Back in Town

This picture is of me and my beautiful roommates in Cebu.
From Left to Right: BJ, Rhonda, myself and Jona.

Well friends, I'm back! Back in cold Canada! I have now officially completed my onSite experience in Cebu. Though my time there may be over, the things I learned and the growing I am doing is not close to over.

April was an incredibly difficult month as I wrapped up Stepping Stones ministry, had some final speaking engagements and did my best to say goodbye to as many people as I could from around the city and the country!

During Holy Week I was able to spend the week with my Cebuano language teacher, Ate Anita and her family at the house where she grew up in Bantayan island. Bantayan is a tiny island located just off the north west of Cebu island. To get there, we took a four hour bus ride first to the very north, than about an hour boat ride straight to Santa Fe. It's absolutely beautiful on that island! The week was designed for a few different purposes. Firstly, one of the assignments for onSite is to write a life story on a local of our host culture. I chose to study the life of my teacher Anita. So being able to spend a week with her was a great way for me to practically shadow her and observe her as she interacted with her family. I feel I got to know her in a really deep and meaningful way. Second, it was a test of sorts for me to see how I would do with the Cebuano I learned over the course of my nine months. It was a way for me to put what I learned to real good practice especially with my teacher watching! And I passed my test!
And thirdly, I was in Bantayan for one of the most famous Holy Week celebrations in all of the Philippines. In the days before, of and after Easter, there are numerous religious processions that Filipino's from far and wide come to join in. There are huge floats decorated with flowers and images depicting the events leading up to the death of Jesus on the cross. Then on Sunday morning for Easter, they celebrate His resurrection by having a final procession ending with children dressed up as angels throwing flower pedals and singing Hallelujah. It was a really neat and certainly unique Easter experience for me. It was amazing to see the dedication and faith of the thousands of believers come to that tiny little island, and celebrate the most important time of the year for a Christian person.

After I made my way back to Cebu (after a 10 hour wait for a boat ride!), it was just straight busyness again until my last day. Rhonda threw me what is called a "Despedida" which is a going away party at her new office. Many friends came for the party and said their goodbyes. It was an emotional time but a blessed one!
I then had to begin packing up my things and prepare myself to leave Cebu. Rhonda and I decided to take the 24 hour boat ride up to Manila because that was the way I first came to Cebu all those many months ago: on the SuperFerry boat ride! I think it was the best decision we could have made. It was 24 uninterrupted hours of debriefing my internship, praying, laughing, crying and resting. After that trip I felt closure. I felt like I had finished well and for the first time I was ready to come home.

Now that I am home, I will battle reverse culture shock in its different forms. I will find a job somewhere in Okotoks where I'm staying with my family and slowly adjust back into Canadian life. The other day when I was feeling overwhelmed and missing Cebu a lot, I happened to be in Wal-Mart and hear two Filipina's speaking Cebuano standing right beside me. I could have cried,.it was like a small gift from God reminding me I'm not alone and I'm going to get through it. This summer I'm looking into finding a job that can connect me to immigrants and work with those not native to this country. I'm hoping that there is a job available where I can use my experience and show love to those who may feel they have no place to call home.


I suppose I will keep this blog for now on even though my onSite is done. Thank you all for reading these updates throughout my time. Thank your for your prayers, support and encouragement. I hope you will continue to keep in touch! Thank you for journeying with me and being part of the greatest experience of my life. God is good!
Salamat kaayo sa tanan!

Love,
Amanda Joy Kneeshaw

April na!

Pictures above are some of the youth going swimming in the ocean and me with Pastor Bong and his wife, Evangeline at the day care graduation I spoke at.

Maayong Gabii sa tanan!
Thanks for checking in. As the days tick away here I continue to wrestle with processing what I'm feeling.
I've already been saying goodbye to people or have been making arrangements for a time of formal "goodbye." Goodbyes are hard, but they are needed and actually help me to know what I am feeling. They are proving to be an important way to finish my internship well.
Recently I have been wrapping a lot different ministry things and attending a lot of graduations of my youth. For our final youth event, Mark and I treated the youth group to an afternoon of fellowship with another youth group in a different part of the city. There were close to 100 in attendence. We had a program for them, with worship, dances, games, a Bible Study, and some great snacks. And to top it all off, we took them swimming in the ocean to cool down. It was a fun day. I'll miss those guys a lot, I really spent a lot of time with the youth group and they taught me a lot.
I was also given the privilege of speaking at the graduation of the kids attending the day care at our church. I spoke to the 10 graduates and their families and was able to hand out their awards and diplomas.
I've now successfully completed all my Cebuano language classes and my reward is spending a week with my language teacher Anita and her family in her home island of Bantayan. We leave early tomorrow morning by bus to the north of Cebu than take a boat west for Bantayan. It's Holy Week here and the party begins! Bantayan is known for having large festivals, prosessionals and parties during Easter so a lot of foreiengers and tourists flock to this island during Holy Week, and I guess I'll be one of them also. But I'll be staying with the locals which is the best of both worlds.

So, I was surprised by Rhonda with a concert by the famous Filipino Christian singer, Gary V. There was a "God Bless Israel" worship concert here in Cebu where a few thousand Christians came together to pray for peace and bless Israel together. And there was a surprise appearence by Gary V at the end. I feel like my Filipino experience is now complete with a Gary V concert because every Filipino takes pride in him. It was such a treat to see him live. I hope you all will also be converted to Gary V fans. Sorry the picture is a little dark, but there he is.






So, my last month is looking very exciting, busy and difficult. Please continue to pray for wisdom and protection as I gear up for the end. Financial provision is still an important prayer request. I apologize for not getting out those newsletters to you. Due to a lot of technical difficulties and missends, it has taken a lot more time than I anticipated. But I'm working on it, I have some people helping me out now.

God Bless you all,
Hope Canada is starting to warm up! I know I'm going to be so cold when I come back.
In Christ,
Amanda

"Gawasnon ako!" I am Free!

Greetings one and all. I think I have fully come to realize that my time remaining here in Cebu is very short! April.24th is the date I fly back to Canada. Only about 6 more days. Floods of mixed emotions come as that date gets closer. It will be hard to leave all the wonderful people and places of the Philippines but I also look forward to my return to Canada and to Ambrose for my last year.

There seems be a theme of freedom in my life recently. I had the freedom to come here for 10 months and experience a change from the western ideal of life. I saw freedom from riches and wealth, freedom from certain luxuries and freedom to worship God openly. Though at one point, I may have looked at being poor as a bondage, and having money as the freedom, that has proved not true at all. Money isn't freedom, only Jesus brings true freedom! I've been able to live these last many months being free to live out the calling of God on my onSite and it is a wonderful thing indeed.
Filipino’s taught me that people are more important than getting ahead. They taught me that even despite poverty and despair, God is still good. They taught me that there is always time to sing, to dance and to play; regardless of age or status. I was taught that it is possible to eat rice three times a day, every single day without fail! Filipino’s taught me what respect is by the way they treat anyone older than them. Filipino people taught me to be more laid back and to have patience in all circumstances. Finally, God used Filipino people to help teach me that I am valuable. That I have indeed have gifts and skills that were used to bless them. To God be the glory.
These are things I couldn't have learned in a classroom. Though I’m not done yet and there are many things left to be finished, I know I have been given the will and strength to finish here well.
In latest news, Rhonda has now rented a brand new office building for a display centre and training centre for Padala ministries. Instead of having our prayer meetings and staff meetings in her living room, we now have an office room! This is a huge answer to prayer for her. She had this dream for over 10 years and I was here to witness her receive the key to the front door! Just this last week we had a house blessing event where dozens of friends, workers, volunteers and their families were invited to come pray and dedicate the building to the work of the Lord. It was a great turn out and the building is already being booked for training pastors, counselling rooms and workshops. And of course a larger space to display all the Bahandi bags and many other livelihood projects of poor Filipinos. I’m privileged to be here for this chapter in Rhonda’s life and ministry.

I also have lots of plans and ideas as I wrap up my time with the ACF youth group and my youth students I teach at Stepping Stones. In April, I have also been invited to speak at the graduation of the pre-school held at the church during the week.
During Holy Week here in the Philippines for Easter, I have been invited to stay with my language teacher Anita and her family on Bantayan Island. It has a few different purposes, first to meet all of her relatives and enjoy the fellowship with the family. Also, to practice my Cebuano (especially with my teacher as my host) and also witness the biggest Easter tradition and celebration in the Philippines. On Bantayan island, the whole week there are huge parades and festivals which will be a great cultural experience for me. I’m very excited to go.

As you see, there are many praises in my life at this time! But there are also unmet needs.
Please be praying specifically for God’s financial provision. I still have not yet raised all my funds at this time and am unsure of where the remaining funding is going to come from. Please keep this in your prayers. Thank you for your support in every way.

God Bless.

Amanda

P.S. I will be sending out a newsletter addressing some of these needs by e-mail, so some may be receiving it soon

Back to Work

These are some pictures of me and the other onSiters, on our ELE in Phuket. The team included Hung and Duc both living in Cambodia, Lindsey living in Bali, Indonesia, Natasha living in China, Sam living in Thailand and myself from the Philippines.

Greetings once again! I will start this blog post with an update about our ELE trip to Phuket. It was certainly a great trip! I had a lot of fun with the other onSiters. It was really relaxing and a perfect time to debrief together about what we have been learning in each of our host countries. We shared funny stories and sad stories and encouraged one another as we shared our hearts. It was really nice to be able to laugh and joke around with friends who understood me completely! A lot of the time I get laughed AT in the Philippines, rather than laughed WITH. So you canunderstand how relaxing it was to laugh with others who also know exactly how you feel.

In Phuket, we went shopping at lots of different markets, ate lots of spicy Thai Food, spent some time on the beach and rode motorbikes around the beautiful countryside. We had a whole week of sleeping in and taking it easy. Unfortunately, Lindsey had gotten some sort of bug bite or mosquito bite when she was back in Indonesia where she is doing her onsite, and it got terribly infected half way through the week in Phuket. She ended up having to go to the hospital and get it cleaned and bandaged up! The poor girl was having to limp around and take lots of anti-biotics. But she was great and made it through the week fine, even managing daily trips to the hospital for regular checkups!

We had a relatively hassle free week. At one point, in the middle of the highway one of our motorbikes tires blew, but thankfully we were going slow enough that no one was hurt and we were almost right beside a gas station and got ourselves fixed up. All of our planes got us there and back on time with all our luggage and I would say we all left refreshed and satisfied. So praise God.

As soon as I returned here to Cebu, it was the grand finale of the Doulos. We packed up all our items there and moved off! Rhonda and I were blessed to be able to stay in a guest room on the Doulos it’s very last night in Pier 2 of Cebu City. It was fun to be on the ship and hang out with the crew and send them off with our blessings. We made some good friends and they will be missed.

Only days after the ship left, we received a group of 8 Canadians here on a short missions trip. They consist of 2 grandparents and one of their children and 5 grandchildren. Robin and Morgan are the grandparents. Charmaine is their daughter and she brought her two children, Darien and Christian. And they also brought along three other grandchildren, Autumn, Austin and Jordan. All ranging in age from 12 to 16. So this last week we have been very busy running around with them to different activities. Robin and Morgan have been to Cebu 4 different times and were major contributors to the establishing of Stepping Stones where I am so heavily involved. So we instantly had a connection through the Stepping Stones Scholarship ministry and even though they have been involved longer than I have, I have been able to be THEIR host there, show them more of the community and even took them to visit the schools of some of the children they sponsor. Its been a blessing to have them here. Despite their many sunburns, bug bites and dealing with the intense heat, they are troopers and are open to learning a lot while they are here. Which is what I like to see!

Speaking of Canadians, there is another young Canadian guy named John here visiting for a month. He is a Filipino, but born and raised in Calgary. He actually lives quite close to where I did downtown when I was going to Ambrose, so we were neighbours and didn’t even know it! This is his first time back to the Philippines in his older years. It’s really cool to have him around and use his help in the ministry! He comes with me on the weekends to Stepping Stones and helps lead worship at youth group. And during the week, he’s with Pastor Glemar, going all around doing everything from attending our staff meetings to building church buildings!

This last week I have been feeling really under the weather. I’ve had a cough ever since I got back from Thailand and it’s gotten progressively worse. So finally, yesterday I went to the doctor and found out I have an infection..and now that I’m on antibiotics, they’re taking their tole on my body. They are really hard on my stomach and also make me incredibly tired. So I’ve been taking it really easy and resting at home these last few afternoons and evenings. But I’m restless to get back out with the visitors. I’m saving up my strength for the next few days, because on Sunday, as a result of a great connection to one missionary with Samaritans Purse, we have a tonne of shoeboxes to give out to the kids in Stepping Stones and Didos community. I can’t wait to give them out to the kids. I’ll take lots of pictures to put on here!

Praise God for a great ELE experience and safety in all our traveling. Praise God for all the visitors we’ve been getting and the blessings they are to us here.

Please pray for good health as spiritual protection as we continue working here.

Until next time..

A big and happy hello all the way from Cebu to all those keeping up with my blogs!! I trust everyone is doing well, whether in Canada or somewhere else in the world.

This New Year has continued to prove God’s goodness and purpose in my life. This month of January has been one of the best months so far here on my internship journey that started way back in July. I feel like so much so happened in my being here (and it has) and has gone by very quickly.

One of my major focuses this last month has been with the ministry of the Dolous. I find this so interesting because I had never heard of the Dolous until I came here and felt so out of the loop because everyone knows of the Dolous well here. This ship, which is the oldest and largest floating bookshop in the world, sails the seas and ports in dozens of different countries every year bringing help, hope and knowledge to all those willing to receive it. At any one time there are about 350 crew members all working for the Lord on the ship as volunteers as part of a 2 year commitment. Rhonda and Padala ministries were given the opportunity by the leadership of the ship to be able to sell the many livelihood projects she supports here in Cebu. We’re doing this in order that the local artists and workers are able to make some income for their hard work. So every day this last month, the Padala staff and volunteers have taken shifts selling these items on board. The ship is due to leave Cebu by February 10^th, so until then we have many more hot and long days ahead. It hasn’t always been an easy time on the Dolous, since most of us are not gifted salespeople and are working out the kinks of how to work in an international team of people with very different ways of thinking. But I didn’t come here expecting or even wanting an easy time! I’m here to do exactly this, learn how to work in intercultural ministry! God is no doubt blessing Padala and our team through this experience, so we are grateful for the opportunity. I have met Christian brothers and sisters from over 50 different nations around the world and got to hear their stories. My favourite part has been being able to led some teams out into the city and show them what I do in my internship here!

One of the Dolous teams I was able to lead, was a group of 6. We had one from Mongolia, one from America, one from the Netherlands, one from Japan and one from the Philippines! They did a presentation at Lawaan Elementary School that the children from Didos attend. We thought we were only visiting three classrooms, but instead were able to do an assembly for the entire school on the stage! Who knew!! They did a great job.

Other than the Dolous, I have also been preparing for my ELE trip to Phuket, Thailand! I just arrived here yesterday and now the whole team are here in Phuket together. Duc and Hung just arrived from Cambodia and Natasha from China, Lindsey from Indonesia and Sammy from here in Thailand! We will be staying here for one week at a guest house in the downtown of Phuket. We're planning for some fun events,; beach days, market shopping and sight seeing in the next few days. We can't wait!

Praise God we all arrived here safely with no problems at all and please continue to pray for safety and protection in our travel around Phuket and head back to our homes next week.

Please pray that as we finish our time up on the Dolous, we will be able to continue to work well as a team and be able to network with more crew members on the ship.

Also, for the Dolous itself, it is such a great ministry and outreach. Keep your ears open, it may be coming to a country near you!

Thank you for reading. God Bless you always!

Until next time..

New year = new oppurtunities

Hello one and all! I apologize, it has been many weeks since I have been able to update my blog! There are many things to inform you about.. Where do I begin? Well I left you hanging last time just before Christmas... So Christmas went great. Rhonda and I had a quiet Christmas day exchanging gifts and eating great food. Rhonda and I were invited to dinner with an older American missionary couple on Christmas day so we joined them at their house and had a great time together. We even watched the classic movie, What About Bob! We all laughed a lot,.This couple have been really good to us. When we were missing home on Christmas day they took Rhonda and I like their own "children" and really helped make us feel at home with a family. Praise God for them, it made my first Christmas away from home very bareable.

I was asking for prayer for our youth retreat in Massin, Leyte and thank you for your prayers! It was such an awesome time with the youth. The theme of this retreat was: " Leaders: Challenging the Youth of Tomorrow!" There were over 150 young people from all over the central Visayas who came out to this district conference. And I was able to meet dozens of Alliance youth pastors, youth leaders and of course the youth over the week,. My job was to lead 5 leaders of my youth group from Cebu to this conference in Leyte. Also during the afternoons, I was asked to lead the delegates in team building exercises. At the end of the week, each team won prizes and presented skits and dances. Here are some of the youth making a pyramid for the team building exercise! Each of our days were jammed packed with activities and some of the longest working days of my life. But the best part was, that it didn't feel like work! We would wake up at 5 am and I would lead them in our daily Bible Study and prayer for about an hour. Then by 7 am we would be picked up from the host family we were staying with and dropped off at the church to begin our day at the conference which would go until about 11 or 12 at night! There would be a morning speaker, then three different seminars on worship leading, Sunday school teaching, and Christian values that the youth got to chose from. Then the afternoon activities I led with another youth pastor from Cebu in team building then there was an evening speaker and of course games and songs! (This IS the Philippines) We all enjoyed our time in Leyte and left physically tired but spiritually refreshed and geared up for another year of ministry ahead! Little did I know that just a day later I would have the adventure of a lifetime,..

The four of my youth: Nadine, Lyka, Emmy and Fredgie took an early boat back to Cebu on the 30th with about 100 other youth from the conference. Rhonda, myself and Riezel stayed behind in Leyte for another day to go visit some extended family of Riezel way in the "boonies" of the island. Before we went all the way out there we had left all of our stuff with friends of Riezel in the city and then made our way. We were visiting the auntie of Riezel and her cousins who live in this humble little provincial home in the middle of a rice field. In order to get to this house you have to climb down a cliff, cross a river by a raft and hike back up another cliff, cross the rice field and you are there (as in the middle of nowhere!) Check out the pictures below! We spent the day with the family, visiting and eating and playing some games. I wanted to explore a bit around their property but it began to rain, and hard! Our boat to Cebu was leaving that night at 9 pm, so at around 6 pm we began our trek back to civilization through muddy fields and steep cliffs..! (it's all so dramatic I know!) By the time we reached the river, (after falling into the mud a few times and being completely soaked from head to toe and laughing hysterically with Rhonda) it has risen so much from the rain and was moving so fast, that it was too dangerous to cross. Thankfully Riezel had already crossed safely earlier and was able to catch a bus to the next town and stay with the friends who had all of our stuff. So Rhonda and I were stuck in a flood with no clothes or money and missed our boat back to Cebu! During the night the water continued to rise and snapped the nylon rope that is needed to pull yourself across on the raft. Thankfully word got out that night of our situation and by early the next morning one of Riezel's older brothers who was living in the next town came to rescue us. He swam across the river and fixed the rope and we were able to get across and catch another boat to Cebu on the 31st. We got back just in time for our News Years celebration with some other American friends and watched the fireworks with them, and of course had some of our own as well :) So, I ended off my 2008 with quite an adventure. But thanks to God we were completely safe and will always have a fun story to tell.

I also was able to celebrate my birthday here with many friends. On Saturday, the 10th there was a group of over 100 scholars who are in a tutorial program run by Jiji and Rick a missionary couple here in Cebu. They were having a celebration day at this beautiful park with a petting zoo, a pool and huge areas of grass and places for kids to play. And it just happened to be my birthday so they invited me along and turned it into a birthday party for me and there was cake and ice cream and lots of games and prizes for the kids. I rang in my 22nd year with beautiful children of the Philippines, there is nothing better :)

Right now, in this month of January, Padala ministries has been given the opportunity to sell many of its livelihood products for the poor on the OM ministry ship called the Doulos. This is a massive ship that travels around the world with over 350 crew members and ports in different countries to do ministry and also let the public come on board for their famous Christian book store. I has never heard of it until I came here, but its a huge thing here. And thousands of people come each year to see this boat, tour it, and shop at the bookstore. I am also in charge of taking teams of crew members on the ship and leading them to different ministries we're involved in. I will take a team of about 6 to Stepping Stones where they will lead a children's outreach program for the kids and I will take them also to meet the youth I work with and they will lead the youth group for a night. I have been able to be on this ship helping sell the recycled bags which are a huge hit for crew members on board and its a great ministry opportunity to be involved in. The Doulos will be in Cebu until the second week of February, so please pray for this ministry as they reach out to the communities in Cebu and also invite those to come to the ship and offer them hope in Jesus :)

There is also a group of young people from Nyack university in New York visiting on a missions trip right now staying with Jiji and Rick who I mentioned earlier. They are a real fun group and I have enjoyed getting to know them. Rhonda and I have been working closely with them and touring them around this last week and a bit. They will head back to New York this Saturday.

So it is a very busy new year here in the Philippines! Though I am loving every minute of it as I soak it all in. I am now over half way done my internship and the end is fast approaching with many more things to be accomplished before I go back to Canada in April. But by God's grace it will all be finished and finished well.

Thanks for reading! I appreciate your prayers and support! Pag Ayo Ayo mo!

This is a view from high up of the river and field.

Here I am crossing the river by raft with Riezel's auntie and little brother, Arnel.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Greetings friends and family. And a very Merry Christmas to you all! The count down is on, since only days remain until Christmas. The malls and streets are busy here with shoppers preparing for the big day(s). This has indeed been the busiest month so far for me since I came in July. Rhonda and I were looking through our calenders and realizing that between the both of us, every day of this month there is some sort of party or function which we have been invited

to. Of course, we can't make it to everything, but we are sure trying!

There has even been a wedding we were a part of of a Filipina friend of ours who married a Nigerian. So, not only did I get to experience a Filipino wedding for the first time, but also a Nigerian one! It was a neat mix of both. There was a lot of cultural dancing and music and the most entertaining with seeing Rhonda dance down the aisle at the reception to Nigerian music, she did great! We had a lot of fun and great food.

I have also planned a few parties of my own here with our different ministries. The biggest so far was our youth party last saturday night which was also a sleepover at the church. We started with a dinner. Here we are praying before our meal!

And we played a lot of games. Here are Lyka, Jane and CerryAnn getting ready to play as they listen to the instruction of our M.C., Mark. -->

And here is us as a group with our gifts! Saying Merry Christmas to you from the youth group of ACF church!

Last week was also extra busy because we had three visitors from Japan here to see some of the children's ministries going on in Cebu City and visit a bunch of schools. We also took them to the island of Bohol where they saw the Chocolate Hills and the smallest monkeys in the world: The Tarsiers. See below :)

But it wasn't all fun and games, we visited a large land property where we were before back in August to do our missions trip. On this property, there is a dream to build a camp and/or retreat centre for pastors and couples to go and rest. And also a place for recovering addicts to go and live in the province, away from the city where there will be counsellors available to them as they recover. It's a beautiful property. So we took some time to pray over the land and ask God's direction and provision for this dream camp in Bohol.

Next big event coming up, is on the 26th of December. Rhonda and I will be leaving for an Alliance youth retreat in Leyte, another island off of Cebu. We both have big roles to play as we are leading and facilitating small groups and doing some teaching together with many youth pastors from all around the Visayans. I will be taking 4 of my youth to this retreat and we are all pretty excited to go.

That's it for now, its about time to go. There was just a large group of young people that came in with a guitar and sang Christmas carols in this tiny internet cafe! There, my friends, is an example of something I would have never thought even happened in this world, but I have learned to never say never. Everyday I am witnessing that anything is possible in the Philippines!

Praises:

-Had a great Christmas party with the youth, it went smoothly and we were all blessed

- God's provision for all my needs

- A great month of meeting new people and making new connections

Prayer Requests:

-For the rest of this busy month, to get everything done that needs to get done!

-Youth retreat in Leyte, safety and protection in our travels and for the youth to grow deeper in their walk with God!

- All around health and protection

Thank you all for your prayers.

God Bless

-Amanda