Everybody poops, but not everybody puts it in a sack and throws it outside….
Over the past week, my team has been serving alongside PCF. Our ministry contacts, Ron and Joanna, are simply extroidinary. From arranging transportation everyday to inviting all 14 of us into their home because they simply desire to know us, blows me away. It is quite eveident the heart that these two have for this community. Their love and joy for others exudes from their bones and into the lives of others. Plain and simple, they REEK of Jesus!
The community in which we serve in is called Tondo, Manila, Philippines. It is the worst of the worst. The area is a local duMPSite. Bags and bags of trash line the streets and homes. There is no plumbing system causing people to use the poop in a bag method: go to the bathroom in a bag and then toss it in the street. Yes, the same street where people walk, live, and spend every waking minute. Take a moment and picture your local dump…Ok, now picture your home there. I’m not talking your 2 story 5 bedroom home, no your 1 room (smallest closet), no bathroom, thousands of people side by side home. When it rains, your place may flood. When it rains you and your kids try to sleep standing because there is no place to lay. This is all these people know.
We have been serving with the school/church in this community. It is an old abandoned warehouse. Just like people may have snow days back in the states, these kids have flood days because when it rains the school floods due to a pleth0ra of leaks. Thankfully, a new school is in the process of being built. A miracle, a HOPE for these children, for these families. Prasie the Lord!
The street in front of the school makes it hard for people to walk and drive because they get stuck. So, it was that time again for the street to be cleaned out. Our two teams put on our boots and rubber gloves and went to work. Now, to be honest, the locals don’t even like doing this. It is the worst, most disgustingest job one might ever do. You see, these streets are not only filled with mud, but poop, rubbish, parasites, baodily waste, etc. I think you get the picture. Once, we dug in, instantly we were accepted into the community. We became part of a bigger familiy that day! I mean think about it, people from halfway across the world came to shovel poop—the job no one wants to do. It was cool for them to see, to grasp that it was the God who lives in us that pushed us further and further into the crap.
BEAUTY!
Here is a little snapshot of us in action…
