Our summer adventure has finally come to an end and many of us are finding it hard to believe the number of creation’s natural wonders we’ve seen and touched. We’ve had some time this past week to reflect on our individual team adventures and we also spent some time exploring the sites of home base.
At home base, we visited a beautiful cave that was full of crystal walls and clear water in which we swam and cooled off. Another day we hiked to a local waterfall that we all enjoyed swimming in and fighting the current. On a couple of nights, we helped a few young students practice their English by playing some fun games with them. A few guys also interacted with the local community by visiting a public basketball court and shooting some hoops with the men out there. Last night we all enjoyed roasting hot dogs and s’mores over a fire on the local beach.
In the next 24 hours we will all be on our way back to the states. We will start together, but gradually spread out among different flights and airlines. Please ask Dad to provide smooth travels and to keep us safe as we return. We are all excited to see our loved ones and are looking forward to our arrival home! Also take time to ask Him to touch the hearts of the people we interacted with this summer.
I have never thought of myself as particularly smart or rich, but I have noticed that as a white person in the Philippines, I am perceived that way. When I did some construction work with some men at Gentle Hands, I was asked some seemingly ridiculous questions, but it just showed the misconceptions we sometimes have about another culture.
When I pick up a tool or a board and try to help, they try to stop me. I’m not doing anything I wouldn’t do at home, but they don’t understand that. They think that their work is beneath me, and as a white person I could do anything, but I shouldn’t have to work that hard. I’ve been trying to break the mold of how they perceive me and white people as a whole. I’m working, sweeping, running errands – grunt work – and it’s not what they ever expected I would do.
When I told the men I was going to school, they first thing they asked me was if I went to Harvard. They automatically assumed I was brilliant just because was white. And when I told them what I was studying to be (a preacher), they were even more surprised. They were shocked that I would consider choosing a career that involved so much servitude. Talking with them about my school and career choice opened doors to share the gospel with them. It really helped that the other side of the memory verses we were given is written in Tagalog. I was able to show them and walk them through the verses because they were written in a language they understood. Broken English was enough to clarify the meanings or some questions they had.
God has taught me that there are so many things to consider about people when we go into another culture to witness. While we may spend so much time thinking about the right location to go to, the right way to eat food there, or even the right way to greet people, we may be overlooking some other important factors as well. How are we perceived there? They have a somewhat skewed view of believers, but we often don’t understand the lost. And when we are trying to reach them, we have to be aware that sometimes the barriers we must overcome may not even be spiritual; it could be skin, language, reputation, or any other thing. They more aware we are, the more effective we can be at winning souls for the kingdom. And that’s why we came, right?
Every team I visit has the same problem in their ministry – reaching the men.Whether it’s street evangelism in a city, feeding programs in squatter communities, or inviting tribal people to bible studies, it is very hard to gain the interest of the men.It’s understandable to some extent: a lot of them work very hard ALL day long, then they just want to come home and rest or they start drinking and gambling as their only source for entertainment.Gentle Hands has been reaching out to the people of Malabon for quite a while now, and they have noticed a key interest that all of the men share – basketball.To take a step forward in including the men, the workers and volunteers at Gentle Hands decided to clean and repaint the basketball court in the Malabon community.Their efforts were well received to say the least.
Micah: We began our day of work in Malabon with extra sets of hands since a large team of military families from Japan came to volunteer at Gentle Hands for a week. We walked them through Malabon so they could really understand the living conditions these people endure (they live on a garbage dump), and they could see the incredible need they have for food, medical care, money, and the gospel.
After we walked through and greeted the people, our team and the new team began our fellowship time with the people. We played with children, talked to the adults, and Ate Char did some medical work.
Then it was time to work. The children and our teams swept the court to get it ready for painting. The men were starting to gather as we swept the court. Once we brought out the paint and started outlining our marks and asking what color they wanted everything to be, their interest peaked. Men came pouring out the sidelines of the court – watching, helping, smiling. It was great!
Sweeping - Filipino style
Almost everyone from our teams got a turn to help paint the court, and all of they people seemed simply elated that we would do this for them. While it is something they appreciate and something we wanted to do, painting a basketball court was not our goal for the day. We wanted to establish a stronger relationship with the men which will hopefully lead to more of them coming to Christ.
Our hopes were realized the next time we went to Malabon. The men seemed more open, and they had even painted the Gentle Hands symbol on one of the walls surrounding the court – pink paint, heart and all. This was one step forward with the men that will hopefully lead to a race towards Christ.
Ever since I arrived in the Philippines, I have been praying for God send me someone I can witness to. Everywhere I turned, I seemed to be blocked by the language barrier. Part of our work here at Gentle Hands is going to a community called Malabon and ministering to the people there through giving food or medicine or sharing the gospel. I met a boy named Michael there, and I saw that my prayer was answered.
I did not seek Michael out, or make an effort to talk to him more than any of the other children I met in Malabon; he just walked up and introduced himself to me. I started walking with him and quickly realized that he knew more English than any other person I had met in Malabon! I knew this was the opportunity I had been praying for! I spent the day getting to know him. I asked him what he knew about Jesus and shared the gospel with him. After our conversation, he went home for a little bit, but he came back as we were getting ready to go. I asked him to think about what I had said to him. I went home and prayed for him, and I made sure to ask everyone back home to pray for him too.
I really wanted to talk to him again to see if he had thought about it like I asked him to or if he had any questions. God made that possible too. The next time we went to Malabon, Michael came running up to me and started playing with me. I asked him if he had thought about what I had told him last time. He said, “Yeah…let’s go play over there.” I was devastated. It crushed me that God had granted me everything I had asked (the opportunity to witness to someone who could understand me and that I would get the chance to see him again), but he wasn’t receptive.
I struggled with God for the rest of the day. I asked him over and over why He gave me the opportunity and everything else just for Michael not to believe it. I know now that those feelings of frustration, anger, and defeat all came from the enemy who just wanted me to feel like it just wasn’t “worth it” to share. But I learned and grew so much from that trial. I know that sharing is totally worth it! Even if I never see a single person come to Christ, they will have at least heard. Even if I share the gospel my whole life and only one person believes, it was totally worth it. I walked away from that experience so encouraged with God’s sovereignty. He is the one who changes hearts; I can only listen and follow.
The director of Gentle Hands made a promise with God when she began her ministry. She said she would never go looking for children to bring to the orphanage, but if God placed them in her path or if someone called and needed help with a child, she would always do whatever she could. She would trust God to provide her with whatever skills or money she needed to take proper care of them. That’s why she didn’t shy away from bringing a boy with cerebral palsy into Gentle Hands. Maddie majored in special education, so she was assigned to the boy to try to help him accomplish some basic tasks. The experience has been nerve-wracking but amazing at the same time for her. It has also taught her about God’s power.
Maddie: I met this boy on the third or fourth day here at Gentle Hands. There were certain things he needed to learn how to do or had to perform or he would be institutionalized because of his disability. I was assigned to him to help him accomplish these tasks. No pressure, right? He is a really sweet kid though. I know there is so much he wants to say and do because Cerebral Palsy doesn’t affect his ability to think or reason, he just can’t express or do much.
I have never prayed as earnestly as I have for his progress. His benchmark tasks include being able to sit up, walk, and talk, which seem physically impossible for him in his current state. I know a little about C.P., but I have no strategies to rely on to help me instruct him. I have had to fully rely on the power of God to bring him as far as he has come, and I expect God to continue to work in him so he can stay at Gentle Hands where he is loved.
I have been searching scripture for help in this situation and I keep coming back to the story of Peter walking on water. What Jesus told Peter to do was physically impossible, but through Jesus’ power, Peter was able to do it. Only when he started relying on himself did he start to sink. This boy hasn’t made the leaps and bounds he is supposed to make yet, but he has made a lot of progress. God has shown me the power of prayer, and I have been bathing this boy in it. I know that I am not capable of accomplishing what needs to be done, but God and his strength is. Please pray for this boy... let’s see what God can do!
One of the main beliefs the supervisor of Gentle Hands has is that as Christians, we can be a tangible, practical touch of Jesus to those in need. Whether they are feeding the hungry, helping the sick, holding the lonely, or praying for the lost, the Gentle Hands team has taken this philosophy to heart. Becky has seen great need in some of the love-starved children who come to Gentle Hands.
Becky: I have made a very strong connection with a little boy that I misunderstood at first. When I first met him, I just thought he was an annoying little boy who threw tantrums all the time. After learning his story though, I learned that he was simply dropped off at the orphanage – abandoned. His kicking and screaming is his coping mechanism for the hurt he feels. Sometimes it’s over absolutely nothing, but if I simply hold him close to me, he will instantly calm down. It’s not what you are probably thinking though: another spoiled kid who kicks and screams until he gets attention – it’s different. He just wants closeness because he has probably never gotten it.
Now when he sees me, he runs right to me (which is hilarious because his legs seem to move faster than the rest of his body so he looks like a cartoon) and hugs me. He usually stays pretty close to me. Often I am the only one who can calm him down when he is throwing a fit. He has taught me to love unconditionally because, like all of us, he is sometimes very hard to love. I know I could never understand what he has experienced or how he feels because of it, but I do know that I can love him through it.
He had a sister here at Gentle Hands who went back to their family, so I sometimes worry that he will go back home and not have the love that he has found here. I just want him to know that someone loves him – whether he only has God for that or if his parents have become what he needs or if he has a faint memory of me or the others who love him here at Gentle Hands.
What I have learned from all of this is that we should love on every kid as much as possible because we may be the only sources of love and the only touch of Jesus they feel in their lives. I know I will continue to pray for that boy by name every day when I get home. I hope that God will always allow him to be surrounded people who make him feel loved or provide him with strength in knowing God is with him if the love isn’t there.
It’s not hard to love the children at Gentle Hands. All they want is love and they freely give it in return. Becky found herself completely attached to one girl immediately after arriving at the orphanage, and learned an unexpected lesson from her.
Becky: I met Raisa the first week of working here at Gentle Hands. The bond was automatic and so strong! Even though I only knew her for a few days, I quickly became the only person who could stop her crying. She even called me “Momma.” After the first week I was here, she went back to her family, but I didn’t know she would be leaving Gentle Hands. It was so hard to say goodbye. She has been in my thoughts and prayers every day since she left. I think about her and how much I want to see her every time we go back to the area she lives in for ministry.
I didn’t watch as she was given back to her family. I didn’t want to know what her family looks like, I thought it would be too hard to watch. I was trying to detach. The experience taught me how to say goodbye and let go – something I’ve never had to do. I really didn’t expect to learn something so profound from someone I had only known for a week. It made me love the children more because I learned we don’t know how much longer we will see the children and get to love on them. And we don’t know if they will feel as much love at home as we give them while they are with us. That’s what I often think about when I think of Raisa, and my heart still breaks for her. I don’t know how her life is now, but I hope and pray that she is with a family who loves her just as much or more that I did in that short amount of time.
It is no question whether or not Mabry, Candace, Katherine, or Hannah love the kids at Ruel Foundation. Between bottles, games, walks, or just holding them when they cry, the love is evident. They like to try to do special things for the children, so when any opportunity arises, the girls try to take full advantage of it. So when something like a birthday rolls around – you can bet there will be a serious party.
They...
Love...
These...
Kids!!!!!
When one of the boys had his birthday, the supervisor decided that a celebration at Jollibee (Filipino version of McDonalds) for him and all of the children who were old enough to participate was in order. The team was so excited for the children that it was hard to keep it a secret! Sophie, a volunteer from New Zealand who had been at Ruel for six months, and the children made a robot-shaped cake for the boy, thinking they would celebrate at the base that night.
The Birthday Boy
...and his cake
Around 5 o’clock, the children were loaded into a van, unable to hide their excitement and expectations. We got to Jollibee ready to celebrate, but we had a little obstacle to overcome. There was already another birthday party going on at the time, and seating was VERY limited. After talking with the staff at Jollibee, we were able to get enough room in the reserved section to seat all of the children.
The children were so excited to get their fries and coke, and then their chicken and spaghetti – a traditional Filipino birthday dish. The team and I chaperoned the kids and made sure to take pictures of their happy, spaghetti-covered faces. Everyone seemed to be having such an awesome time – except one.
One girl at Ruel is a little older than the other kids. She was sitting towards the end of one of the tables. Due to the limited space, we sat next to some of the families celebrating the other birthday. The girl was seated next to a mother and father and their daughter who was close to her age. She kept glancing, then staring, at the family. She is old enough to understand her situation and what she is missing by not having a family. While the supervisor, the other workers, and Mabry, Hannah, Candace, and Katherine can love the children with all their hearts (and they do), the children know that they are not family and they long for that connection with people.
She stares at what she wants so badly
Some of the children at Ruel are there for temporary care. Some are malnourished or sick in some other way, and once they are better, they will be sent back to their families. Others don’t have the comfort of knowing that their family is waiting for them to come home after they are healthy. Some ask the supervisor whether or not she will find families for them. What a heart-wrenching question! Please pray that God will lead people’s hearts to adoption in the Philippines. No child deserves to grow up without a place or people to call his own.
The girls at Ruel are determined to continue their process of ministering to the surrounding community as well as the children at the Ruel Foundation. Mabry contacted me with three new things they have done to be the hands and feet of Jesus in Calapan City.
The first experience was with some kids that were playing outside the gate of the girls’ apartment. The kids were “playing” with a cat – kicking, throwing, laughing at it. The girls told them to stop, but the kids just laughed at them. The girls turned away and talked about getting ready for team time. They must have said "Bible study" because one of the boys repeated it, and Mabry freaked out! She ran over to him and said, “Yes Bible study! You like Bible study?” After about ten minutes of talking, the team convinced the children to come back to Ruel the next week for a Bible study.
The next ministry opportunity branched from another visit to the hospital. One family needed a medicine the hospital didn’t have. Katherine and Hannah took a woman from the family all over town looking for a place that had the medicine. When they found the medicine they bought it for the woman. The woman was so grateful, and Hannah and Katherine said it was such a blessing to be able to help the people in such a practical way.
The other experience was with more local children. The teamed armed themselves with Silly Bands, Pixi Stix, over 100 tracts, and other bracelets. They waited in the streets near the base for the local children to walk home from school. The children were really hesitant at first to accept the gifts from the team, but once the team explained the gifts were free, they gladly took them and the tracts. They stopped and talked to a group of girls to try to build stronger relationships that may lead to chances to share the gospel with them.
Please pray for this team and that more ministry opportunities will present themselves!
My stay at the Ruel Foundation taught me two things about the team working there. 1) They have adopted the supervisor’s passion for the native Mungyan people, and 2) they wanted to do more ministry outside the children’s home. While I was with them, the team often mentioned several plans for various ministries: prayer walking, hospital visits, visiting schools, and street evangelism. Well, after I left the foundation, I received an email from the team leader, Mabry, that was overflowing with excitement. Apparently they got their chance to do some ministry at the hospital with the Mungyan people, and they might have opened doors to do other types of ministry along the way.
Mabry: The Mungyan people are definitely looked down upon in Calapan City, and they are very poor. When they are sick, they can rarely afford a hospital stay and food, so the patient and his or her family often don’t eat while their loved one is receiving medical care. Our plan was to deliver bananas to the families and fellowship with them so they could eat and we could share the gospel with them.
Candace: We had a small problem though. The Mungyan people speak very little English, so simply telling them our testimonies or the gospel would not work very well. Katherine had a great idea. She decided to copy verses that outlined the gospel from the Filipino Bible we have at the home.
Hannah: Satan wasn’t done hindering our plans though. I thought it would be good if we let owners of the cafe read the tracts before we distributed them, just to make sure they were correct. It turns out the Bible we copied the verses from is written in a dialect that no one in Calapan City uses! The owners helped us use the internet to translate the verses to Tagalog, then we printed them – God still had the victory!
The team set out for the hospital with bananas and tracts in hand and a mission. Its always good to not have tunnel vision when you are working on a task – even if its one for God – He might have even more in store for you. On the way to the hospital, Hannah met a Filipino girl who was a Muslim. She wanted to become friends with the team. They are trying to set up a Bible study with her in the near future.
Our new friend who flagged down the pastor
Upon arriving at the hospital, plans had to change yet again. They were told that only two people could be allowed in at a time to visit with the people. The team wanted to stick together, so they stayed outside of the hospital giving their bananas and tracts to people as they walked in. The first woman they spoke to was a born-again believer. She was very excited to meet the team. They found out that her husband was very ill, so they prayed for him. A pastor walked by while they were talking with the woman, and she flagged him down. He talked with them for a few minutes and asked if they wanted to go in. They told him about the hospital regulations, but he told them that he knows the workers and it was okay. So the pastor and two security guards escorted the team through the hospital to the patients’ rooms. They gave away all of their bananas and most of their tracts and prayed over each family.
A man reading his tract outside of the hospital
Mabry: It was so encouraging to pray over the Filipino people and to know that even though none of them spoke much English, we were able to share the gospel through those tracts that we made. We're going back as much as possible with more tracts and bananas to give away. Please continue to pray for this ministry!
You may have seen the news reports about flooding and landslides in Korea over these past few days. We've heard from some of you, wondering about the safety of the team serving there. Here is an email we received from Team Korea earlier today (July 28th):
Team Korea is safe and sound. We are currently a couple hours southwest of seoul at a camp and have little access to phones and internet.
We will be heading back to seoul on friday afternoon local time.
God bless. Please keep the team and our students in your prayers.
We had us three, your “three stick out like a sore thumb” missionaries.
You had Alfred, our translator who is missing his two front teeth. A constant reminder and testimony to the drunken fighter he used to be until the gospel changed him.
We had Michael, the pastor who always wore glasses and a shirt that said "Shakira" on it. He heard the gospel years ago in the village when missionaries came to him and was eager to share the word.
We had Moses in our group who was young and the son of Michael.
And there was a young man by the name Alex who visited the church at midnight of the week we were there and found himself at his end. 19 years of age, being a drunk, his parents had kicked him out of the house and he found himself at the church hoping and praying for an answer to his life. That night he accepted Jesus and followed us in our merry band throughout the week. After several days of shaking from withdrawals he was beginning to look somewhat together.
Day after day we traveled to homes on foot preaching the gospel and asking them to drop their nets and follow. At night we all slept together on the dirt floor of a brick church with no doors. Their wives provided us with more food then we could ever want. What a sense of community I felt as we read the scriptures for sometimes hours in a morning spending many hours in conversations of the Lord. What a blessing to even taste perhaps what it would have been to be an earlier follower of Christ.
This week we were hit with many honest statements and questions. An older gentleman on the last day came up just to greet us and tell us, "Thank you for preaching the word of God." He began to share his testimony and he said in 1968 he was saved, but Satan did not fear his salvation. Later in his life after he quit playing in sin in 2000, he said he began to proudly share the gospel. A very simple testimony, but the words “Satan did not fear my salvation” was stuck in my head. I started wondering if Satan feared my own salvation. If the way I lived my life made Satan tremble or if he simply found himself not worrying about me because I was simply distracted a lot of times.
I started thinking about my church and people my age, and started wondering does Satan fear our salvation? And honestly I began to think of it as a shame the number of times we have simply been idle and distracted by sins but things also we might not consider bad... like college, the American dream, and vacations. Does Satan honestly fear our salvations? I’m scared to say, but for a generation who has all the tools needed at hand to fulfill the great commission, for the most part we stand idle. I pray we would be people that Satan shutters at when he reflects on our relationship with God.
Tony has been struggling with his alcohol addiction this past weekend after attending a wedding. We just ask that you lift him up in your prayers as Christ continues to work in his life to completely kick his addiction. After 37 years of this lifestyle and addiction, it just shows God's majestic ability to transform his life from where it was before. It will all be a challenge for him, but it just reminds us that we serve an all-powerful God and nothing is impossible for Him. All the glory to God.
It was the first week we were in the Philippines and we went to play basketball with some guys. When we finished, we walked by a skills center (welding) and a guy walked up to us and started to talk in English! We were surprised at first, but he was very nice. We ended up asking if we could play basketball with them and share our testimonies. After that, we started going back on a regular basis and having Bible studies. They were very receptive of our message, although many of them professed to be Catholic. They seemed interested from the beginning and each of our team members lead a Bible study with them. I remember several times going on their lunch break (which was 1 hour) and staying 2 to 3 hours talking about many things relating to Jesus and what truth REALLY is.
As the summer was winding down, several of the guys made Jesus Christ the Lord of their lives! We celebrated with John, Macarae, Odonis, William, Patrick, Argie, and Vinston. Then I shared with them about baptism and we made plans to baptize them all together. Two of them however, came to me and said they did not want to wait and wanted to be baptized the next day! So we baptized John and Odonis the following day! The rest were to follow, and the Lord proved Himself faithful through their lives. They will be leaving to work all around Cebu, so please pray for them that they would continue to be bright lights in the darkness where they work and to whomever they meet. Pray for the truth to be evident and revealed for each of these guys as they are searching for more answers. Thank you for the prayer!
We have had around 100 boys be circumcised and we still have some more to go!
Almost everyone has had the opportunity to do tuli or assist someone in tuli. The teams are led by registered Filipino nurses who have been trained in community heathcare also. Everyone has had a great time serving these boys both physically and spiritually.
Casiklan tuli day
Last Tuesday team Lawan-Lawan and Casiklan got to go to an area in between their villages and tag-team on some tuli procedures.
Katie of the Casiklan team dubbed it "Tuli Tuesday" and was super excited to work on these kids.
The usual amount of boys in a day can estimate from 6 to 20 and can be extremely exhausting for the teams.
Lawan-Lawan Tuli day
With them working so hard they have to take caution with their blood sugar, because when it gets to low you shake more. This can be dangerous when you are doing the procedure. So, as a pre-cautionary measure, the team takes frequent breaks and has numerous snacks as they work.
Subait tuli day
We pray that these days have a strong influence on the lives of the patients both physically and spiritually, as well as having an impact on the families of the young.
The team is now finished with their house building.
This past Saturday, the team had the honor of dedicating 5 houses. Including two they helped complete from the ground up, one other they spent time working on, and 2 others.
Each team member got to take part in the ceremony. Each had the opportunity to tell the Habitat board, the new homeowners and the owner’s friends what they had learned this summer. Dan gave a Bible to each family, while Thomas gave the families the keys to their homes. Nicholas sang a Cebuano song he learned the night before, while Tanner and Jeremiah both prayed.
The members got to pray for the homeowners as well as cut the ribbons before they entered the house.
But one of the best parts was after we cut the ribbon and sang the song as we entered the home. The homeowners had snacks to celebrate. We got to eat spaghetti, some coconut rice snacks, and even a roasted pig. We went from one house to the next. So, by the last house, the one with the roasted pig, we were so stuffed that most of the pig was eaten by the family and friends there.
It is great to see all the hard work done and the gratitude of the work from the homeowners. This team has grown so much since the beginning of this summer- as a team and also as individuals. It's was very cool to see how much was done in just a summer. The first time I visited the team they were just laying the foundation on the houses. By the time I returned there were walls up on all sides of both houses. It was incredible to see how fast the work was done.
The team will now finish up their week with ministry as well as a couple things that the Habitat board will be treating them to. Keep them in your prayers as the continue to disciple the people they have meet and as they share the gospel with others in the community.
