We had a myriad of ministry opportunities to choose from in the Philippines and I, along with three other squadmates, volunteered to live with and love on eight 13- to 15-year-old orphans in the newly created independent living program.
I knew this decision would be a challenge and a sacrifice. I knew that diving into the role of a house parent would be a stretch for me. I had avoided getting too attached to a country or person thus far and knew that by choosing this particular ministry I would be in danger of getting my heart broken at the end of the month.
And oh, my goodness . . . boy, was I right.
My heart is in tiny little pieces.
And I’m EXACTLY where God wants me to be.
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I’ll back up a bit.
The independent living program was created specifically for the kids who were getting too old to thrive at the orphanage and who were not quite old enough to be on their own. They now reside on the KIM property in a space equipped with a kitchen, three rooms (one for the boys, one for the girls and one for two live-in house parents) and a living area with tons of donated games and books.
Like most teens I’ve encountered, they go to school, hang out with their friends and enjoy participating in extracurricular activities like karate, basketball and book club. The tunes of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber are continuously played . . . often on repeat. They strongly dislike bedtimes and chores are often met with a not-so-pleasant look (dubbed “stank face�).
In order to properly acclimate to this Filipino-teenager-land, I found myself downloading the tunes of the aforementioned teen pop stars, watching hours of the Hannah Montana TV show, posing for hundreds of Photo Booth photos (the three posted above were taken on the comic book setting), locating Avril Lavigne sheet music then teaching V* how to play it on the piano, purchasing a video karaoke DVD and singing at the top of my lungs to its musical selections. I did not remotely act my age. And I loved every minute of it.
We spent countless hours laughing, dancing and having fun. I often forgot these kids have experienced more pains and hurts in their short lives than I can ever imagine. They’ve had to work through abandonment, abuse and countless other issues no teen should ever have to experience. It was a privilege to love on them for the month and my life will be forever changed by their faith, optimism and joy.
I’ll be sharing several of my favorite moments from the month in upcoming blogs. Just bear with me as we have very limited access to internet!
*To protect their privacy, I’ll only refer to the teens by their first initial in my blogs.
My team and I made it safely to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’ve already spent some quality time wielding a pickaxe and look forward to a month of manual labor. At night, we hang out with the girls of the Remember Nhu ministry. We are finally living in our tents (I sure didn’t want to lug that thing around the world without getting some use out if it) and I’ve had more time to reflect and read in the last few days than I have in the last four months put together. Oh, and the food is just amazing! Four out of five meals cause me to hiccup due to the spiciness but it’s well worth enduring the laughs of my teammates to enjoy the tasty dishes. It’s going to be a great month!
I knew this decision would be a challenge and a sacrifice. I knew that diving into the role of a house parent would be a stretch for me. I had avoided getting too attached to a country or person thus far and knew that by choosing this particular ministry I would be in danger of getting my heart broken at the end of the month.
And oh, my goodness . . . boy, was I right.
My heart is in tiny little pieces.
And I’m EXACTLY where God wants me to be.
But I’m getting a little ahead of myself. I’ll back up a bit.
The independent living program was created specifically for the kids who were getting too old to thrive at the orphanage and who were not quite old enough to be on their own. They now reside on the KIM property in a space equipped with a kitchen, three rooms (one for the boys, one for the girls and one for two live-in house parents) and a living area with tons of donated games and books.
Like most teens I’ve encountered, they go to school, hang out with their friends and enjoy participating in extracurricular activities like karate, basketball and book club. The tunes of Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Justin Bieber are continuously played . . . often on repeat. They strongly dislike bedtimes and chores are often met with a not-so-pleasant look (dubbed “stank face�).
In order to properly acclimate to this Filipino-teenager-land, I found myself downloading the tunes of the aforementioned teen pop stars, watching hours of the Hannah Montana TV show, posing for hundreds of Photo Booth photos (the three posted above were taken on the comic book setting), locating Avril Lavigne sheet music then teaching V* how to play it on the piano, purchasing a video karaoke DVD and singing at the top of my lungs to its musical selections. I did not remotely act my age. And I loved every minute of it.
We spent countless hours laughing, dancing and having fun. I often forgot these kids have experienced more pains and hurts in their short lives than I can ever imagine. They’ve had to work through abandonment, abuse and countless other issues no teen should ever have to experience. It was a privilege to love on them for the month and my life will be forever changed by their faith, optimism and joy.
I’ll be sharing several of my favorite moments from the month in upcoming blogs. Just bear with me as we have very limited access to internet!
*To protect their privacy, I’ll only refer to the teens by their first initial in my blogs.
My team and I made it safely to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I’ve already spent some quality time wielding a pickaxe and look forward to a month of manual labor. At night, we hang out with the girls of the Remember Nhu ministry. We are finally living in our tents (I sure didn’t want to lug that thing around the world without getting some use out if it) and I’ve had more time to reflect and read in the last few days than I have in the last four months put together. Oh, and the food is just amazing! Four out of five meals cause me to hiccup due to the spiciness but it’s well worth enduring the laughs of my teammates to enjoy the tasty dishes. It’s going to be a great month!
