God
has been working here in the Philippines.
We cannot believe that it is already September and we have been here for
5 months already. Time continues to go
by really fast. We find this year, time
has been our struggle. We continually
have to reevaluate what we spend our time on.
There are many things that we could be involved in but we have to keep
our focus on what God wants us to do not what we feel we need to do. It is hard when we want to be a part of
things and continue to build relationships with everyone. We have been reminded many times that it can
be the devils plan to keep us busy in doing many things that we are not able to
give the time to God to refine us and master His plan.
When
we came back in April we had realized that we had lost many of our leaders
because they had become discouraged and caught up in their issues around
them. We had realized then that we
needed to start focusing on one or two people only and develop them, get them
to see the vision working in their lives, and allow their changed lives to
speak for themselves and captivate others.
So in July we started having 2 guys (Jason and Bernie) come to our house
twice a week to train them in washing a car and cleaning a house properly. We are paying them a normal wage for their
time. It is a great way to help develop
skills such as responsibility, coming on time, professionalism and confidence
they would need for a job. We also
wanted to meet one of their biggest needs and that is to provide for their
family. Last year we would work with
these guys and they would be doing so well in helping in the ministry and
understanding the concepts we were teaching them but then they would fall back
into many old habits because they felt pressure from their family to work. This year having them work for us it takes
down a barrier but also allows us to have more contact with them and during the
days we have them over we spend time in teaching and ministry. Since July we have seen a huge change in
these two men. They have more
confidence, they are taking initiative, and they have become two of the most influential
leaders of the church in community that they live.
Also
in July we started the clinic that we thought we would start last year. Last year we noticed that the people were
waiting for us to just give them things, that they were not taking any
ownership. They are deeply in poverty as
a result they have the mentality to just sit and wait for handouts. Historically that is all people have done to
help is just giving them things or money.
But what we realized is that doing this does not help lift them out of
their poverty state so something different had to occur. This year we felt more accepted in the
community and have built a stronger relationship with Jason and Bernie. We have taught them more about the concept of
lifting people up out of their situation rather than just giving things for
that moment. Although we wanted to
start the clinic a lot sooner, we waited to see if they wanted it. We were amazed that in July, Jason and Bernie
came to us and asked if we could start the clinic. The timing was now
perfect. They now have ownership in
something. We started the clinic to run
Tuesdays and Thursdays for 3 hours only each day. But it has been the two guys who have created
flyers and handed them out to people to advertise and do the actual set up of
the clinic each day. They have really
taken the initiative, we just help give them what they need and facilitated the
clinic. We have a doctor from our
church, who has volunteered to come once a week and then a Registered nurse the
other day. Each person before they leave
is ministered to by our pastors and leaders.
And since starting July 17th we have seen 145 people and 10
people have accepted Christ for the first time.
Many of the people are old church members that had walked away so this
has been a great opportunity to reconnect with them. Also we have set up a donation box for the
medicines that we give. The people that
are coming genuinely want change in their lives and are thankful for what is
given and in return they are giving back.
Although the amount given is only a drop in the bucket it really shows
that the people are still willing to give what they can. We
have been following up with the people who are coming to the clinic and are
trying to keep them connected to the church.
I
have been completely blessed by the clinic as it has really helped me with my
fear and insecurities. At first I wanted
to have another nurse with me if the doctor was not there so that I didn’t have
to struggle with the language. But
almost every week I was left alone and seeing 20 people in the 3 hours by myself. It has really helped to develop my ability to
speak their language and my relationship with the community. I’m recognized and respected in the community
now and it is because I stopped worrying about how uncomfortable the people
appeared to be and I allowed myself to just be myself. I have also been blessed because it has really
strengthened my ability to critically think and further develop my heart for
the people. One Thursday night during
the clinic we had a 75 year old women bring five of her friends to the clinic
to check their blood pressure and blood sugar levels. One of her friends asked if we could go and
see her 56 year old son who had a stroke 7 years ago. So I sent Jason, who we have been working and
had trained on how to check BP and blood sugar, and also Agnes (Pastor Boy
Encarnado’s daughter and also a nurse). He
and Agnes went to see this man and 10 minutes later they came back and asked me
to come to see him because they were shocked at what they discovered and needed
help. When I got to his house, a house
that had a dirt floor, low ceilings, and no light (we used cellphones so I
could see). This man was covered in a
fungal rash and when I was looking to see where the rash was I saw a black band
around his ankle, which I thought was a tattoo. When we brought the cellphone
closer, the band appeared to be moving and soon after I realized it was a band
of red fire ants. They were eating his
skin and going in and out of his leg. He
had scratched his leg and had a small opening but because he is a diabetic the
ants smelled something sweet and were doing everything to get it. He is also paralyzed on the left side because
of his stroke. He had gone for prayer
many years ago and was not healed so he doesn’t believe in God and many people
in the area also told us we were wasting our time with him. My heart went out to this man and his family
so I have been seeing him every week and all the open sores are now healed and
we are now starting a treatment with guava leaves for his fungal rash. Guava leaves have a healing property in
particular in healing fungus type rashes.
We have started to minister to him and he is becoming more open each
time we see him. God is working in his
life. I have been so touched on how God
is using us through this clinic. We
continually have to reevaluate the clinic to make sure it follows God’s vision
and purpose for this community. But we
are always moving forward with it!!!
Our
quail project is doing great. We have
600 birds now and we get between 400 and 430 eggs a day. We have had many ups and downs with this
project though. This project has allowed
us to learn many things about the Filipino culture, which we continually either
have to identify if the issue at hand is either a culture conflict or more
behavior of the people which we can teach on how to correct. We just have to laugh about the many times we
think the people understand the process and then the next thing we know they
are going off doing something against all that we have said or taught. God has a great sense of humor, when we pray
for patience he continually gives us opportunities to become patient. We were having a church member be the middle
man in giving the eggs to people to sell.
And since August we have had to stop and try a new strategy. The problem was is that we sold the eggs to
people at wholesale price but we would allow them to go and sell the eggs first
for retail price and before they get more eggs they have to pay what is owed. It wasn’t well managed and there became a
huge amount that was owed for the eggs. Needless
to say we were taught a valuable lesson.
Never give them more eggs unless they have paid back what is owed. So now we have it that the people come to us
directly we have moved the selling of the eggs to the people in our community
that it was intended for in the first place.
We started with Jason and Bernie who have been doing so well. They were selling 700 eggs in 3 to 4
days. Now many church members and
community members want to sell the eggs.
We have learned that these people are concrete, which means when
something is new the people need to see it before really want to do it. Just telling them about selling the eggs they
could not visualize it for themselves, they have to actually see it
working. So with Jason and Bernie
starting they have made the model and now many are interested. God really has been in control of this
because for months no one in this community was interested in selling the
eggs. It is truly all in God’s
timing.
These
are our main ministry projects we have been working on. We are continually
learning and experiencing great things through these projects. One last thing that has kept me busy is that
I am writing a health curriculum from scratch based on themes and objectives
that the children are learning each which in street school. This street school
is part of the ICCM children’s sponsorship program in our area. This is challenging for me but I have been
enjoying seeing the children understand health in a more complex way than they
have ever experience and I see results in their overall appearance due to their
new understanding.
Thank
you for your continual prayers. Please
pray for continual guidance and understanding of what path to take here in the
Philippines.
here are pictures of the Clinic
