Community with a Capital C

One of our favorite things about traveling is the chance to visit other churches. It is interesting to see the impact (both positive and negative) of the West on churches around the globe. Throughout the last few days, I’ve met lots of people who are in the Philippines because of their faith (short-term, long-term, local ministers).

Left: On Sunday, I attended a church called CCF in Pasig City. It is a megachurch with streaming videocasts to several other sites in the Philippines. They were more versed in the latest Christian trends than I was, which always kind of annoys me. Their next series is the “40 days of love”. I wish there was an easier way that churches could incorporate their cultural context rather than replicate the one in the US.

Top Right: Esther (in the middle) is a volunteer at Samaritana. She let me tag along with her this weekend to church and “malling”. Esther’s friend, Allie (on the right), turned out to be a Cal alum who’s doing international research for grad school. It’s a small world. According to facebook, Allie and I have 27 friends in common. We could only think of 5 when we first met.

Bottom Right: My beloved remote church community from CCFC in Boston. They were all on their annual ski trip, but I had a chance to Skype with them. It’s Sooj, Warren, Ro, and Jung. (Err…sorry I didn’t warn you guys about taking a screenshot). When we were chatting, there was an 80 degree difference in temperature. I’ll take snow any day.

Tomorrow I head to Olongapo City, which is a few hours away from here. I'll be taking a look at the production process for the recycled paper used in the greeting cards.

Keeping in touch: Thanks to Michael and his computer-wizard ways, we figured out that I can call phones for free using Google voice. You can also call me, but I have to be sitting at the computer so it's not as easy to catch me. Don't know if I'll have internet the next few days, so I'll send an update when I get back.