One of the ministries we have in the Philippines is the Children’s home. 43 children between the ages of 1-24 live at the home. They have 5 babies, 8 toddlers and the rest are older. The oldest is 24 and her name is Maricel. There is also a girl named Maria and she is 21 years old. The rest of the children are different ages between 4 and 18.
For the first 2 months here I went to most of the feedings. We left at 9am every morning and got back between 11:00 and 12:00. We would also go to one in the evening at 4:00 and get back at 5:00. The cooks make 1-2 buckets of soup each morning and afternoon and we drove to different communities and passed out the food. There would be dozens of children all piled up with their bowls and cups in hand to get their soup. Sometimes we would run out so the kids had to go home empty handed. That was the worst part, it absolutely broke my heart. After we passed out the soup we would have time to play with the kids in the community or go to the Bible Study that Pastor was teaching. During the afternoon between the two feedings a couple of us would take the community kids swimming in our pool from 1:30-3:30.
Each day I had the same routine. Wake up, go to the feeding at 9:00, come back at 12:00 for lunch, take the kids swimming and then go to another feeding until supper. I don’t like having a routine with my life so I decided to switch my day up and start going to the children’s home and it’s been absolutely amazing.
Joy. That’s a word that I would describe this place. I see so much joy in the kids at this home and whenever I’m with them the Lord fills me with the same child-like joy. We play, laugh, have tickle fights, swim, eat lots of candy, watch movies and simply enjoy being with each other. They are amazing. I’ve only been there for a couple weeks and I’m already attached to them. It’s difficult sometimes because as most of you know, kids aren’t happy 24/7. For example, the other day we took the boys swimming and two of them started arguing and telling each other they were going to drown one another (very aggressive, I know). Soooo I had to hold on of their arms so he wouldn’t go after the other boy, but then 10 minutes later they were playing and laughing like nothing even happened!!! They’re crazy, but cool. There’s a little boy named Jolo and he was wearing one of the four life jackets we have. A boy named Rens wanted to wear a life jacket but everyone who had one on didn’t want to give it up because they had just gotten them. But Jolo, being the kindest little boy I’ve ever met, took his off and gave it to Rens. It was the nicest thing I’ve ever seen a child do because most children do not like sharing. But Jolo voluntarily gave it up and went to the little pool instead.
These kids are great. There are more stories that I can tell but those are two of them that kind of show how it is at the home. The kids care for each other and have fun being friends but they also get in arguments every once in a while but make up about 10 minutes later. I thank God for creating these beautiful children and placing them in my life. They make it interesting and exciting. There is always something new every day. They will be the biggest thing I miss about the Philippines and the Race. But I pray to God that He will use them and their uniqueness in extraordinary ways.
