"Welcome home Emily, welcome home!"

"Ah..Welcome home, Emily!" is what she said after a long awaited reunion. I was at General Santos International Airport in General Santos, Philippines.
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.

First trip-- July 2008

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.

Such a fun day at Lake Sebu with the third year high schoolers.

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.

We carried our fruit juice to church. If you had four hour church services you would too :)

I was the first American to get to hold baby Juter :)

My sweet little Angel.
My last day to walk the children to school.  As you can tell, I was a bit emotional.

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.