Spooner UMC (WI) serves in the Philippines
Philippines Trip 2023
By: Lyza Serra, recipient of the Nolte Mission Scholarship for education missions
Our mission trip was a blessed experience, both for us, the missionaries, and for all the people we met in the Philippines.
Our mission team was small; it consisted of me, Reverend Ferdinand Serra, Billie LaBumbard, Terri (Theresa) Reiter, and Andrea Schullo. However, despite our small size, we were all willing to offer our services to whoever and wherever God may call us. to On January 3rd, we boarded a 19-hour flight from Minneapolis to Incheon, South Korea. From there, we had a one-and-a-half-hour flight to Manila. We arrived there on January 4th. Our traveling wasn’t over, however. We still had to travel to the province of Isabela, which was a seven-hour drive from our hotel. Once there, we slept in another hotel for the night.
On January 5th, we finally drove to our mission destination: the barangay of Bigao, of the City Ilucano, Isabela. When we arrived, the Bigao Methodist Church had already set up tables and chairs in the Bigao Community Center for the medical mission. There, our mission team helped out in a variety of ways. Terri helped with intake; she wrote down people’s names and their blood pressure. Andrea helped distribute medicine, which the Spooner UMC helped pay for. Billie and I helped the group of dentists by keeping people still while they got their teeth pulled. There was also a section where people could get counseling and be prayed over by the pastors. They also received free bibles, which the Spooner UMC also helped purchase.
We finished our medical mission around lunchtime, then walked over to the Bigao Methodist Church. The church members kindly hosted a potluck for all the volunteers. Afterwards, we visited the family that the Spooner UMC have been helping. This family, the Del Rosario’s, lost their house during a typhoon a few years ago. Spooner UMC has been helping them by paying for the construction of a new house. Our mission team visited them, and they expressed how grateful they were to us. In fact, the whole family started attending the Methodist church because of our help. The mother, Melinda Del Rosario, even became the church’s council chairperson. It was wonderful to meet them and pray with them. Our mission team is also planning to raise money to pay for windows and bags of cement or plaster for the Del Rosario house.
Later that evening, our mission team went back to the Bigao Community Center to take part in their Evangelistic Campaign night. Their youth group had formed a band and they lead everyone in singing worship songs. A lot of people were gathered inside the community center, including a large group of kids. We also listened to a Filipino pastor give a powerful sermon about what it means to be a Christian. It was a very joyous night, and you could tell that the Holy Spirit was there with us.
Our mission team also attended Sunday service at the Bigao UMC. We arrived at the church an hour before the service started. I led the children in their Sunday school lesson, with help from Andrea and Terri. We talked about the story of the Good Samaritan and how it’s important to love everyone regardless of where they come from. Now, while the children learn how to speak and understand English in school, my aunt Mae helped translate my lesson to Filipino to make sure the kids understood what I was saying. We also did some crafts, where the children made some “Thank you” cards or “I love you” cards for their loved ones. We were the ones who bought all the crafting materials (paper, markers, stickers, etc.), and after the lesson, we decided to donate all the leftover materials to the Sunday school.
While this was happening, Billie was leading the adults in their own Sunday school lesson so to speak. Every Sunday, many adult Bigao UMC members gather before the service to learn and talk about the Lord. That morning, Billie talked about letting go of your anxieties and to trust the plan that God has for you. There, Pastor Darlito’s wife, Bev, helped translate Billie’s words. (Pastor Darlito is the pastor at the Bigao UMC and the main person we collaborated with to make this mission trip possible).
After all this, we finally started the service. The Bigao UMC has a large group of members; almost everyone in the village attends this church. That morning, the church pews were packed full, which was such a blessing to see. Terri was on the piano acting as the accompaniment during some of the songs. The church’s youth choir also sang a couple of songs. My dad, Pastor Ferdinand, gave the main message. The whole mission team also stood up and each of us gave a testament of our faith, and how being a Christian has affected our lives. Overall, it was a blessed experience, and one that we will always remember.
The next part of our mission happened on Monday, January 9th. Our mission team woke up early in the morning to visit the local elementary school in Bigao. There they teach kids from Kindergarten to sixth grade, all in one place. The Spooner UMC had paid for new school supplies for every student in that school. After a short gathering where all the kids sang some songs, the mission team handed out the school supplies to each kid. The supplies were in plastic bags, and there was some slight variation of the supplies depending on the grade. But, in general, each bag contained a couple of notebooks, some pencils, glue, a washrag, and some crayons for the younger kids. The Spooner UMC also paid for some boxes of chalk for each classroom to have, which we handed to the teachers. In the end, both the faculty and the students were very grateful to receive their new school supplies, and they showed their appreciation by yelling a great big “Thank you!” to us.
Finally, we spent our last night at Bigao at Pastor Darlito’s house. There Pastor Darlito’s family hosted a meal for us, and many visitors came over to say goodbye to us. They also gave us some parting gifts, including a certificate stating their appreciation for, not only us, but for the whole Spooner UMC. Everyone expressed how grateful they were for our help, and they were hopeful that we could send another mission team in the future. In return, we expressed our gratitude for their hospitality and their kindness. We really felt that we connected with the people there and that this was only just the start of a wonderful friendship between the Spooner and Bigao United Methodist Churches.
