SHOES from YHVH

My daughter Rachel just returned from a volunteer experience in Manila.  She worked with a literacy program in the Manila slums.  During that time she met a young woman named Marlene.  Marlene was born with deformities of both hands and feet.  As a result, she has never had shoes (at age 27) and she finds it difficult to get work because of her appearance.  Rachel contacted me and asked if there was something this community could do.  One of you, a lovely lady, offered to help and with contributions made to At God’s Table, we were able to send money for shoes and for Marlene’s training in accounting.

BUT HOW SHE GOT THOSE SHOES is a miracle story that I will let Rachel tell you.

Here it is:

“Good day, I would like to say THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping me financially. Honestly speaking, I couldn’t believe that this is happening to me right now” – Marlene, June 2017

Hello,

My name is Rachel Moen, daughter of Skip Moen. I am writing to the online community to say thank you for having compassion for Marlene. She is a true friend and soul sister to me now in the Lord. She was one of the witnesses to my baptism in the Philippines. I was baptized again while on my trip to put to death some of my pains and regrets of my past that the Lord revealed to me during my stay in Manila with the God-fearing community there.

Marlene’s story towards her career in ministry and in accounting has just begun thanks to all of your kindness. The Lord is doing mighty things in the Philippines. I was able to get a glimpse into the movements He is making in the lives in Manila and hear about many things happening throughout the rest of the country that really rocked my world. I am so grateful I got to be a part of it even if it was only for a short time. I want to share with you one part of Marlene’s journey that I got to witness while I was with her.

As you might already know Marlene is 27 years old and still have never been able to own her own pair of real shoes her entire life (something other than flimsy flip flops). Part of the challenge she faced in her desire to get shoes came from her lack of finances, and the other part was from her physical disability. Since she was born with both feet (and hands) deformed she couldn’t go to any shoe store to buy shoes, even if she did have the money. She had to have the finances and means to travel to a city that is 2.5 hours away from the one she is currently in to find a specialty shoemaker to customize shoes to fit her deformed feet.

After my dad and the community graciously offered up the finances for her to accomplish her dream and go to the city of shoe makers (by the grace of God), Geraldine and I helped Marlene get online and do some research to contact shoe companies. We knew we would have to contact someone ahead of time, then plan to commute to Marikina the next morning. In Manila, there are “coded” days for every vehicle. If your car license plate ends with a certain number then on that particular “coded” day you cannot drive it outside your immediate area. The car that Geraldine uses was coded for the day we had available to go to Marikina. So that meant we would have to commute in all of the heat, traffic, and pollution Manila had to offer. The night before we were going to wake up early and get on a Jeepney, bus and then train to head to Marikina we had tried to contact nearly ten different companies. We were only able to reach about half and all of them said they could not help us with Marlene’s shoes. There was only one even willing to receive by email a photo of her feet to at least attempt to help us. It was getting late so we decided to call it a night and just try to reach out to more manufacturers in the morning before we left.

The next morning was a Thursday we discovered there were conflicts with our plans and we needed to postpone the trip. I was a bit worried, however, because I only had one more week left in the Philippines and our schedules were packed. I was frustrated with the idea that I may not be able to see this whole process through, but we hoped for the best and changed the travel day for the following Tuesday.

Only now do I know that the Lord was working out His own plans the whole time!

On Saturday the three of us (Marlene, Geraldine, and I), as well as a few other volunteer workers we were connected to attended a juice cleansing conference in the morning that taught on healthy juicing for communities in Manila (especially to the women of the communities). We also had plans to attend a singles seminar at a mega church in another part of town to CCF Center in Pasig City, 16 km (10 mi) from the juice cleansing conference. We ended up leaving the juicing lesson late causing us to show up to the church seminar late. I must add that we had planned to go to this singles seminar without Marlene. I suggested multiple times that Marlene just go home with the other girls. My logic was that Marlene doesn’t speak very good English and I told everyone I thought she would just get bored and there was no reason for her to come along.

I don’t know what caused Marlene to want to come anyway, but there she was riding along with us over to the church.

Marlene, Geraldine, and our other friend Mishael tried to use their wits and charms to get us into the conference at a discounted price because we arrived hours after it started, but nothing would budge the people working at the ticket counter. They even asked if there could be a disabilities discount for Marlene because she has a disabled Filipino ID card but they still said no, same price as the beginning of the event. We decided it wasn’t worth spending 500 pesos each to get in to listen a couple of hours. Instead Geraldine noticed that there was a big screen TV displayed the conference event just outside of the sanctuary. We grabbed some chairs from around the church and posted ourselves in front of the big screen instead (for free, by the way). It was a great time. We could talk, walk around, and even grab some food to have while watching.

As we were sitting there soaking up what the singles conference panelists and interviews had to say, Marlene decided to go to the bookstore. A lady approached us and asked if the now-open seat was available. I told her I was sorry but that the seat was already taken. So, the lady walked off in the direction of the bookstore.

I was sitting watching the big screen for a while when all of a sudden Geraldine comes running up to me with the same lady who wanted to sit next to us. They were holding each other and Geraldine said that this woman was going to help Marlene get shoes!

I was shocked. What happened?

Apparently when Marlene was in the bookstore that lady noticed her feet as she was reading. She told us afterwards that she felt compelled to approach Marlene about seeing if she wanted help getting shoes! She said at first she didn’t want to ask Marlene because she was afraid she would be offended, but something inside of her told her she must go ask anyway. Marlene could barely even speak. All Marlene said to the women was “it is nice” and gave her a thumbs-up (meaning YES, I WOULD LOVE SHOES)!

The lady who approached Marlene is married to a man who is best friends with (just so happens) the President of Marikina shoe manufacturing!

The lady, Chi, and her husband have been feeling called by the Lord during the past month or so to reach out to those they meet who are disabled. Lucky for us we didn’t get that discounted price for the conference!

Chi and her husband spoke to us about how they would reach out to their friend who personally customized shoes to see if he could make a pair for Marlene! Praise God!

They were even willing to take us directly to him so that he could see her feet for himself and discuss with Marlene her options. A few days later we were able to borrow a car (because it wasn’t coded on that day) and drive safely and smoothly over to Marikina to meet the man who would make Marlene’s shoes. He said he would work on the prototype designs right away.

These three individuals who God used as a channel are plugged into their own kinds of ministries. Chi and her husband have been rescuing cats and dogs off the street throughout the city. They foster the animals. They heal the wounded ones and get them healthy before helping them find permanent homes. The shoemaker also is a golf scientist who is working on creating golfing ministry schools throughout the Philippines.

God used Marlene’s need for shoes for a great purpose. We are now networking with those three and connecting the ministries that Marlene and Geraldine are involved in with the ministries of these three (now) partners in the faith.

God’s plans are always greater than our own. Praise Him and trust in Him always.

Rachel Moen

NOW SOME PHOTOS of this miracle.