The Fun of Camp

The past couple days we had a short retreat at Rizal Re-Creation Center. It is always fun for us to go there and relax and be in the midst of a camping ministry. I was reminded of going to camp as a kid growing up. In my youth when we lived in Wisconsin, I went to Camp Chetek. I will never forget the missionary hour at that camp. For about 1 hour every day, a missionary who worked in Japan talked to us kids. He showed us maps and items from that country and his children sang songs for us in Japanese. It all made a huge impression on me and it may be that it was at that camp that I began to hear God's calling on my life to be a missionary. I long to see churches today keep the missions vision before their children. It is at a very young age when God may call children to begin in the direction of missions. I seemed to know I was called for the next several years because I looked for more opportunities to hear missionaries or nationals from other countries share with me about their far and foreign land and how they bring the Gospel to the people.

Crossing Paths

We had quit a party last night under a flyover bridge on a very busy intersection called Crossing. There were more than 100+ street people celebrating the birth of Jesus under the protection of a few police men. We worked with a church (Point of Grace which meets in the Legend Hotel) that has been praying for a year for a new ministry in the Crossing area. At the same time, we've been praying for a church to pick up were we left off in the street ministry there. Point of Grace got started in this ministry because one of their members works in a call center and started feeding kids on her way home after work on Friday nights. She then told her pastor about this and the ministry started from there. We'll do some training with them because they're *so* happy to have us help them.

The family of 4 on the right side of this photo really caught my attention. When the party was over, they were returning to the streets of Makati to scavenge for recyclable garbage. What struck me was how as a family they were orderly, clean, caring and had a wholesome sense of family pride. The wife is expecting a third child. The other two children were well cared for by both mother and father. They had a backpack with them and changed the shirt of the toddler mid-way through the party. They clearly wanted him to look presentable and clean. You can see a piece of cardboard that they are sitting on. I observed that this was an important family possession. Whenever they sat on the ground or on this cement bench, the father made sure the cardboard was there for his wife and kids to sit on. When they were in line to receive their food, someone went over to this bench to get the cardboard but one of their friends kindly stated that the cardboard belonged to the family. The street boy who was planning to take it then folded it up and left it there for the family to return to.

I observed many of the fathers caring for the children. Many young children could just fall asleep in their parent's arms regardless of how noisy it was or how much commotion was going on around them. One young boy that I talked to was very hungry. He was finding it hard to wait until the food was passed out. No one ever complains about the food at these parties. Several people knew Jeff and were really happy to meet me. One woman named Ida stuck with me and befriended me. (Shown in the bottom photo. She has the same name as my Grandma Hartzell.) She held my hand as we walked over to the party and was so appreciative of the events of the evening.

During the party the pastor prayed for several small children and dedicated them to the Lord. It was quite a special moment in the program. It is hard to comprehend Christmas on the street but it does give us a greater perspective on the Most High God coming to earth to redeem the most common of people.

Snow White and her Brother

At the party in Dasmariñas, we learned that this letter girl's name is Snow White. The boy with her is her brother, her "kuya". These two little kids enjoyed their food, but they did something really special. They only ate part of their meals and then carefully wrapped up the rest and said they were going to bring it home for their mother. I'm sure they were hungry enough to eat it all because all the other kids consumed their meals in minutes. But they have learned something very special about what it means to share, even to the point of personal sacrifice.