All it takes is love.
Less than 3 weeks of it.
That is approximately how long we were in Malay Balay, Philippines.
Where did we stay?
We lived at the New Faith Family Children’s Home run by Kids International Ministries with the kids and staff who live there.
What did we do?
We were able to love on the kids in the orphanage every chance we had, day or night, rain or shine…playing hand games, listening to music, taking photos and talking about Jesus.
We did manual labor ranging from filling sacks with sand and toting them to a nearby building used for meeting, to spreading literally tons of rock on the dirt in those meeting areas, to working in their garden harvesting and watering their produce and eventually helping sell it on the side of the road, which serves as a way to provide income for the ministry done there.
We also did ministry in the local and surrounding villages! We went on outreaches to local villages playing games, singing songs, memorizing verses, coloring and sharing our testimonies with the young and old. We had the incredible opportunity to go with a local pastor to a market side village built in mud, made of bamboo and sitting on the side of a mountain. While there we were invited into these strangers homes, had photos taken of and with us, and were able to take part in “visitations” – this was actually just the term they used for home evangelism. We were able to pray with, encourage, share testimonies with and talk about our World Race…through this experience I felt I was able to make more relationships with the local people!
One of the harder things to experience was visiting the “dumpsite” where locals dump their garbage & junk piles high, it is also a home community for many, many families and young children who spend their days wandering through the heaps of trash picking through it for valuable items.
I even stepped out of my comfort zone (aka God called me out of it) to be one of the 3 speakers at the local university in Malay Balay. Scott, Rick, and myself spoke and shared our testimony in front of a room of college age students. It was terrifying and incredible all at once.
The majority of the time I spent in The Philippines, I was living through each day with a broken heart for the people, for those feeling lost and broken. I was always humbled by the faith, strength and joy they exemplified in the midst of their surroundings. The people we were blessed to serve with are constantly looking to God for their every need – they trust Him completely…even if they and their child were only able to eat a meal a day, even if their home was deteriorating, even if they were experiencing fatal illness – they trust God 100%.
God showed me more in the eyes and words of those people than anything I had ever experienced. It was an honor to be apart of ministry in The Philippines!
And it was fun!
Here is a list of things I was able to see/do last month:
~Jumping off a 25ft ledge into a pool
~Going swimming in a natural spring
~Trying balut (fertilized duck egg)
~Hiking waterfalls and slipping through the mud
~Trying frozen durian (stinky fruit)
~Cooking Spaghetti, hotdogs and fried chicken for the orphans
Overall there were so many incredible experiences and opportunities and I am in awe of the love we received both from the locals, our team, and Father God.
Thank you Jesus for it all!
