Wow! Just get used to this because you are probably going to
read this next sentence everytime I go to another country, but I LOVE THE
PHILIPPINES! I will probably say that about every country I go to, but get over
it. The nations are so beautiful. I have been blessed to have gone on so many
mission trips before this, but I have NEVER went to Asia, and WOW! The people
are beautiful!
On Sunday it will mark one week that we have been here. My team of 6 then ventured off to work
with our assigned organization on Tuesday. Excitement filled us as we anxiously
waited to finally meet the people we would be working with for a month. We were
automatically greeted with hugs and smiles from an organization that has never
before worked with AIM. NO BIGGY, we just have to be on our best behavior ;P!
Our team really not knowing what we were getting ourselves into got into Snow
White(the church van that I wouldn’t really call a church van) and headed to
our new homes for a month. So many questions went through my head of what the
crap am I doing and my brain kinda went like this: im really excited, and is
this really happening, am I going to sweat this whole year, I better drop
weight if I do, and what if I get attached and don’t want to leave, im so
excited, but im nervous, will they starve us,im tired i just want a bed, ok there is no turning back now Val so
here we go!
SO we made it what we thought was going to be like a not
very long ride turned into a longer ride than we thought, but it went by fast.
With this organization we were hooked up with a Pastor.He told us to call him
Papa Dan. OH MY I just LOVE his heart. But as we began to talk to him I noticed
he didn’t have a ring on his finger. He was not a young man either, so I was
puzzled at what the story was behind that but didn’t want to be rude and ask.
Later on we found out that his wife had
just passed away in May at the church. WOW! What do you do when someone you
don’t really know tells you this, and they are alone now? My heart immediately
dropped and so did the teams. This man has kids, but they are either in the
states or off doing there own proffesions somewhere in the Philippines. This
man that we were connected with is a lonely man now. WOW. That hit my whole
team. He was SO happy to have us, and the best present we could give him was to
just listen and be his friend. He lives at the church in a little bitty fallen
apart house, and people take care of him, but he is still lonely.
So why do I tell you about Papa Dan? Because we as a team
feel he is our key mission this month. We have had a TON of meetings since we
have been here with the organization and are working on our outreaches with the
school and we have even done a program for a group of kids. That is all great
and awesome, and we LOVE it! But we really feel like we are here for Papa Dan.
To let him experience life again. He goes with us mostly wherever we go. He has
cleared out his whole month to spend time with us. We feel so honored to have
him. Every morning we allow him to give us a devotional, and he LOVES it! Even
though what he may believe doesn’t line up with what some of us do, it doesn’t
matter, because we are one and love sees no borders.
I think it really hit a lot of us when we had to go and meet
with the high school principal and teachers, and Papa told us that that is
where his wife worked and loved it! They asked me to pray for us as we closed
that meeting, so I did and I noticed one of my team members grabbed his
hand and held it as we walked out and toured the school
where his former wife taught. It was beautiful. We are here to be a light in
dark areas, but we are also here to encourage believers. I strongly feel along
with my team that we are here for Papa Dan and to bring life to him after this
tragedy.
AGAIN, IF YOU ARE WANTING TO SEE PICS PLEASE GO TO MY
FACEBOOK AND LOOK. IT IS WAY TO SLOW TO UPLOAD THEM RIGHT NOW TO THE BLOG.
