My last month of the World Race in the Philippines was one of my favorite months. Our ministry was incredible and the people we worked with and for were even more so! We spent month 11 in Manila, Philippines working with Kids International Ministries, or “KIM” for short. We spent time with the kiddos in their children’s home, helped out at their pregnancy clinic, traveled to impoverished neighborhoods around Manila to do feeding programs and play with the kids, and helped do manual labor around the base. They took incredible care of us there, we loved our ministry, and we even stayed there for our final debrief! These are just a few of the people who made our last month what they mean when they say “saving the best for last.”
Norm
Norm is the director of KIM and an incredible human being. He has a HUGE heart for missions, specifically the missions of KIM, and he has a huge heart for people in general. He made our time living and serving at KIM an absolute delight. I had the honor of being point-person for the squad and doing logistics for final debrief, so he and I spent a lot of time together figuring out schedules and finances and logistics. He is hospitable, generous, kind, flexible, gracious, and altogether a great man. If you, your family, small group, or church are looking for a place to go for your next mission trip, ask the Lord about going to KIM. Then email Norm ([email protected]). He has a huge heart for the teams that come to KIM, and he sees them as an important part of their ministry. Not to mention the food is incredible and they have $6 massages. Holla! Check out this video about KIM, starring Norm:
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn is Norm’s daughter. She and her husband, Austin, and their three sweet little boys recently moved to Manila and have joined their parents in the ministry of Kids International. Kaitlyn works mainly in the pregnancy clinic and it is beautiful to watch her fight for those mommas. She, Ally, and I worked together to create and input all the clinic’s paper charts into an online database. Outside of ministry, she invited our whole squad to a girls’ night and took us out to the movies. She also planned and decorated for our final banquet, for which she went above and beyond all of our hopes and expectations! She’s an incredible friend, mom to her boys, and daughter of God. Her whole family loves with arms and hearts wide open. I think we all have a lot to learn from all of them.
Rona
Rona is the midwife at the pregnancy clinic. She started delivering babies when she was 16 and she’s helped deliver over 1,400 babies! She is hilarious and also so compassionate and kind. One day she found me outside, eating by myself, crying and she sat and talked with me and showed me so tangibly how she cares for me. And she would do that for anyone! She has a heart of gold. She also fights hard for the mommas at the pregnancy clinic, and it was an honor to work and serve alongside her. One Saturday, we visited Tondo, the poorest area in Manila, and she took me and two others to a neighborhood called Happy Land, which isn’t anything like the name suggests: it is run-down, full of trash, and the people live in 10×10 shacks raised up on stilts to protect from flooding. There, Rona tracked down 5 young women between the ages of 12-18 who are pregnant by boyfriends in their 20’s and have been abandoned by their families. Rona wants to rescue these girls, move them to a home at KIM called Adonai, and teach them life skills so they can care for their new babies and themselves well. Rona is a lover and a fighter equally and in the best ways.
Elizabeth & Prince
Elizabeth is one of the moms from the pregnancy clinic. When we arrived to Manila, she had given birth to Prince a few days before and was experiencing complications. While she was in the hospital, my team had the sweet sweet honor of babysitting Prince! He sat in on our team meetings, got passed around to so many loving arms, and was cared for overnight by my teammates Ashley and Monica! The next day we got to see the sweet, tearful reunion of Elizabeth and Prince – she hadn’t seen him since the day she gave birth the week before! Elizabeth came by a couple more times while we were there for Prince’s check-ups or just to say hi. Our love for this sweet momma and her baby know little comparison.
Jacqueline & JayJear
Jacqueline is the mom I helped deliver her baby, JayJear. You can read the full story about that experience in this blog. Still one of the best days of the Race for me.
Team SohCahToa/Crack-A-Toa
This lil rag-tag group was my surprise last team for my last week of the World Race. The plan was for the squad, in teams, to take an Ask-the-Lord pilgrimage to the rice fields of Banaue in the north of the Philippines. Well, the night we were meant to leave, there was massive flooding in Manila and we delayed our trip. The next day, we were told to ask the Lord as individuals if we were meant to go to the rice terraces or stay at KIM and continue ministry. I wanted to stay at KIM, but God very clearly told me, “I want you to go to the rice terraces.” I was upset, and I cried my way out the door, but I obeyed. As soon as we got to Batad, it all made sense. The Lord called me out of the busyness of ministry, where I had also been point person, and called me into the absolute silence of Batad to experience His creation, speak with Him face-to-face, process some heavy things I did not want to go home carrying with me, and thrive in this new little team He appointed for this pilgrimage. It was an awesome way to end my World Race and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. In this pilgrimage, He also taught me that when He calls me into His will, it will always be good, even if I don’t want to or it doesn’t make sense. He is always good, therefore His plans can only be good. And this little goofy team and our short time together? Wow, it was good. Check out this video Mary Beth made about our trip!
The C-sterhood
Here they are, the beautiful C-sterhood (minus sweet Tessa, who went home a few days early for her brother’s wedding)! This photo was taken our last night on the field. It has been a wild journey this year with these wild people. We were all crazy and obedient enough to follow God’s call to abandon the comforts of home for a year and follow Him around the world to 11 countries. These women taught me so much about community, friendship, communication, studying the Word, worship, and the character of God. They have been by my side through all the ups and downs of this year. We are all so different from one another, but in our differences we learned to see each other not as who we are now or how we act, but as who God created each of us to be. Thanks to them and their love for me and God’s Kingdom, I will never ever be the same.
Amen, hallelujah, yahoo!
