This month is all-squad month and we have been in the Philippians for about 2 weeks now and the Lord knew this is where we needed to be for our last stop on this journey known as the World Race. This month we are working with Kids International Ministries (KIM) in Manila. We were not supposed to be here but due to different circumstances this is where we have ended up and I am thankful for it! The ministry has a facility specifically designed for teams and families to stay in that has been an absolute blessing. And do not even get me started on the food here! KIM runs a children’s home, a pregnancy clinic, a Christian school, takes food to poor areas around them, and various other ministries but those are their main four. We participate in helping with the children’s home, pregnancy clinic, and the feedings.
The children’s home is a place where children come who do not have families or whose family cannot support them/do not want them. The kids stay until adoption or until they turn 15 and KIM is currently working on building a transition program for the children who age out of the home. All of the school-aged children attend the Christian school that KIM runs and the younger kids stay at the home. Each team rotates going to the children home and we go before lunch to play/help with the younger kids and then go back after lunch to play with the school-aged kids. The kids are pretty honestly pretty skeptical of us but we can typically get them to hang out if we play basketball or kickball with them! We also have the privilege of leading a bible study a couple evenings out of the week for them.
The pregnancy clinic is exactly what you would imagine: a clinic for woman that are pregnant. When we go here for ministry, we help the midwife check the fundal height and the fetal heart rate. Honestly, it is not that easy but I certainly learned a lot and got to hear so many baby heart beats! Incredible! Towards the beginning of our time here there was a baby who was only 5 days old and his mom was still in the hospital. And because there are 19 women staying here, we had the privilege of taking care of the little guy for a night. We had a sleepover and it was very tiring (ample respect to all of the moms out there) but also so sweet!
ALSO BEST PART: if you want, the midwife gives us the opportunity to help birth a baby!!!!!! Also depends on availability because there needs to be a mom ready to give birth for that to happen. But around 11:30pm some of my friends came into my room saying “baby time!” so I jumped up and changed out of my pajamas, ran upstairs to grab one of my friends, Haley, who also wanted to see a baby born and we headed up to the clinic. The midwife and the others had to handle something else so until about 2:45am it was just me, Haley, the mom, and her aunt. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to get nervous. What if she had the baby with just us there?? But thankfully she did not… To save all the details, 4 of us plus the midwife had the honor of delivering this brand new baby girl into the world at 4:57am on August 11th. The midwife even let me catch the baby! This experience just brings a whole new perspective to Psalm 139, particularly verses 13-14. The experience was nothing short of incredible and humbling.
We also have the opportunity to do ministry through feedings. Every weekday, twice a day, a crew of people go out and give out food to a neighborhood that is poor and where the people may be struggling to feed their family. The location is different every time they go out but is consistent week to week. So neighborhood A can always expect a feeding Monday at 9am. The feedings give us a chance to see a different culture outside of the city and allow us to connect with people in a new way. The food is chicken and rice soup and we use ladles to hand it out to the people (most kids) standing in line. Typically, the kids provide their own bowl or cup or spoon but if they do not have that, we have plastic bags we can put the food in for them. If you aren’t handing out food, you get to interact with kids, have a dance party, and play games. On a few occasions, the whole squad has gone to areas farther away to do feedings. The areas we go to that are farther away have been places where people are literally living in a dump site or an old dump site where some they make their living by digging through the trash. In these areas, we have been able to stay a little longer to do a kids program and teach songs. Sometimes these areas are hard to see because it is hard for me to wrap my head around and put myself in their shoes. I’m very thankful that the Lord chose to use us to show these people the love of Christ! It is really humbling when you know that you are one of the people the Lord is using to provide for someone else and that the Lord wants to care for His people through us.
This week, however, looks a little different. We were originally supposed to go to the rice terraces in Banaue but due to heavy raining, they allowed us as individuals to pray about it and decide what we wanted to do. I felt the Lord leading me to stay at KIM and continue to do ministry here and reflect on the race and begin to look into what going home would look like. Due to the flooding that is occurring in the surrounding areas, we are doing disaster relief this week. Some of the people have been evacuated from their home and their first evacuation site. We go on feeding after feeding to try and provide food and first-aid to those who need it and take blankets to evacuation sites so the people will not get cold or have something to sleep on. This has been one of the hardest things to see but again, I am very thankful we are in a position to help out those affected by the flooding!
Our last week here will be our Final Debrief. Leadership from the States will come down and help us see what it looks like to transition home. I will also be spending time this week to pray about and look into what comes after the Race and how the Lord can use me to build the Kingdom at home! I am excited to be coming home and see everyone but I also want to stay present and take in where the Lord has me right now!
Please pray for the people being affected from the flood here and for us to reflect the love of Christ to them! Also pray for all of us as we are in this time of being on the Race but also getting ready to transition home. Thank you for your continued prayer, support, and encouragement! I can’t wait to see everyone when I get home!!!
