To be honest I didn’t want to go to the Philippines because I was looking forward to going to Malaysia. I wanted to work with people who had the Muslim faith. I WANTED TO BE CHALLENGED!
When I got to the Philippines I knew it was a Catholic religion. I knew they believed in Jesus but didn’t know if they knew you could have a relationship with him.
We arrived to Kids International Ministries. I was happy the house was behind a gate.
It wasn’t that I was trying to shield myself from the world outside of the gate but I didn’t want to be a part of the slum. I was happy to be in a big house with my whole squad and
not worry about the people outside the gate.
After a day of rest, I took a walk in the streets and met several children. One stole my heart: Arbin, a mentally challenged young boy. All he wanted was someone to love him.
Every time I saw Arbin I began to call him over for a wonderful embrace. My heart melted each time he put his arms around me.
I considered the fact that these children- all they want is to be loved. Do they even have parents, people to care for them? I pondered this for several days.
Surprisingly our ministry was feeding the children. At our first location, a church,
I saw desperation on the kids faces; they hadn’t eaten for several days. It shocked me. I eat all the time-3 meals every day. Oh, how rich and selfish I am.
Within this ministry
I face every day the poverty that I knew I was going to see, but wanted to see in Malaysia.
God changed my heart. He sent me to the Philippines for a reason. HE had a new challenge for me.
I had focused on the statistics of poverty for more than a year but it’s different when you read it on pages; now I’m seeing it with my own eyes. And all it does is give me a sick feeling all over because I wish I had known about this earlier. I wish I had done something about it.
And then the question is:
can I do something about it? Can one person make a difference in this nation? Can one person make a difference in all nations? I’m not rich and don’t have a lot to give
but what I can give is a hug to someone like Arbin. So now my heart is heavy and restless;
all I want is to come up with a solution to end poverty, to end this situation that people are in. And all I can do is put one spoon of bean mixture in a bowl and know that this food is filling up their empty stomachs for the moment.
I hope eventually I can share the love of Jesus. Do you know where that food comes from? The Lord provides you food to eat.
