This past month in the Philippines, we had opportunities to go feed hungry children twice a day in the nearby villages. They would go at both 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. to different villages each day. You could sign up as often or as little as you liked depending on your other ministries so, I went about once or twice a week depending on if there was room or not. The children were absolutely beautiful and the experiences were amazing every single time.
I will never forget the very first time that I went. It was before debrief was even over and we had not been given any of our ministry opportunities yet. They needed a few extra hands so, I piled in the car with a few others and off we went. We were super excited all piled up in the back of the car patiently awaiting what the Philippines had to offer. I could not have even imagined the love I was about to encounter. The smiles were beaming like a radiating light the second we turned down the street to the village. The kids were chasing the car with laughter and excitement ready to bring the abundance of love they were carrying the second we stepped foot out of the door. We got out of the car and they just attacked us! They were knocking us over with hugs and climbing us like jungle gym equipment. I remember looking down at one point and counting five kids hanging off of my body screaming and laughing. We were trying to serve them food but it was hard to even get them to line up to receive it because they would rather be loved on instead but we accomplished it. We served bowl after bowl after bowl or maybe even sometimes a cup, plate, small ziploc bag or whatever they could find to eat out of. At one point, I remember thinking “what do we do if we run out of food?” and I was quickly reminded that God would not allow that to happen. There would be just enough and that even if one hundred more kids came, He would provide it! It was cool to have to rely on Him in that way for the first time in my entire life.
I continued going weekly whenever I could to help out and it was something I was looked forward to with a joyful heart. Most of the people who had gone would fight for the spots each week because they enjoyed going so much. I ended up going to the same place quite a few times and it was nice to make connections with the same kids over and over each time. I felt like I was learning something from these children each and every time I stepped foot onto their territory. They were just like little pieces of heaven dropped from the sky to help define what God’s love truly looks like to all of us seeking after Him. They were showing us how to be child-like again for the Lord. All I could ever see was directly into their eyes which led me to a soul in which God dwelled. God lives in the Philippines. He has set up camp there and He is not going anywhere anytime soon.
The last and final time I went to help feed these beautiful children, I got to go back to the same place once again. I was really excited to be able to go back one last time and spend that meaningful hour with those beautiful children before moving onto the next country and I did just that. There were quite a few of us there that day so, I really didn’t even have to help serve the food but just hang out and play with the kids for the full hour. Hope and I were both there and we had kids all over us. They were climbing up my back while I was holding two and three on the front and still more were trying to pile on. One of the little girls climbing up my back was using my neck to pull herself up and choking me most of the time. She had these little straw bracelets on and they were digging into my skin which was hurting terribly but there was no time to stop and worry about that. She finally got off to take a break and another little boy looked at me and pointed to my neck so, I touched it with my hand to find that I was bleeding. The nurse that was there with us quickly cleaned the cut up and put a band-aid on it. I was doing fine until I looked back down at my hand and saw the blood again. I usually start to feel light-headed when I see my own blood and I started to feel kinda nauseas so, I went to sit down inside the little shack that we serve the food from. The kids were following me in there and I was sweating like crazy. One little boy was pulling my arm hairs out and laughing because they were so blonde not realizing I was slowly passing out before his eyes. I was passing out and started to yell for Erin, who is now my new teammate although we did not know this at the time, but by the time she made it back to me, I had already passed out.
Shortly after passing out, I woke right back up in Hope’s arms lying on the ground. Erin was in front of me with water and some candy while a lady from the village was plugging a fan up to help me get some air. I was soaked in sweat when I woke up and then I realized and I quote directly, I was like “Oh oh and I pee’d my pants…seriously?” Well, that has never happened before but I went with it and definitely had a lot of laughs lol!! So, I’m not sure if you can get the picture at this point but I am lying lifeless in Hope’s arms in the middle of a small village of people soaking wet with my own sweat and pee all over me. It’s at least a thousand degrees outside and there is no air circulating anywhere and the hundreds of kids standing around did not help the matter either. I could not stop laughing at this point just thinking about what had just happened or how I had even gotten to that point. All I could say was “Well, ok God! I guess I asked for the unexpected in my life but I didn’t exactly think this kind of sense of humor was what you had in mind…lol!” I finally gather the strength to stand back up and the same lady from the village who brought me the fan had brought me a towel to wrap around my waist and a bag to carry all of my stuff home in. So, I stripped down into just a towel, a neon green playboy bunny towel might I add, and went on my merry way back to the homestead!!
I guess you could say I went out with a bang!! Not exactly the goodbye I expected that day but maybe God didn’t have it in my cards to say goodbye to them just yet!! I would have to say I handled things rather well that day and I mean how many people can say they went to the Philippines on a mission trip and passed out and pee’d their pants all in one day?
I definitely left my heart in the Philippines and I mean the only way to get it back is to make a second trip, right? All I have to say is, I have a little feeling I might be seeing those kids again one day. Man, do we serve an awesome God or what? A God of crazy amounts of love and a sense of humor bigger than any comedian you could ever come across. If you haven’t gotten to be child-like with your Father or witness His crazy amounts of love and sense of humor, I would suggest you give it a try sometime soon!
