"Welcome Home..."
Today, I want to share with you another one of my Philippine stories. I'm going to attempt to do a new one every Friday. (please don't hold me to it) Maybe a Filipino Friday? That sounds wonderful. If you know of a story you'd like for me to share, please don't hesitate to let me know.
July 2008, I made my first trip to the Philippines. I was scared, but just a little. Mostly, I was completely overwhelmed with excitement! I had been praying for the opportunity to go on a foreign mission trip for years, and was thrilled God had finally opened up the door. Our first week of evangelism was totally overwhelming. I was amazed at all God was doing through us, through me. I had never in my life witnessed to that many people, and it was overwhelming. The weekend finally come,and we were all excited for what we thought would be a restful weekend. We were so wrong. It was totally exhausting, but totally beautiful. We traveled the entire weekend to get to our destination. It was my first experience at Uncle Dicks Home! I don't know what I expected when preparing to go, but God blew my expectations out of the water big time. I fell head over hills in love with those kids. I knew in my heart that God would lead me back there again. He is so faithful. The following year I wasn't able to go because our island was so far away from Gen San. However, 2010 I was back again. It was even more wonderful than the first time I went (and I didn't think that was possible), and I left with the peace that I would see those kids in less than a year. I spoke with Mr. Bob about it and thankfully got his approval. I come home and wrestled with the Lord about my plans before finally getting peace that I was to go and live a little while in January 2011...less than 6 months away.
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| First trip-- July 2008 |
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| Second trip-- July 2010 |
After months of preparing and fundraising, I finally took off on my six week journey. When I finally arrived at the airport in General Santos, I was terrified. Some very rude men made some very inappropriate comments to me on the plane, and I dreaded being in the small airport with them. On top of that, General Santos is very dangerous because of its high Muslim population, and the home of a very dangerous terrorist group. When I finally saw Nanay and Tatay I was relieved! Nanay welcomed me with open arms, and very excitedly exclaimed, "ah..welcome home Emily, welcome home!" At those words, tears filled my eyes, and I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt I was exactly where God wanted me to be. The journey home was very long. We took care of some business in town, stopped at a sari sari store on the side of the road for a snack of corn, and grabbed some Jollibees! At last..we were home! I was so excited to see those precious familiar faces. I was overcome with happiness as thirty five children come racing toward me with open arms saying, "we've missed you Ate Emily, we've missed you!" Those days were precious, and so so few.
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| Such a fun day at Lake Sebu with the third year high schoolers. |
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| KB! This shirt, with all of the kids handprints, is one of my favorite possessions. |
That was the first day of what was a beautiful several weeks. I long for those days back at UDH. I miss singing praises to God every morning before breakfast. I miss getting up in front of everyone on Wednesday and thanking God for all things. In moments of having nothing, I realized what true thanksgiving was. Thanksgiving for water, even though it was ice cold. Thanksgiving for a bed and blankets, even though they were uncomfortable and soaking wet from humidity. I found true, raw thanksgiving. I miss that. I long for that back in America. Days of simplicity. Days of spending hours in the Word with the broken and fatherless. Days of singing at the top of my lungs with kids who thought I sang like a superstar (if you've heard me sing, you would question their hearing :) Days of playing with kids until my feet were covered in blisters. I want those days back.
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| We carried our fruit juice to church. If you had four hour church services you would too :) |
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| I was the first American to get to hold baby Juter :) |
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| My sweet little Angel. My last day to walk the children to school. As you can tell, I was a bit emotional. |
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| One last picture by "the view." It's breathtaking. This was on my very last day at UDH. |
I pray the Lord leads me back to UDH soon. I miss those kids, and pray for a visit again soon.
I pray their hearts are full of joy, happiness, and most of all God's unending love.
26 schools.
The following morning we were assigned our teams, and headed out. Kelsey was on my team for the very first time on the trip. We were super excited to spend some time together...until we remembered our little competition.
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| We quickly snapped this picture before going separate ways! Please remember we were in a third world country, and excuse the nastiness. |
Kelsey and Pastor Teddy rented a motorcycle, and stayed closer to the city, and Pastor Steve and I headed up the mountains on the Jeepney. It was a WILD day. Steve and I literally were running from one school to the next. Don't get me wrong, we were taking our time with all of the students, and soaking up every moment with them. However, we were not sticking around for any snacks after we shared the gospel with them.
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| These were taken as we were traveling to our very last school. I am not sure about the "park," but the rock was beautiful. The view back behind this rock was absolutely breathtaking. |
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| The view as we were going around the mountain. |
Steve and I were so far remote we did not have any cell phone service to contact Kelsey and Teddy. We figured they were still getting schools. Our goal that day was 30. Surely no one would beat that. Steve and I finished up school number 15 around 4:20 p.m. The T.I.C (Teacher in Charge) told us it was about a 30 minute drive up to the next school, and they dismissed at 4:30 so it would be impossible for us to speak there.
We quickly ran to the Jeepney, and hurried around the mountain just as fast as the old blue jeep would go. In the process, we were going through MASSIVE mud holes. Seriously, they were huge. Needless to say, Steve didn't brake at all. Probably about half way there we hit a hole, I come completely off my seat, hit my head on the metal top, and come back down and hit my ankle on the metal part of the door. That little incident resulted in chipping my ankle bone. Had I have told Steve the pain I was in, he would have immediately turned around and headed back to the hotel. So, I screamed and cried inside and kept telling myself the pain I was feeling was nothing compared to the joy the kids at the next school would have after I shared Jesus. We finally arrived to the end of the road. Confused, Steve asked one of the villagers where the school was. He pointed straight up the mountain. I quit counting after the 500th step, but trust me it was much more than that. By the time we got there I absolutely could not breathe. Thankfully, the children were still there. They were more than happy to hear what the Americana had to say, so I shared Jesus, and they all accepted.
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| See the level we are standing on? There were stairs from that level down to where the metal roof building is. From that point down is where I counted the 500+ steps. Exhausting, but totally worth it. Look at those sweet faces. As we were about to leave, a little old lady, who had also heard me speak, come up to me and said something like, "Thank you so much for coming all this way to see us. You climbed all those stairs, and I'm so thankful." With tears in my eyes, I hugged her and told her it was my pleasure. I then asked her to please take a picture of me and Steve. She told me she had never seen a camera before, and did not know how to use it. I proceeded to show her how to capture a picture, and she just giggled. |
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| I think she did a pretty good job :) Kelsey and I did not reach our 30 schools that day, but we were still the winners! We beat all of our American friends, made it to 26 schools! **We went so hard, I had so much dust in my hair by the time we finally got back to the hotel that my hair looked solid grey. #gross |
A purple shirt guy vs. two girls with a curling iron and plastic chair...
Usually whenever I share one of my Philippine stories with you, it's one of great joy because of one coming to Christ. However, this one is a bit different. This one just might make you laugh! While I was at Uncle Dick's Home, many crazy things happen. So many that I probably don't even remember many stories, but this one I don't think I will ever forget...
Like all days, Bekah and I got up at the crack of dawn to head off to breakfast. I don't remember exactly, but I am almost certain we enjoyed some oats, coffee, and mango. We then walked the kids to school, and began getting ready! You know how when you watch TV shows such as Little House on the Prairie, or you read books that are set "back in the day," they will often mention the rare occasion of "going into town." It happens once a month..maybe? Well, that is how living at UDH was. It was a rare occasion to go into town. I actually remember wearing a little nicer t-shirt and shorts, and trying to fix my ponytail just a little better for the occasion! We were headed to the market! To get to the city, which was about an hour and a half away, we had to take a Jeepney. This is not the kind of Jeepney that I speak of when telling stories about going out preaching at the schools. It's different. It's a little larger, and often has crazy designs on the outside. (I'll try and post a picture later). We finally got to the market, made our purchases, and began our journey back. There were three of us with several huge boxes. At the grocery stores in the Philippines, they usually put your purchases into a box and tape it up really good. As we loaded our boxes into the Jeepney, we suddenly were hit with the reality that we were out numbered by our boxes. The drop off place for the Jeepney was actually a little walk from the orphanage, and we just didn't quite know how we were going to make it! We spoke with the driver, and he agreed to take us to UDH, and drop us off. We soon regretted that request...
We then noticed, purple t-shirt guy. In the Philippines, it is 100% normal for the Filipinos to stare at the Americans. The majority, especially up in the mountains, have never seen a white person, and they are very curious of you. However, this guys stared a little, okay..a lot, more than your average Filipino. Not going to lie...I was a little freaked. Bekah and I felt like a piece of meat hanging in the meat market. Not fun. We finally arrived back home! I was so nervous knowing that the purple t-shirt guy (in case you haven't figured out yet...he was wearing a purple t-shirt) knew where I lived! The remainder of the day, Bekah and I would frequently bring it up in conversation. Maybe we were over reacting just a bit. I think it's safe to say we were, but let's keep in mind we are getting like three hours of sleep a night (on a good night), and we just so happened to be living in a Muslim populated area. So..I think we had the right to be a little over reactive :)
The day wound down, and like a lot of nights Bekah and I decided we would watch a movie. About the only movie we had was Sweet Home Alabama, which was perfectly fine with me because it is absolutely one of my favorite movies. I thought I had just about every line memorized in the movie before my time at UDH, but now I KNOW I do. It become almost a nightly routine to pile up in either Bekah's bed or my bed and watch it. This night was no different, other than the fact that we still haven't forgotten purple shirt guy.
Before I finish...let me paint you a picture of the building. The building where our rooms were is the boy's dorms. The boy's have their rooms, then there are two house mom's who each have a room. Bekah's room was right beside Mama Lynn's, and to get to my room you had to go through the other house mom's room, Mama Gwapa. She would sometimes forget that I hadn't come to bed yet, and she would lock me out. I eventually figured out a way to tie a string around the lock, and throw it over the door so I could open it from the outside. You figure out all sorts of ways to do things in the Philippines :) Anyway, so the building has rooms, but it's basically one big room. There are walls separating; however, the rooms have no cielings. So you can toss things over, and talk to one another from room to room. This particular night I went into my room to grab my pillow for the movie, and decided to leave my light on. My light being a light bulb that was plugged into the outlet. I also decided to turn my fan on so that my room would be semi cool by the time I went to bed. We watched the movie, and I left to walk down the hall to go to the CR (comfort room, which isn't really comfortable at all!), and then to bed. About three feet down the hall I realized there was an odd shadow above my room. It was moving in random motions so I knew it couldn't be just some object projecting a shadow. My mind was going crazy. Maybe it's a bird. Maybe a lizard or rat is running in front of my light. OR Maybe it's purple shirt guy. IT'S PURPLE SHIRT GUY! I ran back to Bekah's room, slammed the door, and tried, unsuccessfully, not to go into panic mode! Bekah then looked, and freaked too. For the next couple of hours we would stand up on her bed to peek over at my room to see if the shadow was still moving. It was. And not in any type of repeating motion. It was all over the place. We just knew he was walking around in my room. Going through my things. Waiting on me to come to bed. We were sooo freaked out! Oh..it's so embarrassing to think about now! haha. Everyone in the house was sound asleep. It's like one in the morning! Eventually, we decided the problem wasn't going to fix itself, and no one was awake to help us...so we had to do it ourselves. We are big girls right? Of course we are. So, we did the thing that any logical person would do who thought there was someone potentially dangerous in their room. We plugged in a curling iron! As soon as it was hot, Bekah grabbed it! I grabbed the plastic chair from her room, and we headed out. The purple shirt guy was soon to meet his match: two girls...one with a hot curling iron, and one with a plastic chair. It was on! We tip toed down the hall, walked up to my room, counted to three, and kicked the door! Yep..it was purple shirt guy..NOT! (I'm literally laughing as I think back on this) I remember just standing there with my plastic chair, laughing hysterically at what I saw. My room was perfectly fine. No purple shirt man. No lizard running around (other than on the wall). No rat (very unusual). The odd shaped shadow above my room just so happen to be the curtain for the window. Yep..that's right. How embarrassing. As the fan was rotating, it was blowing the curtain in front of my light which was throwing random shadows on my wall, and onto the main roof. Guess the purple shirt guy was harmless after all....
P.S.
This probably is one of those had to be there kind of things, and is only funny to us. But...I'm laughing hysterically so it's okay :)
Have a blessed day :)
We can sleep when we get to Heaven...
It was our first day in the schools after arriving in the Philippines. We traveled on four airplanes, and a jeepney before we finally reached our island. We had had no sleep in 51 hours. I had reached the point of complete exhaustion. Words can't even describe how my body felt, and how my mind felt like it was shutting down. We had arrived on our island, Souther Leyte, around noon. We grabbed lunch (airplane food makes me sick; therefore, I hadn't really eaten in 3 days), put our things down at our hotel, and headed out to preach! The team I was on only had three schools that evening, because 1) there wasn't a lot of time, and 2) three schools feels like 300 whenever you're so tired you can barely stand. There were three people on my team: myself, Darrah, and Josh. I did the first little school. I remember feeling completely overwhelmed with excitement and energy (definitely a God thing) as I shared with those precious children. It's always so spectacular for me to return and once again be able to share God's love with the Filipinos. So humbling. Anyway, as we were at our last school for the day, I remember sitting there listening to Josh preach and thinking to myself, "Only a few more minutes, and finally I can get some sleep!" Ha. God always has other plans. I just so happen to glance out the window and see a little old lady walking around. Sometimes the adults will let their curiosity get the best of them, and they will make their way over to the window to hear what the Americans have to say. This lady didn't do that. As she continued to non chalantly walk around outside, I was battling with God. I felt Him pressing on my heart so hard. He wanted me to share with her..there was no denying it. The human in me kept saying "I'm too tired," or "she won't speak English." I knew I had to talk to her, but I decided I would wait until Josh finished speaking so that I wouldn't disrupt the children by getting up and making an exit. I then saw her walk out of sight. My heart sank. I began praying to God that He would please just bring her back so I could speak with her. Josh finished up the message, and as we walked out I saw the most relieving thing. She hadn't walked off after all. She had simply just sat down. Although I never mentioned this to anyone, I felt in my heart that she had simply sat down to wait. Wait and see if she mattered enough to me for me to share with her what was so important that we would interrupt school to share with the children. I ask one of the pastors with me if he cared to translate. Of course he didn't. I walked over, and introduced myself to this lady. I could tell she had a very curious look in her eyes. She was excited to hear what I had to say. I shared with her that I give up several weeks of the year to come to the Philippines to share very good news with her people, all because I love them so very, very much. Just at that statement her eyes filled with tears. As I begin to share about Jesus with her, I could see the eagerness to hear what I had to say next. She could hardly wait for the translator to hurry and interpret what I had said. It was a beautiful thing. She accepted Christ that day. It was so cool to see that if I will just put my own needs, or wants rather, aside, and let God move, mighty things will happen. He had other plans for me that day than getting sleep, and I am so thankful He did. There is nothing greater than bringing hope of eternal life to someone who has no hope at all. Whenever we left she had a huge smile on her face. I can't wait to see her again one day in Heaven!
A heart for the orphans..
As I frequently share throughout my blog, I have a heart for orphans. I love the broken ones. The ones without a home. The ones without a family. Without hope. For the Philippine trip this summer, our team, the Mississippi team, was assigned to the island of Southern Leyte. Like most places in the Philippines, it was filled with beautiful scenery, as well as beautiful, friendly people. However, it wasn’t South Cotabato, which is where the orphanage, Uncle Dick’s Home, is where I previously spent several weeks at this year. From the very moment I found out I would not be able to return to UDH, I was very disappointed. I have such a crazy love for the children there, and I just could not imagine returning to the Philippines, and not being able to see their little smiling faces. We arrived in Southern Leyte, and I was still a bit bummed out. Many of my friends would be going to UDH, and I simply thought it wasn’t quite fair. I prayed for strength to carry on, because their was a very important task at hand. Most of all I prayed for wisdom, because I knew God did not give me a heart for orphans only to be disappointed because I was miles and miles away from the ones I loved so dearly. God answered that prayer more amazingly than I could have possibly imagined.
God revealed to me just because I couldn’t go to UDH did not mean I couldn’t help some orphans. I talked to my pastor, Ray, and we planned to find an orphanage on our island, and arrange a time to go minister to them. What we found was a Catholic school, who would not let us in. It was the only orphanage on the entire island. Once again, I was disappointed and frustrated. I asked God, “Why? Why give me this desire, and not allow me to use it? Not allow me to minister and love on precious orphans?”
It was a Wednesday, and I was alone with Pastor Ruel. We had finished our schools up by noon, and were having lunch at this little chicken and rice place. As we were sitting there, the Lord began to speak to me through Ruel, and he wasn’t even aware. Ruel began to ask me about my love for the orphans. He told me of how there was no orphanage there, and it was very sad because there were many “garbage kids” around. What that means is the children are homeless, without families..they live on the street, and as a means of survival they dig through the garbages to find things that can be sold for pesos to buy themselves food. As he was explaining that to me, he looked over to the street and said, “Look..there is one now!” As I looked I saw this boy, who looked to be maybe thirteen years old, walking with a carton of trash. I will never forget the sad look he had on his face. Even today, I think about him and wonder where he is. Is he still alive? I may never know, but what God showed me as that young boy walked by was that I don’t have to have an orphanage to help a helpless child. I felt like an idiot. Why hadn’t I already thought to go find one off of the street. They are worse off than an orphan already in an orphanage anyway. My next question stunned Ruel. I asked him if it would be possible for me to just go onto the street, find an orphan, take him/her shopping, and bring him/her as my dinner guest. His face immediately lit up , and he said “of course! Of course!” I got back to the hotel and asked Ray just to make sure it was okay by him, of course he agreed. Darrah had just gotten back to the hotel, so she decided to go too. We loaded up in the jeepney, and I prayed. I prayed the Lord would make it so very clear to me which orphan he wanted us to take in for the evening. I had seen many walking the street that week, and knew that it would be tough to just choose one. However, to my surprise we couldn’t find even one orphan. We drove around. We walked. There were none to be found. I know it was God working, because soon after Ruel began to get frustrated and think we wouldn’t find one, we ran into this family Ruel knew. They told him of two children, a boy and a girl, who had been taken away from their mom, and temporarily left with their grandmother. Ruel asked if we would like to go get them, and we immediately said yes. As we drove to their home, Ruel began to tell us their story:
The boy was one and a half years old, and the little girl was four years old. They had lived with their mother and father their whole life until four months ago. Although they had previously had a home with both a mom and dad, it had not been a good childhood. Both of their parents had been heavy on drugs. Their mom got pregnant sometime last year, and her husband, their dad, left her for another woman, resulting in their mom, Jen, going absolutely crazy. At six months pregnant she aborted the baby by stabbing herself. At that point the two children, Jen and Gino, were taken away from her and temporarily put into the grandmothers care.We finally arrived at their grandmothers home, and saw the children. The grandmother was really reserved about us being there, and a bit skeptic. Ruel asked if we would like to see their mom, Jen. We said yes, but I have to admit..I was kind of scared. He told me that she was up at the top of the mountain, hand cuffed to her hut. After a bit of a hike, we reached her. The site I saw was hearbreaking. This twenty one year old mom, had let drugs ruin her life, and cause her to lose her own children. She was sitting on a little bench in her hut, hand cuffed to the side. All she had on was some old raggedy shorts, and a hat. The hat was strapped to her, because if they didn’t keep her hair covered she would pull it out. She sat there humiliated. She made no sense. She was constantly singing, counting, and lashing out. She was honestly out of her mind. It broke my heart. We left, and gathered the two children, and their grandmother in our jeepney. This was more than I had prayed for, and I was soo excited. Not only did we find an orphan, but we found two, and a broken grandmother. We took them to the market, and helped each of the children pick out a new outfit and a toy. After we found everything in the store that we were looking for for the children, I told the grandmother to find herself something. She looked at me so puzzled, and said “me?!” I told her yes of course, anything she would like. After quite a bit of searching she settled on this two piece green outfit, and a new pair of flip flops. We took them to the pharmacy and picked out some hygiene items, and off we went to our hotel. Many times during our shopping the grandmother would cry. She couldn’t get over the fact that we were doing this for them. After arriving at the hotel, we took them into our room, and let them shower. I wish everyone could have seen it. The little girl absolutely had a party in there. They had never seen a shower before, and while the little girl loved it, the little boy was scared to death of it! They were all nice and clean though, and were very grateful for the opportunity. We took them down to dinner with us. They were very poor, and didn’t have much food so they were very grateful. After dinner, Suzanne spoke with the grandmother. She got to share with her hope. Hope for a better life. Hope for eternal life. It was an incredible site to watch her face change from being so hopeless, to knowing there was light at the end of a very dark tunnel. Then, the time I had dreaded all evening came. We had to take them home. The whole ride there, my stomach ached. When I left UDH in March, it was heartbreaking; however, I knew I was leaving them in good care. With Jen and Gino, I didn’t know that. It was very hard to say goodbye, but the Lord got me through. I still think about them everyday. I wonder if they have been taken to a good home. I wonder if they have had food that day. I ask that you would please remember these two precious babies in your prayers.
*Pictures taken by Kelsey Migliore
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| This was taken in my room, right before they got to shower! |
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| Me helping Gino eat. To the left is their sweet grandmother. |
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| One of the toys we bought |
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| They loved the mango, but who doesn't :) |
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| Jen..she's a little doll. |
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| Loving some chicken and rice! |
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| Right after dinner, she climbed onto my lap, and went to sleep. It was amazing how we went from her being scared of me, to her knowing she was safe in my arms. I'll always remember that sweet face. |
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| Coloring before they got all cleaned up! |
This post is long enough, so i won't continue. I would like to ask you to be in prayer about a project we are working on. I will give more details soon :)
Preschool--January 2011
While most of you were enjoying snow days this past January, I was battling heat and rain! Complaining? Not one bit...I was in the Philippines. It was one of those very long and tiresome days. I guess you could say it was just a normal day in the Pines. We were up in the mountain, and I had already spoken in at least eleven schools. I was exhausted. Not to mention I was feeling a bit dizzy and nauseated from the ride there. It was a very bumpy ride around a very steep, and curvy mountain. Once again, I'm not complaining. I LOVE it. We finally arrived at our last school of the day right at the top of the mountain. It was right on the side of the mountain overlooking the ocean. It was beautiful there. I was excited to have the opportunity to share the greatest love story in the world once again. Pastor Randy and I walked up to the school, and approached the TIC (Teacher in Charge). It was just like any other school. I greeted the teacher, and then let Randy take control. In Tagalog, he told the teacher the very same thing we tell all teachers and principals. We were there to speak about "moral and spiritual values." For those of you who have been know that this is the way we get into the schools. What we are really doing is sharing the gospel with them. Almost every time the teachers are very excited we are there, and barely hesitate before letting us in; however, this particular teacher was different. She was very hesitate about letting us in, and repeatedly kept asking Randy and I "what is your purpose?" I kept telling her it was for moral and spiritual values, but that wasn't enough for her. Finally, Randy told the TIC that we were there to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with her and her children. She then lit up with a huge smile, and looked to me and said, "Okay..that is all I needed to know. I am Baptist, and I was afraid you might be teaching Catholicism. I do not want that for my children." It was such a blessing to hear her say that. At most schools the teachers are mostly Catholic, so it was wonderful to speak with a fellow believer, and her be so excited we were there to share the good news with her children!
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| They were pointing to Heaven :) |
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| Randy...He is wonderful with the children! |
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| The children I got to speak to! |
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