Right before Christmas last year, Mikaela and I, along with Chase Anderson and Baseball Chaplain Brian Hommel and his family, went to the Philippines with a ministry now called Consider the Lily. This ministry serves to rescue women and girls out of rough homes, abusive situations, and prostitution, giving them a new hope through education and a safe place to live.

While we were there, we visited a few rural villages which had been crushed by the recent hurricane. One of the places we traveled to was known as “Trash Mountain,” where the poorest of the poor were. It was literally a dump that people lived in. Not just a few people—hundreds of thousands live on Trash Mountain.

When we arrived, we found out the pastor of this region had been diagnosed with cancer just the day before and wasn’t able to be there. We knew that this pastor went on top of the trash pile every day to minister to the people who lived up there. Though our guides had never ventured up, we felt compelled that day to go to the top of the trash pile to see the people who called that their home.

As we climbed the pile, I was completely shocked by what I saw. There were so many people living there—hundreds of kids running with no clothes and bare feet across the trash heaps, eating things off the ground. Homes were formed on top of the trash where families actually lived. We met one mother of eight children; one of them looked to be a newborn, but we soon learned that the baby was about a year old, bearing a large tumor on the side of his head. Together with a woman from the local church, we brought the mother and the baby down Trash Mountain and to a hospital that day. Though we couldn’t stay, we gave the local church member the money needed for any medical bills for the child.

We didn’t get to see the outcome of the child’s hospital visit during our time in the Philippines, but a short while later we received an email telling us that the doctors were able to remove the growth and the baby was doing just fine. The reality hit me: I have no idea what would have happened to that child if we didn’t go up Trash Mountain that day.

Coming back to the States, I was struck by the truth that I really have no reason to complain about anything. So many kids we met in the Philippines had nothing and yet they were the most joyful kids I had ever seen. Seeing them made me realize that we don’t need any possessions at all to have joy. When Mikaela and I arrived back home we had a burning desire to give as much as we could; we simply felt so blessed with all that God has provided for us that we wanted to help as many people as we could.

A few years ago, I was told that there is nothing like going on a mission trip to change your perspective and get you out of your comfort zone. There aren’t many places where you can go today to feel in complete dependence on God, but that’s exactly what we experienced when we went to the Philippines. There we had the unique opportunity to share the Gospel message with people who had never heard it before and had no way to access the Bible’s truths. As we watched the overwhelming sense of joy that these people had once they heard this message for the first time, we saw the power of the Gospel firsthand.

“I am not ashamed of the Gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.” —Romans 1:16

There are a lot of dark places with great devastation and suffering in our world. People are aching to gravitate towards something that holds truth. In the midst of these dark places the Gospel shines brighter.

—Steven Souza

Steven Souza is a regular contributor of The Increase, providing monthly articles and opinions.

Check out Steven’s full profile on The Increase Baseball: http://theincreasebaseball.com/author/steven-souza/

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