Hey Friends and Family!
AHHH!!! I am so excited to share this blog and what the team and I have been doing this past month! This month 3 teams ( including mine) had the amazing opportunity to serve at a local ministry in the Philippines called Kids International Ministry! A ministry in the heart of Metro Manilia. The heart and vision of Kids International Ministry (KIM) is to help Filipino children they serve, honor God in their everyday lives, by creating an environment that care for their spiritual, educational, physical and emotional needs! And let me tell you, this ministry does JUST that! Serving in the capacity of daily feedings, Hope Alive birthing clinic, construction, New Faith Family children’s home, Cuatro Christian School (elementary & high school), and a moms bible study! We had the opportunity to “get in where we fit in” and serve where we best felt the need!
COOKING! I started the first few days getting to know the other groups that came from all over ( specifically Australia) and the ladies that so graciously served us in the kitchen! Since going on my first mission trip to Nicargua in 2016, I know from watching and helping the ladies that cook in the kitchen in Nica, first hand, all the work it takes to cook for the masses! Usually the kitchen staff is the less served area because well… cooking isn’t for everybody and some usually think that these ladies don’t need any help! I discovered that it’s not about if they need help, it’s about loving and spending time with the ladies that cook! They cook up for hours on end with folks just usually saying one word to them. Cooking in this capacity, isn’t even an option for ministry; but when Norman saw that Kalyn and I decided to make it our ministry, he was so happy!! Yall, let me tell yall the food they cooked us was absolutely AMAZING! They served us a lot of American dishes and Filipino dishes, alike! It was a sweet reminder of home! Everything from homemade cinnamon rolls to Shepherds pie, to traditonal egg rolls! YUMMYY!!! While Kalyn and I cooked, we sung with Tita ( all sorts of old hymns) and just loved on them! Tita, especially loved singing! We sung so much!! As we sung our little hearts out, food was being prepared and Tita would occasionally slip in conversation about if I learned how to cook, ill find a man! HA! Thanks Tita!!!
AUSSIES! The cool part about this ministry was that people from everywhere came to help serve! Therefore; we met some amazing people from all over bringing either their church, small group, themselves, or family there for a couple days to a week to serve! KIM is huge on serving together as a family! Norman, the director of KIM told us that He is really passionate about families coming to serve through KIM, because that’s how him and his family got involved with KIM! They served together as a family! There hearts were so broken then ended up moving to the Philippines. They split their time between Texas and the Philippines but their hearts are serving the community and the families and groups that come to partner with them! Australia, a bucket list travel destination, was where the majority of a lot of the other people came from! We were able to serve with some amazing families from Australia, California, Texas, and Washington!!! Here are a couple of people I was blessed to serve alongside!! ( some unmentioned)!!
Meet Sam! Sam is a 12 year old from Australia! He came with his entire family, The Parker’s!! Sam, spunky teen taught the team what it meant to pursuit people while hardly! Usually, we are so used to seeing children his age staring at a cellphone, but not SAM! Sam pursued and sat next to all of us, alone, at different times because he just wanted to get to know us!! What a KID!!! He has such an incredible family! I absolutely loved getting to know them and I told them I was coming to visit them in Australia!!!
Then you have Marilyn and Amber! Marilyn straight from Australia and Amber who lives in Texas currently, stuck like glue since day one! I am not sure exactly how we all started to converse but one thing led to another and next thing you know we are crying at the end of a couple of weeks because they have loved us so much!! What an amazing women!!! If walls could talk! HA! They were such a blessing to our team!
Mrs. Lisa, Mrs. Staci, Stella, Abby and others! Ahhhhh they were incredibly great! Such sweet people! With lovely hearts!
(Stella)
Feedings: Is the staple of what KIM does! Ms. Elaine ( one of the cooks) wakes up bright and early and starts to cook a portridge type food for the community! KIM partnered with an organization that sends food. So instead of just handing out the bags of food, KIM cooks it, spices it up, adds a women’s bible study and serves it to the community near and far! This ministry opportunity was a sad but beautiful sight to see! The kids and parents look forward to these daily feeds! As the van drives up, children would run to the van with their cups or bowls, knowing that their bellies were going to get full! My favorite part was while the kids were eating, we were having a bible study with the women in the community!! Sharing our testimonies and words of encouragement, the women left full of Jesus and food!! Feeding the children and community, builds a future for the community!!
Cuatro Christian School! A Christian school serving the students in the community! I was able to serve In the capacity of teaching and tutoring in multiplication! Anything further than multiplication, I would have opted out! Hahaha!! This was such a sweet moment of getting one on one with the students, making sure they were proficient in their times tables! Jessie, Matt and I tutored Tuesday- Friday from 12:00-12:30! I loved every minute of it!!
And now what you all have been waiting for…………. The Hope Alive Birthing Clinic!!
It is interesting because I researched a ton about becoming a midwife and taking doula certification classes about a year and a half ago before going on the race! How sweet is the Lord, that He opened the opportunity for me not only to serve at a birthing clinic but to deliver a baby while doing so! There is something sweet about being with a mother and helping her through one of the most painful but most beautiful experiences of her life! Giving birth to her child!! I was super excited when I found out there was a Birthing clinic at the ministry site we were serving at this month! My heart could not contain all of the excitement I had! Even though I had to wait a week or so to serve, because the clinic was very sought after, I was finally able to go!! Do I have birthing experience? Nope! You probably would not allow me close to birthing your child, But the Lord calls the unequipped. Thanks for Mona ( the mid wife) I learned while serving how to take blood pressure, measure the fetus, hear and look for the fetal heart rate, and how to deliver a baby!! On July 8, 2019, I was able to deliver a sweet healthy baby girl! It was absolutely the best day while at KIM! Being there for the mother, holding her hand and rubbing her back and then taking her baby, weighing the baby and dressing the baby gave my heart all the little butterflies!! Not only am I excited about having my own children but I’m excited to go back and serve more at the clinic! What an experience!! It taught me the importance of patience and the pleasure of pain in the midst of that what it might look like! These mothers didn’t have any option of a epidural or any pain drugs! They couldn’t see what was going on with their child! All they had was a table, a midwife ( Mona), and faith telling them that everything will be okay!!! Another faith experience!
Ahhhh, Month 7 in Philippines was such a sweet month! A month were I was able to slow down and serve in a different capacity! A month were the Lord taught me about putting in the work! As I arrive in Argentina ( literally I am on a plane after 40 hours of plane travel), I can’t help but to get excited about the last 4 months of the race! It’s such a bittersweet sometimes scary moment that all of this is coming to a rapid end, but I know that the Lord has something special in store for the team! I can’t wait to share!! I may not be able to birth babies this month, or love on mommies, but I believe that the Lord is going to put me in the position to help birth some dreams, visions out of HIS children! I will be able to walk and love people by coming alongside them as they carry what the Lord has given them! Rather it’s salvation, or a promise or literally a baby- I’m excited to help hold their hand, smile and help them!! I believe in some form of fashion, we are all midwives, helping to birth Gods purpose in each other and those around us!! What purpose or passion are you birthing? I am praying for you! I am holding your hand! I can’t wait to share what happens this month! Until then, I’ll prop my feet up the best way I know how because they are SWOLLEN! Hahaha!
Friends and Family, thank you so much for riding this wave with me!! I love y’all immensely!
we made it to Argentina!!
See y’all in a month!
Xoxo,
Meyuna
