Learning about love can be a difficult process. It can come in many shapes and forms and today this form came in the name of MM. No not M&M, MM. MM is a fourteen year old boy here in Manila. He is currently living in a juvenile correctional facility for the past month and 22 days. He was put into the juvenile center because he has been charged with battery, I’m not sure how severe. He told me that he was protecting his sister from a man who came to rape her, and he got the blame for it all. This was so difficult for me to hear. There are many children here who encounter horrible situations like these, but hearing it from the child himself is just something much more heartbreaking. MM isn’t sure when he will be getting out, when he will go back to his family, or when he will see his sister again; there is one thing he is sure of, God’s love for him and his love for God. After talking with MM for some time, he pulls out his Bible and reads me a verse from it. John 15:12, surprisingly the same verse that has been my favorite for a long time. “My commandment is this: love each other as I have loved you.” MM going through all the pain he has, not knowing when he is going home, and the fact that the home he may go back to is not safe… it is just mind blowing to me how much love he still has in his heart for people and for God. I learned today that even through horrible things, God’s love is what perseveres.
-Hannah McElroy
-Hannah McElroy