Hello everybody, I’m sorry for how long its been since my last blog post, I haven’t been the best about writing them. Back when you last heard from me we were roughly half way through Albania. So how’d the rest of Albania go? It went well, we ended up running the youth programs within the church we were partnering with. Although that only really took up about 4 hours a week, leaving us on our own. That put us in a weird position because we didn’t know what to do and we were discouraged because this was not how we expected the race to be. But none the less we pushed forward and finished strong in Albania.
Now here we are in the Philippines, a little bit more than half way through. We started partnering with Kids International Ministries. We arrived in manila and went directly to their base for a dew days. There we got over jet lag and got affiliated with the culture. While we were at KIM I was fortunate enough to meet the new interim directors, Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, and through a few conversations we found out that one of their daughters is married to Seth McCord. Which happens to be one of my bosses at TbarM camps, what a small world. Any how after our short three day stay In Manila, we endured the 24 hour bus ride down to Tacloban. Once we arrived we went directly to The Lighthouse, another KIM base established after Typhoon Yolanda leveled Tacloban in 2013. Just within a few hours of being at the lighthouse we realized that the long trek was totally worth it. We were staying in mostly a beach house with the ocean just across the street. Our ministry though was even better. Over the course of the next month we helped in running their Awanas program, Daily feedings in local schools and neighborhoods, constructing a church/ youth center, plus just hanging out and playing with the local kids that came to the Lighthouse everyday. I most definitely did not want to leave this place, this was what I expected to experience on the race. Although with about a week left in our stay at the lighthouse before debrief, we caught wind that all the boys will be having Manistry month at the Childrens Garden up around Manila. I was bummed at first but I soon became excited about what we would be doing. The Children’s Garden of the Philippines is a boys home that takes in street kids or boys that come from troubled families. There are 25 or so boys/men ranging from 13 to 21. And we simply get to build relationships with these guys, and hopefully help grow them in their walk. Once we arrived we were told immediately that we would be leaving the following morning at 3am to help facilitate a church retreat. Sure enough 3am came fast, and we headed out. Once we arrived by 8am we noticed we were way up in the mountains at Camp Cross, which looked out to a Volcano. We pitched our tents and began to get to know all the high school aged youth. 3 days flew by and now we are back at The Childrens Garden celebrating New years eve with the boys.
I my self have been doing pretty good. I would say I have definitely hit the low point in the race though. When your just tired mentally and home sick. But the good thing is I can already see God bringing me back up. Parent Vision Trip is at the end of January and ole Paps is coming out to visit, Unfortunately Momma couldn’t make it, but ill get to see her soon enough(: That should also be a great energy boost to see me through South Africa. I miss all of you so much, thank yall for the support. I promise not to take my time writing another blog haha.
– Sam
