These weeks

  So much has happened in our second spot on this trip and I have yet to share anything. Before I arrived in Manila, where the squad would be in the Philippines, I got a new team. Initially, our whole squad was anxious about splitting up again, but now everyone has settled in to his or her new groups and ministries. I love my new team and I realize how blessed I am to get great teams both times in both countries.
            My team is working with a Yunjin Lyso Ministry Center (YMC) that is connected to Kids International Ministries where ministry opportunities are easy to find. Here they have an orphanage, a birthing center, feedings, a school, and a home for abused girls known as the JAZ house. My group has been specifically working with Mikey, donations, and the new home.
            Mikey is a 3-month-old perfect little baby at the orphanage who was abandoned by his mom at a hospital when he was only about a month old. He was her sixth child and she felt like she couldn’t handle another child and neglected him until giving him up. One of the nursery workers here said when she saw him for the first time she thought he would die. But Mikey survived and was taken in by World Racers, another mission’s team with AIM, and then passed on to my team. He needs 24 hour care, and though it often makes us restless, we have all fallen in love with him. Seeing Mikey be brought through so much and still survive is such a reminder that God has been caring for us and about us since the day we were born.  “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Psalms 139:13-14. Mikey is now healthy, heavy and free of sickness.
            Donations has been another huge part of my teams ministry. Every year the YMC gives out 2000 Christmas presents to Philippino people who have nothing. So far my team has bagged up 1300 presents and will be handing them out this Saturday. Before we hand them out we tell them the story of Christmas. I am excited to be able to reach out to all these people and show them how much Christ loves them. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or story away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more than they?” Matthew 6:26-27.
            The home we have worked on is a new JAZ house for the abused girls. Currently, the home they live in hold 29 girls, but the new home has room for 80. There are about 105 JAZ girls total and soon most of them will be housed. So many hands have gone in to preparing the house and my team sleeps there to maintain residency. On Christmas day they get to move in and my team gets to be there to see all their beautiful faces see their new home. “…Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long. And the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.” Deuteronomy 33:12.
            We don’t have much time here left but all the time we have had here has blessed me the most. I don’t know how I will say goodbye to such amazing people. I am so glad I got to see how much God has provided in only 4 weeks. 

(Ellen Hudson's) Feedings

  Baby Mikey