I was super-excited to get to back to Asia so soon, and coming to our site here in the Philippines is almost like coming home.
Besides vacations in this country and in this region, twice in the last few years, I brought student groups to the island of Dumaguette to build houses with Habitat for Humanity.
Then, the high school where I worked in Korea partnered with Kids International Ministries and started bringing students here. There are photos of them, so I can see their smiling (sweating) faces each day, and I definitely feel their presence here.
I also feel the spirit of my friend YunJin, for whom the ministry center where we are staying is named. YunJin genuinely loved people and served God.
She died in a car accident a year ago, just three weeks after marrying my friend Amos.
Despite the tragedy of her death and the oppression and poverty in this neighborhood,
I am full of HOPE about what is happening here and what will happen here
because we trust in the Lord.
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