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.