It’s strange to fit back into normal life after having an almost out of body experience working in the Philippines. It doesn’t seem real the way people are living in the dumpsite, but yet it is. How do we adjust to the way of life we’ve grown up with? Is it still acceptable to walk into Marks and Spencer and spend £60 on food when I know in the Philippines that could feed a family for about 2 months? How do I feel about buying clothes, going on holiday? Is it just something that we should accept that we have money, a dispensable income? I think we need to accept it, but humility is a powerful thing.

I feel strange having money, we’re not rich by UK standards, but we have money. Callum and I will be able to buy a good house and live a good life; I’ve no doubt about that. If we were to fail in that goal in our life, I’ve no doubt that our families or even the government would support us in providing shelter and food.

We were just scratching the surface when we were in the Philippines, but what if no one bothered to scratch the surface?

Deuteronomy 15:11

“There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.”

Are blessings something you receive from God when you are in this life only? Do people count blessings in the form of money? To be “blessed" means 'to be favoured by God’. How is this expressed to us without money being involved in some way? Good health, etc? In the dumpsite I get the impression that blessings are pure and simple. I did not hear one person moan when we were there. Not once.

Sorry I have so many questions and I’ve been meditating on these points for a good while now. I’d be interested to know how you feel.

We are keen to go back to the Philippines at some point, we want more people to experience this with us. Let us know if you’d like to join us on our next outreach or want more information on how you can help or make a difference. In the past I’ve been wary of just handing over money to chairites but please know that we did make a difference to people when we were there. 5 families have new homes, new hope and a new found faith that God has blessed them and individually selected them to receive a house. God worked through us.God could turn round now and fix the issues in the Philippines immediately, why does He choose to do things piece by piece through us? Is it our own free will that encourages an inordinate desire of greed which takes away from everyone being able to live a comfortable life. I don’t know, I’d like to know but I don’t know. Is it even for us to know? For now I’ll just trust the fact that God has it all planned out and I will try to do a little, a lot.