my last blog… weird

Hello. Writing this is kind of weird becuase I think this will probably be my last blog of the summer. We leave the orphanage on Sunday and so next Tuesday I will be at debrief with all the teams across the Philippines. We all keep asking, “Does it feel like we have been gone from home for two months?” and we all change our answer almost every time. Telling my parents bye at the Nashville airport on June 2 feels like years ago, but then again the summer has flown by. Its really hard to explain because I dont know the answer, it feels like I have been here for a week sometimes and others it feels like I have been here for years. Im going to stop writing about that because that makes no sense. Anyways, hey America!

The money for Joy’s family is in. I was blown away when my mom told me that people really did help out and when she told me about the good amount of money that was given, I was just really excited for Joy’s family. Thank you so so so so so much those of you who contributed. I truly wish I could just fly everyone down here and actually show you things first hand. It is really really frustrating trying to explain things because I can never do anything justice. But just trust me, this money will help this family out so much. The money that was raised will be able to: 1)pay for Joy’s medical bills 2)build the entire family a new house 3) purchase essential things that were lost in their house fire 4) provide them with rice and other food that will last them several months 5) pretty much just be a HUGE help to them considering their house is gone and the mother is not able to work. Thank you guys so much for your help.. so so much.

The Bible studies with the families on the streets and the Bible studies with the youth group of the local church have both been going well. There are several things I could just sit and type about for a long time. I guess it will be easier to explain in person. Bottom line is that God is pretty cool and its really neat to be able to be in the middle of people learning about Him.

I am trying not to type a lot on this blog because I know its my last and I have so much to say. Its just really annoying to have two months worth of stuff that has been huge to my life and try to explain it. When I left America all of my closest friends kept saying, “I wonder how different you will be when you get back?” Well I guess we will see! I think I am still me. Ha, well I know I am still me but i think the biggest difference is probably pretty predictable. I just have a different mindset. This is probably the place where I could type for a very long time but I will spare you. If I had to sum up what I learned this summer, I would probably just have to say that I have learned what a blessing family is. I have learned that things truly do not make people happy but relationships is what life is all about. I have learned that God and I think really differently. I dont really get a lot of things he does. I do not understand why I pass starving kids multiple times a day here. I do not understand why He lets some people suffer so much. I do think I understand that He is smarter than me though and that in the grand scheme of things, He is working all things together for good. For example, I have seen really sad and unfortunate things bring Him glory. I have learned that as a Christian we should not sit there and wait for some “calling” to be a missionary. Whether its local or over seas, the Bible tells all Christians straight forward that we are to go into all the world and tell all nations about Christ. Look, I rambled event though I said I wouldnt. We will just talk when I see you in person if you really want to!

Well, Its Tuesday night here. We pull out of here on Sunday morning. I just got a really big lump in my throat typing that. Its going to be really hard to say goodbye. Really hard. Angel and Moses keep asking if they can come with me to America and I then explain that I do not have a plane ticket for them. They then say they will just get on a boat.   I am going to miss all of these kids. There are about 10 or 12 that I truly am dreading saying bye to. Each of the kids (especially the nursery 7) have taught me different things and they dont even realize it. This paragraph I could make much much longer also but it makes me sad. I am truly blessed to have been able to spend my summer here. I really do think its safe to say I love these kids.

See you guys next week

where did the week go?!

Hello family and friends. This week has been a pretty good week, but they usually are good weeks so nothing new there. I hope you are all doing fabulous at home. This week I worked the afternoon shift. This shift involves waking the children up from thier naps, giving them snacks, playing playing playing, diapers diapers diapers, dinner, showers, devotion, bedtime stories, and then (finally) bedtime!! The afternoon shift gets pretty long but it was fun because it involved lots of just playing and being goofy…and we get to play with the older kids when they get home from school, and the nursery loves that, so it was fun! i have two videos for you this week!!! the first one is putting the older kids down for bed and then the second one is waking the younger ones up.

I already wrote a blog about this , but one of the big events of the week was Joy coming to the orphanage. She was really really homesick and really really sad and just wanted to be with her family so they took her to visit her mom in the hospital and then she went to see her brothers and sisters. Her moms hip is broken so even though thats not good news, it could have been a lot worse. We are still going to help the family get food and rebuild a shelter but thats going to take time.

This thursday the lady who is in charge of the nursery told all of the nursery workers that we had the night off because she had a special outing for us. So thursday night, all of us got to go to a movie theater and see Iceage 3! It was very fun. After the movie we thought the suprise was over but then she took us to an awesome place to eat. It like hung off of a mountain thingy and looked over allllllllll of downtown Manila! it was so pretty. Looking at the city made me kind of feel like i was in Nashville but not exactly. I know Nashville is like this too (but i feel like its much more extreme here), but i think its weird how we can be in such a nice city with such modern things and then turn the street and be bombarded with starving streetkids and have orphanages in every city because families harm or cannot afford their kids. I guess it just makes me see that even though I can be in a really nice place, needs are everywhere still and people are hurting. I think thats the main thing that i have probably realized this summer, that even when I am living my comfortable life and not thinking about people who are in need, they are still  there. Thats probably a pretty elementary idea but I just never really thought of it before i guess?

We have still been doing our Friday night youth things but this Friday we just met with the normal youth attenders of the church and had a really low key Bible study with them about how its really important to share your testimony with people. It went well and they were really cool. Teenagers here are so normal, just like teenagers at home. Once again, probably an elementary concept but it was just so crazy to me how normal and fun they were.

We have begun to help a Filipino lady with a feeding program she does at night time. She makes dinner for street kids a few communities over and they have very little money and very very little food. She provides dinner for them and we have been able to go and help serve them their dinner. They are so grateful and very sweet. Watching them eat is crazy because they literally inhale the food. Thats good though… everybody likes dinner!

yummmmmy !

The Bible studies with the families on the streets have been going well. Keep praying for these Bible studies that we are having in peoples homes because these people are very very interested but also very very confused on some things. This country is a very Catholic based country and many people dont understand how when you pray to Jesus you are also praying straight to Him and God at the same time. Also this country has a whole lot of mormons that come and do witnessing too. A lady named Zyra who we keep meeting with is so stressed out because she believes there is a God but she was raised catholic and she is now involved in a mormon group and she wants to understand the Bible. She asks many difficult questions like: “If God is in control of everything, then why did He choose to make me poor?” or “Why do witchdoctors exist and how do they work” or “How do we know that there is only one religion that is correct?’ All of these questions (and many more) can be hard to explain! So just be praying for our street Bible studies.

a night time street Bible study with our friend Jamel

Today was our day off. We went to the Manila aquarium. It was very very fun. Lots of big fish!!!

I will be home in just a couple weeks. That is weird. Time has flown by but then again I feel like I have been here forever. Well no i dont. I dont know.  Sometimes I feel like i have been here for two weeks and other times I feel like I have been here for two years. But really, two months is nothing! People commit years and years to countries, so I need to chill out.

Have a great tuesday

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for those of you who want to help, here is a good opportunity!

So in the past two weeks there have been a couple of situations that we have encountered that are those kind of situations that make you think, ”whoa, how can life be so bad for someone?’ I have found that in life, it is very very easy to see something, and then feel bad about it, but be so busy that you can easily block your sorriness out for a situation, and then you just eventually forget about it. Even here in Manila I can see a family and feel really bad for them, but then almost forget because i am doing twenty other things. Well here is a story that i cannot block out. Maybe I cant block it out because its right in front of me. I do not know what will come from this blog, but i think that its worth a shot. I am asking for your help.

Last week there was a fire that burned a community of 150 homes to the ground. These homes were not even really something we would call a home in America (5×6 meter one room hut), but they were homes to 150 households. These families literally lost everything they had… which wasn’t very much to begin with. One of the many people of this community is 17 year old girl named Joy.  When I first saw her though, I guessed she was 9 or 10. She is MAYBE five feet tall and her legs and arms are so tiny you can see every detail of her bones. She wears several hand-made bracelets to try and cover her tiny little wrists. Joy has 7 brothers and sisters. Her father died a while ago and her mother has worked as hard as she can to provide for her family. When you are a single mom though with 8 kids in the Philippines though (actually in any country!), your income falls short of neccessary things (food, clean water, shelter, and clothes.) For many families in the Philippines, eating 3 meals a day of plain white rice would be a dream come true, but they cannot afford it.

you can kind of see her arms here

A few nights ago, Joy came to stay with us at the Yun Jin Ministry Center because she is so malnourished and so weak. She does not speak English so I have not exactly had a conversation with her. When she first came she appeared to be extremely nervous, scared, or shy. I think she was just really overwhelmed with all the kids running around. She is now being taken care of by an assigned Filipino staff member and they say she will probably be here a month (or until she gets to a healthy state). She is so so malnourished, has some form of arthritis, and probably a lot of other things that are infected, but we dont know yet. Some of the staff here are going to take her to the doctor soon to get blood work and other tests done.

Ok so when you hear this story you think its really sad, and then it gets worse! Yesterday morning we received even more news. Joy’s mother was hit by a car and is now in the hospital. We don’t know many details about her mom at this time, but we have been told she is in stable condition (but obviously not able to work). We have also decided to not tell Joy at this point, because she is already having such a hard time as it is.

OK so i dont really like writing a really depressing blog, but i guess the good news is that there are teams already that bring water to the community that is in the (long) process of getting their huts rebuilt. I guess i wrote this blog to just see what happens. There is a long road ahead that will hopefully get these families back on their feet, but its going to take a lot of rebuilding and a lot of medical expenses and a lot of  funding for necessary things for the families. I am asking for your help. Whether it be a commitment to pray for these families and especially Joy (her mom and her brothers and sisters  and all of their health) or whether it be 50 cents or five dollars. I dont really know who all looks at this blog so if there isnt really any response that is okay too but if any of you feel led to donate any money to this situation then i will be able to get this money in the hands of the person who is in charge of taking care of Joy and the person who is in charge of helping out the community get back on its feet.

If you would like to send any money at all, to help get food, medical attention, shelter, and clothes for these people, then you can give my mom money and she will put it in my account and i will be able to get it out of a local atm. I think i will just wait a week or so, or lets say until the 21st, and whatever i have then i will go and get and give it to the funds to help. Oh and here is my address if you want to mail her something:

1032 Ralph Hollow Road   Goodlettsville, TN  37072

I know when i left america everybody was low on money, so if thats the case then just pray

i will have a happier more colorful blog on tuesday

hope you are doing well

Hello America!

Well sorry about not updating you who check this every tuesday. I was sick last week but i am way way better now and feeling great so no worries at all. Not too much has happened really. Well i am sure a lot has happened but its hard to pick out random things when i look back over the past two weeks. Bottom line though, everything is great here!

I really thought that word would not travel all the way here to the Phillipines but I was proven wrong last week when I was informed (all within one hour) that Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died together (who would have thought that?!) and that there is a missile pointed at Hawaii?? hmmm . I was upset about Farrah and Michael. The Philippines were pretty interested in the whole Michael Jackson thing too.. Anyways , word does travel fast!

I have been doing the morning shift now. I get to the nursery at seven each morning and stay until one. I like it alot. These kids really have grown on me and its going to be a really hard thing to tell them bye. Its weird because they can be so so so annoying sometimes and so so so smelly and nasty but I guess i either got used to their smelly diapers and toys being everywhere or something because no matter what they do I cant help but love them! Yall would feel the same.. All 35 kids here are so precious. I still help feed them breakfast and then we play and then the older four older kids of the nursery go off to an hour long preschool thing while we stay back with the younger ones and watch them and also clean things up in the nursery. Heartlynn has been peeing on visitors this week. It has been really funny because she keeps doing it to people who are meeting her for the first time. Angel and i got in our first fight this week but now are are over it. She was really mad that i made her come inside and i was mad that she was mad.. but now we are back to normal whew! The orphanage got some new donations in this week and a little boy named JP who is seven years old got a spider man outfit. He has been the hit of the orphanage.

JP sharing his mask with Emmanuel

I have gotten really close to the kids in the nursery and several of the older kids too. Time is wrapping up really fast and its starting to hit me how hard its going to be to tell them bye and that we are going back to america to our families. Why do i deserve a family who loves me way too much when these kids were born into a family who doesnt care about them… i cant figure that one out.

We hosted a youth crusade thingy last friday night and i think we are going to continue to do that each friday night while we are here. We invited tons of people but a small crowd showed up. Its not about quantity though.. quality right?! Well it went well and i hope they only grow from here out, but if not, thats okay!!

A group of american volunteer doctors came here this past week and had a free all day clinic for people to bring their kids in. We brought all of the orphanage kids and for the most part everybody is pretty healthy. Some people had to go to the dentist stand or the eye doctor stand though and they all got new vitamins when they left so that was good.

the beginning (only like 10 percent) of the line for the medical clinic

My friend Christie had a birthday last week and all of us took the night off and went to downtown Manila and went to this karaoke place! When you arent in the slums of Manila, you realize that its a really really nice place! So it was a bunch of American (and a Canadian ) missionaries at a karaoke bar pretty much so we kinda stuck out but we had a lot of fun.

My same friend (Christie) and i were running last week and we found a cat. We named him Phil and we promised him we would take care of him since his mom left him. We took care of him for about thirty minutes but then decided he was kind of annoying, so we took him back to where we found him and we are hoping his mom found him. That was a fun adventure though.

Phil!

School has been out alot for monsoons lately. Which is weird because they are very big deals here! I like it when the older kids get to stay home from school though because they are fun to hang out with too!

I feel like i am being really not fun and really not detailed in this blog, i think i am just tired. yeah i really am tired!

We went to a mega church in Manila last Sunday. It was really great because the spoke english. It was really a huge encouragement and something i kind of needed because it sort of made me feel like i was at home because it reminded me of long hollow in certain ways. There was even a filipino that looked like David Moffit! it was funny.

We got to go on a two day vacation three hours from here for a mid summer/4th of July break. It was a lot of fun. Very relaxing and hot.I was sad to miss the 4th of July at home because i love the 4th of July. As the sun was setting i told it to tell Tennessee hello for me and to enjoy the 4th. When it came back up the next day it seemed to look good, so i figured it had a good time!

The sun on its way to see america for the 4th

I feel like i could type for hours about all these paragraphs but i dont need to do that. maybe that is why i feel like i am being undetailed though.. oh well i still have a little bit more to write.

We are past half way now. Which means we cant put anything off. Our team really wanted to build relationships with the community before just telling them about what salvation is. We have had a month now to do that and i am fully confident that we have done a great job hanging out with people and making relationships… but now, these last three weeks are going to be a lot more about just sharing the gospel and making Jesus known to any and everyone.. We walked around today for a while and asked people if we could come to their houses and do Bible studies. We have four set up in different parts of the community and hopefully we will get more set up. I will keep yall updated though on how that goes. Everybody is very welcoming though! Today five ladies invited us into their hut thing to play bingo! That was fun. We promised them that next week after Bible study we would play again. yay

One thing that i really struggle with is believing that God would really send people to hell. I usually wouldnt write that on a blog but i wont be home for a while so i cant get weird looks. Anyways, that really is one of my biggest struggles and always has been. But today as we were talking to people i was just praying that God would make Himself so real to me that i would not want to pass anybody and not want to share Christ with them. This paragraph may come across weird. For the record, i do believe in heaven and hell. I just dont know why we are so okay with knowing people dont know Christ if we really do think hell is real.

Okay well i am about to read over this and edit it and stuff but i want to apologize for my boring blog. Its frustrating to have so much to write and not know how to even  start explaining. it would just take forever.

well i am out. i will be home soon, which is weird. very exciting and very sad for me too. I have realized how blessed i am. Like holy cow, i have no room to complain about anything. Everybody take care!!!!

love you! (ok some of these pictures are uploading.. ughhhhh) goodnight

lunch time (for the older kids)

tyra after a long day of swimming

Moses

a pretty eventful week :) !

The 7

Andrew

tyra !

Greetings fellow citizens of the United States of America. I hope all is well with you. Right now it is pouring down rain here in the Philippines while you are sound asleep at home (hopefully). I would like to apologize for how long and confusing my last blog was. I do not know what i did to make it format like that but hopefully this blog will be easier to read. Everything is going well here in the Philippines. I would like to wish America a happy late fathers day and i want everyone to know that even though you may have a cool dad, I truly believe i have the best dad in the world. So happy fathers day Allen. I did get to briefly talk to him on Sunday and that made me happy.

It has been a pretty busy and crazy week.. but of course a great week. The Filipino staff who works here year round (the cooks and the people who do laundry and the year round nannys) got to go on a week retreat/vacation because they literally work nonstop. This was great and I am glad they got to do this but this meant that we were literally in charge of all thirty five kids in the orphanage. Well that was crazy. In one hour there were kids on the roof, toothpaste on all of the door knobs, the boys were peaking in the girls bathroom windows, and baby dolls were being thrown into the tallest of trees. We eventually regained control but when Mama Marilyn (a lady who lives here and all the kids call her ”mama”, she is from Canada) got them all in line to punish them , she grounded the whole house from basketball for a week and the ones who were really bad were sentenced to cleaning the drive way.

This week i went running down the road. I have gotten to know several familes that live on the streets and their children are all so sweet. Well i was running and I kept hearing someone or someones yelling. Eventually i turned around and there was five or six little children yelling at me to wait up because they wanted to jog. At first it was cute but then cars started honking at them because they were in the middle of the road. I then decided i did not want to be responsible for them anymore so i walked them all back to their homes (shacks) and then ran away really fast. But i do love the street kids.. very very much.

Friday i was walking up to the orphanage to help Mama Marilyn with laundry. She then told me that there had been an emergency and that Kenth (one of the boys in the nursery that we are usually with) had cut his head open. She told me to go and get Christie (my friend from California who is 24 and also lives here and teaches in the shcool) and for us to immediately take him to the hospital. We quickly jumped in the car with Kenth and took off. I was not really nervous at all until Christie dropped me off at the Emergency Room door. She had to go park the car so i was suddenly in charge. For any of you who have never experienced an over seas hospital, you need to! It was so different. So i walk in and its a big room that looks like a mix between a kitchen and a gymnasium. Beds are just laying in rows and people are in those beds.. just laying out in the open.. So i walk in and i am trying to console Kenth as his head is bleeding. Several doctors come up to me and start asking me a million and one questions about his medical history that i did not know the answer to. Kenth is flopping around everywhere and i suddenly realize that since i have been on night shift and since i have been giving all of the kids their medicine, i knew what medicine he is on. so i then tell the doctor what medicine he is taking and i really did think that i have been giving him medicine for his thyrax. So naturally i told the doctor that he has thyrax. The doctor looked at me funny and asked me if i was sure and i assured him that i give him thyrax medicine. anyways, eventually Christie came back and eventually we got his books with his medical history. the doctor then corrected me by saying that i actually give him medicine for his thyroids and not his thyrax. Ha, i felt like an idiot. to make a long story short, they had to wrap Kenth up and several people had to hold him down, he yelled and yelled but eventually they successfully got an x-ray on his head and he got three stitches. Poor kid. he Slept great that night though.

Kenth after "surger"... poor guy

If any of yal dont know about Angel yet, you should… i am in love with her. Anwyays, Saturday was her 4TH BIRTHDAY!!!! When everyone woke up in the nursery we all sang to her and Angel and i danced. I got her a hello kitty bracelet and a pink outfit. She told me she did not like the outfit but she did like the bracelet. Ha.. whatever. For lunch the whole nursery went to the Jollibee ( kind of like our Mcdonalds).  Everyone had a burger and they had a blast. After lunch we all came back and Christie and I brought Angel and an older girl named Angelica down to the guest house where we live and we baked a cake. We had so much fun. While the cake was baking we painted our nails and played uno. Then we iced the cake and for dinner the whole orphanage had some of her cake. She was proud of it. She had a good birthday. I am very glad.

I have been playing basketball with several of the street boys (including the boy who told me his name is satan). whenever i pass them on the street they always ask me when the next time we can play will be. that makes me happy because i feel like i am building relationships with them even if we are just playing basket ball thirty minutes a day, three or four times a week.

When i am not in the nursery i help in the school with tutoring or i help with the older kids. i got to be the substitute librarian this past week. that was fun.. not!! the kids asked where i was from and i told them Tennessee. They affiliated Tennessee with elvis and farms. some boys tried to get me to say bad words in the filipino language.. but i wasnt falling for that.

I am officially finished with night shift for a while and so that means that now i will be working the morning shift. Which is six thirty to two in the afternoon. This will be a little more energy filled because they will be more awake and we will do lots more stuff, but i am excited. The kids are so funny.

Oh and by the way, Does anyone know why i have had the WEIRDEST dreams almost every single night? its so weird. it is actually very funny. i have had the craziest dreams, dreams that i have never had in america.. is there such thing as travelers dreaming or something? that sounds dumb sorry.

A new team from california is here for a week. They are building a house and today we helped them with construction stuff… it was so hot and we lifted sooooo many bricks. They are nice though but i dont want to keep on typing because i feel like these blogs are just so long.. so if you ARE still reading this, keep on because i am almost finished!

Well..  i actually  do not know what else to write but i dont want to stop writing because i just feel so in touch with yall when i am writing to people! so i hope all of yall are doing absolutely wonderful. i pray for home very very often. I appreciate all of the emails and prayers and encouraging little things.. take care america! i will be back next tuesday and fill you in if anything interesting happens over here on this side of the world.

until later.. so long.

i am a nanny

(Tyra, then Angel who is holding Heartlynn, Chris John, Kenth, Moses, Andrew)   HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!well i have to type fast once again but i am prepared.. i think. i am settled in to the swing of things now. i finally feel like i actually know what i am doing and i know the kids and i know the staff. everybody here is really great. i have met volunteers from literally ALL over (australia, the states, canada, korea…). the fact that i have friends here that are not babies or young children is comforting!i loved getting onto the internet and getting all my emails and blog responses.. so thanks so so much everyone.. that really makes me feel like i still kind of exist in the states. i really dont like not knowing what is going on but i guess i am kind of getting used to it. i feel like if a bomb dropped onto america i would not know about it. but lets pray that doesnt happen  i did get to talk to my parents this week for about fifteen minutes and believe it or not, that really cheered me up.this past week i worked the night shift. which means that i worked in the nursery from 8 PM to 8 Am . i thought that would be a breeze and that i would just go in and sleep. well i learned that cute little innocent kids turn into really annoying and loud monsters at two, three, and four in the morning. But honestly, towards the end of the week i got pretty good at making them be quiet and go to bed. i can mix formula and put it in a bottle in a pitch dark room like a pro.  AND i can hold a kid on one arm and rub the other kids back with my other hand and pet a kid with my foot all at one time now! When the children would wake up at six in the morning i give them their medicine and then their breakfast (there are 7 children in the nursery from the age of 11 months to 4 years old). after breakfast that means it is time showers! me and my partner amanda eventually figured out a pretty quick way to change diapers, get them in their bath, dry them off, put new diapers on, put dry clothes, and brush hair and teeth and stuff. so i must admit that the night shift isnt that horrible.. kinda fun. it is when i am giving them their medicine or giving them their shower or calming them down after a bad dream that i realize that i am not working at a day camp.. but that these children really do not have parents coming to get them.. thats when i kinda just wanna cry. angel is a three year old girl (she turns four this saturday) and i have grown to love her.. i want my parents to adopt her so anyone who reads this and then see my parents.. just encourage that.. i think a baby sister would be neat.. and she is absolutley wonderful.. i wish all of yall could meet her.. but then again there are 34 other kids i wish yall could all meet.. they are all great…every day jessica and i take a break and walk down the street which is about a mile and a half long. at the end of the street is a little market where we buy juice. this has turned into a fun part of our day because the community is very sweet and very interested in why we are here.. we have begun to build relationships with the people who live on the side of the street and that is something that excites me! one day we were in the market buying our juice and an older local lady asked where we were from. i told her we were from the states (we are not from america because that means that we could be from canada or south america also) and she suddenly backed far away and told us to go and get quarantined because we probably carried the swine flu. i explained to her that there were very few cases of that in america and i promised her i was safe.. she then got back to normal distance and told me to atleast go wash my hands.. it was funny.. besides that, everyone acts like we are a mix of celebrities and aliens. i guess because of our skin. its kinda funny.every night at six thirty the orphanage has a Bible study for the children. this is fun because all the kids sing and dance and then we have little devotions. we then send the older kids to bed and then i head up to the nursery again and we put the babies to bed. then our team has devotion and play madgab or catchphrase or something and then its night shift.oh this is a random fact about filipino people: they do not believe in toilet paper.. therefore, if you are anywhere public, you must make sure you have toilet paper in your purse.. we learned that the hard way the food here is different. the mangos are something that i have become obsessed with.. my mouth just watered when i typed that.i sent some mail out.. well actually that is a lie. i was going to send some mail out today but my friend who i met here is going back to kansas tomorrow and she is going to mail letters from the states because that will be cheaper and that will get to tennessee a lot faster.. i dont have a lot of adresses i wish i did so if you want a post card.. just send me your address on facebook or something and i would love to write you.. also, i have gotten several requests for my address.. this is not me saying , “hey send me mail” but if you want to, send it here :  (Line 1): Yunjin Ministry Center (Line 2): #3 Birds of Paradise Street (Line 3): Brgy. San Juan, Valley Golf (Line 4): Cainta Rizal, 1900 Philippinesnow… today was our day off. we went to the shopping market. since we are white, they set the prices very high at first so i always tried to cut the price in half.. haha i need to work on my bargaining skills. one US dollar is worth 47 filipino pesos.. so things are pretty cheap anyways.well i dont know what else to write.. i am going to wrap things up. sorry this is so long but this is the only time i get to get on here! people keep asking what they can pray for.. i appreciate everyones prayers. honestly i dont want to spend a whole summer just being a nice person and come here and just help. i want to make an eternal impact in peoples lives. i know that wouldnt be my work but i want God to work thru me as much as He wants to. so pray for me to just not get in the way of any eternal life changes that God wants to make in anybodies lives. Two days ago i was playing basketball with three sixteen year old boys. I was joking around with them telling them they would never be good enough to play in america, they seemed to like  joking about how good they were, so i just stuck with telling them how bad they were because it kept them talking to me! haha reading over that sentence makes me sound really mean but we really were just giving each other a hard time. anyways when they asked me why i was here i told them. they then told me that Jesus was not real and then one of the boys told me that his name was satan. ha.. i tried to stay cool becuase i wanted them to think i was cool and keep playing basketball with me. it kind of freaked me out though. my friend amber told me that she saw one of them on the street the next day and he asked where i was. he referred to me as his girlfriend..  (i am making sure to clear that up dad so dont worry)… but the point of my story is that i am just praying that i can build relationships and slowly show Christ thru that instead of just throwing a Bible in peoples face. so pray for me and these teenage boys (one who is named satan supposively lol) and just pray that maybe they will understand that im not crazy for believing in God.ok.. i love yall. i was reading my emails today and my friend rebecca was like, “geeze, you are just glowing.” and i was like, “yeah.. i love my friends at home and family”. today jessica told me that we would still be here for six weeks. i got a sick feeling in my stomach. but i only get my sick feeling when i think about that. i am just focusing on getting to the fourth of july right now.. ok love yall.. i will try to write next week.. sorry this is so long.                                      oh and hey nana and paw paw.. mom told me that yall are checking this religiously.. so happy late birthday nana.. mahal kita (i love you in filipino)

 

 

 

i am officially at the orphanage

Hey yall. i am gonna type real fast.

A. i am alive and well

B. i actually just go to the orphanage a few hours ago and have been at orientation on the other side of the philippines for the past four days

C. my team members are pretty great

D. when it rains here it comes often, fast and hard

E. i miss people and home a lot but i need to get over that

F. i am praying for yall at home too and thanks to those who are keeping me in their prayers

G. cold showers arent too bad after the first couple of minutes

H. Filipino drivers are HORRIBLE!!!

I. people think we are celebrities and we have taken random pictures with random peole just because they want us too because we are white

J. i am over jet lag now but it is kinda hard mentally to keep thinking about what time it is at home and what is going on becuse it makes me sad.

K. the kids here are so so so so sosososososososososososososo precious

L. i have been waking up at five and going to bed at 8 (my parents would be proud)

M. i keep forgetting i cant drink the water here and its annoying to have to use bottle water to brush my teeth.

N. flying into manila was really pretty because the parts of the country that arent straight up poverty are really bright and pretty.

O. out of one eye you can see the most amazing house and the most amazing car and out of the other eye you can see a starving kid begging for a cracker

P. I have made some great new friends but really miss everybody from home alot already

Q. i wish i could write more intersting and detailed things but we are about to go to the city to get some things.

R. i miss you

my last layover in hong kong

ok so i have to type fast because i just do but i am now in hong kong.

leaving home this morning was sad. but i mean it wasnt too horrible at all.

seeing another country is kind of like seeing a famous person! like i always hear about china and i knew that china existed but its like kind of intimidating when you are over an ocean for fourteen hours and then BOOM there is this big land with lights.. but then its like once you really look at it you realize that the famous person, or this foriegn country isnt really that intimidating. they have rain too! and they have star bucks. but then again it is still really different.

i took a lot of sleeping pills before i got on the flight to hong kong.. so i dont really remember much about the first ten hours.. but then the last four and a half hours i walked around and played tetris and listened to music.

everyone here wears a mask over their face.. its really funny looking when everybody does that.  jet lag is weird.. we americans are wide awake because its evening time at home.. but its real real real early in the morning here. so i am sure we are being typical loud americans. but i like amicans.

ok this is the last cool thing.. when you get off the plane in hong kong the have like temperature detector cameras and if your body is too hot then you have to get pulled aside and checked to make sure your not sick.

oh and i hate not having window seats.

oh and i sat by this lady who spoke no english and so the only thing we knew to do was laugh together, so we sat there and both just laughed for like two minutes after i asked if she spoke english.. it was awkard.

my cell phone officially has no service .

ok one more plane ride to manila. i realized i have been spelling manila wrong.. oh well

until later, have a nice evening america!

This is my first blog.. i leave real soon

Hey yall. Several people have asked me to try to keep contact while i am gone this summer.. so this is my attempt.. it may not work out.. but  i hope it does this may not be  the snazziest or most beautiful blog page but i will worry about that later. i hope to be able to put pictures up eventually.i think i get internet every monday and so i hope to be able to update you over here in america with what is going on.

Here is a quick summary to catch you up!!! i am still at home right now.i am still in the middle of getting everything together for my departure and i dont really plan on going to sleep tonight. 

about five or six months ago God really laid it on my heart to stop being so darn consumed with my life and my worries and my plans and my wants but to just trust Him and to go and actually do something that didnt consist of me getting complete benefits from it. so even though i am not super spiritual and i struggle with things all the time, i have never ever ever felt so strongly about the fact that God laid this on my heart and mind to look into giving my summer completely to Him. I started to look up stuff on the internet and this one trip kept coming up and it really caught my attention and i really had a peace about it… SOOOO bottom line is that now i am getting ready to head to the philippines tomorrow afternoon and work in an orphanage for two months.

i am really nervous. just mainly because i feel like two months is a really long time. but when i do get nervous i am always comforted by the fact that i know that i know that i know that i know that this trip is completely put together by God. so even though i am scared to leave the continent, i am excited to see why God does weird things like this.

Satan is real real good at making me feel like i am really insignificant and not worthy enough to serve Christ in such capacity this summer but i am kinda comforted by that because i know that that only means that satan wants to keep me from doing some neat stuff… i dont know maybe i am wrong.. but i truly hope this trip is full of whatever God wants it to be full of.

ok i have more things to do before i can go to bed.. so i need to do those..i really dont know if anyone will read this but i am going to try my best to update it as much as possible.

America.. i love you! i will be back soon, dont forget me please

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