Last week we arrived in Manila, Philippines for a three day leadership development weekend. The city was beautiful in its own ways, but I was thankful for the change in scenery when we left for ministry. Manila had reminded me too much of America and I wasn’t quite ready to feel like I was a home just yet.
On Monday we left the metropolitan in the back of our hosts’ truck. The black bars on the windows, twists and bumps in the roads, and rainforest spread out across the landscape made it feel like we were in Jurassic Park.
We drove a few hours to the edge of the main island, hopped on a ferry, and ended up on a southern, smaller island.
A couple hours and Mc. Donald’s stop later, at 1:30 am, we made it to Threads of Hope. Puerto Galera, Philippines.
You may already know Threads of Hope; they’re a popular organization for missionaries to sell their bracelets in order to raise support.
Threads of Hope provides jobs to locals in the area through bracelet making, working at their birthing center, and (starting next week) at a school.
We have been helping out with whatever our hosts need. One of my favorite activities is counting and sorting bracelets to be shipped to America. Such a minimal, but vital, activity affects the livelihood of the local people here, the ability for missionaries in America to do their work, and for the people those missionaries meet on their trips.
Also the bracelets are incredibly cute and I would be lying if I said I don’t have a small collection to buy going..
(If you want one, let me know!)
This is our month 10 and without a doubt everyone on my team wants to give our last two months our all. Being surrounded by nature this month has been a huge joy and has shown me how blessed I am to be on the Race. I’ve experienced God in so many new ways and have gotten to show so many different people who God is this past year. I never want to take any of this for granted.
P.s. forgot to mention… we have a pet monkey and a pet husky!!
