Commuting

I am safely home again after commuting to my new church for the first time. I drafted a Filipino student from BJMBC to accompany me this first time, so that she could speak Tagalog and ask directions if we got lost (which we did once:-) In addition, another BJMBC student will be accompanying me each week, but she is from Vietnam and doesn't speak any more Tagalog than I do.

Anyway, it took about 2.5 hours to get there yesterday. First we walked a few blocks and caught a jeepney (sort of a short, squatty bus with the two long bench seats facing the middle of the vehicle), then we got on the MRT (like an elevated train), then a bus. We apparently missed our stop on the bus, so we had to walk a little ways to get to where we should have been. Then we got on another jeepney, then got a tricycle (a motorcycle with a covered sidecar) to the church.

Coming home, we followed a slightly different route that included tricycle, jeepney, bus, and jeepney. That only took about 1.5 hours. We stayed with Gary and Edie Jones, the missionaries that lead the church. They have been in the Philippines 30+ years.

I was able to help out with the choir and piano and am excited to see what ministry opportunities the Lord will open there. It is a smaller church than the one I attended when I was here before. They have a Tagalog service of about 30 people, then Sunday School, then an English service of around 60.

I am also safely moved into my apartment. I moved early (about 6:30am) on Wednesday morning, before it got too hot. It's rather bare at the moment -- just a refrigerator, a stove, and a bed.:-) Little by little!

Thanks so much for your continued prayers. It's exciting to be right in the place where God wants you to be and know it!