This last week I received in the mail the Ambrose mascot which is a little stuffed lion. My onSite team is sending this mascot around the world to each other just for fun and also as an encouragement. He started in China with one of my onSite teammates, then he went to Indonesia and now to me here in the Philippines. Next, I will send him off to another onSiter in Asia. So the point is we each have him for a few weeks and take pictures of him in our various ministries and important places in our city/region. So I have taken him to my language classes and my ministries. Everyone loves him and are quick to jump into the photo opportunity. This silly little Ambrose stuffed animal has actually been a great ice breaker and conversation starter.
Here is a picture of the lion with some good ol' Kraft Diner my roomates and I made.
<--And this is my language teacher, Anita posing with the mascot. She is great. We share a lot of laughs and she is very encouraging to me as I learn all the ins and outs of Cebuano.
Our trip to the prison went really well. Rhonda and I were accompanied by two women. One of the women was visiting her son and the other was visiting her husband. When we walked in we were greeted by hundreds of men, both young and old. But we quickly found our men amongst the crowd who came to greet us. Then we were escorted to the visiting hall which is basically a big open room with tables and chairs and people selling things. They were all speaking Cebuano back and forth and I just sat and listened and tried to pick up on words or phrases I could understand. Though most could also speak English and we kind enough to do some translating. To her surprise, Rhonda ended up knowing quite a few more young men in the prison, not just the ones we went to see! So I ended up meeting at least 20 people who sat and visited with us that afternoon. We were able to share the gospel with them and hand out some tracks which they willingly took and read. After that they took us outside to see some dancing! Sounds kind of random I realize..but dancing is really such a part of the Filipino culture it just doesn't seem strange to me anymore. Last year, a YouTube video of hundreds of prisoners dressed in their orange suits dancing in sync to Thriller by Micheal Jackson was made famous all over the world. That dance was performed at the Cebu Jail we were just at. And we were actually allowed to see their new routine they were practicing to try to get on YouTube again. It was great! They are really good. There is certainly some controversy surrounding the inmates dancing, but they were getting exercise and they loved performing for Rhonda and I. Some even invited us to join but we kindly declined even though I think it would have been hilarious. All in all it was a really neat experience and a ministry I could see myself pursuing one day. Not the dancing..but the prison. To let those men know they are not forgotten, but loved deeply but their heavenly father. That is a place where Jesus would be and I want to be where Jesus would be and in fact, is.
Thank you for your prayers. God Bless.
-Amanda
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