Culture of the Philippines

Here is a little bit about life in the Philippines!

Religion

The main religion here is Roman Catholic, though most people do not even understand what it means to be Catholic or to know God. Since the Priest is the only one who can read and interpret the bible, many people have never read a bible for themselves. Prayer in their religion is always done through prayer books they are given to pray to different saints when problems arise, or prayers they will read in church.  As a result many people have never said a prayer of their own, talked to God in their own words. When a person sins in Catholicism they then must go to the Preist and confess, pay money for indulgences for themselves or the dead, and do good works in order for their sin to be covered. People believe that if they are good enough and do enough good works to cover their sin they will eventually go to heaven. Catholicism here is also full of witch doctors and fortunetellers that the people when go to when they are sick or want to hear from God. 

Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not by your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Transportation

Very few people in the Philippines have cars, and if you do have a car you are seen as extremely wealthy. Though there is a lot of public transportation. If you need to go somewhere you can either take a jeepney or a trike.

 A jeepney is the typical bus transportation, there are many jeepneys that have different routes and you have to find the jeepney you need to get to your destination. When you ride a jeepney you just pile onto the benches in the back with all the other riders and have no sense of personal space.

 A trike is the typical taxi transportation; trikes take you to specific places. A trike is a motorcycle with an attached cage for the rider. The driver can charge whatever price they choose and you can bargain with them for a price. As a foreigner riding trikes can be difficult as they will try to charge you way too much assuming you are rich and do not know what the price should be. 

Time

Here in the Philippines the way that people live is much different than the U.S. First of all time American time and Filipino time mean to 2 completely different things. In America if you are suppose to meet someone at 3pm they would typically show up at 2:50? In the Philippines if you ask someone to meet you at 3pm they could show up anywhere between 3:30 and 5, and if it is raining they may not show up at all.

Money

Money here is a huge issue, the economy is terrible forcing many people to work overseas. Here 1 dollar = 50 pesos and a typical person makes 150-200 pesos a day. Meaning they only make 3-4 dollars a day to support their family.

Family

Family structures are much different here, and broken families are typically due to the struggling economy. Most of the students either live with 1 parent or often times an extended family member. Since the economy is so bad at least one parent is typically forced to work in another country typically Saudi Arabia, to support their family.  Some of the students I have met in my classes have not even met their father because he is trying to give their family enough money to get by. It seems the families have the choice to either live in extreme poverty or to be split in different countries. As a result of the money issues and split families there is much prostitution throughout the country. Families will usually only have enough money to get one child through college, therefore after one child is through college they then have the responsibility to get their younger sibling through college. 

Praises

Our team here in Batangas has grown so much stronger together in the Lord.

We have started a bible study with 8 students from CLB who are curious about having a relationship with the Lord.

God is at work and moving within the hearts of the students in our classes!

Prayer Requests:

I pray that the people here can come to know God for themselves rather than knowing of a religion. I pray that they would realize their is nothing they can do on their own to get to God but rather it is believing and surrendering their lives to the Lord. I pray the people would know that it is not by good works that they are saved, but that Jesus paid the price for their sins and it is by grace that they have been saved through faith. 

Prayer for the classes we are teaching at Lyceum of the Philippines and CLB, that we would be able to share Christ with our students in our classes as well as students at the schools.

If you want to send me mail... I learned what my address should actually look like when it's written out. Sorry I apparently was not writing it correctly. If you want to write me a letter I'd love it! Sending packages is really expensive so please don't feel like you should :)

Joy Ashton

#4 GME Apartment

Delta Road Villa Jose Subdivision 

Kumintang Ibada Batangas City

Philippines 4200

Batangas City

We are now here in Batangas City and moved into our apartment where we will be living for the next 4 months. Our apartment is quaint we have enjoyed living there so far, but there are bugs everywhere. I am learning to live without the everyday comforts I am used to and realizing they are not a necessity. Living without a car, internet, hot water, air conditioning. It has been an eye opening experience and I am realizing that most of the world does not live with the everyday comforts that I have.

As we were driving through the Philippines to Batangas City all of the poverty we saw broke my heart and made me want to help and change the situations the people we were living in. As I was praying I realized that I cannot change the living conditions that all of these people are living in, and even if I could the more comfortable life I could offer would only be on this earth. Though something that I do have to share with others is the love of Christ and eternity with him and that will last forever and is far greater than anything on this earth.

Starting Monday we will be teaching English at the Universities here in Batangas City where we will begin building relationships with the students. This past week we were able to observe in the classrooms where the missionaries Jeff and Kim are teaching and we were able to meet many students at the schools. We are hoping to reach out to the students on the campuses and begin bible studies in the next few weeks.

Things I have learned about the Philippines:
1. Never say that you took a shower, always say that you bathed. If you say you showered it means you just sprinkled some water on your head.
2. Never ask for napkins at a restaurant it means toilet paper. If you want a napkin you either clarify a table napkin or ask for a tissue.

We Made It!

Hello Everyone! I finally made it to the Philippines after some very long plane rides. I left Columbus Monday morning at 8:30am and finally arrived here in Manila Wednesday at 11:00 am. On the plane ride here I was able to meet the other students on my team and fly with them the whole way from Detroit. The other students on my team are Chelsea and Chris.

Me, Chris, Chelsea

 

 

This week our team as well as the team going to Indonesia are doing training here in Manila. We are staying at a guest house in Manila right in the middle of the city. Our first day here in order to stay awake and try to get rid of our jet lag we explored the city of Manila and went to the boardwalk as well as the Mall of Asia. Driving around Manila was a new experience with people walking in the middle of traffic, vendors selling items on the sides of the roads/ people selling items at your car window, zero traffic laws, and car horns blaring everywhere.

Me and Chelsea in front of the sunset on the boardwalk

 Today we started our training where we are learning more about the culture and how to share Christ with the students here in Manila. At training we met the last member of our team Jaydee who is a Philippino student that will be working along side of us for the next 4 months. While we are here Chelsea, Chris, Jaydee and I will all be assigned to a different university in the area where we will teach English and spend time with the students. At the university we will eat lunch with the students everyday and build relationships with them we will then have bible studies in our homes every week to share Christ with the students. We will be here in Manila until Sunday then we will be traveling 3 hours to Batangas City where we will spend the next 4 months.

Here are some prayer requests, I will to make sure I keep you updated on how you can be praying for me and the team here in the Philippines.
-Growth within our team. I pray that our team can grow together in Christ and grow closer to one another.
-I pray that God is preparing our hearts for our time in Batangas City and for those we come in contact with.
-Universities where we will be working, that the students will be to us and to hearing about Christ. 
-Safety and health

Random things I have learned about the Philippines:
-You must always carry toilet paper with you where ever you go. I learned the hard way that if you are in a public place there is no toilet paper in the bathroom.

I will try to keep you all updated as much as I can, while in Batangas City we will only have access to the internet about once a week. I'm looking forward to sharing with you about my time here in the Philippines!

ready to go.

Thank you to everyone who has helped in making this trip happen. I have now raised all the money that I need in order to go to the Philippines! The trip is now 3 weeks away and I am so excited to go. I will hopefully be updating the blog about once a week to share with you stories, pictures and prayer requests. If you get me your e-mail I will send out notifications for when the blog is updated.

Update!

I was finally able to come home this weekend to spend some time with my family and catch up with them. With coming home I knew that I had some checks from support letters, but honestly with being away at school I had no idea what to expect. I started with $3,500 to raise and I am so excited that I already have received $1,845 towards my trip! I am over halfway there! I feel so blessed to have received so much support from people, it is amazing to see how God provides. Thank you so much for all you have given.

When I was going through my support checks and came upon my Grandmothers I was taken aback by the amount of checks in the envelope. My Grandmother had taken my letter to her bible study of ladies and shared my letter with them. The way the ladies gave, even if it was a small amount, was so beautiful to me. When I was going through the ladies checks I almost started crying because it was so cool to me that they just wanted to support me and further God's word in the world even if it was by a few dollars. The ladies simply wanted to give what they could. Seeing the way the ladies gave reminded that it's not the amount that we give whether in money, time, or resources but it's about being faithful to God's calling.