I can’t believe it’s month EIGHT and I am currently living in the Philippines! I have been so excited the past few months as I have been praying about coming to Asia and I knew from the first day
living in the Philippines that God has AMAZING plans for this month…this has
been His message to me the past 5 days that we’ve been here and I know after
today that this is so so true!
We left
Manila, to go to our island for
the month called Mindoro, on Tuesday. More specifically we are staying in
Puerto Galera; a beautiful island paradise where many vacationers come to
getaway either from Manila or countries all around the world. Our other missionary contact at the house we stayed at in Manila said you guys sure are gonna be “suffering” for Jesus this month over in Puerto Galera. I just laughed and didn’t really understand his sarcasm, until we got here.
When we
arrived it felt like we had walked into paradise…amazing beaches, beautiful
weather, smiling faces, turquoise water all around, and even our own pet monkey
(muy muy) for the month.
This month we
are partnering with a ministry called Threads of Hope. This ministry is
awesome…they have helped out Philippino women who make bracelets for a living
to make the same bracelets, but instead of selling them for little to nothing
on the beaches, often at the expense of exploiting their children to sell
things; the women are now able to make the bracelets in the comfort of their
homes and receive a larger profit to support their families and keep themselves
and their kids out of harms way. Our contact Alex Kuhlow and his family were
living in Manila and would come to the island for vacations, they started this ministry 7 years ago
to help out their friends they made on the island. They set up the places where they
sell the bracelets in the United States and in many different countries (camps,
churches, Christian Fundraisers, colleges, events) so people can support these
women and get something beautiful as well.
The ministry
has grown tremendously and they have been able to provide over 500 women in
Puerto Galera with jobs making these bracelets now with Threads of Hope. Alex, our contact had a friend, Pastor Al
come and start a church here on the island to get the Threads of Hope ladies
plugged in to a church and to support the community with the love of Christ.
This is who we are living with this month and are working alongside. While we
are here we will be doing manual labor in the mornings, clearing some of their
land of crazy tropical trees with a lot of pokey branches J. Then in the afternoons we are free to
choose the ministry that God is leading us to for that day. There are SO many
opportunities for ministry this month in Puerto Galera…it’s hard to know where
to even begin. But God is putting passions and desires on our hearts and
opening up great doors already!
It’s a
beautiful world here…but beauty is often deceptive. The people are truly the
sweetest, most kindhearted people I have probably met so far. But there is a
lot of evil going on around us. Specifically at these gorgeous beaches!
Check out the Threads of Hope website and the Kuhlow’s story and see who we are working with this month: http://www.threadsofhope.com.ph/
Also read my next bog about our first day of ministry on White Beach in Puerto Galera…Awesome things happening!!
