Orphanage

I am behind on my blog ... so here it goes

The second week we were in the Philippines, from July 17 -July 23, we went to our orphanage in Lamsugod Surrallah Mindanao. It is called UDH (Uncle Dick's Home) where we currently have 46 orphans, but possibly two more by the end of August.All of the children are absolutely amazing and even though they have the most challenging backgrounds they are the most loving children I know!During our stay we were able to go to 3 schools and share the gospel seeing right at 1,000 people make a decision for Christ! What a blessing!! We also were able to help a church plant for a tribal group called T'boli. There we were able to give away food, clothing, and school supplies. The people were so gracious and excited about receiving the different items - items that I take for granted.
On one of the days we were accompanied by Bert, who runs the orphanage with his wife, and he took us to a school where we could share the gospel. He said it was in the mountains and that we would have to walk because vehicles are not able to go up there. In the back of my mind I was thinking ok no big deal we'll walk and it will be fun =) I have walked up several mountains in the Philippines but none like this one. We parked our vehicle in front of someone's home at the foot of the mountain and started walking. The view was incredible, but I quickly came to realize that it was at a steep incline the whole way up. We only saw about 10 people total the whole way up and they were all on horses. Every single person stopped, asked, and looked at us like what were we doing walking all the way up the mountain. It took us 2 hours to reach the top and the whole way up my heart was racing. We had to take several water breaks to make sure we were staying hydrated. As we were approaching the top I could hear the children talking at the school we were going to. It was music to my hears. We were welcomed by the principal and teachers where mom shared the gospel with them and they all accepted! Afterwards, we went to the classrooms where I shared with the children and most of them prayed to receive Christ. The teachers came up to me and said " do you know that you are the first foreigner they have ever seen" I quickly became overwhelmed with the burden of the gospel - what If I had never climbed that mountain - or someone else climbed that mountain - would they have shared the gospel? It was a very humbling experience and I thank God for it! Being drenched in my own sweat from head to toe was worth every second of it!When we left the school and reached the bottom of the mountain there were several Filipinos sitting outside. They saw us walking and asked what we were doing - we told them we went to the school at the top of the mountain and they did not believe us. It is such a difficult walk with a steep incline, rocks, and mud that they don't even walk it- they will only ride a horse.
I say all of that to say this - if sharing the gospel and even just one person will be saved from Hell it is worth all the sweat, fatigue, and mud.

this is baby Bob- one of the orphans
more of the children

teachers and the principal
the children =)