by Samantha Marie L. Abas, JVP Batch 46
This journey has taught me that service is not about achieving perfection, but about embracing presence. To be with people, not to be above them. To learn as much as you give, and to love even when it’s hard.
I’ve realized that volunteering is not just about the work you do– it’s about the person you become in the process.
Serving here in Puerto Galera with the Stairway Foundation has been both humbling and transformative. As a livelihood and social protection officer, my days are filled with different kinds of encounters—listening to community stories, facilitating activities, walking through the community, and learning from people whose strength and simplicity remind me of God’s quiet presence in my daily life.
A profound part of this journey has also been the work among the Mangyan communities of Oriental Mindoro, especially the women and children whose daily realities reflect both resilience and exclusion. Accompanying them, even in small ways, has opened my eyes to the deeper meaning of service. Their courage in facing systemic challenges and their quiet hope amidst limitations have taught me what it truly means to stand with those on the margins. This ministry aligns so deeply with the Jesuit Universal Apostolic Preference “to walk with the poor and the excluded”, and it echoes the JVP mission of faith-driven, compassionate engagement with communities in need.
There were days of exhaustion, moments of doubt, and times I questioned whether my small efforts truly made a difference. Yet in those moments, I discovered what it means to count it all joy. I found joy in the laughter of the children, in the patience required to understand the community’s rhythm, and in the deep conversations that revealed not just their stories, but mine as well.
Joy, I’ve learned, is not always loud or obvious. Sometimes it comes in silence, when plans don’t go as expected, but somehow things still unfold with grace. Sometimes, it comes through struggles, when the work stretches you beyond comfort, but also grows your faith. Often, it comes in the most ordinary moments—sharing meals, swimming at the beach, walking under the sun, or simply being present.
This journey has taught me that service is not about achieving perfection, but about embracing presence. To be with people, not to be above them. To learn as much as you give, and to love even when it’s hard.
In the Mangyan communities, and in every corner of this mission, I’ve seen how accompaniment can be both a challenge and a blessing—a quiet way of living out JVP’s core values of service, simplicity, solidarity, social justice and spirituality.
“Count It All Joy,” as it says in James 1:2, because in every trial, there is a lesson; in every delay, there is grace; and in every act of service, there is a loving God at work.
As I look back on these five months, I see how God has been molding me—teaching me to find purpose not in grand successes, but in quiet faithfulness. I have learned that joy is a choice: to trust, to serve, to hope, and to love, even when it’s not easy.
And so, I continue this JVP journey with gratitude—knowing that every challenge, every laughter shared, and every tear shed is part of the joy that God is unfolding in me, and part of our shared mission to walk with, accompany, and honor those who are often unseen.