God has been teaching me so much already in these first 2 weeks of living in the Philippines. I have seen the beauty that this country has to offer through the breathtaking mountains and the warm friendly people. I have learned to adjust to some differences here such as not throwing toilet paper in the toilet, taking public transportation 30 minutes to get Wi-Fi, and being gawked out by every person in town because I’m an American. But despite these small obstacles, I have really seen just how minuscule these things are. It does not matter whether or not I take cold showers or have facebook available at any given point. God has shown me the brokenness that is present in the Philippines which is impossible to ignore.
Sunday morning were given a great ministry opportunity to go to one of the hospitals in Malaybalay to hand out food and pray for the sick. It was an eye opening experience to walk around this lower class hospital. The first thing one would notice when walking through the halls is that the rooms are heavily congested. Each room has about 20 beds in it and each patient has at a least one family member with them. The family members are there for more than just emotional support. They are sometimes responsible for such things as feeding the patient and bandaging wounds. Needless to say it was a bit overwhelming to walk in a room with 40 Filipinos staring at you. And even scarier to go up to patients and ask if I could pray for them. The language barrier was apparent but so was the openness the patients and families had for our prayers.
I stayed mostly in the OB wing and was able to pray for many newborn babies. Some were healthy little ones getting ready to go home while others were fighting fevers and abnormal heart conditions. Sickness is everywhere, not just this country but nonetheless this hospital visit was heartbreaking. It’s hard to put into words what we experienced there. We all went into the hospital believing that God is capable of miraculous healings and though we did not witness any we are still faithful that God’s word is true.
The Philippines is full of ill-stricken people, lost street children, and abandoned orphans. But there is a cure, and that is the hope and love of Jesus Christ. I am thankful that I now have the eyes to see what is truly important.
“I am still confident of this; I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Psalm 27:13
Here are some pictures of the fun we have been having with our teams and the children here!
