GET INVOLVED! MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

Some of you have been able to come here and teach our children's workers, volunteer with youth, share at bible studies, etc. But many don't have the time or resources to do that. How can YOU get involved? Joining our prayer team is one way. Sharing and promoting the Project Life Subic ministry is another. Here are a few more ideas that would be practical and effective:

Sponsor a college student by covering the miscellaneous expenses for only $85 per semester ($17 per month). Better yet, a donation of any amount would help.

Tina Luna has been faithfully serving with us for over 5 years. She is a single mom who's children are now teenagers or adults and she is ready to go to school. Tina has overcome a stroke and her limp doesn't keep her from sharing the gospel, serving on the women's team at 12th St. or climbing up the hillside to share at the Bulanghagi Bible study! Tina wants to enroll for a two year course starting this June. Any one-time gift appreciated, no matter how large or small! Click on the "Donate" button to make a difference in this woman's future.
Our two youth leaders, Anthony and Darryl, will also return to college next month on scholarships! Any amount given towards their books and supplies would be a blessing.

Sponsor a ministry! What area of ministry is your passion? Youth? Children? Men or women? Is it education- like our Alternative Learning System (a high school diploma program for elementary and high school drop outs). Is job training your interest? Helping victims of human trafficking? All of these programs need funding to continue. Please, prayerfully consider helping us continue to make a difference in the lives of the poor and their communities. Help us share the Hope for the future! Please send us a note with your one-time or monthly donation specifying what/who you are giving to.

Send us your fabric! We are looking for someone to organize a fabric drive in your community. The Sewing Training Center is in need of cotton fabric to make their various products, plus the students need fabric for their class projects. Our fabric choices locally are limited in availability and design. Do you know others (individuals, quilting clubs/shops) who have fabric to donate? Just collect and ship to us via LBC. Message us for details.

Be an outlet for various products being made by the poor. Do you know of a shop that would buy jewelry or soap made by women leaving the sex trade and staring a new life? Or can sell our Matibayong bags made by the Sewing center? Maybe you know how to design a web site where these products can be sold? Please contact us!

It's time to step up and get involved. We need you!

Sewing Training in the New Classroom

I walked in to the Sewing Training center to see 25 new smiling faces in the classroom! The students are so happy to learn to be seamstresses and hopeful to get a decent job in the near future. Most of the students are unskilled, poor, or victims of human trafficking. All see this training opportunity as a way to better jobs and providing for their families. Some dream of having their own business someday.
Our sewing trainors also share the Good News with the men and women they teach. They have seen lives transformed from the inside out by the power and love of Jesus. During the trainings the students build relationships with each other and with God. They have amazing testimonies of how the Lord is changing their life, marriage, and family. Keep up the good work trainors Emy, Cindy, Cathy and Glenda!

Matain After the Storm

Kids playing after the storm


 

Waiting patiently for food

Disaster relief is ongoing in our area after the latest series of storms and flooding. The Sewing Center made some custom tarps for shelter and we distributed more PACTEC tarps so families would find shelter from the rain. Rebuilding continues as it does each time the shanties are blown away. We fed families a healthy meal, and they celebrated the goodness of God and the fact that there are people like YOU who care about them!
This is a resilient community of informal settlers. When storms come they can't fish and many are hungry. They are so poor that when the children graduate elementary school, the families can't afford to send them to high school because of lack of transportation money. Babies are dying at birth (two just last month) and mothers are having postpartum strokes because of a lack of health care.

Receiving tarps that they can use to rebuild their homes

Project Life Subic is in the process of reassessing the needs and potential of this community. We are trying to determine which projects would make a lasting impact. Some of the ideas that are being discussed are building toilets (there are NO toilets in this community), more health education, hosting an alternative learning program for out of school youth, and finding a way to transport some to high school. We also want to provide more vocational training to those fishermen who want more work options.

As the women's and men's groups have grown, the members of the community are finding more peace with their neighbors. They are finding a deeper level of understanding of God's Word.

The men's group are missing Sonny as he is home recovering from the knee fracture, but JR and Jimson (from 12th St!) have stepped up to lead. They were so excited last Sunday to report that 27 fishermen attended the Men's group. JR said the men were all so eager to participate in worship, teaching and discussion!

We are seeing great changes here, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Feel free to email us with any ideas or help us raise the funds to see these ideas come to fruition. Together, we can make a difference!

On Turning Away from Poverty

On the turning away

 From the pale and downtrodden

 And the words they say

 Which we won't understand

 "Don't accept that what's happening

 Is just a case of others' suffering

 Or you'll find that you're joining in

 The turning away"  Lyrics by Pink Floyd

 

“Hungry for love, He looks at you. Thirsty for kindness, He begs of you. Naked for loyalty, He hopes in you. Homeless for shelter in your heart, He asks of you. Will you be that one to Him?”  Mother Theresa

 

Ponderings from Leslie:

Last week I noticed that a bamboo wall was being erected to cover the chain link fence that runs along the canal road opposite the 12th St. area. New buildings, gas stations and mini marts are opening on this road and it was obvious that someone on the Subic Bay Freeport Zone wanted to protect the customers from having to see the slums and the poor that live in the shacks and shanties. I was so angered and saddened by this. Is it part of the "Turning away"? I started thinking about this reaction, and wonder why we do this. I'm not writing this to upset you, or because I think I have any answers, but I would hope to open a dialogue in our minds/hearts about our reactions. I don't want to get all "Shane Claiborne-ish" on you, (but highly recommend reading anything he wrote) =), but hope to provoke each of us to examine how and why we feel like we do when confronted with POVERTY.

the new fence!

Looking across the canal to 12th St.

 

Although I should be immune to these feelings because our work is focused on the poor, there are still times when it jumps up and slaps me in the face!  In the last few days I've had three close encounters with the" poor and downtrodden" and had to make a decision regarding my reaction. The first was after church Sunday night when I encountered a mentally ill man rummaging through a garbage can for food just outside the hospital. My next encounter was when my husband parked our car outside the music store and I observed three youth sleeping (passed out?!?) on the sidewalk, many people just walking by. Then, a little girl with extremely skinny arms and rotted teeth kept tapping on the car window and repeating "Gimme money, gimme money". (Her "begger boss" or parents taught her well). How do we react to that? Do we turn away? Do we run and hide because we  feel there's little we can do to turn the tide? Does it hurt so bad we can't look? Can't respond to the person and affirm their humanity because it might cost us something?

 

youth sleeping on the street

 

I certainly don't have the answers. I did what I felt compelled to do about each situation. Each of our responses might be different. Again, I'm just hoping to provoke some thought about this.

 

I have been encouraged lately as I've observed a few others and how they react. They haven't recoiled from the sights/sounds/smells of poverty. They didn't hold back the hugs or not play with kids because of head lice, scabies, TB or other health concerns. They fully engaged with the poor in the middle of the slums! My new friend, Mila (visiting from Calcutta) not only had intelligent observations about the poor and responsibilities of the rich, but she joined our volunteers and 12th St mothers after the feeding and washed dishes with them. They enjoyed having her there! Andrew and Brittany (local teachers who volunteer with children's ministry every week)  have a gift of treating each child and parent with respect and bring joy to all who interact with them. Recently I watched my daughter Vanessa as she was mobbed by little kids in the fishing village and put smiles on their  faces as she treated each with kindness and took the time to listen to them. It is so encouraging to see what a difference a person can make in the life of another!

 

Please don't turn away.... you CAN make a difference.

 

Ok, enough... any comments or questions? you know where to reach me... I'll just leave you with this:

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'    Matthew 25:34-40