Mission House

For those of you who follow our Instagram and Facebook pages along with our monthly newsletter emails, you probably have a pretty good idea of what we do on a daily basis. We love, guide, teach and parent the children of the ministry’s homes here in Baguio City. Additionally we have a lot of special events such as special meetings, conferences, and trips to Manila and Olongapo. You may not realize the side of our life/job that involves the ministry of our personal home and the international parade that seems to be traveling through it on a regular basis. 

The Mission House

The home we live in is called the Helping Hands Mission House.  When Claire, the director of Helping Hands Healing Hearts Ministries (HHM), was looking for housing for us near the ministry she was unable to find a decent apartment within our budget. Then she found a house for rent at a great deal within a 3 minute walk of the ministry.  She asked us if we would be interested in living in and running what would become the HHM Mission House.  It is a lovely 1950’s wooden home with 3 bedrooms in the main house and 3 bedrooms in a basement apartments.  We live here with our 2 yearlong German volunteers. However, the home is also used by foreign and local volunteers who travel to Baguio to work with the ministry, or special guests who are here to see the ministry or provide a service for the ministry.  Sometimes other missionary friends or acquaintances need a place to stay for a few days, so we provide them with that. We have had English, Irish, American, Canadian, German and Filipino guests stay with us over the past 7 months.  We also use the home as an event hall for the ministry. We have hosted numerous dinners and meetings here as it is a quite setting away from the children’s ears and voices.  

Some days we feel like we are running a bed and breakfast or an event center where we are coordinating guests schedules, changing and washing of linens, grocery shopping, preparing nice breakfasts for special guests, ordering water and gas, coordinating maintenance and pest control, giving tours of the city, taking guests out to eat, etc. It can be a lot of work (but then again, so is running your own personal home and family, right??)  It is also fun to play host and meet new people from around the world. We get to be the ones to help them feel safe and comfortable in a foreign country.

 We are thankful to be blessed with the opportunity to live in a very comfortable home and to serve others who choose to invest in the ministry of Helping Hands.  Without us here in this position, these volunteers and guests from around the world would not have their own personal friends/hosts to answer their questions, provide a relaxed nurturing home environment, help them learn the ropes, aid their transition and make sense of a new place and culture. Thank you to our partners who enable us to be here in this vital role for the ministry.