The Lord worked a lot in my time in the Philippines. This country can be separated into two different parts which were two very different experiences. The first part was my time in Tondo, Manila. The second part was my time in Cainta, Rizal. But really this story starts before we even got to the Philippines, so let’s rewind a little bit.

At the end of my team’s time in Vietnam we were informed about some big changes that would be rolling out in the Philippines. Originally my team was suppose to be living at the Kid’s International base in Cainta with two other girls teams and our leader. A few days before leaving Vietnam, our team was told we were now going to be living as just our team in Tondo with a different leader.

I was very bitter about these changes. It felt like it was a punishment for something I hadn’t done. On top of that, the night we arrived to the Philippines we spent the night at the base in Cainta (called the YMC). We got to see the wonderful amenities, like a pool, hot showers, ice, and many other things. I was jealous and upset. I didn’t understand why we had been switched at the last moment. At this point, I had no idea what Tondo was like but I wanted to stay at the YMC.

Nevertheless, a verse that really was echoed throughout my time here was Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

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The next morning we got a tour of the facilities around Cainta that Kids International Ministries ran. (kids international ministries is the ministry we were part of in the philippines). After seeing everything it had to offer we left for Tondo. While I was holding frustration in me, I was still excited and eager to where I would be living for the next chunk of time. We took a train and two jeepneys to get there. A true taste of filipino life on our first full day here.

We got to our apartment were surprised to say the least. It was much smaller than I was expecting and there would be 11 people living in it with all of our stuff. This included my whole team, our lovely host, and a sweet family. Our host, Miss Jean, explained that we would have “house blessings” which were essentially chores. Since this house that we live in is a blessing to us, we would get the opportunity to bless it. I’ve always been the type to look on the bright side of everything and I was very quickly falling in love with Tondo and everything that came with it. At this point I had pretty much stopped thinking about the YMC at all and was eager to get planted in Tondo.

We got to see the community and the ministries that were active in Tondo. This includes a men’s home, a girl’s home, youth lab, and feedings. Our ministry looked like a lot of house visits and prayer walks for the community. There was also an abundance of eggs that was in headquarters (the apartment i was living in) that we got to give out to the community. We also got to fellowship a ton at the girls and men’s homes.

The people in Tondo have my heart. Never have I been taken in so quickly as family somewhere. They loved me so well and just understood me in ways that I never could have asked for.

However, as much as I loved Tondo it was not all butterflies and rainbows. There were lots of hard moments. The most memorable one was when 3 girls on my team leaving 5 days after we arrived in Tondo. This was hard for me because I loved those girls and they cared for me so well and always pushed me to be better and focus on God. It was hard to adjust to life without them, but the community in Tondo took such good care of us even in this hard time. Because of this my team was definitely given some special treatment including a 3 day vacation in manila and a 5 day trip to the YMC. I was very grateful for these trips as they were very refreshing. As a team we also were told/agreed on moving to the YMC on 2/8 (we agreed on 1/19, for timeline). At that point we had only been in Tondo for like 5 days and I hadn’t fully fallen in love yet, so I agreed. But then another two weeks went by and my heart was so deep in it. These people felt like my family and this place was my home away from home. I love these people so deeply, each and every single one that I met.

The Lord knew what I needed even when I didn’t. well duh. I know this but sometimes it needs to happen again and again for me to remember sometimes. God works all things together for the good of those who love him. duh. it’s that simple. Even when I didn’t know why I was going, God knew. And it was good!

but then… we had to move… and boy was that hard… or was it? read my next blog to find out.