Nannies in Manila

I am a 20 year old from Nashville, TN and I am living here at KIM for two months this summer, along with my team of four other girls. We are working at the orphanage in the nursery on daily shifts. At times I wondered if how I spend my summer would be effective at all, but when you are here and when you are with the kids, you realize that even just spending time with them does matter. A lot of times I feel like I am working a daycare or a kids camp, but when I am giving a child a shower, or staying up with them at night because they have a fever, I am then aware of the reality that these kids who are very young and very precious really don't have any parents that are coming to pick them up. It's times like those when all I really know to do is make them laugh or hold them real tight.

Last week a little 20 month old boy fell and cut his head open. We had to take him to the hospital which was very different from any hospital I have been to back home. Understandably so, this little boy did not want to cooperate with the x-ray technician or the surgeon who put 3 stitches in his head. After a lot of screaming and a lot of nurses holding him down, he was all put back together. He slept very well that night! This once again made me realize that there was a hole in this scene and that he should have a mother or a father there to help him through this long day. It also made me realize, however, how great of a staff and how great of a ministry KIM is putting out here in Manila. Even though these kids are truly missing out on a lot of things that I consider very common, like a family, I am very thankful that the staff here is loving and providing for these kids like they are. I don't really know where the children would be if they were not here.

To Know the Truth You Must Believe

I have been so blessed to be working with KIM for the last 3 weeks. I was very nervous 2 weeks ago about helping with 2 kids camps, but the camps turned out to be a huge blessing for me and for the older children in the home. The first camp was a two day camp that took place at the JCCV(Jesus Christ Church in the Valley) which is right next door to the Yun Jin Ministry Center. During the first day, about 90% of the teaching, talking, and instructions were in Tagalog and I couldn’t understand a word of it, but I could tell that all of the 62 children there were having a blast. So I pulled up my boot straps and bunkered down for a few more days of Filipino language and culture.

In those first 2 days, the children learned a memory verse, Mark 12:30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” Each child was provided a journal and they were encouraged to write about what the Lord has been teaching them. They played soccer, basketball, and other fun games, had times of worship, and most importantly, they studied the word of God. I ended up being paired with a few of the 13 year old girls to discuss the Bible story which I was nervous about but turned out to be great fun.

At this point I was still nervous about going to the second camp in Zambales-the mango capital of the Philippines, until I found out that some of the other Filipino volunteers I had met would also be going. After a 6 hour bus ride, we arrived at the camp. The theme was X-Files “To know the Truth, You must Believe”. There were nearly 1,500 teen-age students at this camp and it was a little overwhelming but very high energy. There were 3 sessions(all in Taglish-a mixture of Tagalog and English) each with a different speaker. They addressed current issues faced by many teens in the Philippines with sermons and dramatic skits. The students enjoyed praise and worship time and the extreme games such as a giant water slide and a zip line challenge over the pond.

I had the blessing of explaining one of the skits and talking about salvation with Joi Ann, a girl from the community near the children’s home. The kids from the children’s home had a great time, but were very tired after 2 long bus rides and 2 camps filled with fun activities and Bible lessons. Praise God that I had the opportunity to share this experience with the kids and I even learned some Tagalog!

Amber

Blessing in Malaybalay

It was such a great blessing to have the Inter Varsity Christian Fellowship here for two weeks. We have also become a blessing to them. A lot of them who have already graduated committed themselves to go out as missionaries. This is where Belen and I met. Their leaders in our area have committed to help us in our Saturday fellowship with the kids. Now we can freely invite more kids because we have more laborers in the harvest field. Girlie, the mayor's niece, and her husband are still faithfully bringing in the snacks for the kids every Saturday. I am very optimistic that by God's grace this Saturday fellowship will really grow big. Right now their attendees have almost doubled. Even the church on Sunday has increased in their attendance. God is indeed blessing our ministry Jeff. Again thank you for laboring with us. As God has put the burden in your heart for the little ones He did in our hearts too especially after hearing the news that gangs have been recruiting kids age 12 or 13 and a 14 year old member of the NPA was killed in one of the encounters with the military. We just hope that through this Saturday fellowship we could reach as many kids as possible. Kids who have been actually abandoned by their parents and the society but are not qualified to get in the orphanage. I pray that even just on Saturdays they can look forward to having fellowship in God's Word, in games and to be able to eat a lot. We just hope that somehow God would allow us to plant the seed of God's Word in the hearts of these kids before it is too late.