I have been so blessed by the ministry here at K.I.M. Jeff Long, he runs the ministry here in Manila, is an amazing man of God. and really does ministry the right way. Everything is about empowering the people, getting them to lead, and forming relationships. He realized an important thing, problems are not solved by throwing money at them, but time.
This will be by far the best living situation I have on the race. We have beds, a working shower and toilet, and super great meals everyday. The cook Ate Melu, term of respect for a woman, is so great and spoils the crap out of us. I wake up every day at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast at 8am. Then we, the guys, proceed to the construction site where we are helping them build a house and school. So far all we have done is dig ditches for the foundation. It is surprisingly rewarding though and the relationships we are forming with the workmen are going really good. The construction site is also right on the road and the local kids will come out and cheer us on. They are all adorable and have stolen my heart. My favorite is a little boy named Jared who is 5. He knows a little bit of English but not very much. I taught him how to do a fist bump explosion and its our new thing!
There are three older guys I have gotten to start relationships with Chris, Yow, and Stewart. They are all 20 years old and all are vital in their familes survival because of the small amount of income they bring in. I am really excited for what these friendships can bring because I can relate so well with them, the things guys struggle with here are the same in America “who would have thought”.
The guys who work on the site with us make 400pesos a day, that is 10 bucks! :O It is amazing to see how happy and joyful they are even though the labor is back breaking and they don’t get paid very much.
After construction I head back for lunch at noon. Then my team, Fuego De Dios, has feedback. Feedback is an amazing tool that every team does every day. It is pretty self explanatory, but I am going to do a separate blog on it because everyone should do it!
Lunch, feedback, and alone time take up from about noon till 4. At 4 on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays me and a couple other people go teach swim lessons for some of the kids at the missionary school down the road. They are all great, but the two boys have touched my heart the most, Alvin and Renon. Renon sold beach balls outside the school gates before one of the missionaries took notice and got him involved in swimming! He and his family have literally nothing, but he is a good kid. Everytime I say good job he smiles so big and says a resounding Thank You! It is amazing what a few choice words of encouragement do. Alvin is an orphan from the home down the street from where we are staying and is a really good swimmer. I’m excited to love on him and help teach him some discipline.
Interestingly enough what most of these kids needs along with love is discipline; a male presence to knock some sense into them. This is a hard realization, but they actually show appreciation when you practice it.
The last thing I am really involved in is a bible study at 8pm every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday night. I am going to write more about that later.
Prayer Requests: Hearts opened, healing to be done, HUGE things to happen, boldess, me growing as a leader and in intimacy with God.
I miss and love you all so much, thanks for all the comments and love!
