Sister Minerva has shared with me a daily reflection book for Advent. In it are reflections by Thomas Merton, Henry Nouwen and Mother Teresa. Today's reflection ended with the sentence: Nothing is small for God.
It made me really stop in my tracks. I am getting ready to go to Providence Home, the mission house in the mountains, for the day and have a lot of things on my mind, but that sentence stopped me cold in my tracks. Nothing is small for God.
It is kind of hilarious to think about if you roll it over in your head for a minute. I mean, think about it for a minute. For God, the Creator of the universe, Who manages and designs all things, Who holds the stars and all of His creations in His mighty hands, Who is capable of doing ANYTHING, Who is so massive in my mind...for Him, nothing is small. He sees everything, and none of it is too small to matter.
A smile to a stranger, picking up a pen that someone dropped, playing fairly in a chess game, giving a compliment...these things seem teeny tiny, especially when compared to the awesome works of Mother Teresa...oh my!! But each one is precious in the eyes of our Lord because we are reaching out, however insignificant it is to us. And when we do these little things as a means of sharing our love for God with others, I believe it makes God smile with joy.
I might think that the work I am doing here is pretty insignificant... helping to direct a Christmas skit, typing out a song book, making an Advent calendar, to give a few examples. And when I am helping in the barrios with feedings and missions, it is so easy to become disheartened by the thought that, sure we are helping the people in this barrio, but there are hundreds of barrios just in the central part of Eastern Samar!! What kind of difference am I making here? But I am comforted by the thought that nothing is small for God. He sees everything and He treasures all of the little things I do each day for others. And the same is true for you. It all matters!
And each time I stop what I am doing to help someone else, no matter how small the task, He is pleased. Try noticing how many times a day you stop in your work, your chores or errands to help someone...even if it is just picking up a pen that they dropped. I think if you become aware of the little needs that people have and take the time to stop and help, when the big things come along it seems natural to help. And when it's done for the glory of God, all of heaven rejoices.
I don't know about you, but that thought makes me really want to fill my days doing things for others, little tasks or big, for the love of God. For, as St. Mother Teresa says, "God will not ask how many books we have read, how many miracles we have worked, but whether we have done our best for the love of Him...Nothing is small for God."
xxooxxoo
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
Sunday, December 4, 2016
A 2 Month Picture Post
Wow! I can't believe I have been here for 2 months!! It seems pretty crazy to me how fast time goes by. I have had a lot of great experiences here over the past two months...just wanted to share with you some of the highlights:
Here are some of the scholars I live with at the Oikos Mission. This happened to be at a farewell party for some visitors to Oikos. All of these kids are so sweet and work very hard. It is a pleasure to know them and to be a part of their lives!!!
Here are some of the scholars I live with at the Oikos Mission. This happened to be at a farewell party for some visitors to Oikos. All of these kids are so sweet and work very hard. It is a pleasure to know them and to be a part of their lives!!!
Here we are preparing for the immersion in Conception and the surrounding barrios. We prepared food, clothes, school supplies, water filters, shoes, toys, blankets, rosaries and homemade diapers!!
And here we are in Conception at the Immersion, working hard but having fun!
Our Immersion Team:
Here is the Oikos Livelihood team led by Sister Clarissa. They run the FAITH program and the Piglet Recycling and Fattening programs. They do an awesome job from presenting the programs to helping the people begin to monitoring the beneficiaries progress throughout the program. The pictures of the pigs are from the Oikos Pig Farm.
The following pictures are from when I went to Tacla-on and Sta. Cruz to see the progress of the Piglet Recycling Program that I helped to start off the last time I was here. Now, the sows that we gave out last November are grown and have had their piglets!! How fulfilling it was for me to see the completion of a program that I had a hand in starting!! Not every beneficiary had a successful liter of piglets, but most did. On this day, we collected our payment from the beneficiaries: either 2 piglets or php3,000. It was totally awesome!
These pictures are taken from the launching of the FAITH Program (Food Always In The Home) in a town called Sabong. The pastor of the parish in Sabong, Msgr. Pepe, invited the Oikos Livelihood Team to teach people in his parish to begin the FAITH program. Currently, the Livelihood Team has running FAITH programs in 3 barrios, and 5 have completed the one-year program and are still going strong. Awesome!!!!!
Also in November, I went with Sister Ethel and one of the mothers, Nanay Bebe , pictured below, to cook meals for retired priests on their retreat. It was at a beautiful place in the mountains, Suiginon, and it was sssooooo quiet and peaceful there! When we weren't cooking, I read a book, sat outside in the cool air (yes, it was cool on the mountain!), and took some naps! It was like a mini retreat for me. From our house, we could see the ocean on one side and higher mountains on the other. Simply beautiful!!!
So, that is my past two months in a nutshell...now, onto December!! Our new project is the Good Wish Tree. We painted these branches and cut out 200 stars!! On each star is a name of a child in a new barrio we have never been to! The Oikos scholars, co-workers and people in the community are invited to choose a star or two and buy a gift for that child. Then, we will go to this barrio on a day close to Christmas and bring games for the kids, food for the families and the gifts for the kids. We will bring Christmas to the barrio!!!
Always doing something new for the poor!! Never a dull day!!! God bless the Oikos Sisters!!
Here is a picture of me and some of the kids celebrating my 2 months here in Borongan:
So happy to be here!!
Thank you for the prayers these past few months!! Keep 'em coming!! I'll be praying for you too!!
xxooxxoo
Friday, December 2, 2016
A World Without Hope
Laum. In Waray Waray it means hope. As I look back on my life, I have really had a life full of hope. As a child, during the winter I would hope for a snow day with no school, and as Christmas neared I would hope for a certain gift from Santa. I can remember hoping that I would do well on tests...and that my teacher wouldn't call on me!! As I grew older, my hopes changed from being focused on me to focused on the world around me and the people in it. I hoped my grandmother would survive breast cancer...twice (!), and she did! I hoped my sister Margaret would be able to smile again after she lost her baby...she did too, a different but always beautiful smile! I've hoped for peace in our country and in our world. There is no end to the hopes I have had. I have seen a lot of hope in the Philippines, particularly in the eyes of those whom the Oikos Sisters help. But I have learned the harsh reality of life in the barrios...not all of it, but regarding hope...it seems there is none.
When we were coming home from the re-immersion in Conception, Sister Minerva, Sister Clarissa, Sister Aileen and I had a frank discussion about life in the barrios. It started because I was mentioning how many children there are in Conception and in the surrounding barrios. It seems that because of the high price of fares to leave the barrio, few people travel from the barrio to the city and back for work, so they stay where they are. Many are not educated past grade 6, some have no education beyond grade 2. And as they grow up, they have no hope for a different future...there is no money to provide for something different, so they just live.
Many people are "married" by the age of 15 and begin having children right away. But because they need a "live birth record" or birth certificate to get married, (civilly or in the Church) many don't bother with a ceremony as to get the record, they must pay a fee and travel to a far city to get it. Another hindrance to a marriage ceremony is the shortage of priests in the barrios. Many only have mass said in their barrio once or twice a year! There have been times when a priest will go into a barrio and marry a group of people all together. He has a marriage preparation seminar for the people, and then marries them in one ceremony...it could be 10 or 12 couples or more. So, people just forgo the ceremony and begin their lives together. But they have no hope for a better life.
There are only so many jobs for people in the barrio, and even if they are lucky enough to own land to plant on, getting food to the city market is so expensive, sometimes no profit can be made. And the others? It is a devastating thought that these capable people do not work, cannot provide for their growing families, have no hope for something better. I cannot even imagine a world without hope...I don't want to even try.
So what is the answer? The government's answer is to do nothing. They say that if you give them help for nothing, the people will begin to feel entitled and will just take and take and not move forward. The government frowns on organizations like the Oikos Sisters, but they are slow to do things that would improve the chances of people finding work like build a road to the far flung barrios, create programs that help people pay for the travel fares, create jobs or encourage businesses to enter the barrios. Some might say give the people birth control, but first of all, all life from God is a gift and each life has a purpose and the possibility of making this world a better place. Secondly, these people have no access to doctors to help them deal with the medical issues that come with using birth control, not to mention the money to pay the doctors for care. It is a grim and dark life, a very hard and painful one.
I don't even want to think about living in a world without hope. It seems to me to be the saddest existence ever. And yet, day in and day out, the people in the barrios wake up, go through their days without enough food, without help, without hope for anything that transforms their bitter existence.
You must know me well enough by now to know that I cannot leave this blog on this dour note. The thing I love about the Oikos Sisters is that they don't just hand stuff out to people...well, they do, but they do so much more! They give the people hope. They teach them how to grow vegetables and fruits organically, on risers so they are not digging into land that isn't theirs, they teach them how to raise piglets for breeding and fattening, they send their children to school and bring doctors and dentists right to them. They provide medications for them so they can hope to be healed. They listen to these people...like Jennifer and her son John Mark that I wrote about a few blogs ago... the Sisters paid for the fare for Jennifer and her son to return to her family in Manila. They are amazing!
Even now, they are planning a Christmas Giving in several barrios...we made a giving tree and received names of children from several barrios. We have 200 names of children!! Some of the gifts will be bought by the Oikos kids, some by Oikos co-workers and some by people in our parish. A few days before Christmas, we will bring Christmas to the barrios. Every year they do something like this for the poor. Last year we fed over 300 people on Christmas day, a few years ago the Sisters made Christmas food packs of rice, sugar, coffee, noodles, ingredients for pancet and some fruit. They traveled toward the south and stopped at every small house they drove by, knocked on the door, sang a few Christmas carols and gave the family a food pack. This year we will bring gifts for the children, games for a Christmas party and food for the families for Christmas to a few barrios. They are always finding new ways to help the poor, to bring them hope.
But they are only 5 Sisters. This Advent, please pray for vocations to the Oikos Sisters' Mission. They need more workers in the field... not only sisters, but missionaries and co-workers too. And if you would like to help the Oikos Sisters bring hope to the poor here in the Philippines, you can make a donation at http://www.PoorHouseholdofGod.org. Unbelievably, 100% of your donation goes directly to the poor here in the Philippines...and I am witness to the careful usage of your donations here. Lastly, please pray for the Oikos Sisters. They carry the burden of the hopelessness here.
Laum...Hope...It is something that is often taken for granted, and it shouldn't be! Hope is what gets us up and out and on our way. Hope is what drives us and what encourages us on when the situation we are in seems full of devastation and despair. I remember in the great movie Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman's character was without hope, and he was pressing his fellow inmates to let go of hope. But in the last scene he began to hope, in fact, I think the last line of the movie is "I hope..."
I hope for so much for the poor here...I hope they no longer feel the bitter pangs of hopelessness and can feel the love of God through all of us. I hope... xxoo
When we were coming home from the re-immersion in Conception, Sister Minerva, Sister Clarissa, Sister Aileen and I had a frank discussion about life in the barrios. It started because I was mentioning how many children there are in Conception and in the surrounding barrios. It seems that because of the high price of fares to leave the barrio, few people travel from the barrio to the city and back for work, so they stay where they are. Many are not educated past grade 6, some have no education beyond grade 2. And as they grow up, they have no hope for a different future...there is no money to provide for something different, so they just live.
Many people are "married" by the age of 15 and begin having children right away. But because they need a "live birth record" or birth certificate to get married, (civilly or in the Church) many don't bother with a ceremony as to get the record, they must pay a fee and travel to a far city to get it. Another hindrance to a marriage ceremony is the shortage of priests in the barrios. Many only have mass said in their barrio once or twice a year! There have been times when a priest will go into a barrio and marry a group of people all together. He has a marriage preparation seminar for the people, and then marries them in one ceremony...it could be 10 or 12 couples or more. So, people just forgo the ceremony and begin their lives together. But they have no hope for a better life.
There are only so many jobs for people in the barrio, and even if they are lucky enough to own land to plant on, getting food to the city market is so expensive, sometimes no profit can be made. And the others? It is a devastating thought that these capable people do not work, cannot provide for their growing families, have no hope for something better. I cannot even imagine a world without hope...I don't want to even try.
So what is the answer? The government's answer is to do nothing. They say that if you give them help for nothing, the people will begin to feel entitled and will just take and take and not move forward. The government frowns on organizations like the Oikos Sisters, but they are slow to do things that would improve the chances of people finding work like build a road to the far flung barrios, create programs that help people pay for the travel fares, create jobs or encourage businesses to enter the barrios. Some might say give the people birth control, but first of all, all life from God is a gift and each life has a purpose and the possibility of making this world a better place. Secondly, these people have no access to doctors to help them deal with the medical issues that come with using birth control, not to mention the money to pay the doctors for care. It is a grim and dark life, a very hard and painful one.
I don't even want to think about living in a world without hope. It seems to me to be the saddest existence ever. And yet, day in and day out, the people in the barrios wake up, go through their days without enough food, without help, without hope for anything that transforms their bitter existence.
You must know me well enough by now to know that I cannot leave this blog on this dour note. The thing I love about the Oikos Sisters is that they don't just hand stuff out to people...well, they do, but they do so much more! They give the people hope. They teach them how to grow vegetables and fruits organically, on risers so they are not digging into land that isn't theirs, they teach them how to raise piglets for breeding and fattening, they send their children to school and bring doctors and dentists right to them. They provide medications for them so they can hope to be healed. They listen to these people...like Jennifer and her son John Mark that I wrote about a few blogs ago... the Sisters paid for the fare for Jennifer and her son to return to her family in Manila. They are amazing!
Even now, they are planning a Christmas Giving in several barrios...we made a giving tree and received names of children from several barrios. We have 200 names of children!! Some of the gifts will be bought by the Oikos kids, some by Oikos co-workers and some by people in our parish. A few days before Christmas, we will bring Christmas to the barrios. Every year they do something like this for the poor. Last year we fed over 300 people on Christmas day, a few years ago the Sisters made Christmas food packs of rice, sugar, coffee, noodles, ingredients for pancet and some fruit. They traveled toward the south and stopped at every small house they drove by, knocked on the door, sang a few Christmas carols and gave the family a food pack. This year we will bring gifts for the children, games for a Christmas party and food for the families for Christmas to a few barrios. They are always finding new ways to help the poor, to bring them hope.
But they are only 5 Sisters. This Advent, please pray for vocations to the Oikos Sisters' Mission. They need more workers in the field... not only sisters, but missionaries and co-workers too. And if you would like to help the Oikos Sisters bring hope to the poor here in the Philippines, you can make a donation at http://www.PoorHouseholdofGod.org. Unbelievably, 100% of your donation goes directly to the poor here in the Philippines...and I am witness to the careful usage of your donations here. Lastly, please pray for the Oikos Sisters. They carry the burden of the hopelessness here.
Laum...Hope...It is something that is often taken for granted, and it shouldn't be! Hope is what gets us up and out and on our way. Hope is what drives us and what encourages us on when the situation we are in seems full of devastation and despair. I remember in the great movie Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman's character was without hope, and he was pressing his fellow inmates to let go of hope. But in the last scene he began to hope, in fact, I think the last line of the movie is "I hope..."
I hope for so much for the poor here...I hope they no longer feel the bitter pangs of hopelessness and can feel the love of God through all of us. I hope... xxoo
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Re-Immersion in Conception
Earlier in October of this year, the Oikos Sisters, their team of volunteers, Mary Jane and Vic Trinkus and I went on an immersion in the northern-most barrios of Eastern Samar. We brought food, doctors, medicine, dentists, clothes, shoes, Water With Blessings water filtering kits, food packs along with a few prayerful reflections and catechesis for the children and the adults there. We served 4 different barrios, the medical and dental mission helped over 200 people and over the 3 days we were there, we served over 1,000 meals. It was awesome!
But, we didn't finish. So on Saturday, November 26th we went back to finish the job. But the story begins before that...
In my last blog I wrote about my Thanksgiving Day and about the typhoon that was coming into the Visayas region where I am. We originally were supposed to go to Conception on Friday, Nov 25th and stay over until Saturday. However, with the weather so bad, the threat of flooding and the roughness of the river (part of the trip to Conception involves riding on a boat) the mayor of Conception and the Oikos Sisters decided that it was not a good idea to go at that time. However, Friday was an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to go on Saturday, just for the day.
We left bright and early, around 3am...dark and early is more accurate!! Packing food for our volunteers and more medical and dental equipment (some we left in Conception as we knew we were coming back) we filled up the trucks and were on our way. I didn't think much of the walk to the river before going on the boat... it is about a 15 minute walk...it starts with a steep hill and ends with a steep hill, with a few twists in between. But I have boots and pants, a jacket...I was all ready with my little day pack that had a change of shorts, water bottle and a few other things.
But when we arrived at the unloading spot, I saw the results of the storm the previous night... wet, soupy, slippery mud and lots of puddles of standing water. We had some strong young men who were helping us down the first hill. I have to say that Filipinos are, generally, very graceful and have awesome balance. I feel like Bozo the Clown around them in situations like this!!! Trying to climb down a steep, muddy, slippery hill with nothing to hold on to, and everyone watching is no fun, let me tell you! But conquer the first hill, I did!! I was thinking as I approached the second hill, covered in water and mud from walking along the side of the muddy road in the high grass, that I looked like I fell in the mud...nope. I didn't at all. I realized that after I fell in the mud!! I was trying to get down the second hill and stepped on a place that wasn't firm...and down I went, like on a slide! I was mortally embarrassed...even more so after seeing that hardly anyone else had even as much mud on them as I had before I fell! On the boat, I watched the male volunteers on our team carry heavy boxes of medical equipment on their shoulders while easily climbing over the hills and the muck. Wow!! I mean WOW!!!!!
However, once we got to Conception, and I changed into my shorts...gratefully, we got all set up, had some breakfast and a beautiful praise and worship session, I was in the mode for working! I was on a team with Sister Aileen, who is a nurse. I learned how to take people's blood pressure, how to administer the nebulizer and how to test people's sugar. I had a good day, spending some of it with the kids, who are always so drawn to me...it's so cute! We sang a few songs and I spoke to them in my broken Waray Waray, which they understood, thank you very much!! It was a good day!! With three doctors, two dentists, a few pharmacists and nurses...we were very busy!!
At about 4pm, when I assumed we were leaving, I learned that the priest, Fr. Arci, was asking us to stay one more day to finish up with the people who weren't seen by the doctors yet. One doctor and one dentist could stay, so the Sisters said ok. However...I had just packed a day pack...no pjs, toothbrush or paste, soap, change of clothes for the morning...nothing! Actually, I thought I was so smart because we were going to our mission house in the mountains directly after Conception on Saturday, so I had my big bag sent there the night before so I wouldn't have to carry it all day. No, not so smart!! Although the plan was to stay just for one day, almost everyone else had back ups just in case we stayed. I was a little distraught at first, but I quickly brushed off that mood for one of a lesson learned and enjoying the adventure of it all...and I did!
Over the two days, the doctors and dentists helped over 600 people with health care and free medications from the Oikos Charity Pharmacy!!! All were so happy to be helped, so, so happy that we came back and so relieved to have had seen a doctor. The amount of money it takes to travel from Conception to the nearest city, Arteche, is just about equal to a day's food for a family. It is a dear cost and isn't made often. And of the 4 barrios we helped, Conception is the closest to Arteche, from the other barrios, it costs more. Also, there is not signal in Conception or the other barrios surrounding it...no phone or computers...no way to call or email a doctor for advice. It is a grim reality.
As we left Conception, me in my dried muddy pants (!), we were sent off with smiles and gratitude. Despite the troubles I had, it was a great trip and I am so, so grateful to have been a part of it. So grateful to have had another learning experience that helped me to grow as a person and as a missionary. Growth is often painful...whether physical, emotional or spiritual, there can be a lot of pain in growing. But always, I keep in mind what my brother-in-law, John, likes to say..."Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" So, there I was...dirty, smelly, a little embarrassed and a lot tired, but stronger...and more knowledgeable about being a good missionary. That's what it's all about, folks!! Living and growing, loving and giving, and most importantly, trusting in the Good Lord that He has me in His mighty Hands. xxoo
A few immersion pictures:
But, we didn't finish. So on Saturday, November 26th we went back to finish the job. But the story begins before that...
In my last blog I wrote about my Thanksgiving Day and about the typhoon that was coming into the Visayas region where I am. We originally were supposed to go to Conception on Friday, Nov 25th and stay over until Saturday. However, with the weather so bad, the threat of flooding and the roughness of the river (part of the trip to Conception involves riding on a boat) the mayor of Conception and the Oikos Sisters decided that it was not a good idea to go at that time. However, Friday was an absolutely beautiful day, so we decided to go on Saturday, just for the day.
We left bright and early, around 3am...dark and early is more accurate!! Packing food for our volunteers and more medical and dental equipment (some we left in Conception as we knew we were coming back) we filled up the trucks and were on our way. I didn't think much of the walk to the river before going on the boat... it is about a 15 minute walk...it starts with a steep hill and ends with a steep hill, with a few twists in between. But I have boots and pants, a jacket...I was all ready with my little day pack that had a change of shorts, water bottle and a few other things.
But when we arrived at the unloading spot, I saw the results of the storm the previous night... wet, soupy, slippery mud and lots of puddles of standing water. We had some strong young men who were helping us down the first hill. I have to say that Filipinos are, generally, very graceful and have awesome balance. I feel like Bozo the Clown around them in situations like this!!! Trying to climb down a steep, muddy, slippery hill with nothing to hold on to, and everyone watching is no fun, let me tell you! But conquer the first hill, I did!! I was thinking as I approached the second hill, covered in water and mud from walking along the side of the muddy road in the high grass, that I looked like I fell in the mud...nope. I didn't at all. I realized that after I fell in the mud!! I was trying to get down the second hill and stepped on a place that wasn't firm...and down I went, like on a slide! I was mortally embarrassed...even more so after seeing that hardly anyone else had even as much mud on them as I had before I fell! On the boat, I watched the male volunteers on our team carry heavy boxes of medical equipment on their shoulders while easily climbing over the hills and the muck. Wow!! I mean WOW!!!!!
However, once we got to Conception, and I changed into my shorts...gratefully, we got all set up, had some breakfast and a beautiful praise and worship session, I was in the mode for working! I was on a team with Sister Aileen, who is a nurse. I learned how to take people's blood pressure, how to administer the nebulizer and how to test people's sugar. I had a good day, spending some of it with the kids, who are always so drawn to me...it's so cute! We sang a few songs and I spoke to them in my broken Waray Waray, which they understood, thank you very much!! It was a good day!! With three doctors, two dentists, a few pharmacists and nurses...we were very busy!!
At about 4pm, when I assumed we were leaving, I learned that the priest, Fr. Arci, was asking us to stay one more day to finish up with the people who weren't seen by the doctors yet. One doctor and one dentist could stay, so the Sisters said ok. However...I had just packed a day pack...no pjs, toothbrush or paste, soap, change of clothes for the morning...nothing! Actually, I thought I was so smart because we were going to our mission house in the mountains directly after Conception on Saturday, so I had my big bag sent there the night before so I wouldn't have to carry it all day. No, not so smart!! Although the plan was to stay just for one day, almost everyone else had back ups just in case we stayed. I was a little distraught at first, but I quickly brushed off that mood for one of a lesson learned and enjoying the adventure of it all...and I did!
Over the two days, the doctors and dentists helped over 600 people with health care and free medications from the Oikos Charity Pharmacy!!! All were so happy to be helped, so, so happy that we came back and so relieved to have had seen a doctor. The amount of money it takes to travel from Conception to the nearest city, Arteche, is just about equal to a day's food for a family. It is a dear cost and isn't made often. And of the 4 barrios we helped, Conception is the closest to Arteche, from the other barrios, it costs more. Also, there is not signal in Conception or the other barrios surrounding it...no phone or computers...no way to call or email a doctor for advice. It is a grim reality.
As we left Conception, me in my dried muddy pants (!), we were sent off with smiles and gratitude. Despite the troubles I had, it was a great trip and I am so, so grateful to have been a part of it. So grateful to have had another learning experience that helped me to grow as a person and as a missionary. Growth is often painful...whether physical, emotional or spiritual, there can be a lot of pain in growing. But always, I keep in mind what my brother-in-law, John, likes to say..."Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger!" So, there I was...dirty, smelly, a little embarrassed and a lot tired, but stronger...and more knowledgeable about being a good missionary. That's what it's all about, folks!! Living and growing, loving and giving, and most importantly, trusting in the Good Lord that He has me in His mighty Hands. xxoo
A few immersion pictures:
The steep and muddy hills:
Sister Michelle and, my partner, Sister Aileen working hard!
The doctors seeing their patients:
Some of my fans!!!
Some beautiful scenic views:
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