Every day on this island of Mindoro has been a mystery.
Although our initial ministry focus was going to villages to share the gospel and provide children with shoes, our main ministry here has been with the local village kids, a boy named Vernon and our new friend Smiley. We are constantly looking for ministry in our everyday life on this trip.
Our ministry house was always a place that was swarming with kids and we could never get enough time to play and love on them. Whenever we would get home from our daily adventures we could always count on at least 20 kids to be waiting for us at the house and some would chase the van because they couldn’t wait to play. Loving on these kids has been a huge part of ministry this whole month and it has taught me to rejoice and give thanks in all circumstances, whether I have a little or I have a lot—I always have the joy of the Lord in me, just as these kids do. I’ll never forget them and our prayer is we have left a mark on them that reflects the Lord. If you have a moment, these kids would love your prayers for their lives to be filled with joy, blessing of health for them and their families, and good food and water every day.
Vernon is a local Calapan City high school boy who sometimes stays with our host. He is a light to everyone he talks to and reflects so much of Jesus. I had conversation with him one day about self- worth, school, and family. He has so much pressure on him for his future and sometimes doubts what worth his life has. While speaking with him I thought about how similar his thoughts are to people in America yet, their lives look very different. God used me to speak into him—and said to serve the Lord first and He will provide in abundance for you, to cast all your worries and anxieties to the Lord and He will sustain you and that God loves him endlessly. We went to a Christian concert one night with singing, dancing (almost all songs are in English), a dramatic act and a testimony and Vernon had a spiritual connection with the Lord that night, the Lord brought him back to the heart of worship. If you have a moment, Vernon would love your prayers for his family, his future, school, and that he would always be rooted in the Lord.
And finally our good friend Smiley, aka Allowin is a local fisherman who we saw daily at our ministry house. Our ministry host Darrel nicknamed him Smiley as he constantly has a huge smile across his face. One of our days on Mindoro we went to a deserted island with Smiley, we snorkeled, looked for seashells and just spent quality time with him. Then the next day we went kayaking through the mangroves river, into the ocean. This adventure seemed crazy even to him, as we were paddling into the rough ocean waves. We spent a lot of time with Smiley just looking at the many pictures he had taken in the midst of fishing each morning, pictures of his family and his work on the island as an EcoWarrior. What was really special about our time with Smiley was that we got to celebrate his birthday with him last Sunday, October 28th. Some of our teammates went to a local’s house store and bought him one of each kind of candy, we got a candle and sang Happy Birthday with him! We really wanted to give him a great celebration to remind him how much he is loved by us and by the Father. If you have a moment Smiley would greatly appreciate your prayers in providing fish for him to catch and for health for him and his family.
Other prayer notes:
On Monday night, a typhoon was supposed to directly hit the place where we were staying, however that night we prayed for the typhoon to jump over us, to miss the Philippines completely…we did not get hit. IN FACT the wind stopped after we prayed and did not return. Praise God!
Unfortunately we had to shorten our stay on Mindoro in preparation for the super typhoon that is projected for this weekend. The ports opened up on Wednesday morning (10/31/18) and we caught a ferry to the main island. We were sad to leave our friends but did what we needed to in order to be safe and continue our journey. If you have a moment, be praying for the people of the Philippines as they prepare for the super typhoon, and that it would miss the country entirely.
Our ministry we were partnering with this month is called Samaritans Feet, and their mission statement is to create a world with zero shoeless children. Our hosts Darrel and Christina travel to Mangyan villages to wash their feet and give them new shoes, share the gospel in their own dialect, give them hydration packs and feed them and to just show them the love of Christ. It was an honor to travel to a couple villages with them and serve with them. We will continue to pray for their ministry and their community for the rest of our trip and life after. Check out the Samaritans Feet website at samaritansfeet.org
We will be staying at KIM ministries in Manilla for the remainder of our time in the Philippines and next week we will be in THAILAND!!
Blessings!!!
Jenny 🙂
Starting a weekly memory verse…
Rejoice always, pray continually, and give thanks in all circumstances for this is Gods will for us in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the spirit. Do not treat prophesies with contempt, but test them all. Hold onto what is good, reject all kinds of evil. May God himself, the God of peace sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls us is faithful and he will do it.
-1st Thessalonians 5:16-24
