Kamusta?! (How are you??)
All is well over here in the Philippines.
We experienced the effect of an earthquake. It was super cool. But no worries, it was far out in the ocean so we only got slight swaying. It’s common here.
Some of my favorite moments so far have been in downtime/unplanned ministry. My absolute favorite thing to do is go to the beach (sit on the sea wall) at sun set and worship. It’s so, so peaceful. It’s my happy place with the Lord. It reminds me how big He is, how beautiful and sweet. That and the stars. Oh my gosh the stars are so visible here. I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed looking at them until I got here. Here’s a journal entry I wrote at the ocean one night.
“God, I’m at the ocean right now. It’s dark, but I see your light. You give me so much peace. Looking at the ocean, the waves, feeling the wind, God it’s all you. The waves and the wind obey you. It’s so beautiful. God you made all these huge beautiful things, but then you still made me. You still chose me. Looking at the ocean reminds me of how big you are. Every single thing is in your hands.”
Anyway, the point of this post is to tell you about the women’s prison ministry that we do. I absolutely ADORE the women in that prison. Its my favorite ministry that we do.
It’s not like prison in the states. It’s a tiny building where they roam freely and sleep on the floors due to lack of space. These woman are harmless, precious children of the King. I love them so much.
(The justice system here is very unfair. One woman is locked up because her FRIEND was an addict, others have been in there for five years for stealing something and still have not gotten a trial.)
Anyway, we go in and we enter the room where all the women are sitting waiting for us. The first time we went to the prison we sat in front of them, while the lady who leads the ministry preached in Tagalog. This last time we sat right in the crowd with them. I loved it. There’s so many women in that space and not enough chairs for them, so they stand. But they made sure that myself and my team had chairs.
Before I proceed explaining this story, you should know that here in the Philippines, Americans are almost idolized. People ask to take pictures with us all the time, wave only to us, see us as more important & worthy than themselves, and see white skin as more beautiful than their tan skin. They will tell us that we’re beautiful as they point to our skin color. In this culture, the lighter you are the more beautiful.
Back to the story- I had my chair mixed in with some women who did have chairs and some women who were on the floor. Long story short, I gave my chair to one of the women who probably stands all day. She insisted on me taking it back, so I argued with her until she finally sat down sharing the chair with another woman. Soon after that, a different woman picked up another chair and offered it to me. This happened time and time again, each time ended with me telling them I really didn’t mind sitting on the floor. And honestly, i really didn’t mind at all. Then the sweetest, simplist thing happened. The woman on the floor on the other side of me grabbed my hand and just held it. (So, I forgot to mention that these woman are super close with each other and hold hands, sit in each other’s laps, just super close). And when she grabbed my hand, it was her showing me that I’m part of that sweet sweet family. And she doesn’t even know me or my name.
I now have the beginning of what I know will be a sweet, special relationship that I hope they get at least one thing out of: that I am no more important than them just because of my skin color, but that they are important, and worthy, and precious, and adored because Jesus said so. I am the same as them and nothing more. We are all loved by the King.
On a similar note, we went to the mall and were standing around tables at a coffee stand. There were no more chairs, so two women got up and offered us theirs. Of course we refused. After this moment, my goal while I’m here became clear. To make every single person here believe that they ARE worthy and Jesus absolutely adores them.
Sorry if my thoughts are all scattered, there’s just so much to say!
(By the way, when you comment on my blog I can’t respond because the WiFi is so slow and it won’t load for me to be able to respond, but I do see it in my email. Know that if I could get it to work I would absolutely respond to you all. I appreciate the comments)
Mahal kita! (I love you)
Xoxo
