Banaue

One way Youth Mobilization mobilizes youth is by taking Filipino youth on a short term exposure trip to another location in the Philippines and have them serve. So two weeks ago our team led a group of 10 Filipino youth on a 5-day mission trip to an orphanage in Banaue, Philippines. Banaue is famous for its beautiful 2,000 year-old rice terraces. Banaue is located in the mountains of Northern Philippines, about a 10 hour drive North of Manila. We held a vacation bible school (VBS) program and a daily feeding for the children of the surrounding area, totaling 75 children in all. We held the VBS at one of the local churches of Banaue, which is located on top of a small rice terrace in the town, overlooking the beautiful valley of rice terraces. None of the youth had ever served on any sort of mission trip before and some of them have not even had a chance to serve in their church at all.

Going here gave the youth a cross culture experience without even leaving the Philippines. The children spoke a different dialect than the youth so the common language was usually English. It was awesome to see them take charge of the daily lessons and activities and pour their love on the kids. We really believe that as these youth took a step of faith and stepped out of their comfort zone, their relationship with the Lord was challenged, stretched and strengthened. Our goal going into the trip was that the lives of both the children and the youth would be changed as a result of the work done. One of the nights we were showed a movie about the life of Jesus at the orphanage and invited everyone from the community. Many people came and at the end Greg closed the night by asking if anyone wanted to give their life to Jesus and many children and adults responded. We praise God for using us and our team to minister in Banaue. YM is looking forward to further opportunities to serve with the orphanage and the church. After the VBS was completed we had a recreational day where we took a jeepney ride to Batad, the next town over, and hiked the rice terraces in that area.