Trip to Manila and Baguio, Philippines (January/February 2018)

I had a chance to minister in the Philippines through K-BAM Philippines from January 28 - February 3. K-BAM is a network of people who are or desire to be engaged in BAM ministries. It has changed its name now to KBM Global.

KBM Global is now led by Jae Jung Jang, an elder of a church and the chairman of Uni Group, Ltd., a group of businesses primarily in shipping and finance. He wanted to hold this conference in Philippines, where he lives. Many came from Korea and I was also invited.

We held one-day seminar in Baguio and another one-day seminar in Manila.

Baguio
Baguio is called the summer capital of the Philippines because people travel to Baguio during the summer season seeking the mild climate due to its 1,500 meter altitude. It is located approximately 250 km north of Manila. It takes more than four hours to drive to Baguio from Manila because of winding roads on the mountain sides.

The entrance was decorated by a giant lion statue established by the local Lions Club. The road was winding along with the streams and rivers that stretched between mountains.

Once you enter the mountain region, you can smell and sense the fresh air.

Baguio was originally designed to accommodate a population of up to 35,000 people, but the population has far outgrown the design and reached more than 500,000. Naturally, the roads are narrow and usually packed with cars. The result: traffic jam.

A team of five drove up from Manila to Baguio and stayed at Bell Academy, a dormitory style school established by a Korean missionary. They were Rev. Dongho Kim, Jae Jung Jang, Harry Kim, Chang Sun Moon and myself.

We left Manila at 6:00am and arrived in Baguio around 11:00am, a bit earlier than the lunch scheduled with the leadership team of Bell Academy. JJ Jang took us to walk on an eco trail surrounded by straight-grown tall pine trees. The air was fresh and it was wonderful to stroll with friends. On the trail, JJ made a proposal that we five make a promise to be brothers. All agreed and we took a photo shot signifying the brotherhood among five of us. The order was established with Rev. Dongho Kim to be the oldest, followed by JJ Jang, myself, Harry Kim and Chang Sun Moon.

The lunch was with Elder Soo Yong Kim, his wife and a missionary couple who are leading the Korean Missionary Association in Baguio.

After lunch, we ended up playing golf at John Hay Golf Course that used to be part of the John Hay Military Camp of the U.S. It was not long, but pretty challenging due to narrow fairways and hilly terrain. But the real challenge was the rain that got only worse as the rounding progressed. We had to quit after 12 holes. It rained pretty bad.

There were only male caddies because of the hilly and touch terrain. One caddie was 64 years old and has been working at the course for 40 years. But he was not the oldest, he said. The oldest caddie was 76 years old. Whoa!!!

We had dinner with the leadership team of the Korean Missionary Association in Baguio.

The seminar took place at Bell Academy from 8:00am. Approximately 40 people, consisting mostly of Korean missionaries, attended.  JJ mced the event and Harry Kim talked about Understanding BAM, Dongho Kim BAM and Spirituality, myself BAM Cases and Chang Sun Moon BAM and Diaspora.

After the seminar, we drove back to Manila. Manila has a pretty bad traffic jam during rush hours. Fortunately, we were able to beat the traffic jam

Manila
Elder JJ Jang, Rev. Dongho Kim and I played golf at a course where JJ arranged for Rev. Dongho Kim to play golf for a couple of months. The weather was fine and we enjoyed the golf.

The following day, KBM Global hosted a one-day seminar for missionaries and businessmen in Manila. The same speakers give lectures and two additional speakers flew in from Korea and also shared their perspectives and their stories: Law as Mission and Funding as Mission.

After the seminar, there was a Book Cert where Harry Kim's books were introduced after a bariton singer's concert.

The following day was set aside for a free day. I met up with Jackie of Partners Worldwide, who is Asia Regional Director, together with Caleb Yoon who ministers to the Philippinos working in Korea. His humble and pleasant personality was impressive.

After that, we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant at Shangri-lah Hotel. The foods were very good, but the discussion about K-BAM issues was even better. Actually, K-BAM was changed to KBM Global at this discussion session.

After lunch, a few of us were invited to provide consulting for Jinsu Kim, CEO of IT Corea, an IT-based finance company. 

In the evening, we had dinner at a seafood restaurant in the Dampa Area. If you order certain foods, the restaurant will send someone to buy fresh seafood and cook them for you. A total of nine people ate fresh and delicious seafood sufficiently and the total cost came out to be approximately $150. What a deal! I thoroughly enjoyed the food.

Four people left for the airport to return to Korea and I stayed one more night for an early departure.

JJ Jang's connections were fully unitized for mobilization and his organization skills shined in making arrangements for all events. Overall, our trip to Philippines was fruitful on our side. I hope it was also fruitful to people in the country. Only time will tell. - Jeffrey