Since I have been back in the United States, college and other activities have managed to consume much of my time. By God’s grace, however, friends have listened to my stories and have begun looking for ways that they can help. Because other members of my church have...
I never know what I am going to learn when I am on a missions trip. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know. I always expect to be affected by the poverty that I see, but I am never able to accurately predict how the experience...
I was sitting in the back of the orphanage jeepney watching Pastor Allan become more and more animated. Except for Pastor Allan, his wife (Irene), a couple of their kids, and me, the back of the jeepney was empty. They were the last family to be dropped off...
We call them orphans, but nearly all of the kids at the orphanage have living family members. Many of them even have parents. Nevertheless, extreme poverty makes it difficult for these parents to provide their children with even the minimum physical requirements necessary to survive. In addition to...
All a person has to do to feel completely inadequate to strike a successful blow at poverty while in Cebu is wake up in the morning. No matter where you go during the day, it surrounds you. If you walk out your gated driveway, there might be a...
Today Lee and I went up to the high school for their annual PTA meetings. Unlike the elementary school, each high school class held its own program instead of having one large gathering. The high school grounds are much smaller than the elementary school grounds. Two rows of...
Mohon Elementary School had its annual PTA meeting last week, so Lee and I walked down the street with a couple of the kids to take pictures of the school and learn about the the faculty’s plans for the upcoming year. Seventeen kids from the orphanage attend the...
No matter what country you live in, 25 kids are going to come down with their share of colds and mild fevers. The kids at Street Kids Philippine Missions are no exception, but in addition to constantly passing around coughs, they are also continuously coming down with some...
Everyone uses well water from an outside pump to cook and wash dishes. The boys also use the pump to fill up their bathing buckets and brush their teeth, and all of the kids use it to wash their laundry. (Matthew, Lee, and I take our laundry up...
Rice. Since I’ve been in the Philippines, I’ve only had a few meals that weren’t rice-based. I’m always glad to have a break from dishes with tons of white rice, but the kids love it so much that they even want rice in their spaghetti. At every meal,...
