Going to Chapel (To Preach)

Last night I had the honor of preaching at our weekly chapel service here at Aparri Bible Seminary. I don't know how long I spoke this time because I never looked at the clock until after I was done. Again, I received several compliments; again I don't know how good it really was, but then again I never seem to be happy with my speaking performances. They didn't ask me to speak on Wedndesday night until Monday morning, so I only had a few days to put things together. Considering that, I pleased with how it went. The text was 2 Corinthians 4:1-7. Based on this I encouraged the students to find a ministry they had a heart for (v. 1), to base that ministry on honesty (vv. 2-3) and to minister with an attitude of humility and servanthood (vv. 5-7). Lately when I preach I find myself using hymn lyrics a lot; this time it was the first and last verse of "He Leadeth Me." I didn't sing it this time, it is definitely out of my significantly limited vocal range.

I just returned from the Bureau of Immigration, my stay has officially been extended till September 2. That at least, postpones things for a while. I was worried about that before and I'm still worried about it; please keep it in your prayers.

Yesterday (Wednesday) was a holiday here in the province of Cagayan, so we didn't have classes; instead we had a sports spectacular that began with jogging at 5 AM. I then played basketball until 8 AM, and also played some table tennis in the afternoon. It was a fun day, but the highlight of the week so far was probably having a 1 hour Q & A session with some 1st year students here. Those young ladies asked me just about everything under the sun (What is snow like?, Have you met Barack Obama? Are you going to be an astronaut? Do you have any younger brothers/cousins/nephews for me? etc.) It was very entertaining for me, I enjoyed talking with them. The hospitality of people and building relationships with the students has definitely been the best part of the experience so far.

Something else to cross off the list: I have eaten Ube flavored ice cream. Apparently ube is some sort of root crop similar to a potato. I don't know if it's naturally sweet or not. Also the ice cream purple, I don't know if that is the natural color or not either, but it didn't taste too bad.

For your Ilocano update of the week: the phrase is "mangan tayon" (I think that is how it is spelled.) It is translated as "Let's eat!" and is a favorite phrase of Filipinos and Filipinas everywhere, but it literally means "Let's fight the food!" In light of this, whenever it is time to eat I say to the students that live with me, "Guys! Let's fight!"

That's all for this week; thank you for your time.

Nick