After spending a few days living with the one of the Agta Teams, I realized how spoiled I had been by my cushy life in America. When I got to them, they were staying in the nicest conditions they had been in so far, and their stories of adjusting to their new summer lifestyle were pretty amusing. They were each willing to share the different struggles and realizations they had on their road to their current village.
Macey: I tried not to have any expectations about how the trip would go. There were some factors that I hadn’t considered, like how or what we would cook or how different the culture would be. One of the differences it took me a while to get used to was the lack of privacy. From the first village forward our team was packed in tight quarters and we were always with each other. It wouldn’t have been a very big adjustment if we had known each other prior to the trip, but when you’re with the same people that much, you get to know each other really quickly. I think that challenge actually turned into a blessing because we got so close so fast. The language barrier is also difficult, but most of the people are so welcoming and helpful that it hasn’t been that much of an issue. Sometimes they even apologize because they don’t know more English to communicate with us, which blows us away considering we are in THEIR country.
Chelsea: I didn’t expect our group to be as independent as we are. Not that I expected our supervisors to hold our hands as we went from village to village and supervise every bible study, but I was unaware of how much we would do on our own. I was surprised by how the people feel personally responsible for us while we stay in their village: they escort us places, in our current village the chieftan checks on us multiple times a day, and in one village they moved us from our tents outside into the Barangay Hall (town hall) because a typhoon was coming. We stayed in the Barangay Halls of the first two villages we went to, but in our current village we are staying in the home of one of the villagers. Staying with the people all the time makes all the difference. They have fully included us and we really feel like part of the family – it’s amazing.
Donnatello: It was difficult at first to travel because we had to hike through so much mud. It’s hard to be frustrated when you look around though. The Philippines is such a beautiful place! I was surprised by how some people lived so primitively, but the men have started to let me accompany them when they work. That is such a big step because in every village we have been to, it has been relatively easy to reach the women and children, but hard to build relationships with the men. We are learning better ways to approach the people, and seeing the progress God has allowed us to make in each village has been very humbling.
Michelle: As I was adjusting to life here on my team in the Philippines, I realized how many things I took for granted in the U.S., like stoves and toilet seats. I also had to adjust to how much longer it takes to do things here. I am so used to everything being instant in the U.S. that it was frustrating at first to deal with the delays of travel and cooking – which can take so long between collecting firewood, starting the fire, maintaining the fire, waiting for water to boil, then finally cooking. I asked God to teach me patience this summer, but I expected him to do it through people, not camping. He does work in mysterious ways. It has been amazing to see the people who are spiritually receptive to us, not just welcoming because we are important white people. In our second village we were so encouraged to see how hungry the people were for the word. That was the most remote village we visited, and travel was too expensive for the people to go and visit a church or hear a speaker. There were two conversions while we were there! They were so eager to hear that we were happy to leave several bibles with them so they could continue to study.
 |
| A fire to cook over at WAIST LEVEL.... |
 |
| and a toilet that FLUSHES!!!!!! We feel like we are now in the lap of luxury |