A Place of Rest

Last week I ran into a man who could barely walk and has bandages on his two feet. He had a prescription for some medication. His pain was so great that he couldn’t sleep at night. We got him the medication and he is doing better. Today I took him to the hospital and he spoke to the doctor and got a blood and urine test. He seems to be doing better with the medicine but I’m not sure what his diagnosis is yet.

We’ve changed our feeding scenario. Now we feed by just having “take-out” plastic bags with food 3 days a week. This is easier than cleaning up after 80 people every day and having them all crammed in the living room (sala). So three mornings a week we hand out the food.

On Tuesday and Friday we only let 50 people into the house so it’s not so crowded and we have showers and lunch for everyone.

Here’s a picture of Jennifer cleaning up one day after we fed about 50 people in the house:

On days when we let the people into the house we show either a movie or we have preaching. I was so lucky to meet some preachers from the International Gospel Center school here in Cebu.

Here is a picture of myself with two of the preachers. They are preaching God’s word for free and are willing to come twice a week if needed. We have three different preachers. Here is me with two of them. On the left is Pastor Jerry, I’m in the middle and Pastor Raul is on the right.

I have connected well with the International Gospel Center (IGC) school. They have an elementary school as well that is based on the Montessori style.

Today after the feeding, Pastor Christian and I spoke to the parents of a nine-year old girl. They agreed that if we pay for the tuition and uniform that they will allow their girl to go to school. I’m not sure how much the tuition is yet but I know that God will provide the funds. We are going to get her started this month, God willing, but some details need to be worked out. I will keep you posted. The girl has never attended school before and it’s important that she start now as she is about to turn 10 years old.

As you can see, things are running much smoother than before. Many of the problems that plagued us before have been addressed and resolved.

That’s all for today. Have a nice day!

We closed today because a few plates and spoons were stolen the last time we opened. I am not exactly sure who the thieves were so I decided to shut down in general so that everyone can understand that there will be consequences if anything is stolen. I also felt frustrated because one of the boys who had asked me for a shirt and sandals sold them. I know because I saw someone wearing the shirt on the street and I asked him where he got it. This isn’t just about feeding but also about teaching behaviors.

We are going to stop feeding in-house. There is too much demand and we can’t fit everyone in the house. It is also too chaotic to have upwards of 50 people in the house at a time. So we will begin handing out plastic bags with the food. People will still come in for showers but they won’t be sitting at tables and eating.

I hope to open a playroom for small children where there will be toys and books and so on. But with the current format it is too consuming to do much else.

I have felt supernaturally tired and I think it has to do with this ministry. I am certain that this is not normal fatigue.

Thanks to Jay and Karen for donating a double bed frame. Our helpers will use it to sleep on so they won’t have to sleep on the floor any longer.

Tomorrow we are opening for feeding again. I hope we can handle it.

The number of people coming in for lunch has swollen. We have gone from serving 30 people a day to over 80. Easily 30 people are showering a day.

90% of the people that are eating are those that truly need it and so it is good to give them food. In the Philippines, a meal is not a meal without rice so we go through about 5 kilos of rice a day.

I can attest to one miracle we had this week. On Tuesday, we bought 50 pieces of chicken exactly. (I know because we bought 5 packs of 10 pieces.) We served 70 people and we had a piece of chicken for every one of them.

I am still giving out sandals but it is hard to give them out because the children lose, sell or give them away within a matter of days. I am considering giving clothing to families only (children with parents).

Today we had a preacher named Christian come in. He is a 22 year old student at bible college here in Cebu City. We met one day when I was at Fuente. I told him he could preach any time so today he did a fantastic job. Our food was so late today and there were maybe 60 people waiting around in the sala. He held them captive for around an hour and a half which really helped a lot.

I know that I am called to preach the gospel to the people that we serve but I don’t really have the language skill in Bisaya that I need. I am reading the Bisaya (Cebuano) newspaper every day and trying to learn as quickly as possible. It is hard to learn Cebuano because there is only a 30 minute newscast on television, very little music on the radio outside of English and Tagalog and almost no literature. Unlike Spanish, French or Japanese, learning Cebuano is a challenge due to the lack of materials!

Yesterday we all watched Ice Age 2 and tomorrow we will have Kung Fu Panda. The kids love it and even the oldest people with gray hair are enjoying the movies.

I have slowed down giving medicine because most of the complaints are minor. But there is a boy who had a tooth ache and I think he has a cavity. If it’s still bad next week I will take him to the dentist.

Yesterday I met with a law firm to begin the processing of incorporating as an NGO. This is important for legal reasons.

That’s all folks!

Thursday, the feeding was quite chaotic so we made several changes. First, we gave everyone a number so they could be served in the order they arrived without everyone clamoring for a plate at the same time. We placed pitchers with water in them and glasses on each table so people could easily get water without clamoring to pour from the 5-gallon bottles.

We also pre-served all of the plates. That way, people wouldn’t have to wait for the food, but could just sit at the tables and wait for their number to be called. When we called the number we delivered each plate to the table. This prevented a lot of motion and it led to a more serene atmosphere.

People sat and ate in the main hall of the house and I patrolled around to make sure everything went well. Things are still a bit hectic but it was much, much better than the first day of feeding.

Everyone ate and we had more than enough food. There were 50 servings prepared and we had 36 people served. However, I expect more people tomorrow (Monday) and we will prepare 50 servings again.

Afterward, the boys wanted to play basketball. Fortunately, there is a basket right in front of the house and we have a basketball. So they played for a while. Then we gave showers. I think around 10 people showered.

I walked the dirty towels over to the laundry shop. I also gave out some medicine for various ailments.

Because we have been working so hard, we didn’t feed yesterday and today (Saturday and Sunday), but I did take a woman to the hospital yesterday for a tetanus shot because she cut her leg with a nail.

Today I went to Carbon Market and bought 20 pairs of inexpensive sandals. I want the barefoot kids to have sandals so they won’t be cutting their feet on nails and broken glass. You know what they say about an ounce of prevention…

It’s almost disturbing how many people know who I am around the streets of Cebu City now. I have a hard time going for a walk without calls of “Kuya Mark!”. It’s great to have so many friends.

Thanks so much Rose and Jennifer for preparing so much food and being so helpful.

I had promised to post an update on the two girls with tinea capitis who had lost all of their hair and had scabbing. Here is a picture of one of the two girls. You can see her scalp here clearly. The hair is growing back and the scabs are diminishing. So thanks to my friend in the United States who were able to diagnose the problem and inform me of a treatment. It is working so far.

Today was the first large feeding. We had probably 35 people for lunch. It was not easy at all. I used to work for an Englishman who would use the term “Goat Rodeo”. This was a goat rodeo. Quite chaotic and hard to control. However I know that things will be easier as time goes by and people become accustomed to the rules and the protocol.

Picked up a few bags of “rugby” which is the glue that the kids sniff.

Probably 10 or 15 people showered as well.

Tomorrow will repeat but I will have to take the weekend off. This takes a lot of energy to go on. I’m wiped out.

Street feeding tends to have a random assortment of characters. You never know who will show at the time that you arrive and you never know what to expect. However, street feeding is actually easier because you can walk away at any time. With house feeding, you have to wait for the last person to leave and you have to clean up the mess, wash the plates, and so on. But it’s nice to be out of public view and to have the stability of a fixed place.