Hey Everyone,
So as many of you may already know, I am suppose to be in Thailand this month but due to the extreme flooding…get ready for it…I AM IN THE PHILIPPINES!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited that I will get to spend six weeks at Kids International Ministries in Manila, Philippines. It is really cool because they have given us the freedom to choose which ministries we will work with this month. There are so many options such as working at an orphanage, working at a girls home, construction, feedings (like a soup kitchen), street kids, etc. I was so excited when I found out about the ministries available this month and started praying to God about where he wants me to focus my time. Well, God had a BIG surpise for me.
It is funny how God works. Last month my mp3 player was stolen and Crystal happened to have an extra one that she gave me. As I looked through the music on it, I noticed that besides the ridiculous amount of country music..there was a theme to the christian music that struck a chord with me. Most of the christian music just happened to include all the songs we used when I was involved with the puppet ministry at church. Well, when we were being given a tour of the childrens home it was mentioned that there were puppets somewhere. LIGHTBULB! When I started to investigate the puppet situation I found out that they had fifteen puppets hanging out that were available to me. So, puppets are the first ministry God has placed on my heart this month. I have been in the process of organizing a puppet ministry and putting together a mini puppet praise night and a few skits for other events. My squad has been extremely supportive by giving up time to come to practices and all I can say is WOW God is awesome.
Kids International Ministry also built a library a few years ago that is meant to be used by the community. However, due to the lack of education, children rarely use it or even know of its existence. LIGHTBULB! My second ministry this month is a childrens library program. I have developed two programs. For the younger children I read one or two picture books and then sing songs with them. For the older children, I had let them pick out a chapter book a few days ago and I read two chapters every day. Its kinda funny how everyday the crowd seems to get bigger and bigger. I started out with one kid and now I am up to thirty kids in just four days. During the programs I also work with them a little bit on literacy skills and next week I am going to start trying to teach them to write. It has been amazing to watch these two ministries really developed. I love how God is really using my skills this month and showing me how I can possibly use them in the future after the race.
