Well here we are. This is my first blog from the field. Pope Francis is here in the Philippines and he screwed up our travel plans so my team and I didn’t get to our ministry site until a couple days ago. It worked out well though because we got to spend time with the orphans at the Kid’s International Ministry base in Manila for a few days before flying to their other location here in Malay Balay on the island of Mindanao.
This is a beautiful country filled with beautiful people. The kids here are amazing. I had the opportunity to go to a feeding (passing out food at a local neighborhood) with Jess, Rick, and Scott. We backed into a long, narrow alley off of the main road and unloaded two large plastic containers full of porridge and a box of medical supplies. We carried everything down a path through some “houses” and arrived at a basketball court enclosed in the neighborhood.
Word spread that we were there and we were quickly swarmed by people (nearly all were children). They brought whatever container they could find for us to fill with food. Many of the plastic bowls they brought had dirt and dried up rice stuck inside from the last feeding. Scott was beside me in the front of a line of kids treating their cuts and scrapes. He would clean the wound and turn to grab a band-aid and by the time he turned back to put it on, flies would already be on the cut and he’d have to clean it again. For many, this would be the only medical care they would receive until we came back again in a few days…
Jess called me over to the court and asked me to help play with the mass of kids that had gathered. They were pleading for my attention, asking me my name, my height, giving high fives, smiling, laughing, with so much joy and energy. They screamed at me to hold them, hug them, and throw them in the air. I wish I had enough arms to hold them all at once. We just tried our best to pour out as much love as we could to let them know that someone cares about them.
It was an incredible thing to be a part of. My face hurt from smiling the entire time we were there. It was more of a blessing to us, than it was to them. They didn’t seem to care that they were poor, and hungry, and cut, and bruised. They were just ecstatic that someone noticed them. I think we need to be like these kids and not care what our life looks like and just delight in the fact that God notices us. He knows your name and has a plan for you. Don’t focus on your “cuts and bruises.” Look up from your filth and see the God that delights in you far more than you could ever delight in Him.
