At Helping Hands we believe in going out into the community and sharing the Love of God… Not everyone will come looking for it so why not bring it to where they are? We do this in a few different ways. Sometimes we do a crusade. We go into the schools and community and invite people to come join us that afternoon at a local basketball court or covered area to protect us from the burning sun. Sometimes we do medical missions where we bring volunteer doctors and see hundreds of patients. Usually we do that in communities where healthcare is not so accessible or straight after a natural disaster like earthquake, flood or typhoon. Every time, the impact is great and lives are changed because we went and actually did something to help our communities.
Crusades are exciting days! We usually take a few months to plan one properly but we have been known to do one on the spot when the chance arose! Our crusades are meant to be for kids but usually the mums, dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters all show up to join in. We have singing and dancing and the kids are invited to take part too. They love it! They dance with all their hearts and by the end we are all sweating but smiling from ear to ear. After the dancing we let everyone sit down and enjoy the puppet show. They hear all about the antics of “tisay” and “boy negro” and laugh till the tears fall as they see the puppets sing their favourite songs! Throughout the whole crusade the gospel message is shared and every single time we have the privilege of leading kids and their parents to Christ. Its always worth it!
Healthcare is accessible in many areas of the Philippines but there are also many remote areas where folk would have to travel miles by foot to reach a health centre or hospital. In some of the mountain provinces, they even have to ride the bus for about 6 hours before they reach the general hospital. But whether from the city or the province there is one problem that’s common to all. Money problems! You have to pay for check ups in both hospitals and doctors surgeries and so very often parents don’t have the money to have their child checked up. When we do medical missions we see hundreds of patients in one day and we provide the medication that the doctor prescribes for them as well as vitamins to aid their recovery. We also pray for healing and the blessing of God on each of their lives.
The Botolan medical mission was one of our latest. I am sure you all heard about the terrible typhoons that hit the Philippines at the end of 2009. It was really horrendous. All in all over 900 lives were lost to floods, landslides and destruction caused by the typhoons. We knew we had to do something to help and so when we got a call from a local pastor saying that his church had been badly damaged we knew that we could do something to help him rebuild his church and his community. We gathered together doctors who were willing to volunteer and we bought as much medicine as we could afford, we packed up the XLT and off we went! It took almost 3 hours to get there as the roads were so badly damaged. In fact 3km’s of land was completely under water. We had to walk across a makeshift bridge just to get across the most torrential part. Falling in wasn’t an option!
That day we were able to see over 300 people and offer check ups, medicine, vitamins, minor surgeries and plenty of hope through the program we held for them. We sang, we danced, we had puppet shows and even “supermanny” our mascot made an appearance. For me the most memorable part of the day was when the Docs were able to make the platform of the Church into a minor operating room and remove cysts from the backs of 2 patients. I will never forget how grateful the guys were as they really couldn’t afford to go into hospital and have that surgery done. They’d suffered the cysts for years because of poverty. How amazing to be able to help bring them back to full health and remind them that there is a God who loves them, who wraps them in His arms. That day we didnt only touch the lives of the kids but also of the many adults who came with them.
The pastor and pastora were so pleased. We had helped them to lift up the Name of Jesus in their place and restore hope to people who had just lost everything.
In the months that followed we were able to continue partnering with that local church and help them rebuild their damaged building for the Glory of God.
We have children’s devotions every night in CRU before the kids sleep. The staff spend time teaching them the importance of spending daily time with God. Then the two community bible studies are held every Friday in the nearby “Banicain” and in “Tipo, Bataan” every Saturday.
The Banicain bible study has been running since 2003 but has evolved much since then. We used to have about a dozen kids attend in our mission house yard but now there are more than 70 attending every week. We had to approach the local barangy (local police/community watchmen) to ask if we could borrow their hall to use. They were more than happy to assist and so now the kids have their own classrooms to hear the gospel in thanks to their local barangy halls. we never realised when we started sharing the good news with the local kids that it would grow to this and that they would be the very ones to invite their friends and neighbors. God has blessed them with good health and good grades and their families have seen the difference in their lives.
The “Tipo” bible study was started by my foster daughter Gerlie. She came home from her youth camp burdened to reach the kids from her own home area. At first she began to just open up their house and invite the kids to come inside and learn. But it quickly grew from about 6 kids to 70+ and so she had to form a team to help her. Now every Saturday a team of 6 missionaries and 6 of our Helping Hands kids go there to minister to this community. Its so exciting to see what God is doing and can do through a willing heart.
Both community bible studies yield good results. The dedicated missionaries and the dedicated kids that attend make them work! All it costs are the fares for the missionaries to get there (its about 45 mins away from here) and snacks for the kids. Thats about 700 pesos a week for the Tipo bible study and about 1200 pesos a week for the Banicain bible study.
Whatever the cost, these children’s lives are changed forever. Its worth it!
