Reflect on Life Together

It’s been our desire to take our girls on a mission trip for some time. We have both been on Vine Missions Trips, even before we married, and have always found them eye-opening and impactful to our lives. Hong Kong is a place of extreme paradox – it looks and feels very wealthy and prosperous, but the reality is that there are far more people living on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Mission Trips have encouraged us to keep that Kingdom perspective of love and compassion for the poor and needy and to use what God has blessed us with to be a blessing to others. This is the reason we wanted to teach our daughters through missions.

Since we were struggling to align our schedules with Vine-organised mission trips, we decided to contact YWAM in Cebu, Philippines ourselves to see if we could volunteer over Christmas. They graciously accepted and arranged for us to stay at the base for a 4-day trip, coordinating daily outreaches and sharing their lives with us. The outreaches included visits to villages where YWAM has regular outreach. There we sang, danced, performed skits, and played games with the children while also connecting with parents and distributing food.

For my own selfish reasons, I wanted to bring the girls to show them how blessed we were to live in Hong Kong.

But going there as a mother, it opened my eyes in ways I couldn’t imagine, mostly in our approach to parenting.

One example is whether we are too over-protective. Kids run free in the places we visited. They play with bugs and spiders. They climb trees, poles, buildings, and machinery—sometimes to seemingly dangerous heights! They run barefoot outside, where there is trash and dirt, at least to our city eyes.

At first, our daughters were hesitant and unsure of what to do during the outreaches. But after the first time, they understood and ultimately enjoyed playing with the kids. We hope that there will be more opportunities for them to experience and exhibit God’s love and compassion for others.

This trip was truly a meaningful and unforgettable time that allowed us to reflect on life together as a family. Whether it is a Vine-organised or a self-organised mission trip, we encourage everyone to go on one when you get the opportunity!

Cliff and Linnet Ma