Yup! It's the same little guy!

This is our little man who had the worms and was malnourished. He's now standing and even walking on his own! Compare this with the previous pictures we have of him. The changes are amazing!

Family Camp

The Mercy Ministry held its first ever family camp in May. We choose nine families that are active in the ministry to attend the camp. All families had to be complete with both parents and children. Half of these families live on the street and others in a squatter community behind the drop in centre. It was the first time for everyone to experience eating at a buffet and for many to sleep in a bed. The one dad was actually looking for cardboard to sleep on because he couldn’t get comfortable in the bed. The camp was held at a beautiful Christian camp about 3 hours from Manila. We held four sessions for the parents, two of which were separate sessions for them men and women. The invited speakers spoke on family ethics, how to overcome poverty and building up Christian families. Greg and I along with a few other staff took care of all the children while the parents were in sessions. With nine families there were 25 children, 6 of them being infants and another 15 under the age of five!! This was a challenge! As tiring as it was, the children had fun colouring, watching movies, playing on the grass and swimming. We pray that the parents have learned God’s purpose and plan for their marriages and how to raise their children in a Godly way.

Family Games

Festival

It is the time of year here in the Philippines for festivals and fiestas. A few weeks ago our language school did a trip to the Lucban Pahiyas Festival. At this Festival, houses in the town are decorated with different vegetables. They say that pretty much everything you see on the houses can be eaten. You can see by the pictures below how the houses were decorated. Very creative!

Lost Hope to Gained Hope

A lot of things have been happening since we have moved that have been keeping us extremely busy. A few days after we moved we found out that a young man (21 years old) that we minister to was very ill with possible tuberculosis. He was very weak, lost a lot of weight and was having a lot of difficulty breathing. We took him to get an x-ray and the next day it was confirmed that he had TB (tuberculosis). He was in critical condition and needed to be treated right away. After driving to 5 different hospitals/medical centers, he was finally admitted and had surgery to insert a tube into his left lung to drain the water. After the surgery, he was transferred to another hospital with a TB ward. He is being monitored and treated there until now. We have also just found out that he has an infection in his liver. Please pray for a full recovery and provision for medication. This young man has had a very rough past. He lives on the street, has sniffed solvent for many years now and was recently in jail. Shortly after his surgery, he had pretty much given up. He thought that it would just be better and easier for everyone if he would just die so people wouldn't have to spend time and money to help him. He has now expressed how he doesn't want to go back to his vices. Please pray first and foremost that he will realize how much God loves him and wants a relationship with him. Please also pray that God will give him the strength to stay away from the vices and peer pressure that he will face when he recovers.

Our New Pad

Well, we're pretty much all settled in now to our new apartment. It has been so good to be so close to our ministry site. It's only about a 5 min walk to the drop in center. Below is a picture of our new view. We are situated right beside a railway with the train passing at 6:30 every morning, so we no longer need an alarm clock! We can see Laguna Bay and on a clear day we can see the beautiful mountains in the distance.

Oporation Christmas Child

This entry is way over due but we still wanted to share this experience with you all. At the beginning of February we had the privileged of giving out Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes to 90 children who are connected to the Mercy Ministry drop in centre. After being apart of packing shoe boxes for many years at home, it was very exciting for us to be on the distributing end of things. The kids were so excited! We started the activity with prayer and songs. The children were then put into smaller groups where we taught a Bible story, ate food and then distributed the gifts. As they opened their boxes of gifts they were overjoyed with what they received! We wish that everyone who has ever packed a shoe box could experience the excitement and joy of watching the children as they open their boxes.