Month 1 is done! Life in the Philippines was fun and also full of its challenges. If I had to pick to a word to describe it, I’d say “grit.” I felt tested in my strength of character and taking the courage to be vulnerable when my thoughts and feelings got the best of me. And I’m not surprised by that either. I came into the race knowing God would be pruning away layers of my identity and reshaping my character.
I left America in a season of grace. In the midst of getting things ready and working at school, everything fell into place so that I was able to still find rest, feel prepared and savor sweet moments with loved ones.
As I moved from that season of grace, I entered a season of grit. Circumstances requiring perseverance in the face of risk and uncomfortableness.
It took grit to move past apprehensions and feelings of inadequacy as a leader.
It took grit to support my team as we built unity and trust.
It took grit to adapt to the changes each day brought with our ministry.
It took courage to realize that for me to push forward with grit, I needed to give myself grace.
And by allowing myself grace I could show it to others. Compassion and love work the same way. When I allow myself to receive it from God, I’m able to freely give it away to others as an overflow.
All this leads me to think… God put me a fresh season of His loving grace so that I’d know the importance of receiving it and showing myself that same grace in those trying circumstances. It’s quite beautiful. And much like God to know what I need before I even know I need it.
Near the end of the month after raw, real conversations and the help of loving leaders, I left for Thailand with a deep sense of hope. I love how the word hope refers to the future but also speaks to the present. Ah, it’s so good!
This is one of my favorite verses about hope and I like reading it in “The Voice” translation:
I pray that God, the source of all hope, will infuse your lives with an abundance of joy and peace in the midst of your faith so that your hope will overflow through the power of the Holy Spirit. – Romans 15:13 (The Voice)
When we have hope for the future we can live with joy and peace for today.
I collect quotes from people while I travel- funny or insightful. This is my favorite response from a conversation when I asked a Filipino friend what she liked most about the Philippines and she said, “We choose joy.” It was probably the most inspiring phrase I heard all month.
Moving on from what I learned-
I’ve put together a video of some clips and pictures I took throughout the month. Scroll to the bottom of the post. Here are a few disclaimers and descriptions of what I did in the Philippines.
-
The pictures of children are from feedings. Our team would bring food to designated communities and churches that Kids International Ministries (KIM) are in relationship with- some for many years and others are new. KIM’s heart behind the feedings is to use food as a tool for further relationship building and to share stories about Jesus. The Filipino pastors at KIM drove us to the locations, some of which were their childhood communities. They advised us in every place whether we could use photos to document the experience out of respect and to honor their relationship. They usually wait a couple years! I had a really good conversation with my friend Genesis, who manages the teams that partner with KIM, about all their efforts to ensure Filipinos are treated as equals in this ministry.
-
During our time at KIM we sorted out daily tasks between 2 teams from my squad. This included:
-
Kitchen: Chopping ginger, garlic, and onion for the feedings
-
Feedings: Twice a day a small group would drive with a KIM pastor into the community. We’d play with the children, share a story, and sometimes host a bible study.
-
Serving at the Birthing Clinic: They have a midwife, Rona, and she is amazing! My teammate Sharon wrote a blog about her, check it out. We helped during deliveries and appointments.
-
Mixing cement at the construction site: KIM is building a High School to hold 11th and 12th graders. Currently HS typically goes until 10th grade in the Philippines so they are trying to help students become career ready. Norman, our ministry host, casted a beautiful vision for the school.
-
Children’s Home: There are around 30 kids that live at the home with caregivers 24-7. I spent many mornings with Tina and my teammates playing with the toddlers and helping at lunchtime. I would share photos but to protect their privacy we are asked not to. We also took turns planning a devotional night. One time we acted out a bible story, another time we showed a video and always had a game and some songs to dance to. We made it fun!
-
Swimming!!! There is a swimming pool and we’d invite the community kids and children’s home to show them how to swim or just play in the water.
-
Middle school girls and college bible studies: I LOVED meeting girls and hearing about their lives. I have a big passion for young women and enjoyed my time with them. The middle school girls are from the Cuatro Christian School associated with KIM. The college women I met through my new Filipino friend, Jamie, who works at KIM.
-
Cuatro Christian School: Later in the month I tracked down Donna, a women who is a long term missionary that trains the teachers in curriculum and teaching strategies. I asked a lot of questions to learn about how they teach with minimal resources, and helped her sort through their library of 99% English books to find ones that would suit the level of readers at the school. They have a need for more Tagalog books!
-
We worked at KIM 5 days a week with one adventure day and one rest day. The fundraising for the World Race is used for lodging, food and transportation. Just to clarify, anything I choose to do on an adventure day is out of pocket.
I’ll leave you with some fun tidbits 🙂
-
Many times when I’d introduced myself, the person would jokingly ask, “Where is Adam?” and it left me confused for weeks. Then someone finally pointed out that my name is pronounced the same as Eve, like in the Bible. It became a running joke in our bible study.
-
There were Christmas decorations up everywhere and Christmas music in the stores.
-
I visited Threads of Hope on the island of Mindoro. I partnered with them for a fundraiser when I sold bracelets. We saw where the women purchased thread and learned how they manage the ministry. Thank you to Jim, Julie, Sarah, Ben and Alex for making it possible!
I realize this is a long blog post but I wanted to give a good idea of what I did this month and how I’m growing as a person. You can be praying for continued good health and to be fully funded! The Philippines was a wonderful country to start the race and I’m ready to move forward in hope and see God move in big ways.
