3 months

I have now been in the Philippines for 3 months. It feels like yesterday when I walked out the doors of the Airport.. Walked down the steps to the pick up zone and saw my long friend  Crystal and new friend Daisy jumping up and down waving there arms in the air calling my name. Then walking to the car as people are yelling out to me and kids running up to our car wanting to help put the suitcases in the car. My eyes were wide open staring out the window thinking.. I cant wait to see this place in the day time! There are so many things I am going to miss about this place.

1. kids
2. Kareoke at night- Even though sometimes it was so loud i couldnt go to sleep that night.. It still was great to hear the beautiful voices singing late at night
3. MCDONALD DELIVERY! lol
4. Spending my afternoons with the Salon ladies.. and sometimes even getting my 5 dollar massages!
5. Church services
6. Staff
7. filipino driving
8, the walk to the YMC
9. filipino food... started to love vegetables.. and rice!
10. movie theaters!
11. pool
12. Going on the Feedings
13. meeting new groups
14, spending time with the teens in the community
Since being here I have started to understand a little more of what I want to do in life. I still dont know for certain of everything but the list is being made. The list is beings held high to the Lord.

The other day I was sitting here thinking about back in the day when I was in elementary school and how excited I was to grow up.,, I would hear about stories of other people traveling the world and thought.. Soon thats going to be me.. My dad was always the big traveler in the family. I feel like now I am the big traveler... I am loving this journey. Sometimes I wish it would never stop. I know that going home now is going to be good for me! I am ready to take everything I learned in this entire YWAM experience and use it this Summer! I am not holding back! I am puttting myself out there. I want people to see the crazy, fun girl that exists and has existed for a long time but just needed the push.

Who knows what I will be lead to after camp.. but im ready to find out when the time is right..

Please pray for

1. Safe travels home on Wednesday May 16 & 17th
2. I will be in able to go into Camp Mode easy
3. I will finish strong here and not hold back the next few days
4. Kids International Ministries
     ex: Childrens home, YMC, new pool being built, Feedings, Pregnant moms,  construction on the new classrooms., and finances for anything else taking place.


Thank you all for the support each of you have given me throughout out this trip.. that being financially or just through prayer.

Bless you all!

Week 11!- The world Smaller than it Seems!

This has been such a wonderful week! It feels weird to think that in just 2 weeks it will be coming to a close.. Have you ever wished the world was closer?. Have you wished you can take different parts of different places and put them together to make your wonderful world to live in? There are so many things from everywhere I have gone to in the past 9 months that I would love to still be apart of. I have seen/ loved things that I never knew I would love or still want. I hear the phrase all the time.. "The world is smaller than it seems... now I just wish it was actually smaller. I know I'm excited to go home.. and I'm excited to see friends or family but, I know not long after I am home I am going to miss the adventurous life. Since being here i have fell in love with so many things about this country.. but probably my top thing is the childrens home. The children are the sweetest most precious things ever. To see them smiling at me just breaks my heart. I want to take each of them home with me. I feel like girl in a book I have been recently reading called 'Kisses for Katie'.. As shes in the country shes in she goes through alot of the feelings I am feeling about now. If there was anything I could do I would.. All I need to do right now is wait for God to push me in the right direction. I need to figure out my calling.

Children at the Feeding

 CHILDRENS HOME

 Another Feeding

 Crystal giving out Dolls

The picture above is the place where I spend a huge majority of my time. Kids in and out 24/7. Childrens screaming, laughing, smiling, crying, and just pure joy. To know that some of these kids have gone through the worst in there previous life and now to see what they have become is just incredible. They are happy here. I hear stories all the time about the kids telling the workers...

"I wanna live here forever i dont ever want to leave" They dont know what life is like outside of this place anymore and that can be good but also not good. When the time comes for each of these kids to be adopted I cant wait to hear about the christian families they live with. The kids deserve a continuous life of joy,.. but also a strong christian family.

week 10- My Life is Being Moved

Since being on this incredible journey I  have seen so much happen within the last 10 weeks. My life is changing each and every moment I'm here. The people I have met here have been speaking into my life more and more each day. So much of my heart keeps wanting to pour out more and more on the staff and new friends I have met. I hate been able to take alot of what I learned during my Ywam experiece and share it in the wonderful country! I want to keep focusing on my time here. So many times i start to fade and I cant let it happen anymore! I am going to finish strong. Nothing can stop me! I am going to show these people me at 100 % the rest of the time! I want then to know that I am here for them. I thought i would show you guys some of the people i am with.. and pictures of Teams i have been able to spend time with!!! ill be sure to get more. but i thought maybe you would like to see my time here so far the past few months.. Ill warn you.. there are alot of kids! lol

 ME AND BABY DAISY

OHH Jeepney

 The street!

 Threads of Hope

Community Feeding

Chris john, Cedric, Kenth

Me and Eunice

Colorado and Korean Team

 Mom , baby, and me

 Nola with Baby Daisy

 Marlou and matt

 Everyone we brough for Kirks game!

 Nursery

 Some of the Anges

Tent City!

Week 9

Its now been 9 weeks! I cant believe how much I am learning throughout this time! My life here has been an experience worth living I can tell you that!
  
 I remember when I was in South Africa just walking around in the Christian Bookstore.. I came across a group of girls that I could tell were not from around there... So I decided to speak to one of them asking what they were doing in South Africa.. I found out that they were on the World Race and I explained what I was doing.. Jessica gave me her card and right then and there i noticed that one of the stops she made was in the Philippines. That day was the day I had gotten emails from a friend about some places that wanted me to intern there thus KIM being one of them.. I asked them if they had ever been to KIM before and come to find out.. They had. A few of them had actually stayed there. It was so neat to see God use that moment to show me this is where I needed to be.

There are days where I wake up and think ahhh just 10 more minutes!!!! It brings me back to the days where my mom  would wake me up for school and I would always ask her for 10 more minutes of sleep. I am really loving the work I get to do here in the Philippines. God has challenged me more than ever. You know when you think that He couldnt challege you any more than he does and then in a second you realize he has challenged you in something more greater.. I know what that feels like forsure. I sometimes wonder.. Why.. and then I realize its because he loves me and he knows its good for me and best for me to go through right now. Im learning alot about relying on God during this time... If it werent for Him my life wouldnt be where its at right now.

Never before now have I had to live on my own, buy my own groceries, cook my own food daily, ect.. I have lived in a house of people always there, groceries always stalked high., food always prepared, ect. Being here has taught me alot about what its like to be on your own.. to make your own decisions in life and to know that some will be better than others! I am so thankful for the house I have been raised in. I am learning here a little bit of what its like to be on missions and to keep a close eye on money and really think about what I wanna spend it on. I know its different that being im just 20 and I dont have a family to support or I dont have certain things to pay for like other missionaries but.. its still something I am learning more and more while being here.

Seeing that I have made it this far on my own here really makes me excited for the future i have. and what Future i decide to take. There are so many ideas running through my head I wish I could do them all. God will grant the ones he wants and also put new ones in the pile that I may not be too excited for at the beginning.

Thanks for reading! :)

2 Months!

To think that I have been here in the Philippines for 2 months is so crazy! Only about 5 more weeks I will spend here. Time has flown by faster each and every day! My weeks continue to get crazier and I'm learning so much. I have met some amazing people through this whole experience. People are speaking into my life as I speak into theirs. My future plans are stirring through my head each and everyday that passes.

On tuesday I was really able to spend that day like it was outreach all over again. There was a team of kids and there leaders from Hong Kong that came down for the week. Me and Rona took the team with us as we went on our feeding in Angono.. Most of the time when we go on our feedings we give them the food/ medical care and then when its empty we pack up and head back to the YMC but not this time. The Team was able to feed the families, make balloons for them, hand out clothes, and spend time with the children. We were there for about three hours! It was hot, and man did we get sunburned but it was such an amazing time. The faces on the children were priceless. Now when I explained before that the day felt like outreach this is why. When we were getting ready to go on a prayer walk around the community the team leader came up to me.. Normally I'm not asked to explain things to teams and Rona or other adults are but he asked me. At first I was alittle shocked! It brought back the memory of when I was standing in the feeding home in South Africa and Tracy, our leader, came up to all of us and said " We need someone to share their testimony". The leader asked me to explain to everyone about what a prayer walk is and How it's done. He asked me to lead a group around. It was really differnt to be put on the spot like that but I wasn't scared. Since the experience of YWAM I have been able to do more than I would ever of been able to do before!

Lately I have spent alot of my time with a group of the salon ladies as well as the Childrens home staff.. It has been really amazing to hear some of their stories of how they got where they are today. I spoke with Minda one day and we were discussing alot about my life as well as her life. We talked about our childhood and when we each came to know Christ and the struggles we went through until now. It's really neat that here in the Philippines once you take that time to really get to know someone and visit with someone then, they take the time to really share their lives with you. I think me and Minda spent two hours or so talking about so much. It was so nice to hear about the lives of a filipino. Before leaving that day Minda said something to me that has stuck with me everyday after that long conversation spent with her. Minda told me "I loved hearing your story, because even though you are younger than I you have taught me so much and I have learned so much from you already today." Another Salon lady I spoke to was Yoli. A huge difficulty for some of the salon ladies is there english. They can speak English but it is still sometimes hard for them to come up with the right words and they get nervous about if we can understand what they are trying to say. Me and yoli were able to speak about so many differnt things that day.. I could tell she was worried if I wasn understanding her sometimes but to make her know that I did understand I would sometimes finish the sentences for her and she would get a huge smile on her face because she knew I knew what she was trying to say. God is really using me for different things that I didn't ever see coming.

EASTER EASTER EASTER! i love Easter! One really neat thing I did on Easter was go on a walk where there was different stations that went through Jesus' life all the way to the ressurection! The facts that were brought up to me really hit hard sometimes.. Did you know that, during the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., the historian Josephus accounts that the Roman General Titus had as many as 500 Jews crucified daily? IF you would like to check out what the different stations were online here is a link of them
http://churchsimplified.com/in_study/post/walkway_online_2012/

Thanks for reading.. and The next blog is going to be up shortly. Sorry for the delay of this blog!

My passion in life, My passion for God- Week 7

I recently heard a pastor talk about our passions in church one day.Here is a little of what I got out of what he was saying/ what I am feeling in my heart. Lately I have been spending my days thinking about my passions in life.. There are so many things that I have a passion for. I believe God has truely gifted me in so many different things its so hard for me to pick the one and only thing! I have been learning alot about myself in what I'm good at. I see things about me I never noticed before. I think alot of times we think were not capable of doing the things that God think we are capable of. Everyone has a passion in life and what drives each of us becomes our passions. Dont confuse weath for riches... Some are drived by  a passion of success. We are "Fools for Jesus Christ. Sadly some are driven for a passion of fame and notority.

 Matthew 5:6 says "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
 Psalms 63:1-5 says
¹You, God, are my God,
earnestly I seek you;
I thirst for you,
my whole being longs for you,
in a dry and parched land
where there is no water.
² I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
³ Because your love is better than life,
my lips will glorify you.
⁴ I will praise you as long as I live,
and in your name I will lift up my hands.
⁵ I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods;
with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

Why is it that we are so fearful to seek him?
Is it because...
1. We have a fear he will make a fool out of us?
2. He'll ask you to do something you dont want to do
3. Ignorance of God

A passion for God is not rules/ regulations... passion is your heart, intimacy, love.

Revelations 3:15-16 says "I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am about to spit you out of my mouth."

We aren't meant to loose our passions.. especially for God. God is always with us and going to protect us.. Hes always with me and going to protect me. He knows my passions, hes giving me more and more passions daily.. and even though sometimes I dont feel that I'm capable of doing whatever he asks of me.. I know I can trust him and I should follow his calling for me!

My hands are open to  whatever he asks of me to do. I know before I was super nervous about doing some things but this week I was able to overcome the scare and  just step forward little by little.

The Journey Continues to Strive - WEEK 6-

In the beginning, I was really nervous about coming to the Philippines. I wasn't quite sure what to expect. You always hear from others what they thought about the places youre going to which then makes you more eager to be there.. but once youre there.. then man,you can see a whole different place than what you expected!

1. I didn't expect to live as well as I am living.
2. I didn't expect to see the joy and happiness on so many of the peoples faces.
3. I didn't expect to see hundreds of children in line during the feedings just hoping to get the last scrapes in the bucket before running out.
4. I didn't expect to see people setting up their markets outside of the YMC every day with fish stands, and clothes, and vegetables.

I told my self that if I'm going to be where I am today.. then I must adventure out into the community and meet people.. I told myself that I'm not going to let my time go to waste . There are going to be no regrets! There are a few things I have started doing/plan to do.

1. I have been walking out every day to the lil markets outside of the YMC seeing how theyre doing.. I especially go to the women who sells beautiful dresses. When I see her Ijust see her just searching for someone to talk to.. and I want to be that person..

2. When I went on a feeding this past week I met a family with a super cute baby girl... I was very hesitant about just walking up to there home but took the risk. After about 5 minutes of speaking  with the mother.. I decided this was a family I wanted to visit every week I go back..

3. In the mornings I have been walking up and town the street near by and saying hello to different families. I have yet found the people I want to see every day.. but I am taking my time into finding them.. However long it takes.


After a few conversations with different people since being here... This jump has inspired me so much more! God has brought some incredible people into my life...

I would love for  those of you keeping up with my blog to please.. HOLD ME ACCOUNTABLE to what I just told you about... I dont want to fall behind in any of this. I was to make this time more memorable than ever!

thanks for reading. :)

New blog will be posted soon!