Amazing Grace Baptist Church

I have briefly mentioned Amazing Grace Baptist Church in previous blogs, but I feel like it deserves it’s own post! AGBC is where all of the children and staff here at UDH attend church. Jiji’s husband, Pastor Roy, is the pastor there. Each time I have come to church here in the Philippines, it has been an experience. I'm thankful for the opportunity to have worshiped with the this church for this past month.  It has definitely made for some good times, and some funny stories.

First, I would like to point out a few facts. There is no one at church until our jeepney pulls up! We make up the majority of the church. Secondly, it never starts on time! Thirdly, we havn’t had a service yet under four hours!

It’s always interesting to see just what is going to happen! Sometimes, the rooster attends, and even makes comments about the sermon! Haha!  It's amazing that this thing can constantly crow, and hardly anyone acknowledges it becasue it's such a normal thing. Well, other than the few orphans who choose to throw rocks at it during the sermon :/

It’s very different from my church back home in America. Well, I feel safe in saying it’s very different than any churches back in America. There’s a ton of singing! It’s such a blessing to hear them singing praises to the Lord, and just have the opportunity to worship Him together! I am always so amazed that they never seem to get tired. They usually go about four hours, and it’s continuously up and down. Bekah always jokes, “We are about to convert Catholic.” They have such beautiful voices though, and I never get tired of listening.  It’s also opened my eyes to a lot of things that we sometimes complain about in the States. I know sometimes Bro. Ray will be a little long winded, and people begin to become restless. I promise it’s not bad at all!

Here, we sit on hard, wood benches. No walls. No air conditioner. Dirt floors. And we go for a whole lot longer than most of our services at home! But still, it’s wonderful. Every Sunday I think about how blessed these children really are. Their family puts in a lot of effort every Sunday to get 42 children ready and transported to church. It’s really incredible, and such a blessing.

flat tire on the way to church

KB & Carlos

Angel, Bekah, Me, Jestoni, & Alvin
Crowded in headed to AGBC

Melody, Sam, Angel

Here at UDH, we are mostly served juice at our meals. I absolutely love it! Each glass has been absolutely delicious. So delicious, Bekah and I usually drink the whole pitcher. Well, about two Sunday’s ago I went to breakfast, and thought nothing about drinking that whole thing of orange juice! However, about an hour into the service I needed the CR badly! I looked around and saw nothing other than houses. No sign at all of a CR anywhere. Which was what I expected. I have stopped at enough random people’s houses during my trips to the Philippines that this was really no big deal at all. I saw Rosella standing over to the side so I figured I would get her to point me in the right direction. And she did! Turns out there is a CR there. It’s a bowl about half a foot from the dirt floor. The sides were bits and pieces of bamboo (mostly broken bamboo), and the door was so shabby it had to held up. With all of the help I could get to try and do this as decent as possible, I'm pretty sure half of the church still got a decent view of the American using the "potty."  KB just thought it was absolutely hilarious! I guess I learned my lesson on that; However, I have decided that I get a little thirsty during worship so instead of drinking so much at breakfast, I’m just bringing my juice with me!