The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity and a flurry of meetings. We finished our time in Thailand meeting with the Asia Pacific Director for Opportunity International then headed South to Jakarta where we met with the third largest microfinance NGO there. They have 25k loan clients in 14 branches throughout 3 of the islands. We had an in-depth look at their operations, staff and motivations for their work. We came away from the last two countries fully content in how God has been leading us each step of the way. Then we made our way to Manila.
We arrived in the Philippines last week and its been great to connect here with our friends Dan and Esther who are pastors at the church, Cathedral of Praise. We were overcoming our disappointment though in the first few days when one of our meetings with the co-founder of Opportunity fell through. What we know of him encourages us all the more: here is a guy who helped co-found the largest Christian microfinance NGO in the world and walks away at the height of its "success" because doing microfinance in Jesus name became more of a mantra than a reality. Not to say it can’t return to its former ambitions, but at this point it is not making steps to correct their priorities. This is forever at the forefront of our minds- creating an outreach that is unwavering in its mission and purpose. This year has been an eye-opener as to groups starting in the right direction, only to get sidetracked and stumble somewhere along the way.
