I have always looked forward to the time when I will get to be an aunt. Just think about it; I get to shower nephews and nieces with love and then hand them back to their parents. To be the cool one, the fun one, the favorite aunt who just likes to play. Little did I know that I would get to be called aunt before my sibling even started having children.
I'm not going to lie for my first few days here in the Philippines I was in a rough spot. I was discouraged by the spiritual warfare around me, saddened by the condition of the lives I observed, and frustrated that my heart remained firmly closed to the people both on my squad and to whom I was ministering.
And then something happened. I cannot pinpoint the specific day when my heart began to open because it was a gradual process. Between working construction both at the YMC and children's home in the morning, and building relationships with the community girls in the afternoon, and time with my team at night I found peace.
In the end I believe it is the children that got to me. Here at Kids International Ministry, someone started the tradition of having the children call all of the visiting female missionaries “tita,” which in Tagalog means aunt. Here I get to be an aunt to the children who run these streets. I am blessed to be able to shower them with love. Blessed to be able to play games and learn songs. Blessed to have finally been taught cups by a group of young Filipino girls.
They don't usually remember my name, and honestly I have trouble sorting out all of theirs but that is just fine. To them I am just another tita, another young white girl who is going to just march back out of their lives like the last ones did. But still they offer their smiles and joy, so I have no choice but to offer them my heart.
It doesn't matter to me that in a few short weeks they will have forgotten me, what matters is that because of something small that I did; whether it is digging holes for the foundation to the new early childhood center or serving as a human jungle gym, they will be surrounded by the truth of God's unfailing love for them.
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