This January, John Coffey, the leader of IT Tender ministries, a branch of International Teams Philippines, was speaking at our church as to the activities of their ministries.  As I sat and listened, I became more and more interested and intrigued by what he was reporting.  He shared stories of children who's lives had been changed through their ministries and how they in turn changed his life.  As he explained the ways their ministries functioned, I became increasingly inspired and ideas in my head began formulating as to how I would like to live out the calling I feel God has placed on my heart for Social Work.  Through his sharing, he seemed to be offering me a glimmer of hope, and it seemed like God was giving me a peek into exactly what the future held.

I had begun to get discouraged as to this dream actually unfolding because I have yet to be accepted to McMaster's Bachelor of Social Work program.  I had been proposed and thinking of some other options, but I was not keen on any of them.  Hearing John describe with a level of passion in his voice as to what they were doing to enact change in Manila, gave me a bit of hope and an idea that I couldn't resist.  What if I went to work with John and his team someday?  I remembered a comment my Dad had made when we had some friends over New Year's Eve about my going with some of them to the Philippines this summer.  It all started to fall into place.  Four months is a lot of summer break to fill and I thought, 'Why not take some time to gain what may be some life changing experience?'  So that's exactly what I'm doing!  I'm spending 3 weeks of August in the Philippines to see if this is what God has in mind for me in his calling of Social Work.