We took it easy today because the building had two inspectors coming to approve the work we have done so far. We got the green light to move forward from both of them (praise God!), so tomorrow we pour concrete! That will be a two to three day job, and will definitely be the most intense labor so far.

For their “easy day”, the team was taken snorkling! It was a fantastic few hours of exploring the reefs on the other side of the island. I had no idea how THIN this island is… we walked from one side to the other in about ten minutes!

This afternoon we went to another neighborhood to hang out with some children and play some basketball with the adults. What our students DIDN’T know was that this was an entirely Muslim neighborhood. Our missionaries knew that, and so did I, but just about every one of the kids had no idea. We were invited to come and hang out because the church has done a fantastic job of building relationships here on the island, even with people outside of the church! So… here’s where it gets good. Our students are AMAZING with the children, so naturally they decided to play with them right away. So on one half of this common area in the neighborhood you have a hundred kids and their moms and our students all having fun. And on the other half (stick with me here for a sec), you’ve got a handful of us playing basketball. There are probably a hundred Filipino men out by the courts watching us play (by the way they were amazing, and by the way again WE WON THE GAME). So picture all of that happening in an exclusively Muslim setting. Got it? And then the students decide to teach the kids a new song, one that they learned during their training before they came to Boracay. Here are the lyrics in the native language Tagalog:

BUHAY, BUHAY,BUHAY KAILAN PA MAN
SI HESUS AY BUHAY
BUHAY KAILAN PA MAN
BUHAY, BUHAY, BUHAY KAILAN PA MAN
SI HESUS AY BUHAY KAILAN PA MAN.

Seems innocent enough, right? Well here’s the translation:

ALIVE, ALIVE, ALIVE FOREVERMORE
MY JESUS IS ALIVE
ALIVE FOREVERMORE
ALIVE, ALIVE, ALIVE FOREVERMORE
MY JESUS IS ALIVE FOREVERMORE
SING ALELUIA, SING ALELUIA
MY JESUS IS ALIVE FOREVERMORE
SING ALELUIA, SING ALELUIA
MY JESUS IS ALIVE

Our students were smack dab in the middle of a Muslim community singing about Jesus being alive forevermore!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? Does it get any better than that? I’ve got to be honest— I was a little nervous when I heard them start the song. I looked around at the men watching the basketball games and was waiting for someone to get upset.

But nobody did.

Our students sang songs to Jesus, claiming that he is “ALIVE, ALIVE, ALIVE forevermore”- and my hope is that our Muslim friends felt a little bit dissatisfied with Muhammad (who isn’t alive any more) as they listened to our kids (and their kids) sing, and saw the joy of it all. You see, prophets don’t live forever… so hopefully that song sparked some thoughts and conversations about who Jesus is. We’re going to see all of those men again this Friday night for a basketball tournament. Don’t worry (Lindsay), they aren’t upset with us!I’m nervous to play them again though. They are amazing athletes! I am about a foot taller than every single one of them, EXCEPT one of them, who somehow is like 3 inches taller than me. He’s a beast.

In other news: John Nellessen is leading a house church with some adults from the church tonight. He’s a stud, and I’m so glad to have him and Tom and Jessica with me leading the trip.

Seven of our students (plus Dan our missionary) are going into a public high school tomorrow to hang out in some classrooms and share their stories. Dan will facilitate a Q&A session between our students and the Filipino students, and then our students will have a chance to just hang out and have some fun with them. This is just one more amazing door that is open here in Boracay. What public school invites missionaries in? This one does, since the principal comes to the church!

It turns out that I’m teaching in the church this Sunday. Pray for me if you think about it, as I consider what to share over the next couple days. And pray for Eric from the college team if you think about it. He’s our first one to not feel very well. He’s doing fine, we think he just got a bit dehydrated.