The following story was first posted on the Facebook Samsons Missions Page:
Josiah is pictured on the left. Grace is next to him. And then there’s me doing what I’m often told to do by my team - figure out a way to get food to a destination that is never as easy as just dropping it off…meaning I gotta push a tricycle through thick sand and mud that’s only a little wet because it’s low tide. This Muslim community’s Imam is seen here trying to navigate his newly donated load of almost 500 bottles of juice and over a hundred food packs to the mosque, a wood and bamboo structure on stilts.
I’m so glad Josiah was with me today. We’ve been able to do some father-son bonding accomplishing things I love to do, though I know it’s a bit challenging for him. Even as I write this, we’re still in the back of the ambulance and won’t be home until late tonight. We’ve been awake since 2:30am. You’ll notice in the photo that he’s covered up really well. That’s because kids aren’t allowed to be outside due to government pandemic restrictions that have just been implemented again. In fact, we’ve had to wait on Jerry in the rig to get us dinner because Josiah isn’t allowed to eat in any establishment, not even to use the bathroom. But today he was dressed incognito and since he’s already the size of many of the people here, he remained unnoticed as we conducted the outreach.
Since the first day we arrived in the Philippines when Josiah was just several months old, he’s been the center of attention wherever he goes. Even on that fateful plane ride to the mission field. His light complexion and brown hair stand out, whether in a remote island village or an urban slum. The comments, touching, and stares have gotten to him over the years. And now, coming into pre-teen, that sort of attention is especially uncomfortable and makes him self-conscious. He worried the night before and really wanted to make sure people didn’t pay attention to him by hiding his hair and skin. But he was surprised in discovering the hospitality and kindness of the Sama people this morning, even as his cover was blown, and ended up having a pleasant time.
Our second delivery was to our partners whom we help with outreaches to the boatmen and fishermen that live near their dive shop. So naturally, after dropping off the goods we had to take the opportunity to do some scuba diving! You wanna talk about father-son bonding. Josiah is such a natural underwater explorer. The surf was rough, current strong, and visibility low, but we had a lot of fun together. Now we’re finishing up the night riding out the traffic sitting on the stretcher as we watch Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade on my device.
