stories and requests

BACK. told you it would be soonish.

Today's interesting thing:

I was in a real, live Filipino wedding! Not just I went and saw it. I was in it, walking in the processional. For real. Here's the story. Ate Dulce (her real name used to be Dulce Amore--Sweet Love for those of you failed spanish) was getting married and since she was inviting half of CCT, I got thrown in the mix. I had just gotten my Barong and dress pants from the Kaibigan center (I think I've mentioned them before, if not, Kaibigan is the Tagalog word for friend and it is the term they use to talk about homeless. It is an incredibly powerful homeless ministry). It was a traditional Filipino wedding which means lots of flowers and traditional dress and an all Tagalog ceremony. I was originally supposed to be an usher in place of someone who couldn't come (really bad idea for someone who has only been to 1 wedding in the past 10 years). Then, Ate Maricar (one of the directors of Visions of Hope, CCT's school) asked me to be a stand in cord bearer. The wedding photographers/videographers were really good. Here's a shot of me and Ate Maricar putting the cord over the couple.

The veil that the couple wears symbolizes the authority of the man over the woman (you will notice that it is only on his shoulder but over her head). This is placed on first by the veil bearers. The cord (it looks like a rosary in the shape of a figure 8 with a glass rose at the center where it crosses over itself) is then placed over the couple to symbolize unity and infinity of their love. There was a lot of people involved in this wedding. And then at the end they took pictures with all of them. I felt really weird standing next to the groom whom I had just met that day and taking a wedding photo with him and several other people. That is until I saw that they take pictures with everyone. Even the ushers. They like pictures. The food was DELICIOUS and there was singing and some games at the end. It was a lovely wedding and it is kind of hard to really describe, so I'll show you some photos:

It was a wonderful service and very touching. I think I might have almost cried even though I couldn't understand a word of it. May God bless Rey and Dulce in their life together. 

How I became a little more Filipino:

This is a new segment of the program that I am introducing to tell everyone just how pinoy I am becoming.

• Last weekend, Saysay taught me how to wash my clothes by hand, and I washed all my t-shirts that I didn't trust to the laundry shop. They came out quite well even though Saysay laughed at how I scrubbed. They smell really good too. I felt very accomplished hanging up my clothes to dry on the balcony of my apartment.
• Today a guy walked into the communications department (where I work in the office) and just started asking me this long question in Tagalog. Ate Keren came to my rescue, but I was flattered that he assumed I knew Tagalog and that I don't stick out so blatantly that he didn't try to talk to me in Tagalog (actually, Kuya Arvin said that before he heard me speak, he thought I was a Fil-Am [Filipino American]. He said if I spoke Tagalog, people would mistake me as being part Filipino. That made me really happy)

What I am learning:
I have a fantastic brother in Christ who is doing his internship in Malawi (in Africa) right now. This studly man is Andrew Carey, and he shared with me an article that we read a couple years ago in one of our community development classes. It is actually an except from a letter that Thomas Merton which is published under the title, "A Letter to a Young Activist." I was just going to link the whole thing, but it is so good and so short that I am going to post the whole thing.

"Do not depend on the hope of results. When you are doing the sort of work you have taken on, essentially an apostolic work, you may have to face the fact that your work will be apparently worthless and even achieve no result at all, if not perhaps results opposite to what you expect. 

As you get used to this idea, you start more and more to concentrate not on the results but on the value, the rightness, the truth of the work itself. And there too a great deal has to be gone through, as gradually you struggle less and less for an idea and more and more for specific people. The range tends to narrow down, but it gets much more real. In the end, it is the reality of personal relationships that saves everything. 

You are fed up with words, and I don't blame you. I am nauseated by them sometimes. I am also, to tell the truth, nauseated by ideals and with causes. This sounds like heresy, but I think you will understand what I mean. 

It is so easy to get engrossed with ideas and slogans and myths that in the end one is left holding the bag, empty, with no trace of meaning left in it. And then the temptation is to yell louder than ever in order to make the meaning be there again by magic. Going through this kind of reaction helps you to guard against this. Your system is complaining of too much verbalizing, and it is right... 

The big results are not in your hands or mine, but they suddenly happen, and we can share in them; but there is no point in building our lives on this personal satisfaction, which may be denied us and which after all is not that important.The next step in the process is for you to see that your own thinking about what you are doing is crucially important. You are probably striving to build yourself an identity in your work, out of your work and your witness. You are using it, so to speak, to protect yourself against nothingness, annihilation. That is not the right use of your work. 

All the good that you do will come not from you but from the fact that you have allowed yourself, in the obedience of faith, to be used for God's love. Think of this more and gradually you will be free from the need to prove yourself, and you can be more open to the power that will work through you without your knowing it.The great thing after all is to live, not to pour out your life in the service of a myth: and we turn the best things into myths. If you can get free from the domination of causes and JUST SERVE CHRIST’S TRUTH, you will be able to do more and will be less crushed by the inevitable disappointments. Because I see nothing whatever in sight but much disappointment, frustration, and confusion... 

Our real hope...is not in something we think we can do, but in God who is making something good out of it in some way we cannot see. If we can do His will, we will be helping in this process. But we will not necessarily know all about it beforehand..."

This is a perfect explanation of what I have been feeling all summer. I am essentially useless. God can use me if he wants, but me trying to go out and 'do' anything on my own in development is a laughable concept. And honestly, this is probably one of the biggest reasons I want to do development. Because it forces you into a position of humility and reliance on God. I am a very arrogant and headstrong person when it comes down to it, and I need a vocation that is going to be constantly crushing me and forcing me to rely on Christ. 


As Merton says here, it is so easy to put your identity in your work (especially when you doing humanitarian work). I have definitely done that through my 3 years at school. I am THE com dev major (cdv = com dev = community development). I love it. That is what people on campus think of when they think of me. The weird kid who longboards around in board shorts and is a com dev nerd. That has been broken down a lot since I've been here. When I came in as a freshman, I wanted to spend a break as a homeless person on the streets of chattanooga to experience what they experience (yes, I know, lots of problems with this plan). Walking by the homeless lady who daily begs from me on the steps of Vito Cruz station makes makes poverty a lot more real. There's no glamour in it here. It is fine to want to be homeless in a city where you have friends and know the area. But when you are truly isolated and in a new place and powerless to change things, you realize it is much less glamorous than it sounds. Over the past few months, I have been more alone and powerless than I have ever been in my life. Actually experiencing those emotions which are everyday life or the transient homeless brings my freshman idealism down to earth. Smelling the urine on the sidewalk every day and interviewing people who have 3 teeth left and flies feeding on their bleeding toe makes you think twice about leaving your mayaman (rich) lifestyle. 


So if poverty fighting isn't this romantic cause and I my best efforts will produce little to no effect, what is the point of everything I am and everything I have been pushing for in my life? Well, that's when you are forced back to what Merton closes on: Christ. You have to realize that your ONLY value lies in Christ. You have to come empty handed to the kingdom before God gives you tools to work on his magnificent palaces. Merton talks about this need for humility: "Our real hope...is not in something we think we can do, but in God who is making something good out of it in some way we cannot see" Out of our humility and emptiness can come true faith. This is the faith that is talked about in Hebrews 11 (Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen). Once you are assured of your value and fulfillment in Christ (faith), only then are you free from these idols we put up in our lives. It is only then that you can you give up your idol of proving yourself and can give up your need for the poor to give you meaning. That is when we can "simply serve Christ's truth."

Thanks Andrew for sharing that and sorry for the lecturing tone. I write like that because it is what I need to hear. In some ways, this blog is more for me than for you.


Prayer requests and joys:

• My research is going somewhat well, but there is still a LOT of work that needs to be done. One of the big problems at the moment is clearness of communication. My translator (AB) and I are trying to find ways to get clear stories from the people we interview. This ranges from recording the interviews to changing our interview questions to finding good people who will allow us to interview them. Please be praying that we are able to both genuinely care about the people we hear from, but also get the information we need
• Time management: I have never been very good at this. It is always kind of a weakness and it is hitting me especially hard here. Every day looks different for me and so there isn't much structure which is difficult for me to deal with. Please pray that I am efficient and effective in using my time
• God has been working so much in me. Seriously. I think the theme of this summer is probably going to be humbling. Pray that this continues and that I am able to see my sin more clearly and then look to Christ, but also to then look outwards. There's so much need here in the Philippines and one of the natural responses is to desensitize yourself to it because you can't take it. Pray that I would not do this. I want to be able to feel for the people here and channel my emotions into my work and turn it into a deep dwelling passion for the those that I serve. I am learning a lot about my idol of serving the poor. It is pretty ugly. So praise God for what he is doing and pray that it continues
• I went out with some friends from work for dinner a little while ago and I had to leave early because I was going somewhere early in the morning. I found out later that they got into a car accident later that night. Their SUV got hit by a bus and flipped over several times. Luckily, everyone is safe and no serious injuries. Thank God that they are safe and that I was spared any potential harm.
• My body has adjusted to Pinoy time and food (sorta)! As you may remember, I was having some difficulty with this before. Praise the Lord of all timezones.
• I had to have my power cord replaced for my computer
• Present mindedness: this is a big one. Throughout my entire time here, it has been a temptation for me to escape via internet and friends. This is becoming worse as I am thinking about coming to the close of my time here. Pray that I am able to focusing on where I am and that I live fully in the present. There are great relationships here and I don't want to miss out on them.

Something else that you should know about:
So there's this woman I happen to know who is the most gorgeous and wonderful woman I've ever met. She has a passion for the gospel and a passion for middle school girls (the first one I love and respect, the second one I just don't understand). Miraculously, she happens to be my girlfriend. Emily is going to Scotland for a year with Mission To the World (MTW), the Presbyterian Church of America's (PCA) missions organization, to run the youth group of Kilmallie Free Church in Fort William. Kilmallie is a large (for Scotland) and thriving church but they don't have anyone who can do full time youth ministry. Emily happens to have minored in youth ministry and has a gift for working with young teens. So naturally, they decided to team up. Also, incredibly exciting is that the public schools in Fort William are open to having my burgeoning missionary girlfriend come and share the gospel in the classrooms of one of the most secular countries in the world (crazy right?). The only thing preventing her from going is the money. She's already at 70% of the funds needed but she's fast approaching the deadline for raising the rest (her goal is to be there in August). So, check out her blog and consider supporting her.


Thanks for reading this whole thing. Here's a picture of an adorable little Filipino boy at an savings group meeting:

Bayang magiliw (beloved country)

Hello everyone. It has been a rather prolonged absence. I am really sorry about that. A LOT has happened since I last posted. I could make all kinds of awesome excuses, but instead I will just get to the interesting stuff. I have decided since there is SO much, I am just going to tell you about one new thing every new blog post and blog a lot. That way I don't have to write a 24 page blog post.

side note: Bayang magiliw is a line from the Philippines national anthem which I am a huge fan of (much better than the American national anthem). It is very catchy and I am trying to learn it in Tagalog.

So here is today's interesting thing:

Had my first (and possibly my last) Balut. It wasn't really that bad. For those of you who clicked on the link, it was much more like the last picture on the right. I learned there's actually different ages for balut. Usually the egg is allowed to grow for 14 days before it is boiled, but sometimes they let it grow longer and you get more developed chicks (like 18 days). That stuff is nasty. I did not chew the chick. I just swallowed it whole. My stomach knew something was up. It didn't feel bad, but it definitely felt odd for the next few hours. It also comforted me to learn that some Filipinos don't like balut. I didn't feel like such a wimp when they said they didn't like eating the chick either. The rest of it (mostly yoke and soup) is actually pretty yummy. It is a street food so of course I ate it in the dark on the side of the road. Here's a instagramed pic for your enjoyment.

And since I have done such a terrible job updating you in the past month, I will give you another one. Just today though. Because you were so good reading that first one.

June 12th is the independence day in the Philippines. As such, it is a national holiday and Jarvis, Saysay, and I took our day of freedom and went to La Mesa Eco park in Quezon city. It is a park which is by the La Mesa Reservoir. It was quite beautiful. It was a rainy day, but we hid from the rain and then took lots of pictures and videos. This is a little clip I put together of it.

Eco park on independence day from josiah meneghini on Vimeo.

 

Something I've been learning (the segment of the program where I tell you about something I am learning): There's certain points in your life where you are experiencing so much and learning so much that days seem to stretch into weeks. Time seems to slow down and you feel so much in very short periods of time. That has definitely been happening to me. I have been learning a lot and experiencing a lot. One of the big themes that has emerged from this experience is being ok with inadequacy. I have to start out by explaining the my 'research' has been somewhat of disaster. There were weeks were I didn't really get anything done at all. There was a plethora of reasons why it didn't work out like I was planning. Some of those reasons were because of me and some of them weren't. Regardless, I felt incredibly out of control of my situation and inadequate. I don't take failure well. This might be because I don't really do failure. If I feel like I am going to fail at something, I simply avoid it. Well, there's not a lot I can do to avoid being here in the Philippines and the work I am here to do. I have tried. I have avoided failure by trying to stay in the small world I have found here that I understand and can control. I have used my computer way too much to escape. I have hidden behind my money and skin color which gives me the ability to go to coffee shops and malls that feel more like America and where I can feel more in control. But in the end, God always brings it crashing down around me, which is an incredible grace. I have had to face things about myself and sin in my heart that I have tried to ignore for a long time. I have been challenged in my views on many things. But most of all, I have been shown that I put so so much of my value in my ability to perform. I feel good about myself only when I feel I am meeting expectations. That works great when you are in high school and trying to get into a good college. But when you apply this mentality to all of life, you get a disastrously unstable and insecure person. I am dependent on people's opinions of me and more importantly my opinion of other people's opinions of me. So as you can see this becomes a huge narcissistic web of pride and sin that is just waiting for God to bust it up and break it down. And that is what he has been doing. I have been listening to a lot of sermons by Tullian Tchividjian which have been really good for my understanding of grace. I have talked about grace and adoption and freedom in Christ, but I don't think I've really delved into the reality that I am COMPLETELY unworthy and that God could not love me more even if I was because He loves me with the love He has for Christ. The gospel doesn't make sense and literally goes against everything I've learned from the time I was born. You get everything for nothing and you don't have to pay it back? You are given it UNCONDITIONALLY? That doesn't make sense. And like Paul says, it can be downright offensive. But it is true. It is the best truth in the world and I am just starting to remember that and revel in it. So that is just a little of what is happening in my life right now. As promised, I am keeping this short and I will return... soon.

Thank you all so so much for your prayers and thoughts. I am absolutely sure that those prayers are playing a key role in my summer. It's not really something I've ever felt before. But I just know that there's a lot of people praying for me and that those prayers are making a difference (in some way).

Please put your tray tables in locked position... week 1

I walked off my third flight in a row. With only about 3 hours of sleep in a 19 hour period of travel, I was ready for the 12 hour time change and the night time. Jet lag has never really been much of an issue luckily (thank you college and never sleeping when I should). I flew through customs (they barely looked at my passport) and waited 20 minutes for my luggage to emerge from the baggage of the other 500+ passengers on my flight. I finally got my bags and walked outside the sheltered limits of the airport. Outside, a wave of heat and humidity hit me in the face, I began sweating immediately, and my nostrils latched onto a waft of diesel fumes and the smoke from things that my parents told me to never throw in the fire. I was officially back in the developing world. I felt like this is where I belonged. I let out a sigh of gratitude and excitement. This is what my entire last semester of life had been leading up to. I was finally here.

There's too much that has happened so I'll just give you a summary of the highlights:

Day 1 (fri):

• Went out to the mall to get some stuff (most importantly a cell phone). Malls are huge here. They have aircon (air conditioning) and you can pretty much buy anything there (including groceries) so they are very popular.
• Interesting fact: the largest mall in Asia (Mall of Asia) is located in Manila
• Met more people than I could possibly remember at CCT
• Had adobo for lunch (a traditional and popular Filipino dish)
• Road in a jeepney, the most popular form of public transportation. The streets are literally crawling with them. And every single one is a little different. Just like snowflakes =P
• This view:

Day 2 (sat):

• I went to Fort Santiago which is where the national hero José Rizal was imprisoned before he was executed. He was an advocate for the Filipino people during the Spanish colonial period. He wrote 2 especially inflammatory novels against the Spanish which all Filipino children are now required to read in school
• Found this at the community center which I talk about below. Dr Mask would be so proud:
  

• I went to a "partner day" in one of the community centers in Metro Manila. This was a celebration/competition of mothers that participate in the microfinance program with CCT. One member from each lending group was selected to represent the group. They wore the traditional Filipinianas and performed talents and gave a small speech and answered questions. It was a type of beauty pageant for the mothers of the program. Since I was a guest and new to all this cultural stuff, they naturally invited me as a judge! I ended up copying off my fellow judges as I filled out my score card which included things such as grading personality and quality of the answer of questions (everything was in tagalog of course). Anyway, after all this was finished and they were waiting for the final tallies, they started dancing (a very common end of party practice). Annnnnd as the honored guest, I naturally was asked to join in. AB (a CCT staff about my age who has basically taken care of everything for me and guided me through everything. He's great. Shout-out: he's a great singer.) graciously recorded the whole thing. If you notice, these women are placing money in my hands! This is definitely a first for me. I have never been paid to dance. And actually, it was rather rewarding. I made around US$6. Not bad for a white boy. But seriously, this might be the most embarrassing thing I've ever posted online. Consider yourself blessed:

Dancing at partner's day from josiah meneghini on Vimeo.

Day 3 (sun):

• I went to a Victory Christian Fellowship (a contemporary, evangelical church). It was a great service. It reminded me that although there are tons of differences, the body of Christ and the Bible are the same here as back home. There are certain things that are trans-cultural and our God is one of them. He is the ultimate form of transcultural because he created all cultures. It was a good sermon. It was in perfect Taglish (tagalog and english mixed) and the pastor would switch languages without warning (sometimes almost mid-sentence). It is amazing how bilingual the Philippines can be. The sermon was on honoring your father and mother and how scripture does not say that we should only honor them when they are performing well. We need to honor them because we see them as Christ sees them. Even if they sin against us, we need to see them as forgiven and love them accordingly. Good advice.

Day 4 (mon):

• I attend devotions at the CCT main office at 7:30 in the morning. We meditated in silence for a while, then sang, and then broke into small groups to discuss the word. The men's small group that I was in graciously tried to use as much english as possible. It is great to be with believers in other cultures and see Christ praised in other languages. It is the way it was meant to be.
• I went to visit a Community Center in a different part of Manila. While there I got to see some tailoring and printing work of the Kaibigan Ministry (video here). Kaibigan is the Tagalog work for 'friend'. The Kaibigans are all former street dwellers who have decided to take advantage of the programs CCT offers to get themselves off the streets. These include jobs training, housing, employment, etc. The street dwellers learn about the Kaibigan program and hear the teaching of the word from what is called Street-side Fellowships. These fellowships are a feeding program where they receive the word, food, and build relationships with the CCT Kaibigan staff (some of whom are Kaibigans themselves). Through these relationships and attendance of the street-side fellowships, the street dwellers decide whether they are ready to move off the streets. This is key to the ministry, it is the street dwellers and not CCT who decides if/when they are ready to change their lives. Once they join the Kaibigan ministry, they can either learn construction, water purification, tailoring, printing, janitorial services, or a host of other vocational training options that CCT offers. There is actually a whole construction company called Covenant Community Service Cooperative. All the workers are Kaibigans and they provide all the construction needs for CCT and its various ministries (including the Tagaytay retreat center which I visited later on Tues). 
• Key take away: CCT is HUGE and has tons of different ministries. It has around 1000 employees. Not bad for an organization that just celebrated its 20th anniversary 

This is a picture of my first trike (sidecar) ride that I took to get to the community center: 





After on the way back to the main office, it started raining (these are pictures taken out the back of a jeepney):

Day 5 (tues):

• This was a big day. I woke up feeling pretty sick (I think I accidentally drank some tap water from Jolibee's). We went up to Tagaytay (a beautiful area about 2 hours south of Metro Manila). I visited Magdalena which is a boys school for street boys. We also visited the sister school nearby in Puypuy (the girls school which is still under construction by the Kaibigan construction company). The landscape was incredible, but unfortunately I was laying in the back of the car most of the drive. After that we went to the newly constructed Tagaytay retreat center. It is a beautiful facility that exemplifies the Selah spirit. We then visited a weekly savings group meeting with the group's facilitator and went over the house of principles using Chalmers training material! Incredible to see it at work in the field. On the way back to Manila, we stopped by a road side stand and bought fresh pineapple. The stand was owed and operated by a savings group member! So great. Here's a picture:

This is a statue at the Tagaytay retreat center:  

This is a shot I took out the window coming back into Manila. It is the ever growing city in my mind. There are signs of growth and construction everywhere. It is the most sprawling, alive city I've ever visited. It's quite a treat to live here and be a part of it:

Day 6 (wed):

• I was sick so I stayed home and rested in bed (I am feeling much better now). And made this short video to show off my living quarters. Hope you enjoy (press on the word 'vimeo' if you want to see it in a new window).

Welcome to my home in the Philippines from josiah meneghini on Vimeo.


Day 7 (thur, today):

• I worked in the CCT main office all day. A lot of time of this blog and a lot of time on emails and CDV homework. Now I'm going to bed because I'm learning that I need 9-10 hours of sleep when I'm in new cultures

Prayer requests:

• Full healing and bodily acclimation to this new climate and food
• Adaption to cultural stress. This is a new culture. I love it, but it has been very overwhelming and as with any cross cultural experience, it takes time to be fully comfortable. I am expecting it to be worse before it gets better. Right now I miss home and my friends. Pray that I would remember that it is natural to be lonely and desire my own culture and that I wouldn't let that ruin my experiences and enjoyment of this new country
• That I would turn to Christ more and more. I have an incredible opportunity in that I am forced to rely on Christ a lot here because everything is new and unknown. Pray that I would actually turn to Him and that I wouldn't try to stubbornly do things on my own
• I am not in control of much of anything here. That's hard for me. Pray that I am able to deal with the ambiguities of not knowing whether the plans I make will ever happen
• That I would remember that God has placed me here. That I am not simply surviving or trying to get by. I have a mission which is exciting and inspiring. Luke 12:48 is especially applicable to me here and I need to remember it: "everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more"

Praises/answered prayers:

• I am feeling better!
• I am learning how to get around and am growing daily more comfortable with my surroundings
• I have incredibly gracious and caring hosts at CCT. They have been so kind to me and continue to treat me as an honored guest
• I am going to meet up with some missionary friends (Tammy Schutt and fam) this weekend. It will be very good to talk to them and learn about their experience here in the Philippines.
• God has greatly blessed CCT and their efforts at ministry. They are a fantastic organization who is pursuing God's will and standing for Him when it would be easier not to. It is a huge blessing that I get to work with and learn from them. 

new blog name

Hey guys,


Blog name changed. So I decided Developmental Adventures in the Philippines (or whatever I called it) was a really boring name (confirmed by the fact that I can't even remember what it was named). This new name comes out of my past week at the HOPE International leadership summit. Picture time:

This leadership summit was a meeting of many of the important people in the HOPE network/organization. This was basically a gathering of my heros. The people who actually formulate and implement all the theories and concepts that I study about in school. These are program coordinators, country directors, SCA (savings and credit associations) specialists, data analysts, etc. Awesome, right!?


Anyway, the theme of this conference was Selah. This term occurs 73 times in the Psalms. Other than that, the only other place is Habakkuk 3. It occurs at the end of poetic stanzas. There are many many theories as to what it means. Since it is quite an interesting word, I decided to study it a little more. These are the 3 main theories I have come across from rigorous study (actually, mostly just wikipedia articles):

1. It means to pause. The meaning of the Hebrew word selah is pause. Especially in the sense of waiting for a response from a congregation. This is a conclusion drawn from the call and response tradition of corporate worship.
2. It could also mean 'to weigh'. An indication for the reader of the text to pause and consider the import of what has been said. This is a call to stop and meditate.
3. It could mean to praise and exalt God. This meaning comes from an association of the word selah with the Hebrew word for lift up or exalt. This is a call to praise God for what is being said. Also applicable for the corporate reading context.

As I thought about this concept of Selah through the week, I realized this is almost exactly what I needed to hear before my internship. Throughout this whole internship process, I have been plagued with doubts and feelings that I will not be adequate for the immense job before me. I have constantly been worrying about things like how I will be able to access internet or what I should pack. I have spent very little time asking God how he wants to use this time in my life. I am going to be working hard and most of the results of my work are going to be completely outside of my control. I am going to need to stop. Praise him. Consider what is happening to me and how he is using it. I am going into a situation where it will be very apparent that I am not all that I think I am. It is going to be very important that I let my identity, my stability, my confidence rest in him. I need to use this concept of contemplative, praise-focused rest to quit making everything about me and my insignificant world. I think this idea of resting and watching the work God is doing in me (which will not necessarily be the work I myself am doing) is going to be the theme of my summer. So I renamed my blog accordingly.

The other part of the title is just as important. I need to rest from my need for achievement and reflect/look out for on what God is doing. This processes should produce hope. God is so much bigger and greater than I think He is. I can take hope that he will do what I so desperately want to do (help people). This last week, I also learned that HOPE International is actually an acronym. It stands for Helping Other People Eternally. This is indeed what I hope God will do through me.

Summary: This summer is going to be a summer of Selah. A summer of laying down my need for validation from my actions and achievements. A summer of actively resting in Christ. A summer of doing my work to the best of my ability and letting Him determine the outcome. A summer of having a great hope and assurance that He will indeed HOPE (help other people eternally) through what I do in some way. That is why I am calling my blog Selah and HOPE in the Philippines.

Now it's time to learn some com dev (community development) from my favorite teacher in the world, Brian Fikkert!


Part 1: Paternalism and Short Terms Missions [STM] (... I am just going to create a page of abbreviations). I know most of you already know all this stuff, but this is a good video anyway. Good to be reminded of.


Disclaimer: I think I can safely say that neither Brian Fikkert, nor myself, think STM is bad. I think it is often been misused and this video shows how. STM is how i first got interested in development and what set me on the course that I am on now. Still, there is much for all of us to learn from this video. This video shows Fikkert calls the distinction between relief and development (from When Helping Hurts).

So it begins...

Very nearly missed my flight. Checked in, through security, and on the plane in under 15 min. God is so good to me.

This is real. I am actually starting my internship. From this point forward, for the next 3 months, I will not see a face that I recognize. I am scared. This is one of those times that God shows up. I have full faith that He will.

Philippines update: the Leadership Summit in Amish country

HELLO EVERYONE!

I am excited. And I had lots of coffee. Tomorrow I will be boarding a plane to go to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to attend HOPE's annual Leadership Summit (this includes the Celebrating HOPE dinner, which is open to anyone). This summit is where all the HOPE leadership from 16 different countries comes together for training, discussion and other such organizational things (I actually am not sure what it is yet). Most importantly, this summit acts as an orientation for all the HOPE interns. Half of these interns will be staying in Lancaster, PA to work at HOPE's headquarters. The rest will go out to the four corners of the earth. I, being the only one going to the Philippines, am quite excited.

A lot has developed (pun intended) since my last blog post. I have talked to a former HOPE intern who was very helpful in preparing me for what awaits in the Philippines (thanks Walt!). Most importantly, I have some things to report about fundraising:

• I found out that I am 67% of the way to my fundraising goal!
• I don't need to have all my funds raised until the end of the internship. Sorry to everyone who got a letter saying there was an early May deadline. I thought I would have to have the money before I left.
• I am still on track and HOPE says I am doing well with the fundraising.
• MY GOAL: raise all the money before I leave so that I don't have to worry about it while on the other side of the world.
• AMOUNT LEFT TO RAISE: $1,200

Needless to say, if you want to give and haven't yet, please do. =) And to make it even easier, here's how:

Directions for online donations:

• Go to www.hopeinternational.org and select the “Donate Now” green tab on the right-hand part of the screen.
  
• Under “Allocate your Gift” select “Other.”
  
• In the box beside “Other Gift Designation”, please type in “Intern: Josiah Meneghini”
  Directions for Donations through Mail:

Directions for mailed donations: 

• Make checks payable to Joan Bauman, Donor Care Administrator, HOPE International. 
• Mail check to:

Joan BaumanHOPE227 Granite Run Dr. Suite 250Lancaster, PA 17601

• Write ‘Intern Donation – Josiah Meneghini’ in the memo line. 

As you may or may not know, microfinance is all about financial accountability. Therefore, if you have any questions about how all this money will be used (I need to raise a total of approximately $3,692), please email me or comment on this post and I will send you my budget.

Now back to fun stuff.

Here's a map of where CCT is:

View Larger Map


This is a picture taken from CCT's doorstep. It looks down the street on which the CCT headquarters are located (unfortunately, the great google has not street-mapped Manila yet):

This picture is taken a little ways down the road. Interesting fact: the colorful looking tuck/bus thing in the foreground is a common form of transportation called a jeepney. They are the most common form of transportation in the Philippines and can be very flamboyantly decorated. 

Prayer requests:

• Again, safe travels.
• Passion: For some reason, I am exhausted from the semester and need to be motivated and rested for this internship.
• Vision: my work (I will explain it more fully in another blog post) is going to require a lot of vision, creativity, and experimentation. I do not have what it takes to do it... on my own. So pray that the Lord gives me the vision to do it.

Prayers answered/praise:

• Money is coming in for the trip and the wrecked car has been replaced. He gives His children so many good gifts.
• Goodbyes are almost over. Next comes hellos (that could be its own requests).
• All packed. It all fits. And Delta gives me 2 free bags! Lots of room to bring presents back =)

Cars and planes

Well, I am sitting on side of the road after wrecking my girlfriend's car. It still runs but it looks like this. No fun. Hopefully the bill won't be too big.

I am leaving tomorrow to go back home for a week. Then I am going to pennsylvania to officially start my internship by attending HOPE's leadership summit. Quite exciting. After the week long summit, I am leaving for the Philippines. I am really sad to leave as it will be the last time I see Emily for the next seven months (while I am gone, she will be leaving to serve with Mission to the World for a year in Scotland and neither of us will be able to make any transatlantic trips till Christmas vacation). But at the same time, I am very excited to be starting this new adventurous chapter of my life. I feel like these are the last few weeks of my childhood. There is a sense of parting from a carefree life.


I do know that I will be staying in a condo that belongs to CCT. This is awesome. I don't know if I will be having any roommates yet but I am excited to be living on my own in a foreign country. Thank you for praying.


I will keep the world wide web updated as I travel by car and plane and possibly train during the next month. Thanks for taking the time to read this.


prayer requests:

• travel preparation and safety
• saying farewell to many loved ones
• trusting God to provide for wrecked cars and unraised support

prayers answered:

• finding out more about what I am doing (specifically housing)
• everything is packed and finished at school for my penultimate year of college