Jesse Castillo

NAME:

Jesse Castillo

AGE:

15 years, 1 month, 21 days

IF YOU HAD TO INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO A GROUP OF STRANGERS, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY/HOW WOULD YOU DO IT?

Hey, I’m Jesse. How’s it going?

DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN 3 WORDS:

energetic, fun, adventurous

HOW DID YOU RAISE THE MONEY REQUIRED FOR THE MISSIONS TRIP?

save up allowance. doing chores. collecting coins in tin

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO COME ON THE 2007 PHILIPPINES MISSIONS TRIP?

wanting to become a better Christian person. wanting to help people who are less privileged than us

WHAT ARE THE SORTS OF THINGS YOU ARE EXPECTING TO SEE/RECEIVE FROM GOING ON THE MISSIONS TRIP?

people getting saved. everyone having fun & being joyous.

WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL BE THE BEST THING ABOUT THE MISSIONS TRIP?

youth camp

WHAT ABILITIES/TALENTS DO YOU HAVE THAT YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE TO THE ACTIVITIES THAT THE MISSIONS TEAM WILL BE PARTICIPATING IN?

telling stories. giving 100% in what I do.

WHAT ABILITIES/TALENTS DO YOU HAVE THAT YOU THINK CAN BE IMPROVED BY GOING ON THE TRIP?

public speaking. being a better person.

Mission Trip entry
-My mission trip so far has been exciting and very busy. On the first day we arrived in the Phils, we were shocked to lose 3 passports. The next day, our diver found the missing passports. The flight to Legaspi was awesome, on landing I saw the biggest mountain I had ever seen, Mayon Volcanoe. That night we started a crusade. Just seeing the living conditions of the people, left me in awe. That night after watching the first part of the Passion of the Christ, hearing testimonies from Tuan and Kathy and hearing a massage from Burt, the missions team prayed for anyone who wanted to be prayed for. I felt that all the tiredness we endured made it all worthwhile to see people getting prayed for and coming closer to God. The next day, we did two outreaches and finished off our first crusade. At the first outreach, we went to an area of squatters. There I did my testimony, the broken curse and we did the puppets to the little children. Seeing the hardship, these people have gone through such as the typhoon, really shocked me. Seeing first hand that people are doing it way worse than most of us have gone through, it opened my eyes. The second part of the outreach, had basically the same program as the day before and as before we prayed for people who wanted to be saved. Today we went to another church two hours away, there we did our song, “Send me, I will go,” the puppets and we prayed for the people.

So far I have I had an amazing time and I feel I am really growing as a person. Seeing what some of the people have gone through, has changed my perspective on life. The people of the legazpi church are really friendly and I have meet some great people. I’m praying the rest of the trip, will help me grow as a Christian person.

-message to my family
Hey guys, hows it going? Im having a wonderful time you might tell. I’m really learning a lot. Everyone are really nice here and the rest of the team is really caring and supportive. Waking up early is not too bad but the sweating and dirt is really hard to adapt to. Sorry the blog isn’t getting updated regularly as we have been really busy. I miss you guys and ill see you in a coupe of weeks. Take care from all here.
Jesse

Jesse’s blog entry
On the Sunday night, we had the best time at the Youth Service. Everyone was joyful and energetic. The whole mission team had a wonderful time jumping around to the music. By the end of the service everyone was really happy but very, very damp and sweaty. The Monday rest day, was pretty relaxed and we got to sleep in until 6.30. Yeah! That’s a real sleep in. It was really good comparing to wake up at 5am or 5.30am. The whole team was went out to shop for a while as we had other priorities. That night we had to youth rally and everything ran smoothly. I had to do the Chair skit and the mission team showed The Armour of God which everyone loved.

On the Tuesday we went to two more outreach. These places we full on hit by the super typhoon. On the way to the outreach we saw massive boulders that covered a whole place. That afternoon we ate at a restaurant and the food was good. That night we help set up for the youth camp.

Message to my family
Hey guys, hows it hangin? Just as my last message, I’m having an awesome time here. I hope you guys are okay. What’s been happening there? Anything interesting? What are the scores of the AFL, swimming and cricket. Umm.. there won’t be a blog for a few days after this since we will be at the youth camp until the Saturday. Cya guys in two weeks. Miss you all,

Laters
Jesse

-Mission trip entry
Since my last blog, we have spent the last couple of days at the youth camp. There we learnt about Jabez. I was in one tribe for the first two days then another for the last two days. Everyone there at the camp was really friendly even though sometimes there was a language barrier. There we had merits and demerits, the Australian Mission team thought it would be funny to duplicate our ID cards and hang them all over the place. We did this because we had a joke going around that “Wherever there is a lost ID card, a leader be there in a second.” Tuan placed one of his ID card on the top of the flagpole. I thought it was hilarious. He got 3000 demerits but his team cancelled it out by grabbing mine from the top of the basketball ring. By myself, I put an ID on a chicken, basketball ring and on many trees. That’s how we enjoyed ourselves on the camp. On a serious note, many people were baptized in the spirit and the water. I helped pray for people who wanted to be baptized in the spirit. I found it really touching that I could help people come closer to God. On the last day we went to a swimming pool, where we baptized the people in water. After that we had so much fun flipping in the pool, swimming and going on the water slide. Burt and I taught people how to swim and everyone made progress. There were about 12 of them. Most of our team got sunburned. At the praise and worships, I had a marvelous time jumping up and down, singing/shouting the words of many songs. I really connected with all the songs. Always after the praise and worship I would also feel happy and joyful. Overall I had a great time at the youth camp.

Yesterday, I had a great time at all three services we went to. The morning service was a solemn one as it was Easter. Ps. Mel talked about Barabbas. In the arvo, we went to Humapon where we attended their service. There we met up with Kuya Dante, Ate Daisy and Sister Nelia. There I did my testimony and we did a skit called God’s Love. The night time Youth rally was Rockin’. Everyone had a great time, I really connected with the songs and Jerome again did another stage dive. I just absolutely love being involved with the Youth Rally. I wish our church had one in Australia. Today were having our scheduled rest day and after the past week I think we need it.

I miss you guys but the fun and excitement here distracts me away that thought. I’m really having to stretch myself and I really feel I’m growing a lot. One more week to go and this will be the most hectic so far. Cya guys in a week.

GOD BLESS
Jesse