Where is Jesus in all this ?

Hi to all,

It has been a difficult day for everyone, we spent the afternoon with the street ministry team, meeting the street families. Later in the afternoon the Government welfare agency came round in a big van and started rounding up the street children to take them to a detention centre where the would be separated from their friends and families for a couple of weeks, the group we were with started to hide, they were very scared and rightly so, several guys jumped of the van with thick bamboo canes in hand, and threw the washing people had hung up in the sewer and cut the lines, and were being very intimidating. however on seeing us there they backed of a bit and left the children alone. This apparently happens 2 or 3 times a week. They call this "Rescue". Where is Jesus in all of this injustice, squalor and poverty? He is the hands and hearts of the kanlungan team, reaching out with love,help, friendship and hope, and the life changing Gospel day in day out.He was in among the people in the shanty town we visited the morning. As we visited inside one of the houses which had a picture of Jesus hung on the wall the Lord spoke to me and said I am here look and you will see, look closely, draw near and you will see, we can all share in that as we support, pray and give without measure

Finding Jesus in all

Mark

Prayer requests
please pray for my family at home It is hard for them to be without me.
Pray for some of the team who were particular upset by today.

The world of Lou

Hi all, really really please keep praying for us all. I think we are all really missing so many people and the things we are seeing and hearing are starting to impact, we can't help talking about how we respond! Thanks for all your comments as well it is good to read them. We had another interesting day. We saw some guys tonight and boy could they dance. The team we are working with are amazing, the people love them and so do we. The great thing is in it all there is so much to laugh about. I guess nothing i can write on here can begin to tell you how amazing it is in so many ways. There are huge highs and lows. Everyone else i'm sure will write about the details. Everyday is different but both nice and bad happy and sad, today at one point it was horrible you could feel the fear in the air. It got to us all i think. Anyways thanks for your support. Hope all is good back home, missing you all.

Mela and Mary have returned!!!!!!!!!!

Hi everyone, well it really doesn't seem like a year since we were writing on this blog. In some ways it feels like we have never been away. Gods answered prayer and Mela is feeling much better . It was so good to see Sol and the Kanlungan family again ,especially the children. Things have changed in Malate and after getting evicted from their centre last year they now have a lovely house for the children. It was great to see the children so settled in there. God is Good. One of the highlights for us yesterday was seeing some of the girls that we got to know last year in Malate now settled in the long term residential home in Laguna (about an hour from the city)and going to school there. We visited the school and saw them in the classroom, they have come such a long way with alot of love from Kanlungan. They remembered us and even the stew minus dumplings we cooked for them!!!!
lots of love Mary and Mela
ps Hope Harry and Harley are being good
pps love to all at the Beacon we are praying for you all

What Can I Say???

Just great to read some of my fellow bloggers comments here. I guess for me its just great to see the effect Kanlungan has had on me also being seen by the rest of the team.

Just also want to say thanks for all the families back home for letting us come out here. I think I am more aware than ever this time that without Helen, Michael & Zac's support I would not be able to do what I'm doing here. They are very much part of the team even if they are not here!!!!

You've seen from other blogs what we've been doing today. Tomorrow we go on the streets with the Street Education team. Check back for more news ...

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

MarkA

Hey!

Can I just say that I was wearing HUGE shades, that look like what celebs wear. The children are incredible and so talented. The amount of strength and determination they have and the love they show is wonderful. Anybody would be blessed to simply spend an hour with them.

Emily x

The light breaking into the darkness

Hi to all

After a stop at the daycare project working with the railway community.We went to the the lagunna home today which is the place which children are settled after they have been off the streets in the kanlugan centre for 8 months or so. Which is about 1 Hours drive outside Manilla. We visited the school where the children go, Emily was mistaken for Britainy Spears on account of being blonde,([Adds a new slant to blonde jokes LOL :-)] the boys said she was beautiful but WENT very shy when we called her over to go into their class to the great humor of the rest of the grade 6 class.

At the home when the young people returned from school they did a presentation for us of singing and dancing which was just overwhelming to see how God's Power had changed their lives of brokeness, and abuse to wanting to acheive their true potential, living to Godly values and having love in their lives. TRUELY MIRACULOUS.

Before we left we joined with the children for evening devotion, I have never heard worship like it before. 30 Children and youngt people singing and praising their hearts out all of us were reduced to tears. The children then broke into groups of 5 and prayed for us!

Truely Humbled

Mark H

Liz Elks

What an amazing day - a real conflict of emotions from seeing Gods love in action with the children at Kalunga to the abject poverty of the people on Smoky Mountain. The smell was indescribable and I can't believe that this is all these children know and without the work of people like Sol they will never break out of this cycle of poverty and squalor.
On the other hand the mall of Asia is more opulent than anything we have at home - and yet is only 20 minutes way.
Other interesting experiences!! Vegetables which tasted of fish!! Beef stew which i THINK was beef! Meeting the wonderful children and seeing Lou being chatted up by a smoky mountain dweller!!
Liz