Greetings from Manila!
As I sit here trying to process this past week, I find
it hard to put words to everything. That being said…I will give you
what I know and as I have time to process Im sure more blogs will
come!
We are living in the guest house of KIM
ministries…and it is FAR beyond anything we ever dreamed of! (we have
nicknamed it “The Palace”) We have bunk beds, fans blowing on
us at night, showers (a secret hot one!), porch swings, and 4 amazing women
cooking us fabulous meals! The Philipines are absolutely
beautiful…tropical climate and mountains make for a lush green back
drop. The fruit….best I have ever tasted in my entire life! (pineapple
that has literally just been picked off the plant and sold at the local
market…brought home and peeled and sliced for our enjoyment!).
Everything is organic and its amazing!
The
guesthouse is located in a community they call Cuatro. To one side you
have sqautters, people who live in tiny homes on the curb of the street.
Squatters don’t officially own the land they live on, so at any time they can
be kicked out and their home bulldozed.
On the other side you have an amazingly beautiful golf course surrounded
by mansions where the richest of the rich live. The community gets its name because the fourth hole of the
golf course comes right up to the squatter community.
We
have not officially started ministry yet (Monday) although we have been playing
with the street kids who are starved for love and attention, walking the
community, and trying to get to know the people here. Our contact Jeff Long really has a huge heart and vision for
this community. The opportunities
for ministry are countless. We
most likely will be working in the children’s home, (they just received several
infant orphans who need 24 hour attention, and another one in the hospital that
needs 24 hour supervision), tutoring at Faith Acadamy, or doing some projects
within the community such as building a playground for the street kids.
This
week has been spent doing launch training where we have been learning to love
one another, live in community together, learning our identity as Sons and
Daughters of God, surrendering and receiving grace for strongholds, lies from
the devil and hidden sins that have affected our spiritual growth. We have spent much time in prayer
preparing our hearts and minds for the battle we are about to enter. We have been equipped to fight. Please keep us in your prayers as we
begin ministry next week! A lot of
spiritual stuff has happened this week and I need a bit longer to process
it. I will be posting a separate
blog soon.
