The past countries that I have been to the women have been treated pretty poorly. Don’t worry I am not a feminist, but I do believe that men should love their wives and this is shown so much by actions.
In most of the communities that we were in the women were not appreciated, truly loved, and taken advantage of. The women had no say, and did all the house work and raising children by themselves.
*not the case for all the families! Many of them though.
But it is different here in this village.
As I walk down the dirt path I see a wife and husband washing clothes together. I see a father swinging his child up in the air, I see a dad helping his wife cook the meal.
Here in the Philippines relationships are huge! Everything is done together.
Alex, our contact, told us it is not about getting the job done as fast as possible here it is about building the relationship with the people you are doing the job with. The people here will not appreciate the work that you do near as much as the time you spent with them.
It is interesting to think about how each of us has our own love languages (how we feel loved the most). But it also seems to be that cultures have their own love language as well. For example, in Africa it seemed like acts of service was a way people really felt love. Here is seems to be quality time. It is fun to practice and better learn the different ways to love people.
I appreciate how much these people value each other. Now every side has a con. And since they always put relationships first, this can cause laziness and things not getting done. But there is a valuable lesson to learn here.
It is like the example: when you are on your death bed, you are not going to want your awards, your car, etc, you are going to want your loved ones there.
I think it is super easy to put the task first before the relationship. Now this is not always bad, believe me this is how I am wired. But relationships are what’s going to last. Relationships are how we can better understand God’s love for us, relationships are what helps us in so many ways.
What would Jesus do? Join the men who were fishing (Matthew 4:17-19) build a relationship with his disciples(Mark 6:31), start up a conversation with a women at a well (John 4:4-10), play with the children (Luke 18:15-17), go to a strangers house to pray for them(Matthew 9:18-26), go over to a house of a disliked man (Luke 19: 1-10), care for his friend’s sick family member(matthew 8:14-16). He was ALL about the relationships!
“Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” John 13:1
