Mission team member makes a difference in the Philippines

When Lisa Snuggs and other members of the Mission Love Seeds team arrived in the Philippines, they began a week of work to make life a little easier for the children in the villages.
“As we entered the first village, our mission team was greeted by song and dance by the children,” Snuggs told The Log. “After the songs, the children encircled us, took our hand in theirs and touched it to their foreheads as a way of blessing us. Each child waited patiently to bless each one of our team with their rough, calloused, dirty little hands.”
Snuggs was shocked by homes made of bamboo, tin cans and rice bags and floors that turned to mud when it rained. It was hard to know the ages of the children, so small from malnutrition.
“I met children who stole my heart. I saw children who broke my heart,” Snuggs said.
The first day in Binayuyo, she met a 12-year old boy who took her on a tour of the village and to meet his mother.
“He had a beautiful smile, joy in his heart and a command of the English language he learned from his studies at the school built by Mission Love Seeds,” Snuggs said.
“I knew right then, I would sponsor this child. Sponsorship costs $1 a day, and with that it would ensure that Jeffrey would continue to attend school and church and not be put to work to feed the family. His family would receive a monthly distribution of food. Jeffrey would receive clothes, shoes, a school uniform, and his school needs would be supplied. If he or his family needed medical or dental care, I would be notified and they would be cared for. Snuggs noticed that in his home were rice bags full of gravel that the family had been collecting. They hoped to lay a cement floor in the very small 10- foot by 10-foot home.
“I asked why the work had not been completed and it was translated to me that there was no money for the sand and cement,” Snuggs said. “After a short meeting with my fellow mission team, we promised them a floor, a new roof, a kitchen sink and piping to direct the dish water away from the house instead of standing on the floor inviting mosquito infestation. All the materials were purchased the next day at the hardware store in town for $125 and delivered to the family.”
Three days later, the family had their new floor and roof and kitchen sink with piping to lead water away from the home. Extra roofing was used on the walls where needed. For an additional $40 the families also received new pots and pans, utensils, dishes, a big water jug and other goodies for the home, making it the nicest home in the village.
“And all for less than what I sometimes spend on an evening out,” Snuggs said.
Snuggs also promised Jeffrey’s mother that she would sponsor her son and see that he went to college one day — either in the Philippines or the United States.
“I have already set up his college fund,” Snuggs said.
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Over the next week, the Mission team, John Hawbaker, Barbi Carroll, Suzy Sims, Earl Baumgardner and Snuggs, along with Fely (Mission coordinator in the Philippines), her family, staff and The Antipolo United Methodist Church pastors and staff visited six villages, four that Mission Love Seeds already has a presence in and two they hope to add to their programs.
“We traveled to each village with a medical and dental staff, giving care to anyone who needed it,” Snuggs said. “I was told that over 200 teeth were pulled in the dental clinics, and we distributed all the medicines we had collected in Destin. A head lice treatment clinic was set up in every village, and the kids lined up to receive the comb through. I was shocked at the infestation in one village and surprised in others at the limited cases we found.”
In each village, everyone was fed a healthy meal, cooked by Fely’s family and friends all night long.
“The men of the village hung back to make sure there was enough for the women and children and our staff waited until everyone was fed before we ate,” Snuggs said. “The kids ate every bite of rice and vegetables, fish or chicken. I thought how lucky our children are, to not ever go to bed hungry and I thanked God again for my many blessings. No one I saw asked for seconds, but whatever was left over was given to families with children and elderly members.”
After the meal, the Mission team played with the children, blowing bubbles, passing out jewelry collected by Snugg’s daughter and her friends to the little girls and giving Matchbox cars to the little boys.
“The mother’s were given antibiotic cream donated by Wal-Mart and lip balm donated by the Carmex Company who blessed our mission with 2,500 tubes,” Snuggs said. “We gave them tweezers and nail clippers and nail files, and I took nail polish and painted the girls little fingernails. One little girl held up her hand when I was done and announced ‘me pretty.’ ”
Snuggs tried to teach the 40-plus kids in the village how to play hide-n-seek.
“I would count and they would run and hide, all in the same spot,” she said. “When I announced ‘ready or not, here I come’ they all came running to me. I tried to explain the game many times, the language barrier was obvious, but their laughter was universal and joyful. A new game, count-n-attack-the-missionary, was born on that hot, beautiful day in Sitio Admiral.
“When it was time to leave the villages, the children chased our van down the dirt road as far as their little legs would carry them.”
There are so many stories Snuggs could tell, and she feels this trip was no coincidence.
“This was my fate,” she said. “God’s hand is upon me, leading the way.”
Next week: Meet Michelle.