We’ve just begun Month 8 (meaning 4 more to
go!) which brings us to the Philippines!
If you remember our last intercontinental
transit day (flights from Bucharest,
Romania to Johannesburg, South Africa, followed by a 67 hours bus ride and a 12
hour bus ride) you’ll be glad to hear that our travel day from
Johannesburg, South Africa to Manila, Philippines went by relatively smoothly.
Note: All things considered it went by well. We had to wait around the airport
for a few hours (10+) but we all got
to fly together and Qatar Airways kicks butt!
Anyways, we arrived in the Philippines
around 4pm and made it to the base here around 6pm. The main ministry here in
the Philippines is KIM (Kids International Ministries). The ministry is huge
and so this month our squad of 10 teams has been split into 3 different
locations.
Before going to our locations, some of us
participated in the KIM 5k Fun Run! Cinthia and I did pretty well considering
we haven’t run in…lets juts say a long time!
5 teams have flown to the island of
Mindanao to work with the KIM base there; 3 teams have stayed in Manila to work
with the KIM Headquarters; and 2 teams have taken a ferry to the island of
Mindoro to work with Threads of Hope. Each location has its own unique focus,
ours, here in Mindoro is that we can experience God’s creation first hand while
building relationships with the locals.
The ministry we’re directly a part of here
is Threads of Hope. Our contact, Alex helped start Threads of Hope, they
basically redistribute the bracelets made here in the Philippines around the
world. They began with only one hundred dollars and one bracelet maker, and now
they’re ordering thousands a week and helping 500 women, men & children
from making poor life decisions. Threads of Hope allows the individuals to earn
an honest living and it allows women to work from home & take care of their
kids, children to go to school and not sell bracelets on the beaches, and men
to help support their families.
For a more details explanation please visit
their website at: http://www.threadsofhope.com.ph
Our ministry this month sounds exciting, we
have opportunities to do manual labour, evangelism through a basketball
tournament, working with the bracelet makers, leading youth groups, beach
evangelism, and most importantly to show the village what it means to live in
Christian community.
Living “in Christian community” might not
make sense back home, but we’re living the way God has called us to, we’re living
in groups of at least 6 (at times as high as 47) and we’re working together. We need to figure out how to
time manage together, budget together, prepare meals together, and work through problems together. In North America we’re so
focused on individuality that we have lost the sense of togetherness, luckily for us on the race, we’ve been “forced” to
learn this important lesson. That in itself is one of the most important things
we bring with us into a new ministry location.
