Day 8 - The Day of Rest

​It began with breakfast. Eggs, bread, sausages and rice – we really are blessed here in YWAM Cebu. Despite the humidity and piercing heat, we are always welcomed with smiles all round and an overall joyful spirit. After that our team came together to share the meaningful things we saw over the past few days, and of course the most fun part: schoolie and toolie of the day! Schoolie went to Josh and Meg for various noteworthy deeds and Toolie to Emily for mistaking dry shampoo for deodorant, which made an interesting story!

Today we went to church, being a Sunday, and unlike Australia where we can wear our jeans and T-Shirts to the service, here dressing is important. It is part of their culture, and I love how people dress to impress, not so much others, but it looks that they are respecting God in they way they present themselves in church. The language barrier was an issue as well – as well as a giant spider in our view giving a scare! – but regardless it felt good to be in the house of God, able to come together and worship Him irrespective of colour, race, language or status; we are connected by serving the same, one God.
 
It was pretty relaxed coming back to the base, as most people were out at church, dispersed among the different locations. We enjoyed a round of Jungle Speed, a game requiring speed as implied in the name, then made our way to the house of Becky and her family, a woman who works in a safe-house for survivors of sex trafficking. She showed us a confronting documentary of the newest exploitative trend, online trafficking and its impact in the Philippines, particularly Cebu, where many innocent and vulnerable, especially poor young people are lured into a dangerous cyber world where people pay to watch them commit sickening acts.
 
This was very disturbing, eye-opening to watch and I personally was disgusted by the knowledge of a sex trade so hidden and undercover it was unheard of. Such things need to be brought to light and such people need to be exposed for true justice to be done, especially for the victims themselves. We are truly blessed to live where we do with so many privileges we take for granted; one of the many things we can do is pray for those not in such a fortunate situation and do what we can to help, which is why I am so honoured to be a part of the team here in the Philippines and use our resources to do what we can for others and for God.
 
- Debbie