This past week and a half has been pretty hectic. We went up to stay with Tito Mon for a few days last week. Mon is doing some amazing things with self-sustained, organic, waste-free farms that could drastically impact the landscape of poverty here in the Philippines and throughout the world. I’ll spare you the details as you probably aren’t as fascinated by them as me. Mon is a very wealthy landowner here with a heart for seeing poverty alleviated. He had a near death experience a few years back that changed his heart and perspective toward friends, family, wealth, the environment and life in general.

Mon took us up to the mountains and showed us some of the rice terraces and various contour farming methods. His motto, “there is no unproductive land, only unproductive farmers.” Mon’s methods allow him to grow nearly any crop he wants, even on the top of a mountain. We joined a group of farmers from Bayawan City, which is in the south of the island we’re on (Negros). Mon could name his price to run seminars, educating farmers on his methods. Instead, he does it for free. To see hearts changed, wealth redistributed and lives molded.

Moving ahead. Last Sunday we visited Promise City Church with Emma and her daughters. The church is pastored by Rick Sutcliffe – the same Rick who runs Joyland (mentioned in Brooke’s last post) with his wife Suzet. It’s an Assemblies of God congregation –Rick is from Australia – with a penchant for exuberant worship. After service, we joined Rick and Suzet for lunch. Rick wants me to speak at Promise City in a couple of weeks. We’ll see how that goes. Suzet and I had a wonderful conversation about community development and the work they’re doing at Joyland. Brooke and I will likely be spending a few nights there this week studying their project more fully and working with some children on their conversational English.

So, on Monday I spent the day with Ricky Lacson at the Couples for Christ meeting. It was more of a “nuts and bolts” type of meeting but still, it allowed me to gain a perspective into what they are about as an organization. Couples for Christ is responsible for founding Gawad Kalinga so the two are significantly intertwined. They are very much concerned with building communities that enable people to live with dignity.

Come Tuesday, I started feeling pretty ill. I’m not sure what it was, but all week I was sick with a stomach bug of some sort. Brooke saw me through until I was better on Friday, when she began feeling sick. So, this week has been hard. A lot of complaining, aching, sleepless nights, etc. But, we’re both feeling better now and looking forward to this coming week at Joyland.

Friday, Emma and I were able to visit two more GK villages with Ricky Lacson. These were much larger than the one’s we were exposed to the initial week. They were complete with schools and worship facilities and even farmland. In November, I have agreed to stay in the two communities for a few nights, to get to know the people better and how exactly their lives have been impacted by GK.

Until next time, know that we’re doing well and attempting to serve our God by loving others. Keep us in your prayers and trust that we miss you all dearly.