July 6th, 2010 - Going Home

We started our day today, with our normal worship. We then discussed highlights of the trip and what the Lord taught us during our time here. My highlight: BDA weekend and the Tuesday after: students lining up to pray to accept Christ. What the Lord taught me: God answers prayer. There had been several times during the trip that I prayed for something specific. It was very evident to me, that God was listening and answered them. A few of them were very "no biggie" type prayers like asking for a cloudy or even rainy morning so that I, horribly sunburned, could help build a ramp outside without getting more burned or crazy hot. It was both cloudy and rainy, with the sun blaring as soon as we got home from the job.

We packed up our bags and cleaned our areas. We left the house at 11am, stopping by McDonald's for lunch on our way out. Arriving at the airport, we learned our flight was delayed. After two hours, we took off, praying we would make our connecting flight. Once we arrived in the Manila domestic airport, we grabbed our bags, hopped in taxis and took off to the international airport. We literally ran through the airport, arriving at our gate after the boarding time had already started, only to find out that this flight was also delayed. We waited in the gate area for almost 3 hours, now praying we would make our connecting flight in Honolulu. When we arrived in Honolulu after a 10 hour flight, most of which I slept, we were given a glimmer of hope. The flight attendants let us off the plane first, so we could make our connecting flight. However, we waited for our bags for 45 minutes, prior to running through immigration. We didn't make it. Instead, we were given food vouchers and a booking on another flight 8 hours later. What do you do in an airport for 8 hours? You leave and go to the beach! That's what we did! With our carry-on bags, we took taxis to Waikiki Beach. It turned out to be the BEST layover ever!

We didn't have our swimsuits or a change of clothes, but the beach and the water were still so inviting. I sun bathed a bit and then took a long walk down the beach, in search of a Starbucks. I remember there being one years ago and was successful in finding it. A frappacino in hand while walking the beach in Hawaii, was the best way to spend a layover!!!

After eating dinner on the beach, and going back to the airport, we continued our journey. We had a brief layover in Portland, before we arrived in Seattle, at 8:30am. I didn't sleep on the last flight, which was a red eye, so I had the entire day I needed to stay awake. After spending time with my parents, I drove home, absolutely exhausted but anticipating staying awake all day. We traveled for 39 hours and by the time I went to sleep, I was awake for 32 hours. I woke up 13 hours later, probably able to sleep longer.

Back to reality, back to responsibility. I miss my friends already. I miss the simplicity of life in the Philippines: share the LOVE of Jesus.

July 5th, 2010 - Beach Day!

I was SO looking forward to beach day. Normally it happens during the middle of our trip but I was very thankful this year's beach day was after all our ministry was complete. It was like a reward for working so hard. I spent the majority of the day laying on a Sponge Bob sheet, under the shade of a palm tree. I had a one hour massage, a foot scrub (taking off all callouses) and another one hour massage, all for $12.50. It was GLORIOUS!

July 4th, 2010 - Happy Fourth of July!

We had an early morning Independence Day display of color. I am up every morning to watch the sunrise over the jungle, but today's sunrise was the best so far this trip. It was God's fireworks for us! Today was our last day of ministry here in the Philippines, the last day with the Filipino high school students. Our dear friend from many years ago, Francis, was in town. He preached for our church this morning. About 70% of his teaching was in the local language, the rest in English.

Following church, 4 jeepnees caravanned to the Bohol Beach Club with all our friends. It was a time of fun on the beach and great conversations with the students. When our friends left, our team went to ICM for our last hurrah of souvenir shopping. I, having been here 7 times now, grabbed a book and sat at the coffee shop. When going home, we had dinner and group time. We talked over our time during the weekend and it sounded like a lot of our team connected well with our Filipino friends.

July 3, 2010 - More HARVEST!!

This morning started off, knowing it'd be similar to last Saturday with the Deaf. I taught the message again, about salvation. It was a very basic message changing it a little from last week. It was amazing again! The Lord totally spoke! The biggest difference was that I had an interpreter! I would speak a few sentences and then Along, the local pastor, would translate into the local Filipino dialect. I love to see the reaction of the students' faces when they seem to "get it". I prayed at the end and then asked the students if they wanted Jesus' peace, to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Many hands, between 20-30, raised their hands and prayed the salvation prayer. It was OVERWHELMING!!!

The rest of the day was pretty similar to the Deaf Saturday, still really hot! We played relay games, a water balloon games, and made bracelets and tie-dye t-shirts. After lunch and siesta, we had pool time. I again didn't swim, as there were even more students in the pool than last weekend. Instead, I spent some time with some girls painting our toenails. Of course I needed to change my nail color for my much needed feet pictures!

After dinner and court games we held our yearly talent show! We were laughing so hard at some of the talents. There were two guys who danced so well, that won they show. They could probably compete on "So You Think You Can Dance" in America! We then performed our dramas with in-depth explanations between. A few more hands were raised! What a great day!

July 2, 2010 - Retreat!

We started our morning with our worship time and Bible study. We then sent all the team members outside to have a "Silent Retreat". This was a 4 hour block to just spend time with Jesus, reading, praying, worshiping, journaling, etc. When the time was done, we met as a group and had a lengthy discussion regarding our time. Usually our team meets more consistently to go into depth about "heart-issue" subjects, building up our team and encouraging them and their relationship with Christ. We've been so busy most nights that we haven't had time to do this. This 4 hour block gave the team some down time to focus on Jesus and then discuss it even further as a group. It was a good discussion.

After lunch, we headed down to Loboc Elementary where there were 535 students enrolled. We didn't do crafts there, as it would've been too chaotic. With 9 student team members and 3 adult leaders, it was still VERY chaotic. We had the group split into two groups, half played with the parachute, while the other half with the tug-of-war. I saw some girls that I got to know last year. They spoke pretty good English and had a ton of questions about life in America and the schools. It was fun to talk with them again. The team also performed the 3 dramas and I stayed with the girls and explained the dramas more thoroughly to them. It was a good time, chaotic, but good.

When we were driving home from the school, several students were already walking up the driveway for the camp. We hurried and got stuff ready and went to hang out on the basketball court as more and more of the campers started to arrive. I taught a bunch of Filipino boys how to play bump with the basketball. It was fun. After dinner, one of our team members, Zach shared a message. He did a great job! We did roll call with the students. There were 5 high schools represented, with 10-20 students coming from each high school. A lot of extra students showed up... 26 more than signed up. We ended up with 86 students! It was going to be a great weekend!

July 1, 2010 - Concrete!

This morning we headed out to the barrio community center. We were doing our service project: building a concrete path up from the road, up to the basketball court. The path was very rocky and we had watched for years, young children and elders waver and stumble on the rocks. We had a mixer and a handful of barrio men helping us out. We completed the job in 3 hours! I was the water girl. I would carry buckets to the slow faucet to fill with water, and carry them back to the mixer for the guys to use in making the cement. Getting close to the mixer, it splattered cement all over me! I was covered with cement by the time we were done!

We washed up, ate up and took off again. We had a 1-hour window to drive down to the Loboc Tourism Complex, do a little shopping, and drive back. We drove to the closest school to our house, Calunsan Sur. We started to play games, but the down pour started. It was thundering and raining SO hard! We started crafts and completed our dramas huddled under their outdoor stage area. It was crazy!

We arrived home, wet and muddy, and ready to eat. Marita cooked for us tonight, we were SO thankful! She lives in the barrio and is a great cook. She made our favorite: pancit!!!

We then ended our night with a "music experience" time. He played a handful of songs that evoked responses from our group in which were shared. It's crazy to think that tomorrow is Friday... we leave on Tuesday. We're wrapping up with one hearing school left and the barrio high school students coming for the weekend. End the race strong!!!

June 30, 2010 - Dolphin Watching!

Today we spent the day on the water, watching dolphins, snorkeling, diving off the boat and doing back flips off the boat. We weren't planning on being able to do this, this year, because we are here for a shorter time. However, today the new Philippine President is being inaugurated in Manila. The entire country is shut down so they can watch it on TV. We weren't sure what we were going to do, as no school was open. Joshua surprised us with this trip! We were down at the Loay pier at 5:30am ready to go! It was a BEAUTIFUL day! We were able to see a lot of dolphins and do a lot of snorkeling. Lot's of sunblock was used... but I still got fried.

We arrived home and I instantly jumped in the pool. It was cold, just what my burn needed. I sat there for a long time, needing to cool off. I then sat in my room for a long while with aloe plastered all across my chest, upper back and front legs. Please pray, as I am sitting here typing this two days later, I now have little blisters forming on my chest and back. I knew I would blister but I'm thankful it's not worse than it is.

We relaxed tonight, had our morning Bible study after dinner, and had a long group discussion. Typically we'll have time a few times a week to have in-depth discussions with the team about spiritual issues. This year though, it's been so busy and we've been out late almost every night, we haven't been able to. It was great to share, encourage and hear where the students are coming from.

June 29, 2010 - HARVEST!!!

It was hard to concentrate during my quiet time this morning. Our barrio is having Fiesta right now too, so everyone had yesterday and today off. This means there was an all-night party. From inside my room, with the AC on, I could hear the bass thumping all night from down in the jungle. At least it was consistent and it didn't bother my sleep. Maybe it kept my lizard away too. My quiet time, though, was interesting. The music was loud outside and I could clearly hear the words to every song that was played. I heard Miley Cyrus and Hannah Montana signing though the jungle! When I got up to go back in, after my time, I recognized the song... it was Jingle Bells! So funny!

This morning we visited our last Deaf school. It's in the middle of the city, so we left early in order to maintain our yearly pattern of eating at McDonald's prior to going to this school. Yummy! We arrived at Tagbilarin Elementary School, being welcomed by the principal. This school is not associated with IDEA, so the Christian values are not taught, but the principal and teachers welcome us none-the-less. One woman, who is 34 and in 3rd grade, I had met last year. She showed me her phone which she had brought up a picture of the two of us from last year. So sweet! We very much enjoyed this last Deaf school!

We drove home and ate lunch prior to making our way out to a hearing school. We arrived at Tanbagan, a school along the side of the barrio road that we pass every time we leave and enter the barrio. We love the kids here. They are so fun and well behaved. When starting our dramas, Joshua's iphone died. His iphone plays the songs for our 3 dramas. I jumped on the ATV, raced back to the house, grabbed his charger and raced back. It's SO hard to drive the ATV through the jungle here. There are SO many holes and rocks in the road, that the entire time you are driving, the tires pull you right of left. I arrived back at the school, with my arms feeling like jello, but having time to sit and rest and watch the dramas. Good thing we were so close to home!
After the school finished, we raced home, ate, and then drove to BDA. We typically go to BDA on Wednesdays for their Bible studies, but tomorrow is the inauguration of the Philippine's new president. Therefore, the entire country is shut down for the day. We were invited to school to socialize tonight. Of course ALL of our team members jumped on the opportunity to go, as it was the last time to see these students.

Instantly, Reyna, one of the girls that I've been talking to over the weekend (she's also my sponsor child Iris's best friend), came over and hung around me. She is pictured left. I talked to her a bit and asked her, probably for the 10th time, if she was ready to make a decision. Every time I asked her, she said yes but she wanted to wait. I never could understand it. This time though, I asked her if she wanted to wait or was ready right now, she said she was ready now. Woo hoo! I was so excited! We talked about it at length, making sure she was truly ready and then we prayed. Oh I was overwhelmed! Then another girl I had been talking to, Judith, came over to me and said she wanted to talk. We talked and she said that she was ready. The two girls that I had been praying for and talking to, had accepted Christ. I was so excited, but it only was the start to the night. My team members constantly asked me if I was busy, as they had students that wanted to pray. I had to start talking to them and praying with them in pairs and threes, as they were coming to me so quickly! It was so overwhelming that I didn't really have time to think about it. Three of the girls that I prayed with were wearing rosary necklaces. We discussed the meaning of the necklace, as in the Philippines, they believe that the brown plastic picture of Mary can protect them. It's so sad they put their trust in this plastic rather than Jesus! All three of the girls gave me their necklaces and then proceeded to destroy them, breaking that stronghold off of them. It was so freeing for them and for me! At the conclusion of the night, we had the students sign up if they had accepted Christ the past weekend or tonight. All together, more than 20 names!!! I didn't realize it was so many! Wow, thank you Jesus for this HARVEST!!!! It was SO hard to say goodbye for another year. It's times like these, though, that I know I'm coming back. This is what I am called to do.

June 28, 2010 - Talibon

My lizard woke me up again last night. I had just fallen asleep and he started scratching and scratching. I turned on the lights and took out a book, knowing I wouldn't be able to sleep. I could hear him, above the AC blowing, walking around, dragging his belly across the ceiling. About an hour and a half later, I was able to turn off the lights and go to sleep. This lizard is not my friend!

The school we visited today is our longest drive, more than 2 and a half hours. However, I love this school. They are always very well behaved and respond to our purpose there. Also, my 2nd sponsor child is there, Joselle. Here she is, playing a game in the parachute. It's always such a joy to see her again! I started sponsoring her 2 years ago. She had just started Preschool, as a 7 year old. She couldn't communicate... couldn't even tell me her name or age. Now she is able to tell me about her family and ask me about mine. What joy! We were there just a short time, but it was time well spent. As we were leaving, as we normally do, we took a group picture with everyone. In the process, the picture taker dropped my hand-held camera and it broke. I have my bigger, more expensive camera that I can use, but I'm not able to download anymore pictures for you all until I return to the US.

We then drove to Loboc Elementary, a school with 400-500 kids. With such a large group, and us being so small, we have learned to only play games with them and then perform our dramas. We do not do crafts with this group. However, when we arrived at the school, it was closed. They were celebrating their fiesta, which is a 2-day holiday for them to spend with family and friends. We were bummed but now had a free few hours. We drove just down the road to the Loboc tarsier reserve. Tarsiers are the smallest primate in the world, and can only be found in the Philippines. They are cute but kind of remind me of an ewok with really big eyes.

We drove home for a while before heading to Along and Endi's house for dinner. These two are the pastor's of the barrio. They are also the caretakers of the house we stay in. Every year they invite us to their house for dinner and it is my favorite meal consisting strictly of Filipino food. So yummy!

June 27, 2010 - Beach Day

Today was our last full day with BDA. We started off the morning with church. I taught again, the message again being about salvation. Here's a picture of me signing, "hands". Our verse for the weekend was Romans 10:9. The students don't think some of the verses that mention 'mouth,' 'talk,' or 'tongue' apply to them because they don't commicate with their mouth. We discussed this and I substituted the word 'mouth' in this verse, with the word 'hands'. The students seemed to get it and apply it more. Again, it was amazing! The Lord gave me a few examples to show the kids in a more visual way, that Jesus wants a relationship with us and sin blocks that relationship. It was an amazing time and at the end, at least 8 students raised their hands.

We then took the students to the Nature Resort Beach Club. We had a fun time swimming, diving off the island and swimming out to the floats. Zach, a team member, came and found me at one point, because one of his Deaf friends was ready to accept Christ. My team members often bring the students to me, since I have the language to really communicate with them. Most of time, the team members do not sign and either communicate on paper or through gestures. So to make sure this was something Ralph really wanted to do, Zach brought him to me. I always ask the students a few questions that let me know if they really do understand the decision they are about to make. Ralph was in and I led him in a prayer to accept Christ. When we were getting up to finish, Jenry, a Deaf student came up to me and said that she was ready. She and I are pictured to the left. I asked her the same questions as Ralph and she was good to go! Yea, how amazing to be praying with students on the beach! I was SO excited! However, our day with the Deaf was soon closing. I took a shower and we all departed the resort, knowing we would see our friends one last time for their Bible study.

Our team had the evening free, so we went to BQ to do some shopping. I took our grocery list and had at it, meeting the team later at Pizza Hut. We enjoyed the American food and took off for home. I was SO exhausted! At 7:30 I made my way back to my bed. Not only was I sleep deprived, I was emotionally and spiritually spent. What an amazing weekend!!!