Operation Taghoy Mission 2012

“..And we have all chosen to do this with all our lives…it better be worth it.” Steve Jobs

Life is good when you are with wonderful people who have a big heart to care for our children with disability and have facial deformities.

We are almost over with our Operation Taghoy Medical Mission 2012 and it feels we could do more and have done better. However, God has designed this two weeks mission for children with facial deformities for some good reason. Whether we have done our best that is all up to Him to judge. For now, our team is so delighted that we have been given the chance to serve the underprivileged children of Silay City and Tagbilaran City, in the Philippines.

It is also worth mentioning the good hosts in cities, the provincial government, the Rotarians and the local medical society. Even the community is awesome! They showed the best hospitality ever to our team from different States of the United States of America and the Philippines, too. Each one is worth a commendation, but the best ever, is the one that is coming from above.

In the dictionary, a missionary is a member of a religious group to evangelize or in our case, to do service such as health/healthcare, others are for education/literacy, social justice, and economic development. The word “mission” originates from 1598 when Jesuits sent members abroad or in Latin word – ‘misio’ meaning “act of sending” or “to send.” It is widely use but can be used for any creed or ideology.

Why and what people do get from doing missions?  You do get a better understanding of what is like in other countries/places as we are all with different cultures. We have a different ways of doing things and looking at life, too; there is a better understanding of people and their universal needs. When we meet these people, we learn that though we look differently from each other, we still have the same feelings, hopes and desires like you are – we are human beings; you will develop a greater compassion and concern for others, for we are our brother’s keeper; a greater appreciation for what you have from home and you will understand better why others do not have what you have or vice versa and then you will stop complaining about life. I hear people complains over insignificant things around and we are more apt to realize this after seeing what people in other places face, we need to develop an attitude of caring, loving and sharing; you will become more people oriented as you learn to reach out to these children and people who are  in most need of your talents, skills and services; a greater commitment to Christ and His plan, as doing the work for God and seeing its results is like starting a fire, and it continues, it grows larger that you never expected and then you get to taste what life has to offer for you ahead. But the most important influence is that you are making a difference in the life of others.

Doing missions is stewardship. To me, it is never a waste of time. "You can give without loving. But you cannot love without giving."