When I close my eyes I can almost see myself back there… Walking along this unknown gravel road, in a country I’ve never been to following children who do not speak the same language as me. As I look around I am overwhelmed with the feeling of adventure and the thrill of the unknown itself. Even though its 100 degrees and the humidity has me sweating in places you don’t want to know, I have never been so happy. The kids have brought me to a small opening where they have begun to sing the song "Let It Go" from the movie "Frozen." As I feel small hands slip into my own hands I am suddenly dancing in a circle laughing and singing with them. All of a sudden its as if the language barrier is gone and I can understand these children before me because theres no language barrier when you are speaking love.
I was lost, I didn’t know who I was what I wanted to become all I knew is that I didn’t want to be stuck. All of a sudden an opportunity to spend four months in another country doing mission work landed in my lap. I took it, I didn’t know anyone I would be going with, but I wasn’t scared I knew that this would help me solve my above problems. In August I got on a plane and met the people I would be spending the next four months of my life with. They wouldn’t have been my first choice, but they grew to be people that I would remember for the rest of my life, people who would understand the things that I have seen and gone through, people who helped mold me into the woman I am today. I spent four months in the Philippines on the island of Bohol, where we lived on the outskirts of the poor village of Panglao. Though poor in the eyes of people with money there was no lack of character or love.
Nobody knows how good they have it until its literally all taken away. We had one of the nicest houses in the village and yet it really wasn’t nice at all according to American standards and health standards. I had one daily shower which consisted of the rain water collected on the top of our house, we got one bucket per day which was equivalent to about six ladles of water. You learn fast how to make all six ladles count. I usually wore my hair in a bun on a daily basis and makeup was not an option in the drastic heat and humidity. I had always been a person who was focused on looks, but all my looks were taken away here. Instead of staring in a mirror that we didn’t have, I embraced it and focused on what I could control.
Every week day morning we would rise at five am and start preparing breakfast which was a porridge made in huge cast iron pots. We would prepare it and than load everything up in our little purple van. We would than drive over to where we would set up the morning feeding and start playing the music. The speaker would sing throughout the village it was a wake up call for the children to start heading over to morning bible study. Lots of village kids would come and sit in and listen to what Annette our leader had to say than after the bible lesson was over the kids would get in line with there cups and we would hand the porridge out and drive them to school. Waking up at 5 a.m. every morning would have been a chore to me in America, but here i was making a difference in peoples lives and no amount of tiredness was going to keep me away from doing that.
These children of God had it so rough and yet they had never known anything else. Some so young and yet their teeth had already started to rot. They walked around with big grins on their face and in places where their young healthy teeth should be instead were black holes. Clothing was scarce, most walked around in rags or nothing at all. Toys were not seen, instead they used what was around them to entertain themselves. Even with absolutely nothing, they thought they had it all, they were always so genuinely happy. I guess what they did have was each other and for them that was enough. Could you imagine yourself with nothing and still being genuinely happy? Could you be happy without anything but each other? I wish I could’ve frozen myself in that time and place, where I was surrounded by happiness and love and where materialism and worldly things did not matter.
In my four months away from America and all the materialism, looks and worldly things that surround you there, i was able to look at things through clear eyes. I learned that love should be the most important thing in your life. You never know how long you have with someone so show them love everyday no matter what. The Philippine kids we worked with knew this more than anyone. Even though they might not have been showed love everyday they spoke love.
