You close your eyes and then find yourself in the Philippines walking on some unsteady boards that have been raised over some puddles of water. You've been told that the puddles are left over from a typhoon and that the boards are there to walk over because the water is unsafe to walk through. You enter the community and walk through the narrow cement paths that look like they're always wet from the wells or the rain. Everyone is greeting you and you're greeting everyone.You look left and right and peek into the homes that would maybe classify as small garages in the U.S. You go by little stores that are connected to homes, people hand-washing clothes, a naked little kid getting a bath adding more water to the wet paths, and a naked, little kid just walking around. Some people appear to be laying down on mats in their homes and watching TV, some appear to be gambling and drinking. Some men are building a new home really high up to escape future water. The little kids all smile at you and some grab your hand or playfully expect you to chase them. Pretty soon a group of children are following you. All of them look decently healthy, but one has a huge swollen neck on one side. You make your way to a woman's house and ask to visit and take off your shoes before entering as is customary here. Her husband hasn't been working for a long time because he has kidney stones, and she has 4 children. Even though she had no idea you were coming, she acts as if she did, and warmly welcomes you and offers you a chair and some free pop and bread that she sells at her store; her only source of income for the day. You chat and find out that the homes that the people live in now are preferred over the evacuation center that they have to live in for 3 months out of the year due to the typhoons. She asks for prayer for her husband, and after you pray you ask if there's any other way that you can help her out. You think that to her that you might be a rich, healthy, young American, but she peacefully responds that prayer is all she wants and that ''That's the most important.''
You close your eyes and open them again. Now you're going to an older woman's home that you were told about and notice some random garbage outside of her house. She lives with her sister and is very skinny. She can't speak English well, but seems to understand well. She points to her head and throat and says, "Prayer, prayer". You pray for her and give her some bread and a banana.
Open, close. You see a cute little boy with a huge smile 
and without a shirt running toward you with a bowl because he knows that your team brought free food for the community.
Open, close. You see 30 teenage Filipino girls sweetly worshiping God 
in a sleepover-like setting in a really nice U.S.- like home . The girls are having a nightly devotional which is self-led for the night. They read some Scripture and then a girl starts to tell her story and her testimony of Christ. You can't tell what she's saying though, but you pick up on the few English and Spanish words that are a part of the language here. She pauses and starts to cry and you have some tears come down too because you know that this is a home for girls that have been abused and neglected. The girls call you ''Ate'' which means ''sister'' in Filipino. 
…These are some of the scenes that my eyes have seen the past week in the Philippines. I keep thinking that I'm so blessed and lucky to be able to see these things and have these experiences. I think everyone should do a World Race. Below is some info about the culture here, the ministries we're doing this month, my living situation for the month, and some prayer requests.
Culture: I'm currently in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The people are friendly and rich, peaceful and quiet. There seems to a big difference between the rich and the poor. There seems to be the nice communities and the slums. There's like 5 or 6 malls in Manila at least. One being the Mall of Asia which we got to visit. It was so huge! Way bigger than the Mall of America. When it rains here, it usually rains for a long time, and they really deal with typhoons and flooding and sometimes have to evacuate. There's these things called tricycles which are like motorcycles with a side car that are used for public transportation. There's also these funny-looking busses called jeepneys that are all over the place too. The typical meal is rice with some kind of meat, and eggs are common here too. Many people seem to like to sing karaoke here because you can hear it a lot on the streets and at malls. I thought the people here were calling me '''mom'', but they were saying ''m'aam'', but their accent pronounces it like ''mom'', so it sounds like they're saying like, ''Thank you mom'' or "Hi mom " all the time, but really it's, ''Thank you m'aam''. haha
. Like all the fast foods deliver here like McDonald's, Wendy's, and Subway…that's pretty cool. There's a fast food called Jollibee which is basically the Filipino version of McDonald's and there's so many Jollibees here. Fast food is about the same price as it is in America, but almost everything else is so cheap. I think this has been the cheapest country so far that we've gone to.
Ministry: We're at a ministry that does a lot of different ministries and for the most part, they let us choose which ones we want to be involved in. They do feedings twice a day where they go into a community and offer free food, they have a children's home, they have a clinic for pregnant women, they offer a free dentist, they have a home for teenage girls that have been abused or neglected, they have a Christian school next door, and they offer free swim lessons. On Monday and Tuesday, I tutored kids at the Christian school and helped them with reading and English, and then I went to the feedings in the afternoon. I was praying and felt like I wanted to do some ministry with kids in the community who haven't received much help or ministry yet and that really can use help. Later, my team leader said that they just told her about a different opportunity to work with kids with an organization that partners with ours that really needs help and has kids in a ''slum'' area that haven't received as much ministry. I was on board and that's where I went for the rest of the week with 2 other girls, and that's what the first two stories were about above. We've been tutoring the kids and visiting their communities. On Fri. and Sat. my team slept over at the teenage girls home which I described above.
Living Situation: This month as definitely been our best living conditions thus far. We're staying at a big ministry ran by an American man who's run it for about 20 years I believe. It's really peaceful here and beautiful. The buildings have a very American home feel with couches and bookshelves. I'm living in a room with 5 of my women teammates, and we have our own bathroom and hot showers. There's 2 other teams from my squad here as well as different ministry teams here too. The rest of my squad is in other parts in the Philippines. There's also a free washer and dryer we can use here! I've been having to hand-wash my clothes the whole Race so far. And we never have had a dryer!!! There's also a…wait for it…pool here and a free gym to use and you can get massages for $3-6. The ministry uses the pool so much for the community to use and the massages provide jobs/income to the women working. The food is also good and made for us. There's also a funny-looking bull dog that lives here. This ministry is gated, but its right next to the community and is very inviting to the community. Every morning, I see and hear the little market across the street.
Prayer Requests:
1. Please pray for the older woman mentioned above in the story- her name is Lolita.
2. Please pray for the students I'm tutoring and for all the ministries here.
3. I've been struggling with seeing the significance in what I'm doing. I know that its impactful and meaningful, but for some reason I don't feel like it and I feel like its not making a difference. Pray that I'd know and feel that nothing that is done for the Lord is in vain.
4. I've also been struggling with being distracted at times. Its very comfortable here where we're living which is a blessing, but it can also distract me from ministry.
5. Pray that I would recognize more of what God is doing and less of what I'm doing.
Thank you (''Salamat'' in Filipino) for reading! I appreciate it! God bless you! 
