Transitions, transitions, transitions. It’s been two weeks since I’ve connected to wifi and I couldn’t be happier because we are living in paradise. It only took us a week of travel days, a 15 hour flight, a long layover in China, a 12 hour bus ride of getting lost with a mixture of trips to McDonalds for food and using the bathroom to finally arrive at our ministry site. We’re working with Threads of Hope which is proving to be nothing but blessings upon blessings. The Philippines continues to amaze me with how hospitable our ministry host/family is. We’re up in the mountains of Puerto Galera, overlooking lush greenery and the Pacific Ocean from where we live. There are mango trees everywhere accompanied with a giant family of monkeys, one of which we know and love as, Musaki. She is one of the main reasons I can remind myself that I’m on a completely different continent… Asia, like whooooa.
In my heart, I knew that the Lord was always telling me how much I would love this continent. As a kid I was always thought Asian culture was so weird, and would ask questions like, “Why do they bow to each other and who cares whether you take off your shoes before entering inside?” But now that I’m here, it is slowly starting to make sense. The people here value and love to respect one another.
During our first week with Threads of Hope, a lot of us women were really excited to partner with an organization that helped us fund for the World Race. Our days consist of a blend of cleaning the property and organizing bracelets, key chains, and bookmarks for future orders and fundraisers. It’s amazing to be on both sides of the spectrum. To actually meet the beautiful women, the makers of Threads of Hope. Apart from working with the women, we also took some time out of our day to explore the town of Puerto Galera. The beach is about a mile from where we live, and it is incredible. White beach is a very touristy part of the area, full of restaurants and bars. At night, we saw lots of ladyboys and much older American men pursuing much younger Philipino women. The vibes at that beach were so strange, it was hard to be there at first, seeing everything that was happening. After a few minutes, a few of us girls went out on a prayer walk along the shoreline. We prayed over the brokenness in the things and the people we met, for grace in our hearts, that we wouldn’t judge what we saw, that we could learn to see and love the people here as Christ does.
In the mountains where we live, we see lots of small homes that are made of sticks and tarps to hold them up during the rainstorms. One lovely, elderly woman, Choling invited my teammate, Age and myself into her home after church one Sunday. Her daughter in-law spoke a little bit of English and was so proud to open up her home to us. All that she owned was a bed for her and her husband, Jerry to sleep in and a shop where she sold cookies and a few small necessities, such as deodorant and toothpaste to make a small living. Her husband was a taxi driver and made enough to get by and support his family. As Age and I sat there, they asked us if we wanted anything. We looked at each other and forgot to bring our money because we assumed that they wanted us to buy something from them. I started to feel bad, but before I could even say anything they gladly brought out two orange sodas and cookies for us expecting nothing in return. She just smiled and told us thank you for visiting our home. I couldn’t believe it, this family had just enough money to scrape by and we’re living under tarps and all they wanted to do was bless us with snacks and have us over. After we had left, I realized how much the Father loves us and how this family gets it, I mean they really get it. To not live on bread alone, but by every word of God.
A few days later, I woke up in the morning, flustered, because I was leading our team’s devotional. Every morning at 7:00am we gather together and devote an hour to the Lord, each of us taking turns leading the day. I love this tradition, so much and want to continue it for all of the remaining months of the Race and even after. So, I woke up and said, “Lord, please give me the words to speak to these women, let them be not my words but Yours.” Then as quickly as I had asked, He reminded me to be doers of the Word, and not hearers only. So that morning, we went in groups of four to pray over the town, to pray for our families back home during the holidays, and to pray over the huge storm that was covering the Philippines. As we were walking, the Lord brought so many warm and friendly people across our path. We waved and said good morning to everyone. Last month, I decided that I wanted to become more focused on evangelism and actually going out, meeting people and bringing the Gospel into the picture. During our walk, the Lord calmed the storms around us and showed us His love through His people. The world feels smaller and smaller the more I realize that the body of Christ is everywhere. I have brothers and sisters all around the world. We have such a good, good Father.
Overall, the Philippines is pretty fantastic. We literally eat the best food I’ve ever had in my life, I cannot get over these tropical dishes! We’re currently planning a Christmas party with our family here. If you’re back home reading this, I’m sending you love and celebrating the birth of Jesus with you all the way from the Philippines! I pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and a great rest of 2015. I can’t believe how incredible this year has been, the best is yet to come!
Love, B.
