Prayers

12/21/2014

First off, we would like to say thank you to everyone that has supported us in our mission work here in the Philippines. Prayers, gifts, financially, etc.
Especially the last few weeks, several have blessed us with the funding to provide Christmas parties for children that are less fortunate. As soon as we have the parties we will send pictures!!

There are so many things that we are involved in here. Its a blessing to see how these people live; I am daily encouraged by their tenacity. We look forward to becoming more involved and finding more ministries to be a part of.
Lately I've been slacking a bit! I'm pretty tired and nauseous most of the time so I'm not as involved as before. But Michael is! I can't wait to be on my feet again and working alongside everyone else.
This coming Sunday the teens are putting on a musical drama for the Church. Michael worked hard putting it together and directing it. (I will tape it and post it too!) So that should be pretty fun.

Many of you have offered to give financially to our trip and we are very grateful for that! Up till this point we have tried not to focus on the money side of things, but having to pay for things like plane tickets and visas is very expensive and we do need your help! We are confident that God will provide for our needs but the Bible says in James 4:2 "You do not have because you do not ask God."
God works through his body, so we know that God wants us to ask him AND the people he uses.

We are asking everyone to prayerfully consider giving to the work God is doing here in the Philippines. We know not everyone can give, so please do not feel guilty if you can't. But if God lays it on your heart we would really appreciate and need your support. We still have not found out how to make your gifts tax deductible but we will be glad to share how we use any money given. If any of you have any ideas on how to make gifts tax deductible we would really appreciate hearing those as well.

Here are a few random pictures from the past few days:

Honored to work alongside this team of INCREDIBLE people!

Life for some

10/1/14

Daily living in the Philippines is different for many people. Yesterday Pastor Gumba,  Michael, and I were very blessed to be welcomed into the home of one of the woman that attends bible study in Paradise (Slums). We followed her through a hazardous maze of sewage water and wood that shifted and sank under our feet. Upon arriving we removed our slippers (flip flops) and stepped inside. I tried to smile and concentrate as cockroaches darted back and forth near my feet (Not my thing!).
We were all surprised as they explained their livelihood and story to us. Her and her husband had 3 children, the two eldest children had graduated high school and one had finished 6th grade. He would love to go back to school but it depends.
You see, this family fixes laundry clips for a living. You know the cheap plastic ones you buy at the dollar store? Those ones. For every kilo of clips, they get 3 pesos. Only 3 pesos. For a whole sack full of clips they get 60 pesos. So this family of 5 works from early in the morning until dark and makes around $1.03. Not even enough to feed even one of them. So yes, schooling for the youngest depends. Michael prayed for the family, for God's protection and provision. They have been living in this slum since 1992- 22 years. Their first home had burned down in a fire and they had rebuilt in the same place.
We are excited as the husband said he would attend bible study next week. He has never attended before. Prayers for this family!!

Prayer requests:

• Felit and her family
• My little friend that fell and received a deep gash in her head:( Prayers for healing and no infection!
• The ministries we are involved in
• Decisions that we face
• Language
• Our baby!
• God providing for our Christmas parties. We are still praying that we receive funding!

Dreams

November 21, 2014

As Michael and I adjust and become more involved, our dreams for our lives continue to get bigger an bigger.

We would love to continue working here while getting our degrees. Michael pursuing a degree in education, and me in medical. Our dream is to continue in the ministries we are involved in and continue to train for the ministries to come. We are so excited about the prospect and continually praying about it. For Gods provision and for him to make it clear to us what his will is.

Last Friday we went to a new location to reach out to the girls. The first few weeks involve sitting back and observing as it is dangerous out there. This specific location is amid squatters homes and therefor it heightens the danger. We hang around the outskirts; walking and praying. We had the privilege of meeting 6 beautiful girls, all of which have a tragic story. Several of them were over the age of 22 and had only completed up to 4th grade in school. They dream of an education, but look at us unbelieving when we say they can still get one. As Pastor William says, "for a Filipino to believe it, they must see it." Until we form bonds with them and they see that we are who we say we are, they will not believe us. It is to "impossible" for them. They think, "why would you care about me?" We walked away that night excited. God had most certainly blessed our outing. We had 6 new girls to pray for by name and the following Friday would return to see them again. We got home and talked about each one and lifted them up in prayer. God will capture their hearts. We will claim that victory!

(We also are working with Pastora Mercy on setting up a system to sponsor these girls education. Lord willing it will take off and achieve a lot of success! It is certainly a project covered in prayer and committed to God.)

Our preparations for Christmas parties continue. We are planning one here in Navotas for the children and one in Paradise. (The slums) We are expecting at least 100 kids in Paradise and are hoping to feed them, have prizes, and send each child home with food and a gift.
Michael and I have been assigned fundraising as we need about 10,500 pesos. (Around $233.00) We are praying about it! We believe that God will answer our prayers for these little ones! We are so excited to see how God provides and works in these children's lives.
Metro Kids has also been a huge success. Every Friday we team up with Metro Kids and walk around Navotas handing out fliers to the children for Sidewalk Sunday School the following day. Come Saturday morning at 8:00 am, hundreds of kids come to sit and listen to a message about who Jesus is and how much he loves them. The parents are also witnessed to during that time. Michael and I have been training along with several others to begin speaking at these events. Our last hurdle (hopefully accomplished this week) is learning several things in Tagalog to convey to the kids. I have no doubt that we can accomplish this! But prayers are appreciated! We end by sending the children home with bread to fill their tummy's!   It is an exciting event for us as we look forward to spending time with the kids and talking to them about Jesus.

One of Michael and my biggest dreams is to get a team from Boise out here for a week or two to participate in these ministries and do a few more things. Specifically a medical team; just a team to apply salve and band aides and kiss boo-boos.  We pray for it constantly. That our friends and family can come out here and understand why our hearts are so passionate for these people. We are excited to see what the Lord brings!

We definitely miss everyone back home, but feel we are where God wants us.

Prayer needs:

• For the young adults attending college here to obtain the funding they need
  
• Each one of the girls we have met, and all of the ones we have not
  
• Its Friday night and we head out in a few hours. Pray for our trip to see the girls!
  
• Our Church here in Navotas
  
• For all the ministries I have mentioned
   
• For all of the outreach work being done in the Philippines
  
• Our health
  
• Funding for us and the ministries
  
• FOR OUR DOGS TO SLEEP AT NIGHT!
  
• Learning the language and adjusting to the culture
  
• God's protection
  
  

Pictures of the walk to Paradise Village 

Paradise

Metro Kids

(Handing out bread) 

 

A walk to remember.

October 30th, 2014

We went for a walk to the market today. I continue to be amazed by the lifestyle that I have never seen before. Blocks and blocks of little booths filled with everything from NBA jerseys to freshly caught (and some not so fresh) fish, being beheaded right before my eyes. The booths are also filled with many different types of people and animals. From old women to new born naked babies as well as little puppies and kitties.
It was such an exciting, strange and desperate atmosphere. These people spend every minute of everyday in a hot booth just trying to make enough money to eat at least one meal. As interesting as this was the most amazing, humbling, and heart breaking time was after we left the market.

To get to the market you had to cross over a bridge, I have crossed over it several time while jogging with the teens from the church. During these jogs I had seen people who were living under the bridges and today I was able to meet some of them.-M

We walked down and they graciously let us see their house. We crouched down to enter underneath the bridge where their home was. It was musty and still and unbelievably hot. It was pitch black, you could not see your hand in front of your face. We thanked them for letting us in and proceeded to head back out. As we walked out we saw a little one laying listless on the floor; bare skin exposed and covered in rashes. My heart broke for the little one. We decided to go get groceries and take it back to them. -S

When we got back with the grocery's we got to see inside of their "house." They literally lived inside of the bridge in a tiny tunnel (not big enough to stand in). While Sarah and Charise (Pastor William's daughter) talked and prayed with the lady inside I was dragged away by the tiny hands of a little boy. I kept trying to tell him to wait but he insisted and I can not resist little, dirty, half naked, 2 year old boys who want to play. I was immediately surrounded by several little ones and found out very quickly that the only thing they all wanted was to be held. I would pick up one then another would grab at my shorts for their turn, and believe me it was a challenge to rotate kids from the ground to my arms as well as hold my pants up from being pulled down by the ones who I was not currently holding. I would now like to take a moment to give props to all mothers who have had a kid (or multiple kids) less then 5 years apart from their first. -M

No where to go, no husband, 9 daughters and countless grandchildren later. This woman had nothing to support her or her children. She had lived in this dark place for 20 years, she has no where to go when storms hit and her home floods. Her grandchildren have been abandoned by their parents and now live with her. She tries to support over 17 children with nothing to give. The youngest was 1 years old, she probably weighed around 10 pounds and was completely listless. She lay quietly and limp wherever she was, whether the arms of a stranger or the concrete of the floor. Her grandmother said she only cried or moved when she was hungry; yet there was nothing to feed her. They gave her the water off of the rice that they make because they have no milk or formula and her mother left. This family lives in desperate conditions, yet having Michael wrap his arms around them and hold them brought smiles to their face. She was so thankful for the groceries we brought them, and it was nothing. 4 packages of Top Ramen, 4 cans or sardines, a small bag of crackers and a serving of coffee. Little blessings, yet a HUGE blessing in return.

Pray for them. Pray for every family like them
Pray for us, that we see the opportunities to show them God's love and we take them.

Inside of their home (Trying to light a lamp) 

Some of the family

 

We're here!!

20/24/14

Our send off was great.

 Our traveling was tiring, yet exciting.

In Taipei our gate was hello kitty! The pink gave you a headache after a while..

Being here is INCREDIBLE.Being here is humbling. I have missed so many aspects of the simple life that we are beginning to live. Michael was telling someone that the rich life we are currently living in this country is poorer than the poor that live in America. The thought made me chuckle. We may have very meager possessions at the moment (and eating rice for every single meal since we have been here simply because it is cheap) but I feel SO incredibly rich and blessed! Especially being able to share EVERYTHING and share in the same emotions and spiritual encouragement with my best friend.

My beautiful kitchen!! :)

My pantry!!! I absolutely love it :) Although  could use a little bit more room.

Pray for us! Prayers are always a huge blessing.

-Sarah

If you would like to help support us financially press this button.
Thank you!

Note: Unfortunately, (for now) your gifts can NOT be Tax Deductible. We are working on ways to make that possible and will let everyone know when that option is available.

Michael and Sarah Jones
mjfjones96@gmail.com
sehodgie@gmail.com
www.journeytobacolod.blogspot.com