Donations of Another Kind

Since the Student Services Department includes scholarships, we work closely with different kinds of donors.  Many of the people who provide our scholarships are businessmen.  So it's not unusual for me to get a call from a scholarship donor who is offering something other than money. 

I remember a few years ago when there was a shipment of okra that could not be delivered, and the owner offered it to our students.  So everyone had okra that night for supper! 

Another time, a subsidiary of the Nestle company tried out a new product -- strawberry-flavored cream.  They had had great success with the regular canned whipping cream, but it seemed nobody liked the strawberry cream.  They had shelves full of this product.  So, our students had the opportunity to think of many uses for strawberry cream over the next several weeks.

Another time, there was a Christian businessman who owned a hotel, and he was replacing the bedsheets.  He didn't want the old ones to go to waste, so we became the recipients of 1,000 white sheets!  About half were still in very good condition, and we used them in our dorms for several years.  The ones that were not so great became cleaning rags, so we also had a pretty impressive supply of rags for several years.

And the latest?  There is a Chinese restaurant owner who became a Christian.  The restaurant uses large quantities of pork every day to make their soups.  They boil the pork for hours, and they just use the broth for their delectable dishes.  At the end of the day, the meat is thrown out.  So the restaurant owner's pastor encouraged him to give it to Christian organizations instead.  We became the regular Friday recipients of about 50 kg of boiled pork.

 

Every Friday afternoon, we send someone to pick up the pork from the restaurant, and then these students are assigned to divide it into 1 kilo bags for distribution.  With the previous food gifts, like the okra and strawberry cream, they were one-time events, so there was quite a bit of excitement.  But his one is weekly, and the novelty is beginning to wear off.  It's becoming like the manna and quail in the wilderness.  So I have appointed a "Pork Coordinator" to help the students think of creative ways they can bless others with the pork!  Last week they shared it with a church that has a food-distribution program in a squatter area, and they are trying to come up with new ways to manage this unusual blessing.  What would you do if you received 50 kilos of pork every Friday afternoon?

How I Became an English Teacher

My last post was about how our English teacher has moved on to a new chapter in her life.  It happened rather suddenly, and we haven't found a replacement for her yet.  SO . . . in the meantime, I am teaching English!  I have ten students.  Since this is the end of the school year, all of them are functional in English now, but they need more help to be able to do graduate level work at the seminary.

For now I am focusing on building their vocabulary so that they can read their assignments and understand their professors.  We are doing this by listening to online sermons in English.  I've selected websites that also provide a transcript of the message, so they can read it as well as listen to it. I'm helping them "catch" the vocabulary words, as well as the idioms, and helping them find the main ideas of the message.  So far, we are having fun!

I am honored to teach this group of people.  Technically, they are not qualified to study at IGSL, because they couldn't pass the English requirement.  But the Admissions Committee felt that there were compelling reasons to accept them because of their background and potential for ministry in their home countries.  Three of them came from Muslim backgrounds, two were Hindu, three were Buddhist, and two were Communist.  I don't think I want to spend the rest of my life as an English teacher . . . but I am so happy that I can walk beside these students for this season and help them on their way.

A Happy/Sad Day at SSD

All of us who work in the Student Services Department have been wanting to visit Subic, a resort about an hour from Manila.  We decided to combine this fun activity with a sad activity that we were NOT looking forward to--saying goodbye to one of our colleagues. (We were thinking that combining the happy and sad parts would make it more bearable, because we were really sad to say goodbye!)
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So, off we went to Subic, and we did enjoy it a lot.  We took lots of photos, looked at exotic birds, watched tribal dancers, ate delicious food, and even took turns feeding an ostrich.
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Then we said goodbye to our dear Belle.  And yes, there were tears.  But she is leaving us because she believes God is calling her to serve Him in an unreached country, and we are SUPER proud of her.  It's just that we get the sniffles whenever we imagine her not being there in our office!  A happy/sad day indeed.
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The day Belle gave me her resignation letter, she said, "It's because of you, you know!"  She didn't mean that I'm such a difficult boss to work for.  She meant that in our office, we try to create an environment of excitement about missions, and bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth.  How could I complain if she decided to do exactly that?  Well played, Belle, well played!