No Longer Invisible

Alonamae Cardinosa is made in God's image. At just a few months of age, she had a high fever which went untreated and caused a severe form of Cerebal Palsy. Along with the debilitating affliction, she suffered severe seizures throughout the day and her eyes were crossing frequently. I met her in August 2006, in Santos Compound in Antipolo City, Rizal, near the site where First Love International was going to build the Arthur Center. Her mom brought her out to me as I was telling the community how the Arthur Center could help them. Alonamae was screaming and writhing in agony when her mom handed her to me. My heart broke, I wept, and began to pray. Her seizures stopped at that moment. A few days later, her eyes stopped crossing.

The impoverished culture in the Philippines is frustrating. Though certain services were available, the family was embarrassed to ask for help, and didn't have any resources to help Alonamae with. So when I arrived in the spring of 2008, I found Alonamae frozen in time. She looked much the same as before, and her mom was caring for her in the same way; breast and bottle feeding her at age 4.

In the summer of 2008 my family provided some funds to Jeff Long at Kids International Ministries to get her involved in better health care. Kids International receives ongoing funds to pay Alonamae's father, Tirso, a salary. Funds were also provided to build a sturdy concrete home in Cuatro community, the squatter area near the New Faith Family Children's home. These were all positive steps to get the family closer to a resource that could help, but Alonamae still wasn't getting the care she needed. The reasons go back to the impoverished culture and Alonamae's mom not understanding the proper way to care for and nurture her special needs kiddo. Alonamae is the fourth of soon to be 7 children in a very small house in a squatter area.

God brings a variety of missionaries through the area where Alonamae lives, and Jeff Long tells them about her. Certain heroes have stepped forward and are working on long term solutions to Alonamae's posture and mobility as well as her nutritional health. Among them; Holly Clark, Paula Pittman, and Linda Zipprich. I'm extremely thankful that I can network with these good people who truly care about Alonamae and want God's best for her.

She was not out of harms way when I arrived in Manila. Her mother still fed her while Alonamae was flat on her back, so she aspirates the
milk frequently; choking down the only food source offered. Her mother felt that Alonamae couldn't handle other kinds of food so she didn't try to feed her anything but the cheap powdered milk they could get at the market. Alonamae was lying on the floor of their home when I met her. She had aspiration pneumonia, and was starving to death. At the age of 6 years and 3 months, she weighed 12 pounds and was in respiratory distress. It was painful to watch her just try to survive. When we tried to make her more comfortable, I witnessed a "silent scream". It was horrifying to watch. She couldn't muster the strength to cry out or even cough. Only her face told the story of the pain in her tiny little body.

Alonamae is now on antibiotics, nebulizer treatments, cough medicine, and is getting better quality powdered milk, cereal, and tasty combinations of fruits and vegetables under the guidance of Lydia; a nurse at the Children's Home. Alonamae's health is dramatically better in just the last 5 days, as we observe her relaxed breathing, and the doctor told us she now weighs 16 pounds. Some new friends; Brian and Emilee Helton, provided a baby stroller for Alonamae which has been a huge advantage to keeping her sitting up and allowing her to breathe much more easily. The stroller also provides much needed mobility for the family so they can take Alonamae to Lydia for check ups, and go to church as a family more easily.

Alonamae Cardinosa now has a hopeful future although we wait to see what God is going to do in her life. God willing, Alonamae will be a delight to her family and so many people like me who have fallen in love with her for many years to come. It is extremely gratifying to me that Alonamae is no longer an invisible child in the vast sea of poverty in the Philippines.

Tom Wenzl
Cañon City, Colorado

Don't Know How to be American

Hello, my name is Christie Albaugh and I have been serving with K.I.M since April 2009. Tomorrow, July 11th, 2010 I am headed on a plane back 'home' to California. Since I have headed up the blog posting during my time here, I thought it only appropriate that I share one last blog on some transitioning home thoughts. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading....



I take my coffee with 1 splenda, 1 Tbs. of hazelnut sugar free creamer, and 3-4 ants. The last part isn't a preference, it's more like a reality. There's always ants in the coffee pot here. There's just too many to get out, so instead we ignore them and brew the coffee, ants included. Because this is the Philippines-- T.I.P. as we like to say-- there's a long list of normalcies that you would never find back in the good 'ol US of A. But that's okay, because not only have I learned to live with them, but I've accepted them, and they have become a part of my everyday life… a part of who I am. This is my life.

This is my life. Instead of wake up and smell the coffee, I wake up and smell the fish. I live in Cuatro, a poor, mostly squatters area representative of your average Filipino "homes". The streets are filled with trash and dirty, hungry kids playing in it. The mangy, starving dog with ribs popping out and sores covering it's body begins to blend in with the background…. a sight that would previously make me stop and stare in genuine concern for the 'poor dog' has now become normal. How do I worry about the animal, after all, when their are so many starving and needy people instead?

This is my life. I live in the dirt. It blows into my window and on my bed every day. I sweat 70% of the time. The other 30% is when I'm sleeping. I drive like a native. I swerve, I honk, I never signal, and I regularly cut people off; I drive on the opposite side of the road when needed, I go through the intersection when it's not my turn, and when I'm driving, pedestrians never have the right of way. I eat fruit about five times a day, it's so cheap and so delicious! I live in a house with anywhere from 10 to 100 people, depending on how many teams are here. It's always a mess, always noisy, and the dishes are sprawled out everywhere. And no matter what, I know never to plan anything, because plans always fall through, things are always changing, and you always have to keep on your toes!

This is my life, and somehow it's all worth it. The completely different, often frustrating cultural differences, the lack of a comfortable home, the go go go and the constant exhaustion, the being away from family and friends and the difficulties of support raising…. it's all very much worth it! Because when I feed my two little rascals breakfast or give them their first shower in days, it's worth it. When I'm greeted at the children's home by la pair of tiny legs running at me, arms wide open, yelling "Tita Kissty," it's worth it. When I look at Roseanne and I see the wheels turning and my devotion message start to make sense in her head, it's worth it. And when Vanessa jumps up to hug me at the end of every devotion, and thanks me for sharing, it is very much worth it!

This is my life. I live in a community of focused, intentional people. I share my life with other people called to minister to the same people group as me. We share stories over meals and meet for 10am coffee breaks, sweating extra but enjoying every second of it. I walk up the street with tons of kids yelling my name who I haven't even met yet. They smile and they wave yelling "hello" until you return the gesture. We fight for kids who can't fight for themselves. We provide education to kids who can't afford to go to school. We talk to anyone who will listen about our experiences because these kids and the people we meet have become our family! I'd give up my life to protect any one of them because they mean the world to me and I love them.

This is my life. This is how I live. And the thought of that changing is absolutely killing me. I don't want it to change. I don't want to say goodbye to my friends. I don't want to not be there to feed Imon breakfast. I don't want to stop Tuesday/Thursday devotions with the older girls. And I don't want to live in a place where people are more focused on themselves than they are on others. How can I be okay with my big room and soft, clean carpet, when my two favorite boys in the world are sleeping on hard dirt floor? How can I go back to school to get my masters degree when 14 year old Vanessa is still in grade 5 and needs a lot of help to catch up. How can I share a house with my two dogs, healthier than most of the kids I meet on the street? How can I yet again adjust my "normal" and return to the way things used to be???

I'm addicted to the dirty Manila air. Somewhere along the way, I got used to it. I've been breathing this dirty, polluted air for so long now that I'm not sure I even know how to breathe clean air anymore. I don't know how to be American. And I'm not really sure if I want to....

First Visit

Liz Philllips (Nashville, TN) and her sister Ellie and brother-in-law Mark Hymes (Kansas City, MO) came to Manila and the NFFCH to provide teacher training on use of the Academic Associates Reading Course—a comprehensive phonics-based reading program—being incorporated into the Cuatro Christian School’s curriculum. Below is a poem Liz wrote of the sights and experiences of being in Manila.



First Visit

By Liz Phillips


Should I go to Manila with Mark and my sis?
Leaving Scott back at home, it would be him I would miss.
Though the kids needed care and money was low,
I was off to the Philippines, friends told me, "Just go!"

The jet lag no fun, all your strength it will sap,
2 a.m. arrival, then tucked in for a nap.
We woke to the sounds, Filipinos out walking,
We peered from our porch, the roosters were cocking.

The sights, sounds and smells; the food, heat and training;
The pool time with Ellie when it wasn't raining.
The jeepneys! The traffic! No one could conceive it!
So many close calls! I still can't believe it!

The time on the train, not my favorite place.
Oh, WOW! It was full! Sardines have more space!
First view of the squatters, sights too sad...Oh, my!
This pen can't convey, I won't even try.

Orphans inside the gate, so well cared for,
Can't help but notice the smiles they wore.
Fed other kids who were hungry, the poorest of poor,
We'd give them their scoop—ran out...needed more.

The sweet time at Erroll's, so proud of his place,
No wealth from this world, just quite rich in grace.
The teachers we trained, those women so dear,
Last day said good-bye, with gifts, hugs and a tear.

How can I say thanks for a privilege so rare?
To learn what I mean, you too can come share!

The Norco Gals

Hello everyone! We are Rachael, Trisha, Jessica, and Jocelyn from
First Baptist Church Norco in California. We arrived here on May 10th
and have about a month of service to go, as we are planning on
returning to the States on July 5th. It has been an absolute delight
for us to be here and we have already been blessed ourselves in many
ways.

Our involvement here has been diverse, allowing us to gain a wide
variety of experiences and serve in several different areas. Rachael
and Trisha, for example, were able to spend their first few weeks in
the Philippines serving in MalayBalay before returning to us here in
Manila. Jessica and myself have been rooted here in Manila from day
one and it has been fabulous.

One of our key focus areas since we have been here has been working
with a group of 18 community girls that Josie Long disciples, each
with their own unique personalities and stories. Serving at the
children’s home has also been a priority: spending time with the kids,
working shifts in the nursery, and leading devotions. Other activities
have included participating in community feeding projects, and simply
doing whatever else arises as a need. We have grown to love all of
these kids so much and are sad to be leaving in just a month, but
cannot wait to see what God does in the time we have allotted. It is
crazy to us how quickly our time is passing. Our trip has certainly
been dynamic, as we are continuously gaining new environments to serve
in and to be grown in. God has already blessed us in innumerable ways
just being here; we feel right at home and pray that our service is a
blessing to those around us.

10 Nationalities for One Cause

Who would have thought five years ago that a 12-year-old little girl (referring to Janel Long’s request of her parents to help the children) would have had such a worldwide impact. When Jeff and his family opened their hearts and their door to orphaned and unwanted children, they probably wouldn't have guessed at the number of lives they would touch.

Today K.I.M. is accustomed to opening its doors to volunteers from around the globe, although it is not often that they host such a diverse group of nationalities simultaneously. This week sees the return of Seoul Foreign School on its fourth annual mission trip, whose students and staff come from around the world.

As you look around the Ministry Center, you will see 10 different nationalities: Korean, American, Canadian, Filipino, British, Australian, Japanese, German, South African and Taiwanese. In addition to our school joining the efforts, we had two Aussie construction company owners join us, and man, did they work hard and fast—yet they interacted great with our kids. Also, a father/son combo joined us from a school in Taiwan. Together these all worked side by side with the 15 or so Filipino workers in a very harmonious way.



It has been a pleasure to see God's wonderful people from around the globe join together in one place, all with a heart to serve.

Written By: Seoul Foreign School teacher

Four Years of Service

Every year 50+ high school students come from Seoul Foreign School to sweat, sweat, and SWEAT for a week full of heavy labor. Over the past four years they have played a significant role in four of our ministry sites at KIM.

Three years ago, in 2007, they helped pour the second floor of our Cuatro Community Center, which is now the main sanctuary for the Tugumpay Evangelical Baptist Church and also doubles as the location for several of our Cuatro Christian School classes.

In 2008 they returned, this time to help with our children's home extension. At maximum capacity and running out of space, the SFS Team helped with adding a new wing onto the far side of our children's home. This new wing included a sala (living room) for the children's home boys, a bigger, more spacious kitchen, a state-of-the-art nursery for our babies and toddlers, as well as a nice, large dining room for mealtimes and other special events.

Then last year, in 2009, they came back to work on the church building next door, the JCCV (Jesus Christ Church in the Valley). In the early stages of adding a fourth story to the building, SFS played a huge role in transferring hollow blocks up to the roof. The seventy-five high school students and teachers/staff made an assembly line that started on the ground level and climbed up two flights of stairs, went through the church sanctuary on the third floor, and then climbed another flight of stairs on the back side, all the way up to the roof (soon to be fourth story). For a week they passed hollow blocks, mixed cement, swung hammers, and even helped to dig the first three holes for the footings for our YMC Extension Project. They even found time to help transfer hundreds of books from our old CCS Library to the new location.

This week, May 22nd-May 29th, SFS is back and already working very hard! Despite the exhausting temperatures as of late, the SFS students and staff are up early everyday, working with shovels, axes, hammers, scrapers, paintbrushes, and a variety of other tools. They are working on a two hour rotation that includes scraping and re-painting the Cuatro Christian School (at two different locations), digging, moving dirt, and mixing cement at the back of the YMC for a new building currently being constructed, and also playing with kids at the children's home.

And somehow, despite the many hours of hard physical labor, each year, the SFS Team also finds time to hold a community carnival, do devotions at the children's home, have a community concert, and go shopping for donations for the children's home, the cuatro christian school, and the community kids.

As the famous expression goes, the SFS Team comes to Manila every year, and pours blood, sweat, and tears into Kids International Ministries. On behalf of KIM, thank you for all your help, thank you for getting dirty and working hard, thank you for the many donations and your giving heart, and thank you for the impact that you have on this organization and in the Kingdom of God.

We can't wait to see you next year!

A Place to Belong

I first visited KIM back in 2007 while my daughter Christie was serving with the World Racers. She absolutely fell in love with KIM and the Filipino children and that was just the beginning. Fast forward to April 2009, which is when Christie returned to the Philippines to serve as a long term missionary at KIM. God had placed in her heart a desire to to come and show his love to these children. Along with the children of KIM she has now found that He has also given her a passion for the community children. On several occasions, while chatting with Christie, she told me about these two little brothers in particular named Manny and Iman. Although I could sympathize with her from across the miles, now that I have come to visit, I know exactly what she means and how she feels. How could anyone not love these beautiful boys.



Upon my arrival on May 20th, while being picked up at the airport, I was introduced to little seven year old Manny. He has grown quite fond of Christie and follows her around on a regular basis. The next morning I met little four year old, beautiful, big brown eyed Imon. These two little brothers are desperate for a sense of belonging, so Christie has welcomed them into her heart showing them love as a mother would her own.

I love seeing firsthand how God uses a willing heart. God first asked her to come to Manila and in her obedience she said yes. Then God showed her these two brothers and placed a special love in her heart for them and asked her to show His kind of love and she responded yes Lord. Christie now is on a quest to implement a sponsorship program for these children to help the community children who have so many needs to get monthly support that will be used to help feed and educate them. It is her hope that they will know that they are loved and will be cared for and that God sees them and has not forgot about them. He is using KIM to help them and to let them know that they have a place to belong.

Written By: Jackie Albaugh

A Shot at Education

Written by William Miller, missionary with the World Race...


This video is presenting the children in the New Faith Family Children's Home in Malaybalay, Philippines and how many of them will be going to school this coming summer. Many of these kids have just recently been orphaned, abandoned, or rescued and have never even sat in a classroom setting. The cost is around $400 per year for each student and God has placed it on my heart to make this goal happen by June 1. If you are interested, please contact me and I will tell you a little more about the program and how you can help....


If interested in sponsoring the education of one of our Malaybalay children, please contact Jeremy Moody @ moodyjs@hotmail.com

New Faith Family Children's Home from warren cheely on Vimeo.

Invitation to Change

This is the World Race.
I told my team today during a meeting that I have enjoyed watching them work this month.
Most of them come alive when we step into our small community called Karlangan.
And the amazing thing is, we all come alive in different ways.
So here's a small taste of what our days are filled with.
I hope you enjoy watching a little taste of my team coming alive.
My favorite part of every day is at the end of the video.

Karlangan Kids from Margie Termeer on Vimeo.

Blog and Video By: Margie Termeer

Feeding of the 5,000: Emily

Feeding of the 5,000: Malu

Feeding of the 5,000: Naomi

Should This Be Reality???

As you may or may not know I am on an 11 month journey God has directed me to, I went with unsure answers but walked in faith. At this point I am in my third month. We have traveled to New Zealand, Australia and now I am in the Philippines. I love it here, each day I have a new adventure and story to tell. I have been heartbroken for the people and lives here. I have a few stories I would like to share with you to give you a glimpse of what we encounter here each day, that truly makes me burn for justice.

As I mentioned in my last blog, we have been doing a census here in the community, trying to connect with over 5,000 people. Every day we ask people what their immediate needs are, they respond with needs of water, food, vitamins and medicine. One family said they just wanted plates to eat their food, another said diapers for their new born baby, and the list goes on. Then we ask for prayer requests, person after person responded with asking for a better life. My heart sank and broke into pieces as I held back the tears. Most houses are made from anything they can find, scraps of old woods, medal and old signs. Holes invade their whole house-I am afraid for when it rains. How will they stay dry? The wires of electricity unsafely stream everywhere. This is what we walk into everyday, one day I was walking through sewage trying to get to some homes and I said to myself, " this is the worst I have seen", but as the day flew by I seemed to be hearing and seeing situations that seemed more hopeless then the next.

I met an eight year old girl named Roxanne. She has one leg and the other is prosthetic. The first encounter with her was with Michelle and David, she was hobbling home from school and they asked if they could carry her home. The prosthesis barley stays on and sits on an angel so her foot is twisted to the right at all times. A couple days ago Michelle and I decided to go see if she would like go to the swing set with us. We got the ok from her mom and carried her down to the set. As we were talking with her trying to get her to a crack smile, I started to think, " If it is for only one person I am here I will be honoured and blessed to serve and love" ( just like Angelica in Australia). We took her to get some ice cream, sat and ate it together, laughing as we smeared the ice cream across our lips as lipgloss. I asked Roxanne her favourite song and she began to sing Jesus loves me. I could not stop smiling; at that point I knew her hope was in Jesus. We brought her home and said our goodbyes and walked away. I kept my tears back, telling her we will come back to color with her soon. I truly believe God is a big God and wants something big to happen in her life. I am praying we can help her as the process is already in play for getting her a new leg. Please keep her in your prayers. This is reality for eight year old Roxanne. Where people, old and young stare at her and point. WE just love and encourage.

One afternoon as I arrived back from a specific village, I was broken and crying out to God. A team works there daily so I went to them to inquire more information. They began telling me a story about a blind eleven year old girl who cannot walk. She lives in a house alone, with her stepmom down the road. She sleeps on a plank of woods as her bed and lies there all day. If she has to go to the bathroom she just goes because there is no one to help her up. Most days they do not know if she eats or not. The team has invested time into her, speaking life and love into her life. A nurse has come to look at her, and they have brought her back to the place we are staying to give her a real bath and clean her up. This is another story that makes me angry and I stand wondering why. I trust this team is doing the best they can. Please pray and ask God to keep intervening to give her a better life. This is reality for this blind eleven year old girl. Abandoned and forgotten.

Another ministry a group is doing is under a bridge where over 100 families live. Families, babies and children living in the garbage dump. They have nothing, each day they dig through the garage hoping to find metal or copper so they can sell it for a little money. Eight years old kids sniff glue so the hunger pains go away. They have been there since the flood in October. They sleep on old piece of carpet or cardboard; they have no water to keep clean, no food, nothing. I wonder why them as anger and frustration boil over inside. This is their home, their reality.

I hope these stories just give you a glimpse of what we see and hear each day. It is not easy coming back to a bed, food and a shower each night, knowing many do not have what we have. It is sad that the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. What would happen if the rich invested into the poor? One day we hitch hiked home and a young man picked us up (do not worry we were safe). We hopped into his nice car and he drove us home. He was talking to us with perfect English keeping a good conversation and as he dropped us off he said he lived down the street from where we lived. I wonder how someone can live here without noticing the poverty and do nothing about it. It seemed as if he just closed his eyes and pretended it was not there.

Imagine this; you're in the line for the ATM machine. This time the line is long but you notice people acting weird when they get to the front. When you approach the front of the line you see an eight year old boy passed out from alcohol right before the ATM. What has been happening this entire time is people see the boy, step over him to get to the ATM, finish their business and walk away. How would you react? What would you do?



This story happened to one of the ministry workers here in the Philippines. As he approached the boy, he picked him up; made sure he was breathing and brought him to the police to contact his parents. Before this act everyone ignored the boy, as if this was normal but when did something like this become normal?

Please be praying. This is reality for many but the question is- should this be reality? Should this be normal? Living in the garbage dump, being walked over, living in homes no bigger than our bathrooms as nine people sleep there, being abandoned blind at the age of eleven, sniffing glue to take away the hunger pain at age eight. Having no education, water, plates to eat off of, the list just goes on. THIS IS NOT OK and not suppose to be normal. Please be praying and lift these situations up to God. Pray from the depth of who you are, with passion and fight for justice, intercede for these lives with me.

I am humbled, broken, blessed to serve here in Cainta, Manila. As for prayer requests please lift me up whenever you think about me; each day seems to get harder, battling with the hard unknown answers of injustice.

Written By: Charlotte Clark

Feeding of the 5,000: Paul

Feeding of the 5,000: Evelyn

How I Ended Up on Stage in Front of 600 Chinese-Filipinos

When I woke up this morning I had no idea I would be on stage at a high school speaking to 600 Chinese students and their parents. Thus is life on the World Race. Fortunately, I love random so I was thrilled with today's outcome. Let me work backwards and explain how I got here.



I have started helping with a local magazine called the Jeepney a couple days a week. The Jeepney is a street magazine, modeled similarly to homeless newspapers sold in many major cities in the U.S. The concept is inspirational-it is a magazine featuring local homeless, raising awareness of issues facing the multitudes of Filipinos living in poverty. It is then sold by homeless vendors as a way for them to make an income and support their families.

The Jeepney office is located on the property we are living at, so it was a natural fit for World Racers to start pitching in. We have opportunities to help with everything from photography to graphic design to editing and layout to promoting, and more. I have been working with a few other girls to promote the magazine and search for homeless people on the streets that want to sell the magazine as a source of income. This morning we left for Chinatown at 6:30 am to assist with some street promoting. We visited Chinatown once last week. While promoting the magazine Jeanne and I ran into a firecracker named Annie, a spirited Chinese woman in her early 50's. Actually, she found us. She approached us and asked if we were tourists. She seemed alarmed and told us it was not safe for us to be in Chinatown walking around by ourselves. We assured her we had a local assisting us nearby. We explained to her why we are in the Philippines and then told her all about the Jeepney magazine. Then we parted ways.


We learned later that Annie sent a text message to the Jeepney a couple hours after our encounter saying "I met a couple young Caucasian women in Chinatown today and I want to help them". This morning when we went back we contacted her on the off chance she would have some tips for us. She was available and offered to meet with us. She gave us some great insight into the area from a local perspective and directed us to an area she felt would be our target market. A couple hours later through an amazing series of events, which I will spare you, Annie managed to get us on stage at an assembly at her children's high school, where students and parents were gathered for their final day of school. Had we continued street marketing this morning we would have only contacted a handful of people, but thanks to the help of a complete stranger who was willing to sacrifice half her day to help us we were able to reach hundreds and encourage them to support the local homeless community. Annie also invited us into her home and offered us a place to stay if we ever return to the Philippines.

It's cool to see how God opens up opportunities sometimes. We got connected to Annie randomly on the street. We wouldn't have been able to get into the school if it weren't for her personal connections. If we had gone out any other day we couldn't have reached that audience because it was the very last day of school. Sometimes things add up way too much to be coincidence, even a skeptic like me must accredit days like today entirely to "a God thing".

Written By: Jillian Hensley


A copy of this article can be found at http://jillianhensley.theworldrace.org/?filename=how-i-ended-up-on-stage-in-front-of-600-chinesefilipinos&bookmark=true#comments

Feeding of the 5,000: Sarah

Feeding of the 5,000: Henson

Feeding of the 5,000: Cathy

No Longer Addicted to Rugby

“The first time I heard a kid say, ‘I’m addicted to rugby.’ I thought he actually meant the sport, but I later realized it was a drug similar to an adhesive that helped relieve hunger pangs.” said Courtney, a WR missionary and volunteer at The Children’s Garden (TCG).

The Children’s Garden takes 15-18 year old boys off from the streets, from under the freeway bridges, from within the dumps, and from the sewers to give them a hope and a future. Some of the boys parents have died or they chose to run away from home. Most have been on drugs since age 8. It’s not uncommon for their parents to put their kids on drugs and force them to beg for money for the family. Drugs were a way of control.

The Children’s Garden picks up these kids and immediately puts them on a drug rehab program. Then, the teens would gain job training skills in welding and woodworking, learn karate, and attend Bible studies.

Keturah, a WR missionary and a volunteer at TCG, says that her greatest joy is being able to see their lives change. She says, “It‘s been amazing being able to connect with them because we have more in common that they or I would‘ve thought.” Kim, one of the boys in the program, says that his parents have been dead for years, but through the program, he’s gotten off the streets, quit drugs, and now wants to be a missionary. Kim’s life testifies that life can be different for all the boys from what they‘ve known. His life testifies that God indeed does have a hope and a future for all their lives.

Written By: Christine Louie