Spring Break Mission Trip to Philippines

During Holy Week  (i.e. spring break), myself and six other ICS teachers ventured to the Philippines with 21 middle and high school students and one toddler to share the good news of Christ. For the past eight years, a mission team from our school has partnered with Kid's International Ministries (K.I.M.) to go deeper into the lives of the children they minister to.  Please click here to learn more about K.I.M.: Kid's International Ministries

I prayed that during this trip our team would be able to share the gospel and the love of Christ with Filipino people, and that the trip would be a life-changing experience for my students.  The Lord has answered this prayer over and over in unexpected ways! In this blog post, I want to share an overview of what we are doing with  K.I.M.

The first few days of our trip were very relaxing and a little bit more tourist-y than expected for a mission trip.  We arrived at K.I.M. on Saturday at 4am.  After we slept in and ate breakfast Jeff Long, the director of K.I.M., showed us around and introduced us to the ministries that we would be working with the rest of the week.  The Children's Home (within walking distance of where we were staying), the Girls' Home, the Boys' Home, and Myles' Home are the orphanages that became our main ministries for the week.  Sunday we went to a Mega-Church in Manila and spent the afternoon shopping.  After our Monday Morning Ministry, our group went to swim in a waterfall.  We decided to have these 'fun' days first because at the end of Holy Week (Thursday until Easter Sunday) almost everything in the country is closed.

On Tuesday and each day thereafter, our group split up to participate in a variety of Morning and Afternoon Ministries.  As a large group we went back to one of the Homes and led nightly devotions for the kids too.  What do you do at an orphanage you might ask?  Many times we spent quality time playing and loving the children.  The purpose here is not only to share Christ's love, but also give the workers a little respite while we are there.  Part of our group at the Boys' Home was able to improve the living conditions of the boys by calking, sanding and painting the walls.  Another one of our group's goals was to teach the children life skills through different lessons, such as swimming, reading or violin.

Besides the orphanages, our group volunteered with 'feedings'.  Everyday K.I.M. goes to a different rural slum of Manila and distributes food to the poor. Our students helped with the feedings three of the mornings throughout the week. The most impacting feeding was in 'Tent City' where the refugees from the 2009 monsoon were moved after their homes were destroyed. They lived in tents until Red Cross was able to help turn their homes into concrete.  The conditions in Tent City are still beyond belief horrible. Things haven't changed much because the area is far removed from a city and the people have little access to job opportunities.

We leave on Saturday (tomorrow) after lunch and will arrive home hopefully before midnight. This post is a very quick overview the purpose of the Philippines missions trip. I hope to post more over the next week or two with reflections on how this experience has impacted the lives of my students. And of course I will include pictures after I get home.

Please continue to pray for my students as they reflect on how this mission trip is going to change them as we return home.  Pray for ease with traveling internationally with minors and the travel safety of our group.