Beauty in Heaps of Trash

 

 

Every Tuesday and Friday we go out with Children’s Garden staff to do outreach with the people on the streets. The places we visit are the very streets that many of the boys of Children’s Garden were found. The staff goes to build trust with boys that are still out on the street that they pray will eventually seek refuge at Children’s Garden. As tough as the street life is they have become so accustomed to the freedom that it is hard to step away from it and into a controlled environment. Tuesday we went under an overpass to where some boys and families were living. Recently Manila was hit hard with flooding and so a lot of the trash from the river built up under this overpass. The site is now deemed a landfill.

 

 

 

 Literally the entire time we were there we were standing on heaps of trash. The residents were just sitting on cardboard on top of these huge piles of garbage. They would rummage through the garbage to find scrap metal and old c.ds that they could sell to junk yards for 12 pesos (about 25 cents) per kilo. A few of the children were naked or pantless. We went and brought the families food and some shoes and the boys treats. I shared my testimony with them and as a group we also did magic tricks that enabled us to share the Gospel through the presentation. I asked a pastor a few days ago what the greatest prayer needs are in the Philippines. He answered that obviously poverty and the corruption in the government were huge issues. The greatest problem spiritually speaking, however, is the fact that everyone says that they know about Jesus and they will say that they believe in Him, but they have absolutely no idea what a personal relationship with Him looks like. Our desire is to bring Jesus’ love to these boys and families in a personal way.

[Bringing food and serving food]
 

 

After spending some time under the overpass we walked a little while in the trash, crossed a little bridge over sewage, and followed a little path to where a small area with a few little shanties were built. Several families shared these itty bitty dwellings. These families had such joy. They were displaced because of the flooding and were living in terrible conditions, but they were still so full of love for each other. They shared prayer requests with us and we were able to love them in prayer. One of the little boys absolutely captured my heart. His name is Mak Mak and I would guess he is 4  years old. We played a game where he would jump off this little ledge and I would catch him and throw him up in the air. I wish that you could hear Mak Mak laugh! He has the most precious laugh and beautiful smile. I can’t wait to go back and continue to love on these families. It was such a blessing to meet them and see their attitudes despite the circumstances they were in. There is such beauty in that. I recognized that even through the walls of trash there was beauty in the people who made it their home.
[Praying Over Our New Friends]

 

Mak Mak