22 kids across the world changed my life

  I've been contemplating what I want to tell y'all about my trip to the Philippines, and honestly, I still don't know, but here goes nothing.
 

  Children's Garden(CG), the Ministry we were working with, has 18 boys in the age range of 12-18. There's also a girls home at a different location with 4 girls. CG is for street kids. Some may be orphans with no family, others may have ended up on the street because their family had no money to feed them, and others may have run away from home because of abuse. CG takes the kids in, gives them plenty of food to eat, a bed to sleep on, money to get to school (schooling is free, but there is no specific school transportation), and God.
 

  Let me just tell you, these kids have super crazy and hard stories. Many came from broken homes and abuse, but CG is so full of life. Filipinos love America, Americans, and our music, and since music is a constant in the Philippines, that means so is American music. They love music they can sing to. At CG, favorites were songs like A thousand years by Christina Perri, I'm yours and I won't give up by Jason Mraz, All of Me by John Legend, and most of all Thinking Out Loud by Ed Sheeran. Thinking Out Loud will *always* be associated with the Philippines. Since they love music so much, a lot of the boys knew how to play the guitar, and well. At any point in the day I could expect to  hear music, whether it be something like I've already mentioned, or worship, music is in their blood. It's awesome.

  We didn't just hangout with the kids, we also did a lot of out reaches such as feeding people (physically and spiritually), and home visitations where we would talk to them and pray for them.

  I fell in love with the people. Filipinos are naturally happy people, and that's an inspiration to me. I mean, many of them have little to nothing, and yet they're genuinely happy. I don't know about you, but I need to learn from that kind of attitude.

  Leaving was so hard. I loved hanging out with the kids and staff everyday. I want to go back and I want to stay there for longer. That's my dream right now. It's making me rethink what I really want my future to look like. Please be in prayers for me about this.

  The last two weeks changed me. They changed how I look at myself, others, and life in general. They changed what I want in life. I know now that I can't go on living like I have. I have to do something different. My life has been so self absorbed and I don't want to live in such a way, anymore. I want to live my life for the Kingdom of God.

Shalom