Just wanted to send a quick update from our trip. God was so faithful to help us in our travels and gave us strength to make it to the end. It was a super busy and long 2 weeks, but we were able to accomplish a lot. It's an honor to get to work with these different ministries and get to be apart of what God is doing there. Just a quick note on our trip (we will be posting more details and pics later):
Our time in Japan was zipping all over the place including a lot of travel and very long days but we met a lot of people and learned a lot about the Japanese culture. The most interesting thing we came across in Japan (from Jen's perspective) were the people in the park that regularly hang out, girls dressed in poodle skirts and guys dressed like the Fonz in Happy Days, dancing to 50s music all day. It was interesting and quite entertaining. They are quite serious about their 50s dancing. :) The most eye opening thing is to hear how difficult it is for Japanese to believe that there is a God. Many don't believe in anything. They work and study all the time and when they have free time, they don't know what to do with themselves. Not surprisingly alcoholism and suicide are predominant in their society. They are so hopeless. And it's so difficult for Japanese believers to share their faith and their joy with other Japanese people.
The time in the Philippines was good. We got to help many of the children's programs in poor areas. It was really neat to see the excitement of the kids and even the interest from the adults. The most eye opening experience was visiting the "dump", otherwise known as Smokey Mountain. It is unbelievable the amount of poverty that these people live in and to see how they live in a huge trash pile. The kids would go through trash all day collecting old nails. When they collect a kilo of nails, they can get around 7 Philippine pesos. 1 kilo is about 2.2 pounds, which would probably take them all day if not multiple days. 7 Philippine pesos is about 15 cents. There was one little girl that really grabbed our attention. She wouldn't smile at all and you could see the sadness and the hopelessness in her eyes. It was really difficult to see.
The hardest part of the trip was hearing the news of my uncle. It was quite a shock to hear that they had given him about 3 days to live. God was extremely faithful in that my family got to spend the last few days with him. If it were not for my grandmother falling and breaking her ankle and having black outs would they even have known that my uncle was sick. When my uncle came to help her, my grandmother noticed something was wrong and immediately had my dad take him to the hospital. He had pneumonia for 3 months but didn't have insurance because he was unemployed so he didn't go to the doctor before. He just thought it was this bad cough he couldn't get rid of. It developed into emphysema and in the last week progressed very quickly. My dad cared for him at his house because he didn't want to stay in the hospital and hospice came out a couple of times a day. But he was too far gone as the medicine had no healing effect on him; but they were able to make him comfortable as much as possible. His lungs struggled for every breath and they just couldn't hang on. My sister was panicking to get a hold of me to give me the news that he was sick and then a couple of days later delivered sad news again that he had passed. This has been an extremely difficult weak to learn of such shocking news.
BUT I am thankful that I got to see him when I went back to the states this last visit. I am thankful that my family got to see him before he passed. In learning how bad his condition worsened every minute from my family, I am thankful that he passed quickly. I am thankful that my grandmother is doing better. I am thankful that my family has been so gracious and supportive of me being here and told me not to come back. My mom has also been really struggling with her recovery from her surgery but I am thankful that she is okay. (When my sister sent me an urgent message to call her, I thought it was my mom at first.) I am thankful that my God is my refuge and my fortress, my strength, and my comfort. I am thankful I have a God who I can call upon and He listens. I am thankful that I can rest in the shadow of the Almighty as I dwell in His presence and He gives me a rock on higher ground to cling onto.
Today has been a difficult day as they just had the funeral and its extremely difficult not getting to be there with my family. This is going to be a very difficult holiday week and my heart is sad. But I am just clinging to My God! So please remember me and my family. Also its difficult for Stephanie being away from her family. Yes, in a difficult time like this it does make me question why God has me here BUT He is sovereign and I have to put my faith in Him. My mom is asking me to come back home next year, but Steph and I both are asking for the Lord's guidance every day and we desire to be in His will. He is doing so much here and for now, we rest in knowing this is where He wants us to stay.
Thank you again for your prayers and for your love! Right now, they are both invaluable to us!
Happy Thanksgiving! We have much to be thankful for!
I am praying for you both... I was reading your post and started to get jealous of all the things you were doing... then you talked about your uncle, and I think it puts a true spin on life. People think living overseas is glamorous but we dont always realize what we need to give up in order to do it. But the gospel is worth it! Romans 5:3-5 This is the formula for hope.
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