Greg & Sarah in the Philippines

Medical Mission

2009-07-06T01:02:00.004-05:00

Every person that came to the medical mission were prayed for and taught about the relationship that God wants with them. Please pray that the church we partnered with will be able to followup on each person that attended and that each person will have a growing desire to know Jesus more.

An amazing tooth pull. Her tooth was HUGE!
106 people came to have teeth pulled.

About 450 people were seen by a physician.

Yup! It's the same little guy!

2009-06-14T08:16:00.004-05:00

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

2009-06-14T08:04:00.006-05:00

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

2009-06-14T07:41:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-14T07:27:00.003-05:00

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

2009-06-01T01:55:00.004-05:00

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

2009-06-01T01:31:00.005-05:00

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.

What a Change!

2009-04-15T06:55:00.004-05:00

These are new pictures of the malnourished boy we took to Gentle Hands. He is doing great and getting super chubby! No more worms either! God is so good!

It's Not Spaghetti

2009-02-06T04:53:00.004-05:00

We wanted to give you an update on our little buddy we took to Gentle Hands. He is being treated for worms, gastral infection and malnourishment. The above picture is not spaghetti. Yup! You guessed it. These are some of the worms that came out of him. When we went to visit him this past week we brought along his four year old sister who is also malnourished and full of worms. She is also now staying at Gentle Hands to be treated. Please pray for continued improvement in both of the children's health. Please pray also for the family that they would come to a loving relationship with Christ.

Christ Is The Only Answer

2009-02-02T09:17:00.003-05:00

Several weeks ago one of our girls (19 years old) was arrested for sniffing solvent at home while "taking care" of her 1 year old son. She has been facing a lot of troubles and to escape these realities in her life she chose to sniff solvent. She is now being charged for child and drug abuse. We had the opportunity to visit her last Friday. She seems very regretful for what she did and knows that she needs to pay the consequences for her actions. Since she is considered an adult (under 18 is a child) her punishment will be worse. It wouldn't be so bad if the jails here were actually correctional. Right now she is just in a tiny community jail MIXED WITH MEN!!! When we went to visit her my heart broke for her. Dianne, our new social worker was with us so she actually talked to the guard about having them mixed. It's actually illegal i think but he just said "well we separate them at night." When Diane asked her if she was alright in the jail mixed with men she just started to cry. Please pray for her. Yes, there does need to be action for what she did, however my fear is that she will be more hurt and that this will not help fix the problems she already has. Pray for her protection, her case to be worked out quickly and that she will really draw close to the Lord and know that He is our only answer to our problems. Pray also for her two children. She has a four year old daughter and a one year old boy. The little girl is already quite malnourished. They are now supposed to be taken care of by their grandma, but because she goes out to work all day she pulled her 11year old daughter out of school to take care of them. Please pray that God will give us wisdom in this situation. It is not right for an eleven year old to be pulled out of school and be the 'mother' of her niece and nephew. We are really praying for wisdom to have these children placed in a Christian orphanage until their mom is ready and capable of taking care of them.

A Second Chance

2009-02-02T06:13:00.006-05:00

At 16 months, this little boy is the youngest of five siblings. His family lives in a squatter community behind the drop in centre, in the worst conditions we have seen yet. Their home is about 7 by 3 feet, has a dirt floor and has an open ceiling into the family above them. Their neighbors throw a lot of their garbage and human waist right beside their tiny home. We have been providing milk for this little boy because he is so malnourished. His mom is often coming to us for help because he and his siblings get sick very frequently (who wouldn't in those conditions).Last Friday when we were at the drop in centre she came to us because he had diarrhea for two weeks straight. Already malnourished, we could tell he had become very dehydrated, week, and loosing more weight. Knowing he was becoming critical and knowing that 50% of children in the Philippines die from diarrhea we brought him to Gentle Hands, which is a Christian humanitarian agency, on Saturday. We have taken children to Gentle Hands before and they have been very helpful and trustworthy. We got a text from the woman who runs Gentle Hands last night saying that she de-wormed our little boy and started him on antibiotics. She said he is very sick but hopes that he will recover from his sickness and malnourishment in about one months time. Please pray for his total recovery. Please also pray for his family. We are trying to help this family in means of livelihood but their signs of initiation and desire to change is minimal. Pray that we will have wisdom and discernment as to how we can help.

Because of Jesus

2008-12-12T05:53:00.026-05:00

Wow! What a week! We are filled with joy and thanksgiving at what God has done through four Christmas parties this past week. First, we want to thank everyone for all their prayers and support for these events. Our first party was held in Smokey Mountain, which is an old dump site in Manila. It was a very chaotic party in the rain but the message of Jesus Christ was told clearly through a puppet show in Tagalog to 600 children and their parents. God's blessings of gift bags and groceries were received with great joy.

Saturday morning at 2am we packed a truck with gifts and games and headed to Olongapo, a city outside of Manila. In Olongapo we partnered with ten of the local churches to hold another party for 600 children and their parents. These churches are located in the poorer areas of the city. Each child again received a gift bag and each family a grocery bag. We wish you could have seen the huge smiles as the kids pulled items out of their bags one by one and showed it off to the person beside them. Kids were playing with their toys around the entire arena and my personal favourite was the 20 + boys in the middle of the arena pushing, zooming and of course crashing their Hotwheels. It was priceless.

Our favourite party was held in a tribe in Kanawan. You might remember this place as we had wrote several months ago about a dvbs we held there. Anyways, the same day as the party in Olangapo we went to Kanawan. When we arrived, there were at least 30+ men from the tribe and dozens of beautiful children that met us at the road and carried all of our 200 bags of toys & food up the mountain on a fairly steep, circuitous trail to the village. We would have never been able to get everything up there without them. Even the kids were eager to help carry our packs. We were exhausted once up there from our early morning and full day but the kids were so excited to see us. We played and talked with them for hours. That night we had a great sleep in our tent and woke up to the kids peeking in our window. The women cooked all the meals for our team in kettles over open fires. The food there always tastes so good! Sunday morning we attended the village's outgrown church. It was such a blessing. The joy of the Lord was very evident! That night we had a bonfire with the people of the village. We played games and did dance presentations (yes, even we danced....it was a team thing). Some of the kids and women from the tribe danced their traditional tribal dance. The next day (Monday) we had a party for the 200 kids (from the tribe and from the school). We again had games for the kids and presented the gospel message through a puppet show. The kids loved their gift bags, especially the sunglasses, beanie babies and Hotwheel cars! The boys were racing the cars down an incline, boys & girls were wearing their new sunglasses and placing them on the front of their heads when not in use. Aside from toys they also received flip flops and an umbrella. Of course they loved everything that was given to them. When it was time to leave, the children plus many adults helped carry all our luggage etc. back down the mountain to the road where the vehicles were waiting.
**The little girl (Esmeralda) sitting alone in the picture by the wall had just won a prize in a game. While all the other kids were still playing games she sat all alone to play with her new toy.

Once we got home we crashed from all the traveling. Then the next day we had a fellowship with all of the partner churches of Youth Mobilization. It was a fun event and a way to just thank the churches for their support over the past year.

The next day we had the Mercy Ministry party. This year we held it at Jollibee which is a popular fast food restaurant here. This was a smaller party compared to the rest with 139 people. We played games, had a few presentations by the youth and some parents and our team leader Joshua gave a gospel presentation. After he spoke 19 people went to the front as a sign that they wanted to make Jesus Lord of their lives. A grocery bag was given to each family, a gift bag to each child and a pair of shorts and a t-shirt to each youth.

Sorry this has gotten so long. We hope you were able to get through it all. It is incredibly hard to put into words everything that God is doing here. Please pray for the people we have been able to minister to at these parties. Pray that the seeds that have been planted will be able to grow and produce good fruit.

A Box of Crayons

2008-11-29T04:06:00.003-05:00

It was just a box of crayons. A few weeks ago, C, a girl just a couple years younger than me told me how H, her four year old daughter loves to colour. She loves to colour so much that she has warn her crayons out. All she had left was a few stubs. I knew that they didn't have the money to buy new crayons because she recently told me they have been skipping meals because they don't have enough money. The next week when I saw C, I said to her "remeber how you told me last week how H loves to colour?" She said, "ya, and H she told me again this week that she really wants to colour but she doesn't have any crayons left." I told her I have a surprise for her and I pulled out of my bag a box of 24 Crayola crayons. She was speechless. Tears trickled down her cheeks. "Really? Thank you so much!" That was all she could say. To me, it was just a box of crayons. To her and her daughter is was more than that. It was something that made their whole life colourful.
All gifts come from our loving Heavenly Father. Thank you Lord for this box of crayons!!

Article

2008-05-30T00:27:00.002-05:00

IT Canada wrote two articles about our ministry here in their monthly Momentum newsletter. Please check them out at these links;

http://www.iteams.ca/momentum/05-momentum1.php

http://www.iteams.ca/momentum/04-momentum2.php

Revenge & Forgivness

2008-05-29T21:47:00.004-05:00

Yesterday began as a normal ministry day at the mercy ministry drop in centre. We have 2 short termer individuals from Canada serving with our team so yesterday we took them to a squatter community to visit three of the families that attend the ministry. One of these homes was that of Bibe (Christopher). Bibe is the youth who is featured in the IT Canada Momentum article. The link for that article is above. When we visited his home yesterday we had a good time talking with him and prayed for him and his family. We had lunch at another home with a few of the women how volunteer at the centre. We then returned to the drop in centre where the youth were eating their lunch. Greg and I went up stairs with Gila (the minsitry leaders wife) and all of a sudden we heard a bunch of commotion downstairs. We ran down stairs and saw blood gushing from Eric's (one of the youth) face and John (the ministry leader) had Bibe pinned in the corner. Out of anger Bibe took a rock and hit Eric in the face right beside his eye three times. I took Eric upstairs and cleaned up his eye and Greg helped keep everything under control. We later took Eric to the hospital to get four stitches. When the youth arrived earlier that day John sensed and suspected that a fight might break out (Bibe, the leader, was with us at the time of the talk). He had a big talk with the youth and they decided they wouldn't fight. There are two different "gangs" that are from two different areas that we minister to and nothing like this has ever happened before. Fortunately when Bibe lashed out his gang members didn't fight with him but actually tried to hold him back. It was upsetting at first that this happened at the centre because it is suppose to be a place of safety for everyone but it really is a blessing that it happened here. If this would have happened on the street there may have been no one to stop them from fighting. Bibe actually had a knife with him but he didn't use it. The reason Bibe did this was because two Sunday's ago Eric was with someone named Dennis at John's church. This Dennis guy stole Bibe and Melissa's wedding rings from their daughter (she was wearing them on a necklace). This is what revoked the anger in Bibe and this was the only way that he saw possible to repay what was done to him and his family. Bibe was improving so much and the Mercy Ministry has been mentoring him and is sending him to school for a Cellphone Repair Technician course. Controlling his anger is one thing that Bibe has been praying for. The scars of life go so deep in these guys and it is going to take a lot of discipling and a lot of teaching them what it means to be Christlike to change them. After a long day, prayer, and reconciliation, Bibe apologized to Eric and Eric's mom. Our prayer is that this will not cause any hostility between these two groups.

Please keep praying for life change in these guys. Many have come a long way but there is still a long way to go and Satan is always there ready to attack and bring them down. Yesterday was another day that confirmed to us the huge need there is for a rehabilitation camp for these youth. Pray also for the workers who are involved in this ministry especially John and Gila. Pray that God will give them continual wisdom, understanding and protection.

That was the shortened version of what happened. There are so many other details, thoughts and feelings that we would really love to share with you all but it is so incredibly hard to write.

Banaue

2008-05-29T08:44:00.018-05:00

One way Youth Mobilization mobilizes youth is by taking Filipino youth on a short term exposure trip to another location in the Philippines and have them serve. So two weeks ago our team led a group of 10 Filipino youth on a 5-day mission trip to an orphanage in Banaue, Philippines. Banaue is famous for its beautiful 2,000 year-old rice terraces. Banaue is located in the mountains of Northern Philippines, about a 10 hour drive North of Manila. We held a vacation bible school (VBS) program and a daily feeding for the children of the surrounding area, totaling 75 children in all. We held the VBS at one of the local churches of Banaue, which is located on top of a small rice terrace in the town, overlooking the beautiful valley of rice terraces. None of the youth had ever served on any sort of mission trip before and some of them have not even had a chance to serve in their church at all.

Going here gave the youth a cross culture experience without even leaving the Philippines. The children spoke a different dialect than the youth so the common language was usually English. It was awesome to see them take charge of the daily lessons and activities and pour their love on the kids. We really believe that as these youth took a step of faith and stepped out of their comfort zone, their relationship with the Lord was challenged, stretched and strengthened. Our goal going into the trip was that the lives of both the children and the youth would be changed as a result of the work done. One of the nights we were showed a movie about the life of Jesus at the orphanage and invited everyone from the community. Many people came and at the end Greg closed the night by asking if anyone wanted to give their life to Jesus and many children and adults responded. We praise God for using us and our team to minister in Banaue. YM is looking forward to further opportunities to serve with the orphanage and the church. After the VBS was completed we had a recreational day where we took a jeepney ride to Batad, the next town over, and hiked the rice terraces in that area.

Kids Stuff !!

2008-04-29T02:40:00.008-05:00

It’s been a busy month since our last newsletter at the end of March. As we mentioned back then, YM (Youth Mobilization) was hosting a team from Emmanuel Bible College (EBC). We were very involved with this team by taking them to different ministries and showing them around. We assisted EBC with a DVBS (Daily Vacation Bible School) located in Tondo, which is an urban poor area of Manila. This area is known for being very dangerous because of the gang activity. Because of this the church members were our shadows everywhere we went. We slept at the church which is right in the community for one night. The pastor told Greg that nobody attacked us because they knew that we were Christians. Praise God for His protection! The DVBS was held in two different churches simultaneously with over 200 children total. EBC lead the DVBS again with the same theme as what was done in the tribe at the end of March. This was “The Quest for the Kingdom.” A week after the DVBS, YM assisted the churches in this same community with their first ever evangelistic concert. Through songs, presentations, and an evangelistic message many people surrendered their life to Christ. Please continue to pray for breakthrough in this community.

Some of the kids

Crafts

Greg with some of the youth from the church

Us, some of the Volunteers and EBC at graduation

Also while EBC was here we held another hygiene clinic with a new partner church located in yet another very poor area of Manila. At the clinic 100 more children received haircuts, nail cuts, showers, a healthy snack, and a hygiene kit with contents of a toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, and soap. We also had a paediatrician teach the parents on proper hygiene and nutrition.

Greg on ear cleaning duty. The dirt and smells that come out of their ears is unbelievable.

The area the hygiene clinic was held. So many of the rivers here look like this.

Another Climb - Mt. Daguldol

2008-04-29T02:03:00.013-05:00

Here are some pictures of another mountain climb we did. This time we camped over night on the summit. The mountain is a couple hours south of manila right by the ocean. It was beautiful!!

The Summit

The Summit and our small tent that we can barely stretch out in....but hey, it's light!

Greg and Andy cooking beans for supper.....Yummy!!!

The Ocean next to the mountain

Refreshing 'Halo Halo' after our climb down

The Kids In The Mountains

2008-04-01T00:48:00.021-05:00

Here are some pictures of the dvbs we held for a village in the mountains. We wrote about it in our newsletter but we have so many awesome pictures that we want to share.

Hiking!

2008-04-01T00:05:00.013-05:00

Several weeks ago we had a chance to get out of the city with some friends. We drove about 2hrs south of Manila and hiked Mt. Makiling. The second picture to the left is of the mud spring. It stank like rotten eggs and you can see in the picture the steam because it was so hot. Yes, the picture below is Greg thinking he's Tarzan and swinging from a vine.

The New Drop in Center

2008-03-31T22:46:00.005-05:00

These are some of the youth and kids who will benefit from the drop in center. At the center meals will be provided, they can shower, they will be taught more from the word of God, and it will be a safe environment for them to hang out in.

Our work day cleaning the new drop in center...and...Showing off our muscles

Our first fellowship at the drop in center

The Craziest Field Trip Ever

2008-03-31T22:05:00.005-05:00

Our team made an awesome connection with a Christian school for squatter kids in February. We wanted to help the school out and bless the children with a field trip. So back in March we boarded 60 very excited kids on a bus for the trip. Before the bus was even moving the little girl beside me was holding a rag over her face and looked like she could puke. 'Come on' I thought. 'we haven't even started to move yet!' Then we did start to move and about two minutes later she puked. So I sent her up front thinking that if she goes up there it might not be as bad because she can see out the front. WRONG!! That didn't help at all. In fact, about 1/3 of the kids that day puked every time we were on the bus. It was unbelievable!! At every stop all us leaders would collect all the kids barf bags and put it in one big barf bag. Never have we seen so many kids barfing at once. We never even thought to take into consideration that these kids have never traveled on a bus before. hahaha...now we know. Despite this, I definitely can't say it was a bad experience. Most of the kids have never been out of the area they live. The places we visited were out of the city so the kids saw mountains, lush jungle areas, a dairy farm and factories for the first time. The look on their faces was priceless. Especially when they saw the mountains.

The Barf Bus

This is the little girl that I held a barf bag for the entire trip

Jollibee, which is a fast food restaurant, was our last stop. Spaghetti totally looks the same coming up as it did going down.

Christmas Party Video

2008-01-09T06:44:00.000-05:00

Hey! Our team put together a video for the past Christmas parties. Check it out on You Tube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjCqgG3jQkA

Out of the City!

2008-01-02T02:48:00.001-05:00

We hope that you all had a great Christmas and New Years. We spent Christmas with Brett, another Canadian team mate at our apartment. I made a roast chicken and stuffing dinner.....mmmm!! On the 27th Greg and I went to the province with Joshua, Anne and their kids. Joshua is our team leader. We stayed at Anne's family farm. It was great to get out of the city and spend a week surrounded by fields and mountains.

We got to try frog for our first time. Greg even 'butchered' one himself. I know it doesn't look great but the women we were staying with fried them and they were delicious!

The one day we went for a hike up a mountain to a waterfall and another day we took a trip to 100 Islands. Other than that we spent our time relaxing and breathing in fresh air. It was a great trip! Thank you Lord!

...And The Gift Goes On...

2007-12-18T00:08:00.002-05:00

Months of preparations + 3 Christmas parties + over 1000 people + hundreds of gifts given + hundreds of smiling faces + a day of celebrating the gift of Jesus = a blessed day for many people. You can see the joy on the faces of the kids and their parents. At one of the parties a mother was so overwhelmed with joy and thankfulness that she cried. It was hard to pick only a few pictures to show because every picture captures the joy and excitement. Their faces are priceless! Because of poverty many of these people would not have had the opportunity to experience some of the joys of Christmas. We praise God for these events and pray that the seeds of Jesus that were planted would continue to grow so that others will learn of this gift.

Thank you everyone who made this day possible. May God bless you more because of your generous and obedient heart!

Medical Mission

2007-10-08T08:27:00.000-05:00

Everyone who helped out! It was an awesome team of people!

People waiting in line to register

The Pharmacy

Medical

De worming

Lab

Dental - Many teeth were extracted

When I asked the Dr. how old he thought this little girl was he said "maybe 3 months". The mom told us that she just turned 1 year in Sept. She is so malnourished.You may remember Danica, the severely malnourished girl that I was holding in the dump site. The picture was on our other blog. It was Danica that gave me the burden to start the Giggles program for malnourished children. Unfortunately because of corruption we were shut down and this past summer Danica died. Well, this is another little girl from the same area and in a very similar situation as Danica. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and show us what to do in this situation. This little girl needs help and treatment now.

Never Land

2007-10-08T07:33:00.000-05:00

Never Land is a massive squatter area with no road access. It was a former dump site between two municipalities. Neither of these municipalities wanted to claim it as their own so it got the name Never Land and many squatters now inhabit the place. You have to take this small raft/boat to get to the other side. It costs one peso to cross over. When it is raining really hard and the water moves fast you are unable to cross so there is a very sketchy zip line available.
We met another missionary from IT that has a ministry in Never Land with his church. Every Sunday they hold an adult Bible study, a youth Bible study and children's program.