Wild at heart: We won't be shaken

The Philippines

A day before leaving for the Philippines we heard about an earth quake hitting the exact area we were leaving for. Thinking I didn't want to worry anybody back home yet till I knew more, I didn't tell anyone. Sitting in the airport waiting to depart, wondering if it was possible that they would not allow us to come to Cebu, The Philippines, to the hour we all waited in the plane before it took off and the half hour it took for them to park once we got in Cebu, The Philippines. I never felt afraid to go to the Philippines but I was aware what was going on and most importantly that God was planning to use me in a big way here.

We experience aftershocks here frequently, some are very light and some wake us up in the middle of the night. I haven't seen any major damage here but come to find out most damage is in Bohol, the Philippines leaving Cebu with some damage. That I know of.

We started our ministries up here in a slum neighborhood. We spent time with kids and their families. Kids who had little to no clothes on their bodies, live in shacks and teens who take care of their siblings. I thought I had seen the worst then the next day we went to a slum neighborhood under the bridge. But even that was not the worst. Saturday we traveled on a trike (a bike with a side car with 2 seats in the front and a seat and a 1/2 on the back) a little ways to get to the taxi center. From there traveling for half an hour to tabitha and her families house. This family has a mission home in a slum neighborhood next to a graveyard where they house kids who have come from a hard life style and they teach them about Christ and alot come to know Jesus this way. I didn't fully take in all they said by the time we got to the neighborhood and walked into a neighborhood literally on a graveyard. We did our kid presentation for them.

One situation I observed was two little girls dancing to our drama's on a grave in front of their home with their grandma watching.

Before long I saw a younger lady who looked a bit tough come out and grab one girl by the hair in one hand and her shirt in the other and throw her into the house. The other little girl was flinching not ready for the same thing when her mom grabbed her by the shirt and threw her in too. I just sat their shocked. I couldn't believe what I just saw. They had done nothing. Nothing! As I sat their completely shocked by what I had just seen I heard a bunch a bangs come from the house. It didn't sound like flesh being hit but it sounded like something being thrown. I suddenly felt sick....thinking too much about what was happening. I looked around and saw a bit of hope that made me feel so much better. A dad holding two little girls, one looking like 2 and the other around 4. Looking at them you could tell the dad loved his girls and that their family was whole.

Everyone here is so nice, Filipino's are very relational and want to know your name, age and what your Facebook name is. I was a little thrown off with the whole Facebook thing cause I haven't seen any computers, phones or anything high tech like that. But they have a hangout place with computers. So that makes much more sense. Every place we have done ministry at has been hard but rewarding. Hard to watch life being like this and rewarding that we get to pour into these people and show them the love of Jesus.

I've had fun with my small groups every place doing crafts here. We have people you cut out that come out like this (pic below)