Yesterday marked our official start of ministry this month. We’ve been here since Wednesday and between now and then we’ve been doing “launch”. As much as I enjoyed launch with my R squad and Q squad I am very excited to start serving this wonderful community.
My team (the Liberators) and X-stream team are so blessed to be staying here at our launch site for the month to do ministry with K.I.M. We are staying at the YunJin Ministry Center which is a part of Kids International Ministries here in Manila, Philippines. It is an amazing organization founded by Colene and Jeff Long and is still maintained by them and there wonderful family as well as the other missionaries here as well as many locals that are on staff.
Going into this I had a few expectations; I expected to starve, I expected to be dirty and sleeping in dirt 99% of the time; I expected to sweat non-stop (that actually does happen), I expected to be void of all modern convinces and western lifestyle in general such as starbucks, internet and running water. Well like I said God has blessed us big time, not only do we have an awesome community to serve and amazing ministry contacts here but we also have beds, running water, fans, STARBUCKS and tons of food…I’ve actually never eaten so much cake and desert in my life..so much for that starving bit…its ok I’m sure sweating 23 hours and 55 minutes of every day counteracts that somehow (5 minute cold shower a day = no sweating! Thank God for those too!)
I also just recently discovered an elliptical in the workout/laundry area..for those of you who know me and know my love affair with the elliptical know that this basically made my month! I am loving it here! Yeah sometimes I feel guilty we have such great accommodations while were on a mission trip but then again if God is going to give me electricity, a bed, and clean water I am not going to question it or take it for granted, plus I know having accommodations like these are going to be rare, so we are so grateful for Gods grace on our first month overseas. After this month there will be many nights spent in hostels or churches or tents in the African bush. There are going to be weeks that I am unable to shower or find internet and will be lacking in food. Praise the Lord for so many blessings in just one week, I can’t wait to see what the rest of the month here holds for myself and my team.
Like I said since we’ve been here its been “launch” which means we spent a lot of time getting re-acquainted with our teams and squad, time getting to know this glorious area we will be calling home for the next 24 days, time doing praise and worship, getting to know the people and community around us, trying to raise the dead (seriously!), checking out ministry sites, such as the church, the school, and the orphanage. We also had some time for fun in there, like going to a beautiful waterfall to go swimming, going to town (just getting there is an adventure in itself). The highlight would definitely be the college final four basketball game we got to go to in the city Sunday night, the crowd was amazing and being at a sporting event made me feel really at home. God definitely knows my love language! Go Ateneos! 🙂
Yesterday we found out all our ministry opportunities, there are countless way for us to serve and minister here which is another blessing. The ministries I will be involved in this month vary, the one I think nearest and dearest to my heart is Cedric. He is a 7 week old baby with numerous health issues, he was dropped off at the orphanage and then had to be brought into the hospital. Here in the Philippines if a child in is the hospital they need someone there with them the entire time so there is someone to feed and care for the child, which means they need at least 4-6 extra helpers this month just for this little guy.. So every other night from 8pm to 8am I will be spending the night in the hospital taking care of Cedric, that is until he is moved back to the children’s home where I will continue to care for him there along with five other girls on my squad. Please keep this little guy in your prayers, also please pray we can bring him home soon, it would make caring for him much easier! Aside from Cedric other ministries our team will also be involved in is the painting and construction of a library/learning center they are building for the community, daily feedings which is a time a day where we share not only food with impoverished families in the slums but also the hope and love of Jesus, I’m particularly excited about this one also. We will also be taking over a young ladies bible study while we are here, there are 24 girls ages 9-16 prayers for our time with these young ladies would also be greatly appreciated.
Can’t wait to right an update at the end of the month and share with ya’ll all the wonderful ways God worked in the lives of those we served as well as our own. Thank you all so much for your prayers, please keep em’ coming!
