Day two – Orientation

Time here is 6:45am Thurs – 3:45 pm -Weds

I didn’t have time to update the blog about day two yesterday. The scheduling has been jammed packed with activities so far just meeting a bunch of people from MUPT and getting informed of the various branches MUPT has here in Davao ( Insider Movement, Taytayan, Sinalikway Outreach). Jeff and I also had language training as well with Ate (Ah-teh… it’s like Mrs.) Edna.Â
Here is Ate Edna having lunch with the 4 of us… and me trying to address her properly in Cebuano native tongue.

What she said was Kumusta Ka which means “How are you?” Â To say I’m doing fine, it’s “Maayo Man” (May-ah-yo Mahn).

Rather than briefing you about the long day of information Jeff and I had to soak in, I’ll just talk about my impression of some of the team members.

First – a video of the Taytayan branch(note that everyone maybe a part of another branch)
The person you saw to the right of Michael is Emo who is the facilitator of MUPT organization which overseas all the branches I listed above. He is always making jokes to lighten up the mood and it’s helpful when sitting in meetings for 2 + hours long (BTW, the meeting lasted about 3 and a half hours, but Jeff and I left after about 3/4 of the way through the meeting b/c we were tired =D).  You can totally tell after you first meet Emo that he is on fire for God that leads the teammembers to the frontlines to make an impact on the community through their various ministries and hopes to see a Godly transformation of communities of faith amoung Filipino urban poor.

The other person I want to talk about is Ate Kathy (she was between Daniel and CheChe). She mainly works in the educational relam of the team (she’s a qualified teacher). I won’t go into detail about what she does. However, it’s so awesome to see her dedication to her calling from God. In very short summary since I have to leave soon – she’s Canadian, worked in Japan for some years doing similar educational programs as she does here, came to Davao and has been working in the program for almost 9 or 10 years.

I don’t think I’ve ever really met someone who was a long-term missionary….probably because they were away for long periods of time…..haha…. anyways, it’s just really different to hear her background and what’s she’s done in the past with the community. Her mission to see a Godly transformation of communities of faith amoung Filipino urban poor through educationhas become her lifestyle and it really challenged me to think about my lifestyle back in the states and wonder have I really been living a lifestyle that reflects Christ.

 Anyways, it’s time for breakfast now. And it’s going to be a loooong day.

PS – if you guys can tell me what the Mission of the MUPT is, I’ll post some videos of cute kids =).

Hint- I stated it twice in this post =P. I expect to see someone from the team to reply =D.