Saturday, July 9, 2011

The End

Joshua has been telling us from the beginning that our beach day is the Saturday before leaving and we better be completely dead tired when we go. That I can say is true for the entire team! Especially after the last 2 days of heavy physical labor with a school in the afternoon. I am thoroughly exhausted!!! Today we drove to Alona Beach Resort on Panglao Island. This is our favorite spot. My itinerary: jewelry shopping, massage, lunch, pool, massage, foot scrub, pool. It has been done and it was GLORIOUS! I am still exhausted, but we served hard, played hard, and now rested hard. Tomorrow on the plane, I pray I sleep hard! It was interesting at the beach today. The Lord opened up several opportunities to tell people about our faith and why we are here. We had 6 people, 5 being our massagers, come to accept Jesus Christ today. The opportunity presented itself and we took it as the Lord opening a door. It overwhelmed a lot of us!

We drove home to pack and clean and regroup from our time here. All of us have too many stories to share in a single sitting. If you are reading this, I'm sure you have invested time and/or money and/or prayer into this trip. You may be a parent or a friend. One thing Joshua and I have shared with the group is how you, the people who weren't able to join us on the trip... will have a difficult time understanding our stories. Many students have been changed... I don't think you can come on this trip and not be changed spiritually and emotionally. I have come 8 times now and have been influenced and changed each time. There is no way for you to understand our heart and the passion behind our stories, because you weren't here. It is hard every year for me to go home and for most of my friends and family not to ask about the trip. Pictures aren't shown, stories aren't asked about. I encourage you to do the opposite. Ask to see pictures, ask about the pictures, ask about the stories. Tell them how you have been encouraged by what they have shared. Tell them how you seen them changed by what they have shared. Please ask! Thank you for reading this blog. I am signing off for another year, praying I'll be able to share about what happens in the Philippines next year!

1 comment:

beauty for ashes said...

Was gone for a week to DTQ camp- a God filled week! praise God for all the people that has come to Him!! hope to see you soon- i fly in tomorrow!!