Everywhere we go here in the Philippines, God breaks our hearts. These people are truly some of the poorest people I’ve met, and yet so many of them are visibly filled with the joy and gratitude of the Lord. It’s written on their faces, especially on those of the elderly. I love the smiling eyes that are so kind and gentle, that speak of so many years of hardship and poverty and pain, yet more of hope and trust in God. One of our little friends here, Dexter, is a five-year-old boy who can’t walk but is a bundle of joy. Our team felt called to visit him and his family and pray for him every day. He’s shy and hasn’t yet said much in front of us, but his face tells it all. He lights up when you hold his hand or give him a high five, and when you sing to him or ask if you can pray for him. We sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ every day as we pray with him. God is teaching our whole team persistence in prayer just through this boy, because we may never see the fruits of these prayers in big ways, but we trust that the Lord is working and that ultimately His will is done.
This morning Erin and I bumped into some women who had traveled from far away to retrieve their Christmas gifts from the government. These gifts are small food packages for only the poorest of the poor, and they contain small packets of coffee, sugar, rice, and maybe a few other items. They’re so excited for the month of December because of this little gift… They’re so hopeful and thankful for something that for the many of the richest in the world would be insulting as a gift. Perspective shift, for sure.
And so many things are perspective shifters here. We step into these homes, which often are nothing more than a small, dim room made of loose bamboo shafts, and we almost break their floors with our weight. One of Pastor JoJo’s churches is a small hut with about seven benches and rocky, uneven mud floors. So many of these children cannot even go to public school because they cannot afford the cost of transportation, uniforms and supplies. And they are instead helping their families rummage through garbage to make a living. Today, we went to minister at the barangay garbage dump, referred to as the ‘dump site’, where many families spend all day sorting through heaps upon heaps of trash to collect plastics and metals to sell and make minimal money. The Lord provided a perfect window of opportunity today. Normally, they wait for the dump trucks to bring more trash before they start sorting through ‘new’ items, so we caught them during that break and shared the gospel with them as we all stood by a compost heap. As soon as we finished praying and thanking them for their time, the next truck arrived. While it was difficult to tell how they were feeling inside—as it often is in this very shy and nonconfrontational culture—I trust that God was and is working to grow the seeds that were planted.
