We talked until it was too dark to see each other any more

They had a fan but it was not running; it appeared that their electricity was cut. We talked until it was too dark to see each other any more. The small shanty that houses this family of 10 plus, and a few grand children is smaller than my garage. Even though it was dirty, filled with mosquitoes, and humid, nice conversation made these realities fade away. It met Alisa, Irene, and their neighbor through a fellow missionary who brought me to them so that I could practice Tagalog and minister to them. Alisa, a 59 year old mother of ten brightened up when she found out that I was from America. She told me that when her daughter Irene was younger, she was sponsored by a family in the States. Alisa brought out a stack of old weathered letters that Irene’s sponsors had written to them. The family treasured those letters and the friendship that had developed over the years with this American couple who had it on their hearts to help.

We moved to another shanty that had some light and Alisa went on to tell me that they lost contact with the family many years ago because their farm land was destroyed by ash from the volcano at Mt. Pinatubo. They were forced to evacuate and have been squatting in a make-shift home along a dirty river in Manila. Agency policy prevented them from giving Alisa and her family the address of their America friends, who had no way of knowing what happened to Irene and her family or where they moved to. As I examined the letters, I noticed the names of the American couple and Irene’s case number so I copied them down . Alisa also told me that the family lived in Florida.

The next day I did a search of the names on the internet. The names popped endorsing a dog training school. The endorsement included the city in Florida that they lived in. I didn’t know if this was the right couple, but I entered their names in the on-line White Pages for that city. Sure enough it popped up with their name and address. I was able to call and talk with the wife (her husband had passed away a while back). For years they had wondered what had happened to Irene and her family. She emailed me a letter which I delivered to a happy Irene and family. I was able to take some pictures of Irene (now 27 and married with 3 children) and some of her family to email back to Florida. I don’t know what the Lord has in store for these families or my new friendship with them, but what a privilege to have been used by Him to bless them.