This is like the national motto of the Philippines…we saw it upon arrival painted on the airport and the natives will recite this phrase to you as well. Its cute ..its fun.
This month my team and I are staying with Arms of Love on the island of Bohol, its basically prevention housing for at risk children. Every lunch and dinner we get to go to one of their four little houses to eat and play with the kids and they are just presh.
The organizations motto is “A home. A family. A future” and we really see that lived out. Each house has house parents that love the kids like their own and you’d never guess from meeting these kids that their home lives were abusive and neglectful. They are full of love and life and thats a real testimony to these parents!
So give me a minute as I wrap some stuff together …
Next week my dad will be flying out to the Philippines for one week for the Parent Vision Trip and we will get to work with the organization Wipe Every Tear in Manila with several other of my squad mates. Wipe Every Tear’s approach is through intervention and restoration. So the week that our parents are here we will get to go out on outreach to the red light district in Angeles City and also visit their safe home.
A. I was stoked to find that this is what we will be doing
B. Though I do this stuff in the states this will be the first real time doing it on the race
C. My Dad gets to come out with me 🙂
Its amazing that this month I get to see all sides of this problem here in the Philippines…I get to be here with an organization on the prevention side for a couple weeks and then very briefly get to be a part of what really steals my heart which is the intervention in the red light districts!
Per usual, I find it stretching to be with kids…Im getting better and better each time we are placed with an organization that interacts directly with them but its still not my most natural state. I praise Jesus for Uno and other card games that I get to teach them -if anything, thats my sweet spot with these kids. However I do find myself looking at these kids and praying that they continue to thrive…that they won’t grow up and throw everything out the window and that Papa just pour out blessings on their sweet precious selves.
There are moments I look at the kids and I’m able to see a whole different side of Jesus …getting to see freedom in a new light… getting to see curiosity, fun and playfulness. In a way Im kind of asking for my heart to break for that. Im seeing things in these kids that I want but I’m kinda feeling locked up at the same time and unsure how to get it. And you know when you want something its totally different from when your ready to pounce on it? Yea, I want it…Im just not quite at the place for whatever reason to pounce on it.
