DAY 8 - TRAVELLING ON THE SABBATH

Today saw us take off from Dumaguete at 8am for a Sabbath day full of ‘churching’ and travelling.

Our first stop was a church planted by the beach on the way to Cubuncanlun – our final destination high in the mountains dividing the provinces of Negros Oriental and Negros Occidental. The service was memorable for the 28 people attending and Pastor Gary delivering a sermon on ‘Unity in Transition’ – a 15-minute spiel punctuated by moments of laughter and implorations to ‘Balak Bak’ which means ‘Please Clap Now’ – it was certainly not boring and no one encountered the Sunday Morning Snooze sometimes experienced in Australian churches!

A donation was made to the church by our group from financial support raised in Australia and the pastor was extremely grateful for the resources tis would provide for his small but fervent congregation.

Jumping back into the jeepney, the heavy diesel fumes became the smell of the moment as we journeyed for an hour up the into the high altitudes of the middle island landscape. High rising mud steppes and the view of the large active volcano were the picturesque scenery for a journey that is best experienced riding atop the jeepney waving to locals along the roadside, who smile and yell excitedly “Hey Joe!” – a reference to the liberating World War Two G.I.’s who all westerners are colloquially referred to in the Philippines.

A quick stop for native ‘Chicken-On-A-Stick’ in a roadside shanty that made Bunbury Shell Roadhouse look like Hygeine Heaven gave way to two more hours on the road until we reached the beautiful settings of Cubuncanlun and the official retreat known as Beulah-Land, a place for pastors and wives to spend time together and for small conferences.

A large sign signalled our welcome to the townfolk who stopped to see the whitefolk in their diesel jeepney.

After settling into our rooms, we admired the majestic volcano as we walked to the evening service, a 400-strong congregation who sang Hillsong numbers in English – just for us!

Pastor Gary spoke again at the evening service and all the players were invited onto the stage to say a little about themselves and their experiences on the trip so far. Many of the small children looked quizzically at the white Australians and then chuckled at colloquial, gravelly voices of the foreigners.

The congregation have known for some time that our presence here is not simply basketball – we are here to undertake a large food distribution program on Monday in which 700 parcels of food are to be handed out to the most needy families in the region.

The conclusion of the service saw the church hall converted to small production line of trestle tables and cardboard boxes for the packing of the food.

With great help from the church members, the Sports Ambassadors team packed the sardines, noodles and rice in just over an hour in preparation for the morning.

Hedley Taylor was in his element as he lugged the 50kg bags of rice from floor to table in his West Coast Eagles jersey. Nicknamed ‘The Thickness’ by the Filipinos for his rugged, brawny appearance, Hedley has been the silent veteran on this trip, pitching in wherever is necessary and working very hard in all manual tasks.

Many of the Filipino women were swooning during the packing process as Pastor Gary announced from the microphone: “Hedley Walang Osawa” – meaning ‘Hedley does not yet have a wife!’

The excited cheer sent the shy Hedley bright red as he scurried to find more rice in a back room somewhere!

By 10.30pm all the work had been finished and the team headed back for the best night’s sleep they had enjoyed in days.