As I am sitting in the Malaybalay jail, I am contemplating our life here. I often think about all of you back home, especially our donors and prayer partners. There have been many acts of kindness and generosity that have been done because of you and by you...and you don't even know that you are doing them. Today is Easter Tuesday and you are visiting the jail and sharing with them very Good News - that Jesus died for them and conquered death for them, that He loves each one of them personally and passionately! I am not sure how many of these men and women have ever thought very much about God's love for them and many have not been shown His love very well in the past. Today you shared this message of love and you delivered Easter eggs to them, a festive, healthy, and filling snack. In a jail where they are served only the basics like rice and a little fish, this weekly snack is greatly appreciated. You also passed out 260 individual packets of hygiene supplies, coffee, and snacks. In the prison here, you are not automatically given these things, especially if you have no money or no family who will buy them for you.
Separate from jail ministry, today you are also listening and praying about helping with a situation that would reunite a mother and sister with their baby far away in a place that has more job opportunities. You have allowed a different single mother to earn a fair and living wage in order to help take care of her two little boys, while allowing a pregnant woman a break from doing laundry by hand (that is me!). You are not even counting the small moments where you were are able to witness to people in stores and on the street by simply saying, "Maayong hapon!" (Good afternoon!) "No, I don't speak very much Visayan yet, and yes we are Catholic Missionaries from the US. We have come to help people fall more in love with Jesus, and to serve the poor." And throughout the day you allowed many prayers to be offered for the poor, for missionaries, for you! and for those whose lives you are trying to change.
I attempt on a regular basis to figure out what God has for us here and whether we are doing enough. The answer I realized today is that I am not doing anything. God is the one who does everything, through you, through me, and through His many people that cross our path. The only questions I need to ask are; Am I seeking God today? Am I listening and obeying the creator of Heaven and Earth? Am I reading His Word each day and allowing Him to speak to me through it?
If the answer to these questions is "yes" then it does not matter whether I am at the jail, riding in a motorela, at our local sari-sari store or parenting our children - then I am doing the will of God!
