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Excerpts from a Mission Report (March 2009)
By Joe Dugan, Director of the Peanut Butter Gang/Hospitality Too Soup Kitchen

Did you know that you could be lonely in a crowded room? That is what missionary Rose Del la Cruz was discovering with the elderly tribal people in the mountains of the Philippines. In large families with not too much to eat, the elderly were being ignored. They were dying at an early age from malnutrition and loneliness. Rose had a plan to involve forty teenagers at the Little Baguio mission to visit the elderly on Saturdays, cook them a meal, bathe them, wash their hair, and provide some warm conversation. This would do two things: provide a sense of hope for the elderly and teach the young people compassion.

At first some of the elderly resisted the attention of the youths, but soon allowed their kindness. If the teens missed a week, the elders would ask, “What happened? I missed you.” One teen said, “After two visits the elders began to look younger.” Isn’t it amazing how being nurtured changes one’s appearance? I know you have seen this change before; you see it in the glowing faces of those people who are in love.

I approached youth leaders at St. Andrew Lutheran Church of Smithtown here in the States and inquired if they could help Rose’s teens. The plan was to have the youth make special wash up kits containing oatmeal, soap, shampoo, hairbrush, mirror, and candy in a large zip lock baggie that would be numbered from 1 to 40. Each one would also write a letter and provide their picture for their numbered bag to be given to a teen at the mission. The youth at St. Andrew’s were on fire, they were so excited to be working in solidarity with kids at the Little Baguio Mission.

On my recent trip to the Philippines, I brought their suitcase of wash up kits to the assembled forty mission teens at Little Baguio. There was an air of excitement and anticipation in the room. As each teen received their envelope, I could see the members beginning to glow anew with fire. All forty mission teens were now writing a letter back to their new friend in the U.S. and I brought their letters and photos home with me to New York, where this simple act of love ignited other teens.

This plan of communication is so simple and nurturing to people’s souls and the souls of all those lonely people. It is sad but in this too busy world, where people have injured hearts, there are people who have never experienced the fire. Scripture tells us that inside of each one of us there is a special pearl worth more than anything on earth. That pearl is the love of Jesus shared with others…. and it is where you will find the fire. – Joe Dugan, Director

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