Friday, February 11, 2011

PRAY PRAY PRAY

Please Pray for the Philippines today. Just got an email that fires have been breaking out in the slums in Manila, killing many children and families. I am really worried about my children and their families. Please pray for them!! I will update you all when I have more details. I wish I could be there. It is very hard for me not being there for them and not knowing exactly what is going on. But God is in control. Praying for them this Morning!!

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Saturday 1/22/10 - 7:35 pm

Well the end has come...

I cannot believe I will be leaving the place I have become to Love. It was so hard yesterday saying by to all my babies that were in my class and to all the teachers that became like family to me. And then today saying goodbye to my babies in the Children's Home. I will miss them all so much. God has def. blessed this trip and I am so thankful for that. He never left my side..I am so amazed at how God revealed himself to me. It was wonderful. I know God will continue to watch over my babies here and they will always be in my prayers.

We will be heading out at 2:30 am for the airport and then a 17 hour trip home. Please pray for safe travels.

Thanks for all of you who followed me on this journey. I am so thankful God brought me here and I am excited to see how he continues to reveal himself to me when I am back in the States. Thanks again for the continued prayers while I was gone. They mean a lot and were def. felt. :)

Well this is it for my trip and the ending of this blog until next time. Thanks again. Love you all tons!!

GOD IS SO GOOD ALL THE TIME!!! :)

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday 1/21/11 - 6:45 pm

Today was such an emotional day. I don't even know where to begin. I never knew leaving would be this hard for me. The Filipino people have touched my life. They are completely amazing. The teachers and students at the school have become like family to me. The way they opened up to us and welcomed us in was amazing. I am so grateful that God sent me to the Philippines. It has been such an amazing opportunity to love on these people, to be loved by them, and to feel God's amazing presence. When we were all talking tonight one of my Professors said that God sent us all here for a reason. It is all part of God's amazing plan and a piece of the puzzle for our lives. God is using this to prepare us for his purpose for our life. That was so encouraging to me. I loved thinking in that way. It makes it so exciting knowing God is using this to prepare me for his plan for my life. What is more exciting then that??

The kids were so sweet today. I got so many amazing letters from them all. All day they kept telling me all of these sweet things like...

"Thanks for blessing us"
"May God bless you and may you have a safe trip back to the states"
"Thank you for teaching us and guiding us"
"Thanks for loving us"
"Thanks for singing to us and teaching us songs"

And so many more amazing things...i couldn't handle it..it was so sweet..i lost it. These kids have blessed my life way more then they know. At the end of the day they threw me a surprise party. It was so sweet of them. Their parents brought all of this food in..it broke my heart. My kids are basically the poorest of the poor and they are giving me the best that they have. It just taught me so much. I mean I could not help but be amazed at their families. They did not care that they had nothing, but gave all they could so that I would be happy and leave remembering that they gave there best to me. It made me think of God and how he calls us to give him all that we have. It made me just think? Am I giving God all that I have or am I just giving just enough? I mean these kids just touched my life so much., I am still amazed that they gave me their best. They weren't selfish, they loved me enough to do that. It makes me want to give more of myself to God, why be selfish, he is the one that gave us this life. I just have so much to sort through..sorry if this is confusing. It's hard to put all that I am feeling in words. But the food was amazing. Home cooked meals. Loved it. It was the sweetest thing ever. Then a little boy only ate half of his food and said he was saving the rest for his mom and his sister..i mean that just killed me..how sweet. These kids know alot about true love. They taught me so much today. I am going to miss them more then they know.

Then after school all the teachers had a little get together for us Taylor Students. It was incredible. They did not have a big presentation, or lots of gifts, or lots of food but it was so sentimental and something I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a time of thanking God for this amazing opportunity and a time for the teachers to thank us and for the taylor students to thank them. I loved it and I have never cried so much in my life. God was def. in that place and it was evident. I mean to live so far apart and to worship the same God is incredible. They talked about how much we blessed them and we talked about how much they had blessed us. I can't even put into words how incredible this time of fellowship was. We have become family and leaving them is the hardest thing ever. I am so thankful that God gave us this opportunity to come and be blessed by these amazing people. I will miss them all so much and I hope God willing that I get an opportunity to come back here to see them all again. I love them all so much!!

I am so sorry this is chaotic..i cant even put into words how I feel right now.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Thursday 1/20/11 - 4:35 pm

I cannot believe we only have 3 more days here. This week has flown by.

This morning we had the opportunity to go to Faith Academy. It is a school for missionary kids. There are about 700 kids, Elementary thru High School that go there. It is an awesome campus..on a mountain and over looks Manila. The parents of these kids all work in Manila as missionaries and about 15% are boarding students so they live in a dorm and their parents work in other parts of Asia. It was so neat to see this school. I am so glad we had the opportunity to do this. Some past Taylor students have student taught at this school. So always a great opportunity to think about so it was fun to check it out since we were here. They also gave us cinnamon rolls and coke light..what could be better then that ;)

When I got to school after lunch my kids came screaming to me and gave me the biggest hugs ever. I felt like a mom. They were freaking out and wondering where I had been all morning and they said how much they missed me. I do not know what they are going to do tomorrow since tomorrow is my last day. They are going to be such a mess on Monday, that makes me so sad. They were already missing me after me not being there for 4 hours. I guess it just really hit me, you sometimes don't realize what an impact u make in peoples life until it is time to leave them. They have made such an impact in my life as well. I am so sad to leave them. They kept asking me when I was going to come back and visit and if I would always remember them. Tomorrow will be a tough day, very bittersweet.

I do not know where God will lead me in the future. But I will always remember them and will continue to pray for them :)

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Wednesday 1/19/11 - 6:40 pm

My devotionals again this morning were amazing. I love sitting outside with my coffee and spending time in God's presence. It is incredible. An amazing way to start my morning. :) But when I was praying I was expressing to God how I really am worried that when I go home that I am going to forget what God has taught me here and I want to continue to have this close relationship. So I was expressing my worries to God and then when I opened up my devos he gave me the words I needed to hear. It was talking about how if we continue to seek his face then we will continue to stay close to him and feel his presence. It was the words I needed to hear from God. It always amazes me how he has the exact words I need to hear.
Man have these kids captured my heart. I am so in love with my class. They are so great. They give me so many hugs a day and they just are so loving. They have already given me goodbye letters. It is so sad. I am already sad thinking about leaving them. I have gotten so close to all of them. Their little letters make me laugh so hard though because their English is not very good so it is so funny. I can't wait to show everybody. They are adorable. Also I love going to the orphanage. The kids in the nursery have captured my heart as well. I love going over there and playing with them. They bring me so much joy but it breaks my heart to think that they have no mommy and daddy. I wish I could bring them all home. It is going to be so hard to leave them too and not knowing if I will ever be back :( Yuki was adorable today. When I got to the nursery he was all excited and got down off of someones lap and crawled over to me. Then he started tugging at my legs. So I picked him up and he just laid his head on my shoulder..i love his little hugs.. They make my day. He is sick so he was a little fussy but eventually he fell asleep on my shoulder..i loved it!! I just love them all so much. I wish I could bring them home with me. Just breaks my heart to leave them. But I know they are in  good hands. It will be bittersweet though because I am excited to be home again with my loved ones!!

This is a verse that I ran across in my journal that my best friend got me..loved it:

Psalm 127:3
"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him."

and

Mark 10:16
"He took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them."

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Tuesday 1/18/11 @ 5:40 pm

Today went so well. I had to teach my offical lesson which was observed by my professor. I was really nervous because I was teaching them American Money, but they did so great. The kids were on there best behavior and really interacted well. I was so proud of them. I think my lesson went great. I am so glad it is over. I am teaching a science lesson again tomorrow but I am not to worried about it since I am not getting observed lol

After school today, Teacher Shirley took 3 of us girls to the grocery store. We got to ride a trike and then a jeepney. It was an adventure. It was really fun going with locals...I felt like a local lol. I got lots of stuff to bring home for my family to try I am really excited about it ;) I just hope it all makes it home without breaking lol.

Today was a great day!! Now it is time to do homework!! FUN FUN!!! I can't believe I will be home Sunday..that is so soon!! I will miss my class since I have gotten so close to them, but it will be fun to see my family and friends again, so it is def. bittersweet.

Thanks for all the prayers!! Love you all tons! :)

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Monday 1/17/11 - 6:00 am

We had such a busy weekend that I didnt get a chance to blog. So I will try and quickly tell you all that we saw. It was insane how busy and how much I learned this weekend. It was really fun. Also I am posting some pictures from this weekend...not all because there is a ton on facebook so check them out :)

Anyways on Saturday we went to the Philippines and American Memorial. It was really sad to see how many people died protect the Philippines territory from the Japanese. It was really cool though being a milititary kid and seeing the memorial. It was very nicely done. There is a big circle building in the middle and it has all the names of people that died. It was very neat to walk around that and then they had all these crosses with everyones name that has died. It was really intense and super good.

Then we went to a market to do some bartering. That was very interesting to say the least. I have some stories to tell when I am home. But it was fun to experience a Philippines market.

On Sunday we went to Corregidor Island. This is the place that the Japanese bombed after Pearl Harbor and they tried to capture this island. The United States sent troops over to help protect the Island and to help the Philippines regain control over this island. It was interesting to see how the troops lived and fought on this Island. I loved it. I learned so much about World War 2 it was super fun.

Then we went to Mall of Asia to have dinner. This is the biggest mall in Asia. It was really pretty because it was along the water and the mall was like an indoor/outdoor mall it was weird but super cool.

We had a great fun weekend. Now it is time to start the work week :) I am excited to see my kids again!!

Love you all and thanks for the prayers. Please pray for my last week since I am getting tired, pray I have the energy to make it through my last week. Thanks everyone. Cant wait to come home and share all my stories and everything.

Also check out the pictures from this weekend :)