in Masantol, power outage seems almost the norm. Many of the people are religious, yet in darkness. The Catholic Church can be heard praying each morning and evening. Over a community loudspeaker they call out the rosary. But there is no power! People continue in their sin. In II Timothy 3 Paul states that in the last days there would be those having “a form of godliness but denying its power”. My prayer is that the power of God will come to the people of Masantol. His power can transform any life!

Hanging out in Pampanga

Shopping day for me is Monday. You don’t go shopping in the outdoor markets of Masantol…at least I choose not too. They have many vegetables grow here in the Philippine Islands. Some I recognize and some I do not know. These are readily available in the local open market. But I question how free of bacteria they would be for my consumption. The people handling much of the produce are poor and potentially unsanitary. Because of the monsoon season many store tables rest in foot deep floodwaters. You can also buy fish in these local markets. I question how fresh it might be. Some appear to be out for days un-refrigerated. There are also all color and sort of grains. And of course with these plenty of rice. Along with the open market there are numerous sari sari stores (a place for cokes and snacks). In between are run down, open front, barbershops, general supply stores and auto welding or tire locations. Life exists and passes in the Masantol marketplace.

Each Monday I choose to go to San Fernando shopping. This is the capitol of this province called Pampanga. It is approximately one hour drive. There they have a huge mall called SM (I mentioned in an earlier post). This mall is modern and offers much of what you might purchase in the USA. It just appears different inside because of cultural style differences. Many of the products similar to USA are offered in much smaller containers. Most if not all of the fast food stores offer Asian menus. Even KFC, McDonalds and Burger King serve rice in place of French fries. Each of these sells chicken much more than beef. Of course there is Jollybees. This is the Philippians version of McDonalds.
There are teens that hang out at CC Masantol on a daily basis. So this shopping day I invited one to come along shopping. Three showed up. In conversation I found they had rarely or never been to the SM. Keep in mind that this is one hour from their home. Big John John, Michael and Andrew joined the day’s venture. They helped pick out food at the SM grocery store. $50 US money or about 2400 pesos buys enough to feed you and your friends for the week. We also went to see a movie for $1.50 US. Not bad!
During the week it is good to have plenty of food to go around. Young people show up daily. This is a great opportunity for discipleship and evangelism. While hanging out we typically play a game like scrabble. This is a great opportunity for them to increase their English vocabulary.
Ron drives me to the store, as we do not have a vehicle at CC Masantol. He speaks English and is quite helpful with shopping. This week I also needed a haircut. Since there was a barber at the SM, I chose to try it out. I thought it might be a little less risky than the ones in Masantol. Cutting with scissors gave a nice smooth cut. When the man added a peppermint lotion to my neck and began to massage my back I chose to end the venture and barber shop hanging out time. They charged me 100 pesos (about $2.25) for my fancy haircut. All in a day of shopping here in PI.

Jhek Jhek

Jhek Jhek is a young Christian in his twenties. He came to the Lord through the ministry of Pat and Cindy here at CC Masantol. Previously he was very involved in the Catholic church. I believe he said he was like an altar boy, He comes from a large family that lives on a very poor street around the corner. He has a six year old that he cares for as a single Dad. The mother found another man and lives with him. JJ and his daughter Kin Kin. Live with his mom & dad. Also in the home are his sister Jane and younger sister Shine Shine. There are two brothers, one of which are married. The other still lives at home. There is also a six month old that Rosie(JJ mom) recently had. The family survives by doing what it takes. They some times sell corn on the cobb in front of their home, other times its shish-kabob chicken (I think).
Praise God JJ loves Jesus. His desire is to serve and glorify Him. Daily he comes to CC Masantol to serve Jesus. He cleans floors and bathrooms. He sets up chairs for church. He washes windows and sweeps. Sometimes he even cooks. He has a servants heart. How do you reach out to someone who lives such a different lifestyle? You reach them with Jesus love and teaching of the Word. I believe God has a great future for Jhek Jhek. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Visa Challenges

There are any number of things in Masantol to stretch you. The constant rain at this time of the year means there are always flooded streets. Have you ever gone shopping with rubber boots and water rising past your calves? The passing of typhoon sepat added havoc to our water problem. We are not speaking of stores you drive to and park. You either walk or ride a trike or boat. Many stores in Masantol are part of a large open market. I question how perishables can be preserved in such conditions. By the way the boats are extra long, stretched canoe shaped boats. Unlike canoes they have inboard motors. Some even have canopy roofs. They transport you from village to village.
This Monday we had to travel a little further than the next village to reach the Philippines immigration office. The purpose of my journey was to extend my visa, due to expire August 21st. I was dressed typical CC style with shorts and a tee shirt. After an hour and fifteen minute ride I finally arrived at the government office. As I pushed the glass door open, a uniformed guard (with a gun) stopped me. I wondered to myself what the problem could be. I was informed that in order to do business in this office I would have to change clothes. So, here was my challenge for the day. They would not allow me in this single room office while wearing short pants. I found it ironic that women wearing knee length dresses were allowed in to complete business. I guess my legs were too ugly. So we proceeded to the Mall. It was time and cost prohibitive to return home. I purchased a new pair of Levi's. This was also a challenge. Not to many of the small frame Filipinos wear size 42. With a new pair of long pants I was finally allowed to do business. After a few unexpected ad on fees I had my visa extension. Praise the Lord.
Well there are plenty of challenges to go around. Just the other night we were preparing to have a youth meeting. Some of the young people urged me to come look outside. They were all in the doorway looking up. As I joined them I observed the fireworks. There are many different wires coming from the power poles. Some of them are hooked in by squatters seeking free power. Tonight the main wire was glowing, then sparking and finally flaming. At times like this you miss the USA. "Brown outs" as they call them are pretty normal in the Philippines. In Masantol the power seems to go off at least once a day. You hope it's not as your walking around at night. Definitely not while your showering. When it's hot and humid you sure miss those fans when they go off. But then you use the handheld, self powered fans. They work also, just not as strong.

The Church Fellowship

CC Masantol meets in a two story cinderblock building. The group fellowships are held downstairs. The building is narrow with neighbors close on either side. Windows line the sides of the narrow fellowship hall. One can readily hear neighbors talking or playing music CD’s. For most services we set up about thirty small plastic white chairs. When I say small, keep in mind these are probably made with the smaller frame Filipino in mind. Recalling that I am a large man, you won’t be surprised to know I have already collapsed one of these chairs. CCM does not currently have a worship leader. Worship music is played loudly on a boom-box. Further volume is gained through a mike pic up and an stand alone amplifier. As people worship their voices are quite soft alongside the amplified music.
The up-stairs serves as a residence and rooms for visiting missionaries. That’s where I stay. For now it’s home. In the rear of the down-stairs there is a kitchen where food for gatherings can be prepared. Although the kitchen has a microwave, it does not have an oven. Even though there are gas burners outside, there are not any stovetop burners for cooking in the kitchen. Praise God we do have running water. The refig is a mini. It is probably about ½ the width and 2/3 the height of an American refrigerator. I guess we just eat more in the USA. The table for four, in the middle makes a nice place for fellowship and prayer.
Fellowship is good, wherever the body of Jesus is meeting around the world. Masantol is no exception. Friday is youth night. The Filipino teens love to worship, singing typical western contemporary worship in English. After singing they circle up for a Bible study. Every couple of weeks we have a game night.
Pray for more people. Particularly it would be good to pray for husbands. Many woman come on a regular basis without their husbands attending. Pray that these men will be reached for Jesus. Fathers coming to Jesus would have a great impact on their families. Occassionally one woman, named Babe brings her husband. His name is Roger. We are praying for the kidney stones he has to go away.
Young people from six to teenagers make up the bulk of the people God is bringing to CC Masantol. This will have a lasting impact as they grow in the knowledge and love of Jesus. These youth will grow up to be leaders of the future church.

A Typical Masantol Teen

Masantol is home for both teens, Andrew and Michael. The streets of their town are probably typical of many smaller communities in the Philippine Islands. I’ve found them to be busy from pre dawn morning till early evening. On weekends many of the people I’ve observed are of the younger generation. It seems many families are dependent on self initiated businesses to stay alive. Of these storefronts are quite common. These are typically a three sided cinder block structure, with the open end having some sort of makeshift canopy roof extension towards the street. Some are only created of discarded wood planks and corrugated metal. The products may vary but are typically displayed on some sort of counter in the opening. Possibly the most typical would be a snack food product, drink or fruit. Often I’ve observed the youth running the storefronts, or assisting someone else from the family. Another business teens are heavily involved in is transportation. This is provided by tricycles (equipped with rear bench seats) or motor bikes with side-carts. There are hundreds of these along the street everywhere, each with drivers hoping to provide a ride and earn 20 or so pesos. Some youth who are not working, may be found circled with others tossing coins to the ground. With poverty so prevalent even a few pesos can seem like a lot.
Andrew and Michael are also from poor families. Other than this they are probably not typical. Andrew Santiago is fourteen and has one brother and one sister. Michael Lugtu (also fourteen) has two brothers and one sister. What sets their lives apart from the norm is that they both love Jesus. They regularly help out at church gatherings. Setting up before people arrive and cleaning up afterwards is what they do as normal.
Along with more than a dozen other teens they showed up for youth meeting on Friday night. For me this was the highlight of the week. Probably because they were all so hungry for the Word. We talked about David as a teen. We shared how God chose him, based on his heart, to be king. His heart was committed to serve God. Challenged by David’s example several of the teens expressed their desire to surrender more of their heart to serving God. Pray that more Andrews and Michaels will be reached on the streets of Masantol.

Rain in abundance

There is a verse in Job stating: "He gives rain on the earth, And sends waters on the fields." Thus as the rain continues for the last two days we know it is from God. Along with that the wind is blowing and gusting 40 to 50 mph. Water has made its way through cracks and open windows. I have had to soak it into all the towels. The Masantol people may not feel the same about the source of the rain or it's blessing. Many of the yards I see from my windows have flooded. Most homes are surrounded by cinder block or cement walls. They seem to go in all directions with no plan or order. Thus a yard (if any) may be 15 feet long and maybe as wide surrounded by walls. There is nowhere for water to escape. The river has come up about ten feet. It is now overflowing its banks. Many plants, trees and dead animal carcasses are floating down stream. Normally I can look out the upstairs windows across the river to open market places along the opposite riverbank. Now these have begun to flood. The trikes that are normally along the dirt street in front of the church, have moved to higher ground on the bridge crossing the river. Wow, I have not seen rain like this.
After two days and just before Thursday midweek Bible study, the rain suddenly stopped. Now the people can come to church. The rain will not keep them away. God can rain down His manna. Tonight about a dozen or so people make it through the mud and flooded streets to church. All of them walk and come from the neighborhood. We had worship time and then shared from I Peter. We have worship while listening to CD's and reading an overhead. We began a study in I Peter. We spent all of our time talking about Peter and his background. We studied how Jesus brought in the greatest catch Peter had seen as a fisherman, in Luke 5. We were challenged with Peter to listen to God and follow His call. We were called like Peter to become "fishers of men". God showered on us His blessings.

Philippines arrival

On Wednesday August 1st, I arrived at 11pm safely in the Philippines. We landed in Manila, the capitol of the country having more than 20 million residents. Thank you for praying. I had good memories of my last visit thirteen years ago. At that time I stayed two months or so to help coordinate an upcoming crusade, called "The Festival of Life" with Mike MacIntosh.

Tonight I was hoping to get an extended visa. Though I was able to clear customs and immigration, I was only given 21 days. Pray, as I will need to travel to Angeles immigration offices to extend the time through November. Thankfully they say it should be not too much trouble. From customs I went outside into the hot humid night. There were thousands of faces, but none greeting me. I followed some signs through a tunnel to a designated passenger-meeting zone. It was nicely divided into alphabetical order. It was there I spotted Pat Virays familiar face. It feels good after traveling 24 hours and being in an unfamiliar country, to see a brother.

I have been adjusting over the last couple of days. Jet lag was little challenge. But the humidity was just as great if not greater than I recalled. Pray for adjustment. The needs of the people in PI and in particular Masantol are great. Masantol is in Pampanga about two hours drive north from Manila. This is a poor community with many squatters (people that settle and build wherever they can...including over water)

As I walked to the CEF school outreach on Friday I had many observations. The narrow dirt street was lined with tricycle cabs ready for service. These bikes have a seat for passengers attached over two rear wheels, covered by a canopy roof. As you might guess each had drivers eager for a few pesos. It will be interesting to see the fit and response for a man my size. Along the way we passed many small, loosely constructed snack shack stores, the Catholic Church and many, many friendly
curious people.

The street and ditches did not lack for discarded garbage and polluted water. It always amazes me that people can live and survive with such different standards of sanitation. A combination of odors from food service shacks and street litter filled the air. As I passed you could not help but love the poorly clothed children. Their eyes wondering as they stared.

At the school, classrooms surround a dilapidated courtyard, filled with polluted puddles from the most recent flood. The Virays envisions CC Masantol helping repair this area so it will not flood. Despite the conditions a small kick ball game proceeds. The classrooms had wood slatted windows and many attentive kids. They were very proper, calling out to us, "Good Morning Pastor Viray, Good morning Pastor Dennis". They listened to every word of the study. They repeated scripture. What a great open door for Jesus.
Den 8.03.07