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Kayla Balangue

Jun 01 2024
2

Update #9 Southeast Asia A

By | 2024 Teams, Southeast Asia A

Today was a crazy day, in the morning we went to a home for formerly abused and trafficked children and brought food and talked with them and just spent time with them. It was really heavy hearing some of the stories of the kids that were currently there. It was heartbreaking but even despite all of this I could still see hope through a lot of the children that were there.

After we came back and had lunch we all split up, some went to go to the school and practice for worship at the youth group some went to find a sink and try to install it back at the home from the morning and some went to go get their nails done with the fieldworkers. It was an eventful day with a lot happening. 

After we went to Youth Lab, which is the youth group that the ministry helps run and it was an amazing night everyone was worshiping and praising the Lord with all of their heart and it made me really happy to just see all of the kids have such a fire and passion for Jesus.

Thank you all for the continued prayers and support!

Cooper

Jun 01 2024
2

Update #8 Southeast Asia A

By | 2024 Teams, Southeast Asia A

Hi friends and family! The morning started off as a slow morning of preparation and quiet time with God. We then went and got some bread from a panaderia across the street!

We practiced worship for the youth service and made friendship bracelets for the youth we would meet tonight. 

Then, we were headed for the long (ish) trek to Tondo, the most densely populated and underdeveloped slum in this area. We took a van ride, two trains, a Jeepney, and a walk to get to Tondo. 

In Tondo, we hosted Youth Lab, which is their version of youth group that is focused on breaking cycles. There were about 50 teenagers—these teenagers are on fire for the Lord and it was amazing! We hosted the ice breaker, the games, and JD, Danyelle, and Karina led the group in worship. 

Afterward, we hung out with the group and began the trek back home. We got back around 10:00 PM! It was a long day, but so so sweet and the presence of the Holy Spirit was so strongly felt. 

The next day was our off day! We spent our off day exploring caves and playing in a water fall! It was incredibly fun and relaxing. 

Then, we came back and everyone at the organization had a giant dinner and some worship at the children’s home here! We tried some….interesting foods, that’s for sure! Lastly, we ended our day off with a wonderful (sarcasm….) game of mao. 

Mahal kokiyo (love you all) and we greatly appreciate your prayers. 

Southeast Asia A Team 

May 30 2024
0

Update #11 Team South America is back home!

By | 2024 Teams, South America

After many hours of travel back home and a missed flight, the team finally made it back to the states safe and sound! Please continue to pray for the team as they experience re-entry back into the US, that they would draw close to the Lord through navigating reverse culture shock and that they would be transformed by this experience even in their daily rhythms. 

Make sure to ask a team member about their experience and how you can be praying for them specifically!

May 29 2024
4

Update #4 Central Asia

By | 2024 Teams, Central Asia

Our morning started off with an exploration by Hannah, Josh, Emily, and Cass to go to one of the local bread shops around the corner from our house and get some fresh bread and honey, which we devoured pretty fast. We then had the opportunity to receive an in-depth language lesson from one of the national partners, who was also a teacher. He was able to help walk us through the different pronunciations and how to say several sentences that would help us while we walk around the city. The whole team was struggling with remembering what was the number six was in the language.

After our wonderful lesson, we were unleashed onto the main town to start making connections with the locals who spoke English and were willing to talk to us. We all paired up and took taxis to various coffee shop, restaurants, and shops to start making friends.

Emily and Alyssa started off in a wedding dress store where they made friends with a friendly woman who knew very little English, but was very eager to talk to them. While Emily and Alyssa were at lunch at the local KFC there was a language miscommunication and they accidentally almost ordered six buckets of fried chicken instead of a three-piece combo. On Josh and Dom’s adventures, they had the opportunity to pray over a local youth pastor they met while in the shop. Along the way they had very interesting taxi driver experiences that made the day even more interesting. Hannah and Tabitha found a bookstore where two young women were working and was able to strike up a conversation in English about the various books that they sold in the store and our similar interests in book series. Deb, Cass, Tabitha and Hannah learned the hard way that the National Library of this country was not open to the public by accidentally getting stuck in a very long library tour that took you to see all 9 floors of the building. At the end of our long day, we found a Chinese restaurant that had a takeout option and Tabitha decided to give our hosts pug a bath. We can’t wait to see what tomorrow’s adventures have in store for us!

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

May 28 2024
3

Update #7 Southeast Asia A

By | 2024 Teams, Southeast Asia A

Hey everyone, this blog is being written by cooper everyone’s favorite child on this trip apparently. Thanks a lot Taylor 🙄. We have had an amazing trip so far doing so many awesome things. Today we started by going to a clothes market there were a lot of new clothes there, most of them were knock offs of popular brands but it was fun to look at it all and shop for bags and other things. 

After we were done we went into a McDonald’s and got Oreo McFlurrys after being in the hot humid sun before heading back to the YMC. After all of that we came back and had some nice lunch: pork and rice. The food here is really good. 

We then went and got ready for the rest of the day and we went to a former dump site where we gave food to all of the people living there, with some of the families that are also here staying and helping at the ministry. It was a really amazing, also solemn, experience seeing all of the poverty there and the things these people do to live. We had a good conversation about worldview and about all of the people there maybe never having even left that city compared to us, but then how we also probably have a small limited world view about God’s kingdom and how there is probably so much more we could never see. 

After this we went to the hanging bridge which was a really cool suspended bridge that was a lot of fun to climb for some of us, maybe less so some others, but at the top there was an amazing view of the massive city below us. 

Super exited for tomorrow when we go to the poorest part of the city and serve people there. See you all soon. 

Cooper

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

May 28 2024
4

Update #3 Central Asia

By | 2024 Teams, Central Asia


Today we had lots of crazy adventures!!
The day started off with worshipping with the team in a room they sound proofed for safety. The first song was a lively local song and we danced and sung while worshipping. We then sung worship songs that we all sang in our own language. It was beautiful to hear a combination of the languages in praising God!! We then had an intercessional prayer time where we prayed the verses John 3:16-18 over the people of Central Asia.
Then all the girls got to put on kurtas and head scarfs we borrowed from our field workers for going into the village.
Our drive to the village was beautiful full of rolling green hills and heards of cows/goats then a mini flash flood started and our drive was full of flooded Streets and hills with mini mud waterfalls (we called them forbidden chocolate fountains). For lunch we were invited to one of the national partners house. We ate on a beautiful carpet on the floor with a display of food in the middle- the soup was delicious. We had great conversations with how they came to Christ. They are very hospitable people and were very excited to talk to us. There we had the fun experience of figuring out how to pee in a hole!! They showed us their house and it was funny to see a goat after eating one. He also showed us his wedding video which was really cool way to see into how a wedding here works. We got to show some of God’s love to the believers wife who is still skeptical of following God because of the social impact.
After the village, we walked to get pizza from our house and during the walk Josh almost fell through an unstable man hole, but everyone came back in one peace and we enjoyed our pizza!! We’re excited to see what God has for us tomorrow!!

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

May 27 2024
8

Update #2 Central Asia

By | 2024 Teams, Central Asia

Assalom Alaykoom (Hello)!

We are so thankful and excited to be received ed by our fieldworkers here! We arrived to our house at 4:30am on Monday morning 🙂 then had a few hours of rest. Then we started our time here with a lesson in Tajik (tah-jeek) basics. Our afternoon was spent having lunch with the entire team, including the national partners who shared testimonies from this past week (they minister to the local in the villages). We’re inspired by their faith, obedience, and passion for how God is working through them. Lunch was an amazing experience with most of our team eating on the floor like how locals prefer.

After lunch we bazar and the ladies got material to be fitted for Kurtas. Traffic here is high key scary since traffic laws are seen as a suggestion. A few of us came very close to getting ran over by cars 😀 (but we were good!) Some of the team were able to experience their first taxi that end up breaking down.

We were so thankful that our lead fieldworkers, the Bennet’s invited us to their home for dinner. It was really cool to hear how God had called them here. Their children are adorable! They’re such an amazing family and truly an example of sacrificing their lives for the purpose and call God has placed on their hearts.

todidan (until I see you again),

May 27 2024
3

Update #6 Southeast Asia A

By | 2024 Teams, Southeast Asia A

Hello friends and family! Today was day 5 and we had an awesome and eventful day.

After we had breakfast this morning we got to help cook lots of Lu gau and load it into buckets to be taken to several different feeding locations!

We got to join a pretty large group and take some food to a local jail. We all piled into a Jeep-nee and I was hanging on the outside of the back because it was so full.

When we arrived at the jail it was pretty crazy to see the conditions that criminals live in here. We shared the gospel with all the prisoners and then we got to feed each one of them Lu Gau. The girls on our team got to pray with each of the female prisoners as well. They were all so happy to see us. We aren’t able to show many pictures inside the jail due to the law here, but here is a group photo of us! 

After the jail ministry we headed back to base camp and the boys began helping with some more demolition for the new dorms to be built. Farnum learned how to drive a 3 on the tree transmission truck full of concrete and helped us take the loads to the site where the ministry is building a hospital. The girls helped cook dinner and made some ma sarap (delicious) Pesto chicken pasta for dinner.

After that JD helped one of the young adult worship leaders here change his guitar strings and we did devotions. It was another great day!

Thank you for your prayers and support! 

– Chris

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

May 27 2024
2

Update #5 Southeast Asia A

By | 2024 Teams, Southeast Asia A

Hi family and friends!!

Thank you for your continued prayers for our team! We are having an incredible time as we are getting into the rhythm of serving. It has been amazing to see how God’s hand has played such a pivotal role in the ministries here in Southeast Asia.

On Sundays, all of the ministry and staff take the day off so we had some down time to explore the city and site see. In the morning, we went to Rockfish Church which is in association with Kids International Ministries. It was moving to see and hear different cultures, generations, and languages all worshipping and praising God. It was a beautiful reminder that God is the savior of the world and is worth of our praise. 

After church we were able to take a short bus ride to visit the American Cemetery here and Memorial which is a military cemetery located nearby. This was a beautiful memorial dedicated to honor the American and Filipino sacrifices during the fight for the Pacific in WWII. There were crosses marking the burial sites of fallen soldiers and a circular terrace with maps to recall the actions of the war. There were also names inscribed on the walls to mark the names of those missing from the war. It was amazing to be able to remember and honor the fallen soldiers on Memorial Day weekend and see how grateful the Filipino people are to the United States.

Next we went to a HUGE outdoor and indoor shopping mall in the Metro nearby where we got to try new foods and sweet treats, and spend to pesos on souvenirs to take with us back home. One thing we noticed as a team was the immense wealth of this part of the city. The malls and shops were way nicer than most American shopping centers yet as we left the city we were faced with more poverty not even 5 minutes away. 

After our adventures we took some time to cool off in the pool, play games with our team, and go frog hunting. We are excited for our next week of serving and are eager to see what God is going to do next!

If you could continue to pray for our well being, energy and strength, as well as more opportunities for us to serve and love people. We greatly appreciate your prayers and support!

Taylor

P.S. – Mom and Dad I am still alive 🙂 love you!!

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.

May 27 2024
0

Update #10 South America

By | 2024 Teams, South America

On our last couple of days serving at two different hospitals we had the privilege of feeling like royalties during our visit. The leadership and staff were so warm and welcoming. They gave us a tour of the facility along with tea crumpets. Our nursing team members got the opportunity to be hands on and take vitals signs for the moms in active labor, listen to the baby’s heartbeat with the Doppler machine and learned from the staff nurses how to assess the positioning of the baby in the mother’s womb. They also got to hold a premature baby and feed them and see how they apply phototherapy for premature babies with jaundice. It was beautiful to see one of our team members communicating in sign language to a lovely deaf couple at the hospital. 
Our highlights also included receiving a tour of the hospital areas and getting to work alongside doctors and nurses in the ER and the Med-Surg floor. One of our team members got to change central lines dressing and had the opportunity to feed patients as if she was feeding Jesus. These two days were very busy and it included lots of direct assistance and lots of prayers during the visits. While at the second hospital, our team got the opportunity to do post-mortem care on a patient who had just passed and helped console the family and pray over them. All in all this was a very fruitful day loving on others, being a light and learning skills that our nursing team members will bring back home in preparation for their next semester in the nursing program.

If you would like to share your prayer support with this team, please feel free to use THIS FORM and we will share your encouragement with them.