A Heart for a Mission

           
              I and my two other brothers had always wanted to be a part of a mission. But when we had the chance we were a bit of hesitant because it was costly, we have to provide for our airfare, our food and other expenses. But we realized that if we are truly into mission, we have to be willing to sacrifice even our own resources, so we decided to join.
              I always thought that mission were just about sharing the love of God, sharing your blessings and all that sort of things. But when we were already in Davao and I learned that we had no hotel accommodation or any decent place to stay on. I really wanted to back out, but I remembered that we were there for a mission not for vacation. And as we walked towards the mountain and after an endless walk we finally reached the tribal community. And as I'ved looked upon the place and the people my heart went out to them and  I wondered on how they survived in such place, no electricity, no any means of transportation except by walked , a malaria prone area and really it was located in the middle of nowhere in the mountains of Davao, but thanked God they had at least a good water system courtesy of some foreign mission team. The tribe was forgotten by our government as if they were not existing. Most of them were not educated, some of them were still living like a nomads. But despite of their indigent life, they're such a good people. They welcomed us with such warmth and they even prepared some food for us, though very simple still we found it special, arrozcaldo or rice porridge, corned beef and instant noodles. And when we learned the story behind it really made me cry. They only cooked rice for special occasion coz they cannot afford to buy rice but still they cooked it for us, They just have mais, camote, or saging for their everyday meal. And about the corned beef and the instant pancit canton we found out that it came from another mission and they just kept it, so they can served a special meal for visitors. They have nothing to give yet they are still giving. The tribe were blessed with a vast land and yet they are poor. Their situation were really heartbreaking, so for even a short time we made them happy. We gave them some activities that they  really enjoyed, taught them the alphabets and numbers, and most of all we taught them that God loves them and He bestowed them an abundant blessings, we even bathed them and after they took a bath they still wore their dirty clothes because they only had few. And when we took some pictures of them the smiles in their faces gave us a real joy. And as we bid our goodbyes to them and as we started to walk they turned their backs coz they don't want to see us leaving their place. Even for a short time we learned to love those people.

               My brother told me that the main goal of our mission were to blessed those people in our own little way, and for us to remain humble and compassionate. We're planning to go back their in November for a medical mission and will be headed by our very own beautiful doctor and with some of her friends who were also a doctors by proffession.