new life rehabilitation center

as you know, i spent last april in the philippines. in one of our first days, the american missionary we were working with told us that our main focus would be one thing: to love the orphans...and then he listed off a bunch of other things we would be doing throughout the month.

one of those things was prison ministry. he told us that we would be going to the local prison to preach and build relationships with the men there. honestly, i was kinda dreading it and was more excited about hanging with the kids at the orphanage.

however, on our first sunday a group of us headed to the prison where the men in our group preached to four different cells while the women went and interacted with the juveniles. after we left, you could just see the fire that ignited in a few of my female teammates (jodi, marissa, emily), i could just feel the passion radiating from them.

but jodi was on a whole different level. i

don't even know how to describe the radical transformation i saw happen in her that month. she would literally spend like every waking hour at the prison or working on some sort of teaching/workbook/scrapbook for the juveniles. and when she wasn't doing that...she was praying for the kids.

i'll be honest, my initial reactions were to remind her of the bosses instructions, "love the orphans" but i could just tell there was nothing getting in her way. so after a bit of a hesitation and reservation (and getting over myself), i stepped aside and watched god and jodi change that prison. and let me tell you, they flipped the lives of those youth upside down!!

there's too much to include here but i can tell you this: jodi is giving it all up to move to the philippines. she's quitting her paid staff position at a big church in georgia to move to the philippines.

jodi's vision is to build a rehabilitation home for the juveniles. it'll kind of be the equivalent of a "halfway house" here in america but one focused on the love of christ and life skills. and get this, the philippine government is donating the land to build the home on!!! god is all over this project.

check her page here and check out this vid:

New Life Rehabilitation Home from Jodi Greenlee on Vimeo.

i have so much love and respect for jodi. she is giving it all up for a dream. a dream to bring new life to the imprisoned kids in the philippines. with our love, support, prayers and contributions she will be moving there to give these kids a new life. what a beautiful portrayal of radical faith.

and more proof that:

god is love, nothing is impossible.