Reflections Newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

It has been almost two months since I have returned from my missions trip to the Philippines. Due to family and personal illness I was out of commission for almost most of March. Consequently I have been spending the month of April trying to catch up on all of my responsibilities. Many of you have asked me about how my trip to the Philippines went, and I promised to write a letter to that end. Here is that promised letter to you. I do want to thank you for your prayers and financial support. We were able to help very many missionaries during our short week in the Philippines of which you played a key role.

Overall I have to say that the trip was a great success. Not only did we accomplish all that we intended to do, but we also were able to enjoy the culture and missionaries while we were there. There were definitely some cultural differences to which we needed to adapt. For example, in the Philippines traffic lines and stop lights are mere recommendations. If you want to change a lane, you use your horn instead of your turn signal. This made for some crazy traffic conditions. While it may seem chaotic to you, we did not see any accidents at all. We ended up getting used to it. Another cultural difference was the ubiquitous nature of cell phones. Not only did everyone have a cell phone, but text messaging was used primarily rather than voice conversations. People would be walking down the streets punching in short messages to their friends or even co-workers. Sometimes you'd be having a conversation with someone and you could see them punching in a text message on their phone at the same time. In the Philippines the only part of the chicken I didn't see served was the head; and that doesn't mean that they didn't eat it. We saw chicken gizzard, chicken feet, chicken intestines, and even chicken tail shish kabob. One day we were served a snack called balut: a fourteen-day old fertilized chicken egg. (To see some pictures and videos from our trip visit the blog.)

We were able to help many missionaries with their laptop and desktop computers. I remember helping at least twenty people with their computers. We setup two secured wireless networks, updated computers, installed software, installed hardware, configured firewalls, held training sessions on safe computing practices, taught computer courses, and more. We were really able to bless these missionaries by allowing them to concentrate on the work that they need to be doing rather than worrying about their computers. I really enjoyed being able to serve them by helping in such a practical way.

One of the things I learned on this trip was that I can really experience true joy and pleasure in serving God. Often times serving God can be seen as a duty or a task to complete, but in the Philippines I woke up each day excited and energized to work on computers and get to know the local missionaries. The other thing I learned while I was there is that God needs non-traditional missionaries. Often times when people think of missionaries they think of pastors, teachers, evangelists, and the like, but there in the Philippines I met business managers, directors, public school ethics teachers, short-term missionary coordinators, videographers, and more. Whatever it is that God has gifted and impassioned us with can be used for him, not only across the world, but right here in our own neighborhoods and churches. What a privilege!

I wanted to thank you again for supporting our team in this the opportunity to bless so many people. Together we have made investments that will have eternal dividends.

In Christ,

Jason Wasser