Baking on the Mission Field: Philippines Edition

I had the opportunity again to bake on the mission field in the Philippines! I led a 4-day baking course for the current kitchen staff and some women in the community, about eight women total. Kids International Ministries’ goal was to train their staff and to hopefully find another person to hire after seeing her progress in my class, which we were able to do! We covered different methods, ingredients, and skills. We made biscuits to learn the rubbing/biscuit method of mixing, chocolate chip cookies to learn the creaming method, pizza to learn how yeast and gluten work, and red velvet cake to develop cake decorating and piping skills! These women were so eager to learn and fun to be around!

Before each class, I would wake up early to make time to read my Bible and pray for the women and the class that day. We also opened and closed each class in prayer to the Lord, thanking Him for what we’re learning and for keeping love at the forefront of our minds. Now that I’ve been on the race this long, I’ve learned more about the power of prayer and seen its impact with my own eyes. I knew I needed to make it a priority for this class to go as well as it could, for this opportunity to meet its full potential. And God for sure showed up.

In the first class, we accomplished twice as much as what I expected, which allowed us to fit more curriculum in! Three hours every morning for four mornings is not a ton of time, but God multipled what we were able to accomplish and gave me the opportunity to teach more skills that these women can use at home or at a new job! We filled this extra time with more advanced skills, like piping and writing in chocolate. They all surpassed my expectations for first-timers!

They were especially eager to learn how to decorate cakes, and it just so happened that one student’s birthday was on our last day of class! I’m sure God knew that when He made sure the class would happen during the week that it did! We all practiced writing “Happy Birthday, Claire!” on our cakes for her, and her smile lit up the whole room. It was awesome to love her well in that way! I ended the week by presenting certificates to each student, and they all got to take their cakes home to their families! Lots of joy came out of these mornings spent together!

I didn’t find out until after our first class, but as it turns out, the kitchen lead and staff there had been praying for someone to come along who could teach a cooking and baking class, someone who values what they value in knowing the Lord. They had been praying for this before my team even showed up, before they knew I was a professional baker in the States. It was very humbling to be such an obvious answer to their prayer. I gave it my all and invited the Lord to take care of the rest, and He clearly did. Yet again, He is emphasizing to me that I can and will glorify His name in the kitchen and in the food service industry. I have a new excitement for what He can do through me in my workplace, and I look forward to what He has for me in this industry back in the States!