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.