YWAM Baguio DTS Mid-Term Part 1

One of our responsibilities here is to coordinate the ministry of outreach teams that visit YWAM Mountain Province. We enjoy the opportunity this gives us to meet people from various places around the globe. Last week a Discipleship Training School (DTS) team from Baguio came to minister in Bontoc. The students were from different places in the Philippines, though none from this region. Two staff accompanied the students, Rachel, originally from Malaysia and Bamshak from Nigeria.

We took a break from our normal school work and spent the week assisting the team and guiding them to the places they were to serve in the community.

The team: Jason, Rachel, Ruth, Jasmine, Gretchen, and Bamshak.

Monday morning they performed a drama for the flag ceremony. The drama highlighted the importance of unity and teamwork. It was very appropriate and well received by the government employees. I heard several comments as I moved around taking pictures. During the mayor's address, he talked about the value of the drama for the community.
After the flag ceremony,they joined me for the Moral Recovery Program with the Philippine National Police. After Gretchen opened the meeting with prayer, Bamshak talked about the love of God and how it affects a community.
Afterwards, they were given the opportunity to pray for Mayor Odsey. It is an honor to have the opportunity to encourage the leaders of our community to consider God as they perform their duties.

It was a busy Monday. After their time in the governmental plaza, they joined Lisa for the Values Education Program at Bontoc Central School. I enjoyed it because it was the first time that I got to tag along and see her teach the kids. She does such a great job.

The kids really enjoyed having the team there, too. The team led a couple of action songs. Then they performed a comical skit with a serious meaning - Jesus needs to be the one "driving the bus".


In the afternoon, we escorted them to the Bontoc Museum (thus the picture at the top of the post). Lisa and I were blessed there. The receptionist at the museum recognized us because each time a team comes, we take them there. Because of this, she waived our entrance fee. Even though the students on the team are Filipinos, the culture here is considerably different than their homes. So it is a valuable experience to learn more about the people of the region.

After their time at the museum, it was back to work. Because we were leaving the next morning to go to Can-eo for a few days, we needed to go marketing for our trip. There is no market in Can-eo, so anything we planned to eat needed to be purchased in Bontoc. The students enjoyed comparing the prices and the size of the market to those in their own home towns.

In the evening, the team led worship and presented a message for our weekly Discipleship Talk with the SSM students. The room was a bit more crowded than usual because several of the students from Bontoc Mission Church attended as well. It was a great time of worship together.

Finally, after a very busy day, the students returned to their rooms for some much needed rest. So did their (much older) host!

Grace,
Tom

More to come...