How Can Someone Like Me Help?

I've done several short term mission trips in my life. And if you ever have yourself, you know that sinking feeling you get in your stomach as you head back home. The guilt begins to take over, and you feel it physically as much as in your head... you are going back home to comfort and convenience, while the people you leave are still hungry, still naked, and still need to know about the Savior! You wonder to yourself, how can I just go back to my "normal life"?

And the truth is, I've been there, and I've done that. I've traveled thousands of miles, seen some of the neediest people in the world, and somehow, at the end of it, I've managed to go back to "normal life."

This past January, a team of 15 college students came from Taylor University in Indiana. They came as a part of their academic program, needing hours for their social work and physical education degrees. But they also reached out to those in need during their time here. They touched people's lives and in return, their lives were touched. Angie, one of the professors that accompanied the students, wrote us an email explaining her thoughts as she returned back home...

"Well, it's been almost a couple weeks since we've been there with you and your staff but I think often of KIM and the Philippines. I finally got all my shorts and summer clothes put away. Everything makes me think of the Philippines and the kids and the people there. I spoke in my church Sunday. eople were very moved by the information (feedings, etc.) I am hoping they will step up and support KIM. I speak to another church at the end of the month. I have also been asked to speak to two different groups after I spoke to the church Sunday. None of this I ever expected to do. I didn’t get a chance to talk to you before I left but I was deeply impacted by staying there with KIM and seeing the needs there. Please know I want to help however I can but I have never seen myself as a “missionary”. How can someone like me help?"

How can someone like you help? You're doing it right now! You're speaking, and you're getting the word out. You're sharing your experiences. You're keeping in contact. You're sharing your heart with those around you. You're not just going back to "normal life."

Thank you to all those people who have not only come and served here in the Philippines, but continue to serve back at home through awareness, prayer, financial support, and by remembering the names and the faces of the people you met during your time here.

We hope to see you again one day soon!

Prayer for Ate Genalyn

I would like to leave you with a story of Ate Genalyn. Ate Genalyn is a mother of two of our kids at the school. She and her family never attended church but after we had started school we invited all the parents to come to the services at either of the two locations and she started coming weekly with her two kids. Her husband was against her going to church and to Bible study that she started going to soon after she accepted Christ at church. At the same time the opportunity was given for some ladies to be trained to do hair and nails. We started this to help give parents a way of life to provide for their families. Genalyn was one of those ladies. They have been training for a while now and are receiving a small salary the three days that they are training. out of this meager salary of about six dollars a week she would have to feed her family of four. Over the course of time going to Bible studies and services, God has shown Genalyn how to trust His provision. There are times where they have no money and no food. But Genalyn continues to pray and trust and God has provided food for her family in so many different ways. through this time her husband still has softened and been asking questions and letting her attend church and Bible study. Her husband asks her "what is happening why do you do this?" She answers "It is because it is the Christian way." Please continue to pray for Ate Genalyn and her family.

But What Can I Do

I live at the Yun Jin Lyso Ministry Center (YMC for short). I live ten minutes from the nearest mall and nearest starbucks. There's a mini stop convenient store less than a mile from my door, and several "sari sari" convenient stores less than 30 yards away. The movies, malls, bowling centers, spas, and grocery stores are all within a short driving distance from where I call home. I live in a city and access to "things" is pretty easy.

Which sometimes makes it hard to remember what else is right outside the door. I live in the Cuatro Community, named so for the location alongside the 4th hole of a neighboring golf course. Cuatro is home to 5,000 people (and no, it's not that big of an area.) Those 5,000 people live in about 800ish homes, packed in to little shanty houses like sardines. They live in the dirt, they sleep in the dirt, and they don't have three hot meals waiting for them throughout the day.

This morning, Manny, a young boy that has heavily weighed on my heart since I came here, was found wandering around by one of our teachers at the school, when he himself was supposed to be in class up at the CCC, our other school location. We brought him inside and asked him why he wasn't at school. One of the common excuses we hear from students-- his uniform was dirty, so he couldn't go to class.

Manny is 7 years old. And as I look into his story more and more, it feels as though it keeps getting more and more hopeless. Manny is the eldest of his siblings. He has a 6 year old sister and a 3 year old brother. Either both his parents are dead, or the the mother is dead and the father leaves Monday through Friday to go to work in another province, we have heard both stories and are not sure which is the truth yet. Regardless, this little boy is 7 years old, trying to take care of his siblings, trying to be the man in the family, while only just a little boy himself. He collects paper and plastic at the school each day to turn into the recycling center for money. A large bag will get him 10 pesos, or about a quarter. He told us he needed to get money to buy rice for the family.

My heart breaks for this boy. I want more for him than how he is living right now. I want him to be a kid and for an adult to do the providing and the caring. I want him to continue going to school, to learn English, continue on to college, and go places in this life! I want him to come to church and bible class on Sundays, to learn about God the Father, who is the Father figure he has never known but always needed, the Father that won't let him down and will always be there for him. I want him to have three meals a day, vitamins to keep him healthy, strong and sturdy teeth, and a place that he can feel safe each night.

What can I do for Manny? Or Angela? Sunshine and Sanjie and their family? For Pin? These are just a few of the many kids that need help. What can I do to help them? How can I help to break them out of this cycle that they are in?

When my time in Manila has come to an end, and I go back to my home in California, Manny WILL NOT be in the exact same place as when I came. Though at times I feel helpless, and the situation feels hopeless, something will change. It has to.

Prayers Answered

A number of months ago at our D Group someone read a passage out of the NLT (New Living Translation) Study Bible and its corresponding commentary. Since then I have wanted to get one of these Bibles, but have been unable to find one here and didn't want to order one from the States.

A few weeks ago, Jeff Long came down to Malaybalay with a bunch of damaged Bibles that had been donated while he was on a recent trip to the States. Well, among these was a NLT Study Bible, the one I had been wanting for six months. Huge blessing to me!

But the story gets even better. That same evening I took the remaining Bibles to Grace Ayala's place; she wanted to give some to the Saturday Kids Fellowship workers. One of them, Pastor Rhogene, recently attended a hermeneutics seminar and the speaker used the NLT for the classes. Pastor Rhogene started praying that day that he would be able to get a copy of the NLT and about a week later, he did. Isn’t it wonderful how God meets our needs and in such unexpected ways?

Jeremy Moody