Hello from the Philippines! God is so good. I’m going to be honest: this trip has been more challenging than I thought it would be. And while I was expecting to experience spiritual growth, it has been in a much different way than I imagined. God is teaching me what it means to be more like Jesus, even when I don’t feel like it. The Filipino people are teaching me about pure hospitality and kindness. My team is teaching me how to love sacrificially. The street kids are teaching me how to have joy in the midst of darkness. I am so thankful for my time here. In the Philippines, there...

Each person has a different gift God has given them. I always thought mine was helping children and talking to people, which it is, but God opened my mind to something different.  The Philippine group has not been able to do a lot of ministry outside for the first couple days, because of the Typhoon. It was finally a sunny day so we went to a farm high up in the mountains. We pile in a back of a pick-up truck and drive an hour up the mountain. I love driving through all the villages, because all the locals wave to us and get so excited to see us. One man (he was a barber) stopped cutting...

                Our first adventurous day in the Philippines was definitely a memorable one, and appealed to all the 5 senses. Our plan for the day was to take a jeepney (the Philippines main mode of public transportation) to the market to get some food. Little did I know that this simple outing would be such an eye opening experience. First, we got in the colorful, already crowded Jeepney. We rode through the mountain roads avoiding dogs and pot holes the best we could. Every few miles there were little street vendors...

The Philippines leaders called and checked in tonight. Ministry has been going well! However, there was a typhoon that passed thru that affected ministry the first few days. It’s stopped raining and they were able to participate again in ministry with kids on the street.  During these times of ministry, the students are asked to leave their phones behind for safety reasons. The kids that they have been working with…often live on the streets and it’s not uncommon that they take items out of desperation. They are also traveling in jeepneys where it could be easy to...

Heard from the leaders this morning.  The teams is doing great.  They just finished doing girls camp for street kids.  The team will post a blog with an update about this camp on Sunday.  The internet is pretty limited where they are at (they have to drive 20 to 30 mins for a good internet that won’t go out on them).  Cell service is also spotty.  The camp is great however and ministry is good.  They want to thank everyone for their prayers. 

After a very long day of travel the team has arrived.  They are meeting their host and will begin settling in.