Ministry in Mayoyao, Ifugao 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

OUR TRIP TO MAYOYAO, IFUGAO (Darlyn P. Mateo)

March 12, 2010 – Just after class, we prepared our things including ourselves for our Mountain Ministry at Mayoyao Ifugao. Some were excited; others were not due to the bad weather. The atmosphere seems sad. It was one of the first drizzles in 2010. After eating dinner at the school kitchen, everybody entered the ABC shuttle and we started our long trip. It was exactly 9:00PM. Laughter filled the jeepney since all of us were telling funny stories. The trip goes on and on until everybody fell asleep…ooppsss! Except brother Alfred, who was our driver. We passed by the Nueva Vizcaya Road. We had a stopover at Bambang and Pastor Sung bought Buko pie for all of us…mmmm, indeed delicious. After our midnight snack, we slept again.
At around 3:00AM of March 13, we reached Isabela. We dropped by at the Gethsemane Prayer Mountain in order to rest before continuing our trip to Mayoyao. The place was nice. Everybody really wanted to get some good sleep. At 7:00 AM, we woke up for our morning devotion, after that, we visited the area.WOW! It’s beautiful…God’s wonderful creation is so awesome. At around 8:00 AM, we had our breakfast. We ate fresh tilapia and rice…the soup was delicious. After eating, we fixed our things, prayed for the place & for the people who lovingly welcomed us and we went on with our trip. The road wasn’t that dusty since it rained the last night.
Mayoyao, here we come. Past 1:00PM, we reached the place. The weather was almost the same with Baguio City. The brethren prepared a very delicious lunch for us. We ate and then rested. Some of the members of the church offered rooms in their houses for us. How nice & hospitable of them. We really took time to rest. 4:00PM, we woke up again and prepared ourselves for the night service & variety show. Whew! It was raining. We were positive though that people would come & attend the night activity. At 7:30, we went inside the church and waited for people to come. After sometime, we started the program. Most of us sang songs and then after that, the team presented a skit entitled “Way to Heaven”…the church building was filled with laughters…the best thing was that; they were able to grasp the meaning of the skit…glory to God. The last part of the program was the message given by our beloved ABC President, Ptr. Sung. The program ended past 10:00PM. Everybody went to their respective rooms and finally got some goodnight sleep.
March 14, 2010, Sunday – What a beautiful day! We all woke up with excitement in our hearts. We are all wondering on what would be our part in the services. The ABC team was divided into 3. The first group stayed in the main church with Rev. Jayesun Sherman, a member of the ABC Faculty, as the main speaker. The second group was under Ptr. Sung. They went to one of the Church Outreaches. The last group was led by Bro Michael Lumawig. They also went to one of the Church Outreaches. Everybody did their ministries as the Spirit led. Past 12 noon, the team met again at the main church and after eating lunch, we fixed our things and bid goodbye to Mayoyao. We prayed for the Church and its leaders before leaving.
Our trip went on again. We’re bound for Alab Bontoc,Mt. Province. on our way, we passed by the famous Banaue Rice Terraces. Due to the so called El Nino, most of the terraces dried up. It’s heartbreaking to look at the once considered as 8th wonder of the world. After taking some photos, we continued with our long trip. The road was very dusty. It’s past 7:00PM when we reached Alab. The church was located on top of a mountain so we climbed up stairs to get there. The church was an outreach of Sadsadan. It is being pastored by our classmate/driver, Bro Alfredo Damoking. The members prepared late snack and at the same time dinner for everybody. The team decided to eat first the snack and then go on with the night service. The members who attended were mostly young people and children. We again sang songs. We also presented the skit, “Way to heaven” and then after that, Ptr. Jayesun gave a message. The night was a bit emotional since Bro Alfred gave his deepest thanks to the team for having visited their Church. It was indeed an honor for all of us. All the glory belongs to our sovereign Lord. After the service, we ate our late dinner and then rested.
5:00AM of March 15, we woke up and fixed our things. After a while, we had our morning devotion.We didn’t have time to take a bath. Never mind, we’ll go home anyway. Haha! Our mission trip was over. We all had our breakfast and then prayed for the Church before leaving.
We all rode the ABC shuttle once again and went on with our trip. We dropped by at Sadsadan for our morning snack. Ptr Junie and her wife prepared a delicious food for all of us. After that, we set off again. In Natubleng, Buguias, we stopped over for another snack at Sis Aljoy’s place. His dad even gave us sacks of Potatoes. Blessings! That was our last stop over until we reached La Trinidad…Home Sweet Home.
The Mission Trip was a blessing to all of us; we surely would never forget the trip. To God be the glory!