Unseen Barriers

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?

-Cory

A Step Forward

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.

Planting a Seed

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.

-Maddie

Great Expectations

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!

-Maddie

You Are Loved

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.

Always In My Prayers

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.  

-Becky

Gentle Hands Orphanage Team 2011

Gentle Hands Orphanage

Left to right

Becky, 21, of Itawamba Community College.  
Mission verse – Philippians 4:6-7

Maddie, 22, of Vanderbilt University.  
Mission Verse – Isaiah 43: 18-19

Team Leader, Micah, 21, of Mississippi State University.  
Mission verse – Psalms 94: 19  
           

Cory, 24, of Stephan F. Austin State University, Nacogdoches Texas. 

Mission verse – 2 Corinthians 12:9