Jeff Deming stopped by the parked “tricycle” to toss coins in the cut-off plastic bottle. Melvin had wired the bottle into place to collect the fares for rides in his motorcycle-sidecar contraption. “What’s that for?” I asked.

“Oh, just because...” Jeff said. “I drop money in here about every time I go by when Melvin’s not looking!”

Melvin, with his wide smile and helpful ways, had worked alongside our building team, shuttling us into town for construction supplies and water. When he talked about the new church we were building, he said, “I never dreamed this could be for us.”

Taytay lies at the northern tip of the island of Palawan in the Philippines. From there, it was two bumpy bus-ride hours to the nearest paved highway and four more hours on to Puerto Princesa where we landed from Manila. Our 51-member team came to Taytay with a threefold mission—evangelism, medical outreach, and a construction project.

My husband Jeff, aka "PJ," is a youth pastor currently serving as youth director for the Illinois Conference. He began planning the mission trip four years ago. “My desire for this mission trip was to target college students to give them mission trip opportunities to serve in the field of their upcoming career. I wanted to help them see the possibilities of continuing to serve in the mission field after graduation,” he said.

To do this, these soon-to-be-professionals needed to be very involved in every aspect of the trip, with the guidance of professional mentorship. Brett Maynor, a Walla Walla College junior, plans to be a dentist, and Deanne DeLeon, a dental assistant, also intends to apply to dental school. Under the guidance of Herman Liem (a dentist from Oregon), Brett, Deanne, and other team members got hands-on experience, even helping with extractions in the dental clinic where 50–100 patients were seen each day.

Christina Hack, a junior theology major at Southern University, worked with Jeff as the main speaker for the evangelistic series, presenting talks on alternating evenings. Chase Hendrickson, a Walla Walla University junior engineering major, designed the church and saw his plan implemented with the supervision of four professional building contractors.

High school- and college-age team members led out in the evening meetings for children and youth. Many team members reflected that spending time with the kids was the highlight of their time in Taytay. Celeste Maldonado, a Hinsdale Adventist Academy senior, said, “Children’s ministries was my favorite part. It was awesome to see kids learn the songs and sing their hearts out.”

Lauren Brooks, an 11th grader from Bloomington, Illinois, said, “The kids were so adorable. I realized I was there for them to see God through me. By the time we left, I didn’t want to leave.”

On our final Sabbath in Taytay, singing filled the mostly-completed structure we had built bucket by bucket and brick by brick. Sand, cement, and stone had become a sanctuary. As we sang “I’m So Glad I’m a Part of the Family of God,” I realized we had, in fact, become family.

Amy Deming was a "Promise 4 Palawan" mission team member.