Operation Blessing relies heavily on volunteers to conduct its medical missions, disaster relief operations and community transformation projects. This section pays tribute to the men and women who so selflessly gave of their time, energy and resources to give hope to the hopeless and to show true compassion in action.

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Mothers in Mission

One of the common questions Operation Blessing (OB) asked of volunteers during mission outreaches, particularly the physicians and dentists, is “Are you really a doctor/dentist?” followed by the comment, “You seem so young to be a doctor.”

Well, not all OB volunteers are aged between 20 something and 30 plus. In fact, OB has quite a number of boys and girls in their golden years who are in its roster of volunteers. And though they may be old in earth years, their hearts are as young and their spirits as feisty as any young volunteer on fire to serve God through missions. They even go about their mission assignments with hearty laughter and an always on-the-go attitude.

Three outstanding examples of these are Imelda Buenviaje fondly called Nanay Melda, Constancia Maglalang (Nanay Tancing), and Adoracion Tomines (Nanay Adoring). All are mothers, hence the endearment “Nanay” (Tagalog word for “Mother”) attached to their nicknames. Although neither of them are health professionals, they are dedicated support volunteers.

All three of them also volunteer for the Urban Street Ministries (USMI) where each of them spends at least a week every month with a group of kids or teens from the streets of the metropolis, sharing with them Christ’s love and the salvation He offers.

Nanay Melda was introduced to OB by her daughter who was one of OB’s volunteer physicians. She, in turn, introduced the two other mothers to OB. While Nanay Tancing and Nanay Adoring specialize in giving free haircuts during mission outreaches, Nanay Melda’s work is more “all-around.” She is usually assigned to the waiting area where she instructs patients on sanitation and hygiene. She also ushers patients to the different mission sections and helps out in the mission pharmacy.

In spite of her unstable blood pressure, Nanay Melda has been insistent on being a volunteer for missions in far-flung places. Before she came to know the Lord, she was a full-pledged homebody who barely went out of her home and filled her vacant time with reading pocketbooks.

It wasn’t until she attended a fellowship upon the persistent invitation of a neighbor that she found a new lease on life through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. She recalls, “I went there and found the words so soothing to hear…I sat there and asked myself, ‘What is this?’ Everyone was raising their hands and clapping. I didn’t feel like doing so but I found myself raising and clapping my hands. I did not notice that I was already crying. I never cried because I was hard-hearted.”

She became so hungry for the Word of God that the thought of Bible study excited her. “It was only then that I really understood the God was life,” Nanay Melda added.

Nanay Tancing never thought twice when Nanay Melda asked her if she would like to join OB. Her ever-ready attitude to serve the Lord stems from her deep appreciation of how God had turned her life around.

She gave her life to Christ during an evangelistic fellowship to which she was invited by a friend. She testifies, “I heard the pastor say that Christ didn’t come to the world for the holy but for the sinners. I very well knew that I was a sinner and headed straight for hell. And I didn’t know how to go to heaven. What I heard that pastor say really struck my heart. My life had been like the Samaritan woman.”

She stepped forward to receive Jesus when the altar call was given. Nanay Tancing recounts, “I said, ‘Lord, thank you that I heard Your Word that a sinner like me can enter Your kingdom if I repent of my sin.’ From then on, I promised ‘Lord, I will use the rest of my life to serve You. Help me to serve You.’”

For this reason, it is one of her greatest joy to give mission patients their new hairdos for free, taking advantage of the opportunity to share His love while she cuts their hair. She adds, “I told the Lord also, ‘Lord, bring me even to a leper colony; I will go. As long as it’s for You, I will go.”

Nanay Adoring is Nanay Melda’s other recruit for OB. Like Nanay Tancing, Nanay Adoring also finds joy in serving the Lord through free haircuts given to mission patients. She learned how to cut hair because having all of her eight children’s hair cut at the local salon turned out to be hard on the budget. So she decided to learn to cut hair and trim her kids’ locks herself.

Nanay Adoring found the Lord through a Christian television program where she followed the pastor’s prayer to receive Christ. Afterwards, she felt a great hunger for His Word. She recounts, “I wanted to hear the Word everyday. I was so thirsty for His Word. I really sought to find where they met for fellowship so I could join them.”

“Ever since I got to know the Lord, I decided to serve Him through and through. I never wavered. I received Him back in 1987 and since then I have not stopped serving Him no matter what the weather, and even when my then unbelieving husband would persecute me.”

Whenever these three model moms find themselves in the same OB mission, they are automatically buddies. Their enthusiasm to serve the Lord and contagious laughter never fail to motivate and bless the younger volunteers.