philippines: blessing, part 2

My last post was about how God has been blessing my life in regards to my teammates. This post will be about how God has been blessing me and using me as a blessing in my ministry at Samaritana.

Because this past week was the beginning of a new cycle (a cycle is six months), a lot of it was orientation. Tuesday they spent all afternoon finishing their cards (they have a quota of 84 cards to meet each week, from what I understand), which we helped them with. These are hard-to-make, detailed and beautiful cards. On the back of each card is a statement saying that the cards are fair-trade and that the profit goes to women who are exiting prostitution. Each woman signs her name on the back of the card, and the buyer is encouraged to read her story online at sanctuaryspring.com.

Wednesday through Friday was orientation, with Friday also including a time of worship and fellowship. During orientation, it's all in Tagalog. The first day we had the privilege of having Ate Tina, one of the volunteer missionaries, quietly translate beside us. But the rest of the time, we've done a lot of sitting and not understanding. Sometimes they have work for us to do in the kitchen with preparing lunch, but otherwise, we do a lot of simply being. 

Kuya Jonathan had told us this during our orientation two weeks ago -- that we shouldn't expect to make this grand impact and have really deep conversations because of the language barrier and the little time we have there. But our impact is in our presence, simply being a body there.

As James encouraged us yesterday (Sunday), he told us that there are three parts to the Gospel -- sin, redemption and faith. Because the Philippines is a widely Catholic nation, they understand the sin and faith part. So how do we manifest Christ in this culture? Our redeemed presence.

"The presence of redemption is the difference between us and any other person doing good works. It's about our presence."

Because we are redeemed by Christ, when we are simply among these women, we communicate redemption to them. Looking back, I can see the ways I have done that this past week. But even more so this upcoming week, I want to be more mindful of how I communicate redemption through my presence.

So this past week:

We met about 23 trainees, women between 19 and 42 years old. These women are truly beautiful. When I think "gentle and quiet spirit," I think of these women, whether they are the more quiet ones or the more outgoing ones. They just have this spirit about them that speaks humility, joy and redemption. They are all at different stages in their healing, but the fact that they are even in this program tells me that they are seeking freedom.

One young woman loves to sing, and often there is a song of praise on her lips. She has a beautiful voice, and even more so, she sings the name of Jesus so sincerely. I love to sing with her, from worship songs to Top 40 hits. I've noticed how cross-cultural music is. It's often difficult to carry a longer conversation in English, so either she, I, or others we are with will just start singing, and that bonds us -- and we have a blast!

Another older woman always has a smile on her face, and though she is shy, she will do her best to meet your eyes with her own, very warm and happy. She barely speaks English, but I've seen that my presence alone makes her smile, and so I sit with her. Though I want to do more, it's hard to, and I am learning to be content with simply being a body beside her.

Another young woman, my age in fact, is very quiet. It's her first time at Samaritana and she doesn't seem to speak very much English. But as I've spent more time with her, literally just sitting with her at lunch and asking a question here and there, she has opened up a bit more, communicating to me through her actions. For example, she now offers me a seat at lunch when I can't find anywhere else to sit. Or one day, we all danced to a worship song and twice she chose me to dance with her. That meant the world to me, because before, I felt like my love for her wasn't going through because she was so shy. But when she began to respond in a small smile and small gestures, I knew we were building a relationship.

Many more women have touched my heart, and I pray I have touched theirs in some way. I have to remind myself to not count the days I have left and just enjoy my time with them and pray God would go before me and open doors to go deeper in these relationships as He wills.

The most encouraging thing I have encountered is the scholars meeting Friday afternoon. From what I understand, every Friday, women who have gone through the program and have children who are sponsored by Samaritan sponsors come back to visit. I met one of the children, a 15-year-old girl who is in her last year of high school and considering going to UP Diliman (most prestigious school in the Philippines). She was very talkative and very open. She shared some of her heartaches, some of her joys, and she was just such an encouragement to talk to. 

Her mom later came over, this older woman who barely speaks English, but is very warm and grateful. She now works doing household work, saying that she learned those maintenance skills from Samaritana. She thanked me over and over for serving at Samaritana, as if I had a direct impact on the freedom she now knows, her work and her daughter's education. 

I thought, how crazy! I had nothing to do with all of that. I don't think she understood exactly what I was there for, but that's when it hit me that even though I'm there for only a few weeks, serving behind the scenes and talking to women, God is using me to bless others. The gratitude she showed me made me realize that little blessings add up, and though I had nothing to do with her own training at Samaritana, I am impacting the lives of the women at Samaritana now, whether it be in small or big ways.

I thought of Hebrews 11, where the author says that none of the people in the "hall of faith" saw the fruits of their seed, the fulfilled promises of God. But "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect" (vs 40). I may not see the fruits of my labor now, but I am even just a small part of God's overall plan and purpose for these women and their families.

In other news, now that Rachel and I live at SEND with Elizabeth, we have the nights free and are able to participate in the Navs activities at the UPD campus, such as their Nav Nights and game nights. It's been cool to relate to the college students there and see how their ministry is thriving. The above reminder of Hebrews 11 is something the speaker at Nav Night shared. :)

Praying for more blessings this last week of ministry! Also, I can't upload pictures to this post because I am doing this on my iPhone at SEND and it's a lot more complicated process (I left my laptop with Jacque at Navs headquarters so she wouldn't be as bored), but I will insert photos this weekend if the Internet at headquarters actually works this time, haha.

--Karla

We made lunch for the women at Samaritana! Handpicked those leaves.

Drawing with the women, what training of the heart, mind and hands looks like.

Worship time.

Freedom.

The women learning to trust each other and work together.