Orphans & Widows

“Pure
and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans
and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” James
1:27

Within minutes of
arriving to the Philippines, I fell in love. I fell in love with the people,
culture, language, food and children. When we arrived, we spent the first few
days just relaxing and getting re-energized for the ministries ahead of us. One
of the ways that I am re-energized is through children. So I would find myself
going outside to play, giggle, and hold (many of them being orphans).

 Once Debrief was
over, the first task was painting a widow’s home (‘ba hai’). We painted an old
shack that was orange and her home that was tan colored. We spent the first 2
days peeling off the existing paint, and then sanding it to prepare it for paint.
While all of this was happening, I would find myself talking to Julie (the
widow we called ‘Lola’=grandma). She quickly discovered I wanted to learn her
language of Tagalong, and would teach me about 50 words at a time. I learned:

                                                                  And Many Many Many
More!

As I was painting
and preparing her home, I could not stop thinking about the verse in James 1.
That the ministries we were involved with so far in the Philippines was “pure
and genuine” and that this IS what the church is supposed to look like.