What does a lighthouse do? It does not draw ships to itself, but it directs the ships to safety. We are the salt of the earth and the light of this world. Why should we let ourselves lose our saltiness and cover our light by hiding it? So let Jesus shine through us.
Today, we did a hospital visitation in the morning. We first assembled at Bethel Bible College (Yes, another long trip...) where we met Alvin and Jace, the freelance missionaries originally from Hope Brisbane, and more familiar faces (to the rest, not to me). To refresh your memory, here is our wonderful team:
For the hospital trip, we went with Alvin and also with another lady who became our translator. Oh, why the fancy colours, you ask? That's because we're going carolling in the hospital! Silly Paul didn't bring his green shirt.
After an uneventful bus trip, the 9 of us arrived at Calalang General Hospital. Our task was to visit patients in their rooms, sing carols and give them a blessing pack, then finishing with a carol performance in the lobby.
We split up to cover as many rooms as we can. Me, Nilla and the translator lady (wished I had remembered her name) went in a team. We met many different kinds of people and patients, one had a mark on his liver. He refused to take his blessing pack and instead asked us to bless others with it. Sometimes, we are unsure of what to talk about, other than their name and what they are there for. We got the children's infirmary, and we hoped our carolling cheered them up a bit. One child had a case of dengue, but the results have yet to be confirmed. She was a pastor's daughter with he grandma looking after her. We also met an aspiring pastor with his mother in one of the rooms with multiple beds and heard his story.
We met up with the other team later close to afternoon. They had to wear masks in some rooms. Alvin himself was quite well-known in the hospital. He was cheerful, smiling all the time, able to connect with the people. One lady in the wheelchair he talks with her like an old friend. She must be a regular. She got to hear the whole team sing three carols.
All right, time for the main event!
Er...no. I wasn't holding the hat out to collect donations. That hat had candy in them to share all around. People did make that mistake tho' and offered cash. No thank you sir!
Before we left, we were also ushered into the doctor's room and we gave them a dose of Christmas cheer. We then took pictures with the chief owner of the hospital.
The lady to my left in the picture above, and on the front left in the picture below was our lady translator. She reminded me of Aunty Pansy from Hope Melbourne Waverley. The guy in white behind her is Alvin.
We had the rest of the afternoon to ourselves, so we took the opportunity to visit SM City North Edsa, supposedly one of the biggest malls in Asia. We got there by taking a bus.
We ate quite a feast at Bario Fiesta and tried out some exotic Filipino food. We also bought souvenirs, so I bought plenty for my relatives in Malaysia, which was my next destination after this. We also bought a guitar for Mark to use for the campus ministry. We took a taxi all the way back to our apartments.
That evening, we discussed strategies for the next day. We were going to do all-day evangelism in campuses located in the heart of the city and visit their lifegroups in the evening. Pretty intense. Nilla, the fearless leader, sat down and discussed for what seemed like an hour to work out the logistics. Meanwhile, I snapped photos of the church. It really feels like a place where you can just pop in any time and do things like fellowship or prayer...or ping pong.
Two more days to go, but there's still more to come! I ain't seen nothing yet!
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