Following Jesus to Smokey Mountain

This is how wikipedia describes Smokey Mountain:

Smokey Mountain is the term coined for a large landfill located in Manila, Philippines. The area was cleared decades ago and became the site of numerous public housings for the impoverished people living in the slums surrounding the landfill. The slums were also cleared, which was the home of 30,000 people that make their living from picking through the landfill's rubbish.

A CNN report wrote an article about her experience at Smokey Mountain:

It's this looming mass of decomposed rubbish, standing more than 20 meters high. From a distance it looks like an enormous mound of Earth, almost of equal height to the towers that stand next to it, but on closer inspection you can see the layers of plastic bags, tires and bottles all squashed together -- the remains of 50 years of Manila's trash.

A few weeks ago, Wai Jia had a sudden burden for Smokey Mountain.  She visited there a few years ago with a friend.  The same friend is now serving there full time.  She received news that the kids had very yellow eyes and not sure what's the illness (or the cause).  I felt this is like the Macedonia calling.  We've been discussing and wondering what we can do.  Yet where we like to help, the doors were closed.

It was a Sunday afternoon.  We sat and we prayed for Smokey.   We didn't know what to do and we just told God that we are available and like to help.  He just had to open doors for us.

A few doors were open.  Wai Jia was able to get leave in last minute notice.  I was able to get our tickets online.   Just last night, a doctor gave us a bunch of multivatimins for the kids.

Since we got married and the past few months, I've been re-discovering what it means to follow Jesus.  What it means to depend solely on Him. I was medidating on a verse in Genesis 18 when God appeared before Moses and Sarah.  God told them they would have a child next year.  Sarah didn't believed it.  In return, God said...

Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Genesis 18:14)

Jesus is drawing me once again.  To follow Him.  Just as He called the disciples. Peter, John, Matthew.  Just follow Him.  Not to worry about what to eat or what to wear.  Not to worry about money or other things.  Follow Him.

Living in Singapore, there's a tendency for me to become complacent.  Wai Jia and I spent a lot of discussing and praying where God will take us.  When will we 'help' the poor.   How do we love our neighbours who live below the poverty line?

Going to Smokey Mountain we don't know what God will show us next.  We are ready to be use by Him.  We are ready to follow Him.  We are ready to give stuff up (they are a blessing from Him, anyways).

And so here we go.  Tomorrow afternoon.  Wai Jia.  Me.  A suitcase fill with mutlivitmains that will last for two months or so.  We don't know what God will do.  But what we pray for is for Christ to show up in the darkness.  We pray for His Spiriti to work through us to show His Glory in the midst of poverty.  We pray for Him to work in our hearts.  More compassion.  More mercy.  More grace.

Let's focus on the weightier matter of the law...justice, mercy and faithfulness.  To spend on behalf of the afficted.  To share the Good News of Jesus Christ.  To love our neighbours as ourselves.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness.  (Matthew 23:23)

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry

    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

    and your night will become like the noonday.

(Isaiah 58:10)

Wai Jia wrote a post about this experience.  You can read it here.

Day 2 - Toronto City Mission: Sonshine Kid's Camp

I am currently leading a four day short term mission trip with Toronto City Mission helping out with their Sonshine Day Camp.  The camp is children living in St Jamestown (one of the densest and highest poverty community in Toronto).

There are many first in this mission trip.

It is my first mission trip.

It is the first time I am leading a mission trip.

It is also the first time I am 'baby sitting' kids that are grade 1 to grade 5.

Leading up to this mission trip, I was getting worry with the logistics.  What if my team cannot do this? What if we forget about that?  What if we don't plan enough? What if ....

I stopped and spent last week praying and seeking the Spirit.  After all this is God's Mission and He will provide as necessary.  He definitely did!

I am very thankful for many things.  For church members willing to drive us to subway 6 in the morning and in the evening.  The team members continue contribution to various activities.  I told them that I am not good with kids and they had more experience than I do.  They worked without complain.  They simply wanted to serve.

Where do I start and how do I end this post?  There is so much to talk about.

For this mission trip, I wanted the team to expose to what God is working in St Jamestown.  I wanted them to get a glimpse of poverty, the brokeness and at the same time the HOPE that our GOD offers.  I want them to see that there are Christians that are actively praying and making choices to transform this community.  I wanted them to see a bigger picture of what it means to be a Christian to reach out to love our neighbors (instead of sitting at church every Sun, having fellowship, going to Christian events etc..).

And slowly...really it is just having the desire to follow Christ.  

What caught me by surprise is how much I love playing with the kids. There were two grade 1s which we sat hvaing lunch and started playing a game they called fastshot.  The game consisted of a half hoola hoop and two big balls.  I hold the hoop up and the they would sit on each side kicking or punching the ball to each other.  Whenever the ball passed the person, he lose.  It was so simple. Yet so much fun.  

There was a girl name Mary which is very very active.  She took all our name tags on the first day and put it on her.  Despite her short attention span, she is super bright and smart.  She loved to come behind you and poke you on the side and screamed 'TAZER'.

Today, during swimming pool, I looked over two little boys named Ian and Ali.  Ian is a much better swimmer than Ali.  Ali was bright enough to know that he needed a life jacket.  The best time was when Ian asked me to teach him how to float and had the boys grabbed each of my arm as I dragged them in the water as fast as I could.

Last night after a long day at the camp, I took the team to St Jamestown.  We went to specific area to pray for the community.  I showed them playgrounds which as kids and families were gathering around, these are the same places where drug deals will go on at night. 

We also met two Christians from MoveIn Ministry.  They lived in St Jamestown to transform the community by loving their neighbors.  Their testimony and sharing was awesome...

There is a lot more to share..a lot of laughters and fun.  

The team members are tired and so am I.  Everyday I get up at 5:30 and we don't go home till 7-8 pm.

Going to bed now :)

The team.  I was sharing to the congregation why we are going to St Jamestown.

The kids laughed at the hair on the girl as we walked to the swimming pool.

Team leaders (us and other volunteers) looked over two kids as we took the subway to the pool.

A mural the kids painted yesterday. Today we went out to the park to pick up flowers and leafs to stick it on. Tomorrow, we will draw animals and put them on.

Yesterday, we split the kids up into three groups and each team member gave a show and tell (aka testimony sharing).

Quiet Front

In preparing for the mission trip next week, I need to spend more quiet time..

This blog will probably be quiet for a while..

Announcement

This will be posted in my church's bulletin on Sun.


Last year, B led a mission team to St James Town to organize a day camp for the kids. By partnering with Toronto City Mission (TCM), the team shared Christ to many children who never heard of our Savior for the first time. With the Lord's blessing, it was a great success.


Seeing the need of the gospel among the poverty and to give an opportunity for the English Congregation to reach out to the lost, again we are privilege to hold a joint mission with Fluid this summer with TCM's sunshine day camp on August 16-19.  Our goal is to maintain the relationship to the kids we witness last year and extend the love of Christ to them by providing activities such as crafts, sports, singing, drama and Bible based stories to children (6 to 12 years old).


If you have the heart for mission and interested in extending God's Kingdom, please contact Cliff Tam at cliff.tam@gmail.com.