A rough week but God is in the midst of it all :)

I started feeling sick about a week ago.  I am totally the kind of person to just suck it up and push forward and pretend that I'm not sick.  But finally Wednesday morning after having a very feverish night and a temp of 103 I decided it was time to go to the Dr. 
I made my way to the clinic, the sun beat down on me but I still shivered and had goosebumps (never ever thought I would feel cold in the Philippines hahah)
The Dr. took one look at me and wanted to put me on an IV to get the meds into me quickly, I said no, I hate needles and I certainly didn't want to have to stay in the clinic for the next four hours waiting for the IV to finish.   I begged the Dr. to give me oral antibiotics and promised I would come back the next day if I wasn't feeling any better.
Twenty minutes later I walked out with five different prescriptions, ayayayay.
I went home to rest and looked at my phone and found I had a text message from my mom.  She was letting me know that my dear Grandfather had been put in the ICU and that it was not looking good.  That was the last straw.  Suddenly the tears came like a flood....Big sloppy tears chasing eachother faster and faster down my cheeks and dripping soundlessly onto the floor.  I cried for my Grandpa, I cried because I'm thousands of miles away and I just wanted to be with him and hold his hand and tell him how much I love him just one more time!  I cried because suddenly I missed my family and I just wanted my Dad to give me a big bear hug and tell me everything would be ok-  And of course when you're sick everything in life appears ten times worse than it really is....And then just when I thought I was all finished I started all over again!  The truth is sometimes tears are the best medicine.  I didn't have any words just a whole lot of grief in my heart that needed to makes it way out through my eyes.  Thank God for tear ducts.

But in the midst of all of this God is so faithful.  Yesterday I randomly saw this on the web.  As soon as I read it I just knew that it was a special little kiss from God to me to encourage me to keep my head up.




   

   



Then this morning I was having my devotions and reading in Psalms and I came upon the exact same verse but I didn't realize it was the same one because my bible is a different version. My version read- "God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved. God shall help her just at the break of dawn" Psalm 46:5  I got so excited and underlined the verse and wrote my name where it says "her".

Then I opened up one of my friends instagram pages today and read the exact same verse!!!  That was when I decided to look up the reference and realized it was the exact verse I had read this morning!!!!  I was so encouraged!!!  I know that there is a reason that that verse has shown up three times in the past two days.  God knew/knows just what I needed/need.

Please continue to pray for me as I am still feeling sick.
Tomorrow I will return to the clinic for further testing because my fever continues to come and go.
Love to all!

A little bit of everything

Here is a picture of me with my dear friend, Meredith, who was on the LBC college team.  Sometimes you meet people and you just click right away...and that was definitely the case with this awesome group of college students! I wish I had a picture with all 27 of them!  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to meet and serve alongside so many different people.  I think it is one of the things I love most about being here.

This week we had three different teams arrive from the US.....Its a lot of people!!!  It's so exciting to see how much construction can get done when you have so many hands to help!!!

The past couple of weeks have been challenging for me.  The death of baby Alex was really hard.  When I first moved here he was just two months old.  I loved seeing him every week and watching him getting bigger, start to walk and even start to talk a little bit.   His death was so sudden.   Two years ago his family also lost their three year old.  Death is no stranger to this family.  Although we are still grieving we rejoice to see the hand of God working in the lives of the family even in the midst of the sadness.

Rainy season has come again...Even as I write this there is a torrential downpour and a typhoon on the way.  Rainy season is exciting for me because it cools down just a little bit :)  And if there is a big storm school is canceled and that is always fun to have a day off :)

It is official----I will be home for a visit in September!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  If only you knew how excited I am to see everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!  I am counting down the days :) 
 

Please pray

Yesterday I found out that a one year old girl from one of my feeding sites passed away.  My heart is broken over it.
Of all my feeding sites the one that is the closest to my heart is the Helicopter site (I am at that site in the picture above) and that is where the little girl is from.
Tonight Ate Candy and I will be holding a small memorial service for her.  
I know it is going to be incredibly hard...Please pray for the family and also for me as this really hits close to home.  Pray also that God will use this to draw their hearts closer to Him and that we will have the opportunity to minister to the family and to comfort them during this time of grieving.
Thank you so much.

Oh death where is thy sting? Oh grave where is thy victory? ....Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:55-57

Please Pray

One day as I was walking home from school a young man approached me and asked me if I was a Christian.  I told him I was and he eagerly asked me where I went to church.
He shared with me that he had been led to the Lord by some missionaries in another part of the Philippines about four years ago- but he felt like he was not living for the Lord anymore and wanted to reignite his faith.   I was excited to share with him about our ministry here on Boracay and also about our church.
Sure enough Sunday morning came around and he showed up.  I introduced him to our pastor and they had great conversation.
That was about three months.  He has continued to attend church regularly and seems to be growing in the Lord.
Please pray for Gaga as he is still a new Christian.  Pray that God would continue to capture his heart!

Leshly is a wonderful girl that I met about six months ago.   She works here on Boracay.
She is a professing Catholic but appears to be interested in Christianity.  I have had the opportunity to witness to her on several occasions.  She has come and helped me at my feeding sites before and also helped with construction on the school.   I really care for her dearly and am praying that she would accept Christ as her personal Lord and Savior.  Please pray with alongside me that her heart would be softened towards the Lord!

We also have a team of 27 here from PA.  They are an incredible group of young adults who will be serving with us for the next week and a half.  The days are long and the weather is hot!!!  Please pray for safety and strength as they minister here!

Thank you all so much for your prayers!!! - Olivia Joy

More than just lunch

Yesterday I took one of the little neighbor boys to lunch. 
He has been living here for the Summer and I promised him that before he had to go back to school we would go for lunch to his favorite place-McDonalds :)
We were sitting at our table eating when I noticed a couple looking around for a place to sit- Because it was busy there were no available tables so I offered for them to join us.
We began to chat and soon I found out that they were missionaries serving in China!  What a delight it was to find out they were my brother and sister in the Lord!!!!
We had a wonderful time sharing with eachother about the ministries we work with and how God called us to the mission field.   I was so encouraged by their testimony!
They had a flight to catch so they couldn't stay long but before they left I felt the Lord leading me to pray for their safety and for their ministry in China.  So there we sat in the middle of the noisy crowded McDonalds and prayed together.  It was such a cool experience!  
God is so good!

Praise report

I just wanted to share one story with you-  At one of the feeding sites I have worked at for the last eleven months there is one particular girl who caught my attention from the very first day.  She has dark curly hair and big brown eyes.  I always noticed that she never smiled or played or laughed like the other children.  I began to make a habit of going over to her every week and picking her up and loving on her.  Then she started coming to church with her older siblings.  Every single Sunday she comes and climbs on my lap and falls asleep in my arms.   I have fallen in love with this precious girl...But still she never smiled or even showed any emotion. She has a hard home life.  Anyways, I have just continued to pray for her and love on her every chance I get.  The other day she was sitting on my lap at the feeding and suddenly turned towards me and smiled the biggest smile and then began to laugh....It was the most glorious moment!  Her eyes lit up and her face crinkled up as she smiled up at me.  Since then I have seen her two more times and she is a different little girl!   She is happy and has begun to join in with the other children at the feeding site.  I know that God has called me here to love those ones that have been passed by and she is a perfect example of that.  I am blessed that God is using me here on Boracay.....Which is why I have made the decision to extend for another year!!!!!!!!
I want to say thank you so much to all of you for your love and support over the past year.  What a blessing you all have been to me!

Red Cross fun run

 Last week the Red Cross held a 5k run to raise money for the Chapter here on Boracay.
I'm not sure who's idea it was to start the race at 5:30am...yep..that's why the pictures are dark hahah :)  We had so much fun despite the early hour :)
L-R Shane, Me, Yosef, CJ and Tom

 Smiling even though I was very tired hahah :)

 I paced with one of our neighbor boys, Ninoy, here we are pictured in the far right corner after crossing the finish line...Poor Ninoy was beat.  He collapsed on the ground and didn't move for a good ten minutes  :)  He ran a good race!

 Resting after the race.

Shane and I.

school pictures

 My co-teacher, Praise, and I.  
Praise has been a huge encouragement to me.  She is such a blessing in my life.

 Xanana working on his math.  This little guy has such a special place in my heart :)

 Elizer joined our class mid school year.  He was really struggling with his English and writing...He has improved so much in the past few months!  I am so proud of him!

 Peter sharing a secret with me during play time :)

 Kylle is just as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out.  I love her sweet smile

 Xanana and Xinidi keep us guessing who is who every single day haha :) I still can't tell them apart.

I can't believe that school will be finishing up within two months!!!!
The past week has been so exciting for me-  The children finished up their testing and each child did so good!!! It was exciting to see that all of our hard work is paying off :)
Thank you for your prayers and your support!!! love you all!

Update on my health

I just wanted to write a quick update on my health and thank all of you for your prayers!!!
Most of you know I have been struggling with a serious infection for over a month.
Currently I am on my fourth round of antibiotics and I an finally improving!  Praise God!
I am so grateful for all of your prayers and support!
Please continue to pray for complete healing as I finish up the last of the antibiotics, and that it will not return!!!!

Update

Hello everybody :)
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!!!  I am so excited to see what the year 2013 holds :)
Most of you know I had the opportunity to travel to Australia for the holidays.  I had such a blessed time there!!!!  It was  fun to relax and get refreshed.
I met a lot of amazing people and made some great friends....And I got to pet a kangaroo...SCORE!  :)

School is back in session and we can see light at the end of the tunnel...only nine more weeks left!!! Wow! This year has flown by!

Construction on our school/ministry center is ongoing.  Here are a few pictures from this week.  There is always work for willing hands around here :)







   

We are working on building two more classrooms on the back of the school.  We hope to have them finished by the time the next school year begins.

Please continue to life all of us up in your prayers.  Pray for strength to continue the work God has called us to here on Boracay .  And also for wisdom- Many of us are facing some major decisions.
As always I send my love and thank you to everyone back home.  I miss each and every one of you!

Loving the children

Sometimes ministry is cuddling a child who needs some extra love

 Sometimes it's just a shoulder for them to rest on

I was leading songs at a feeding site a couple weeks ago and I noticed this little girl off to the side crying...I went over and picked her up and before I knew it she was fast asleep.  She slept through the entire feeding in my arms.  I love these children so much!!!

But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matt. 19:14

Prayer request

Every day my roommates and I have the opportunity to minister and reach out to our neighbor kids.   Many of them attend our school and we have become very close to them.
They love to come to our house and play games or read stories - we love spending time with them!!  Acouple times a month we have "Movie night"....Sometimes we have 30 kids packed into our tiny living room :) 
I would like to ask for prayer for these kids.  Most of them have wonderful parents and a great home life-  but they don't know Jesus as their personal Savior.  
Please pray for opportunities for us to share the gospel with them and that their hearts would be open to receive it!

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us,^[a] not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2nd Peter 3:9

 Angel, Aletcha, Shane, Kevin and Jake playing cards on our front porch

 One of the days Anneke and Alyssa were here we had them over and made bead bracelets :)

 I am so thankful for each one of these children...God uses them in my life to teach me so many things!

 

Anneke and Alyssa's visit

The past two weeks have flown by!  It has been so amazing having Anneke and Alyssa here!  They have been such a blessing to me!!  Here are just a few pictures to show what we have been up to!  There are lots more to come too! :)

 Alyssa and Anneke leading songs at the Malabanoot feeding site.  The children were so excited to see them and enjoyed the new songs they taught them :)

 They brought a flannel graph board to use for the stories.  It was something we have never had at the feeding sites before so it really captured the kids attention.

 The coloring sheets are always a big hit with the kids :)

One of the biggest things we challenge people to do is just love the kids.  So many of them just want to hold your hand or sit on your lap and receive some much needed attention...Here is Alyssa doing just that :)

 Besides doing the ministry work we have also enjoyed some bonding time :)  I am going to miss them both so much when they leave!!!

They are hereeeee!!!!!!!!!!!

Friday morning I flew out bright and early to Manila.....Anneke and Alyssa's flight was not coming in until 9 pm but I had a little shopping I wanted to do before they arrived.  Traveling to Manila includes- a trike ride, a boat ride, a two hour bus ride and a one hour plane ride.  It is always an adventure :)

Manila feels alot like cities in America...except usually you are the only white person in sight and everyone is staring at you haha :)
It was exciting to walk around the mall and to enjoy an American meal :)

At 8:30pm Dan and Tori's driver, Adore, and I headed to the airport...I was so excited I could barely sit still. I felt like I was ten years old and I was getting to go to the county fair for the first time lol! ;)
It still didn't seem real to me that I was actually going to be seeing Anneke and Alyssa in less than an hour!
Adore dropped me off at the front of the airport and I raced inside....I stood next to the glass window and reminded myself to breath....I went over and double checked at the information desk that I was at the right terminal and gate.....I paced back and forth chewing my nails furiously. Suddenly people began to pour out of the stairwell...My heart was pounding.  Five minutes passed, then ten..still no sign of them.  I went back to the information desk...The woman told me to be patient.  Just as I was beginning to get nervous I saw them come around the corner....It was so shocking, there they were!  I pushed and shoved my way through the crowd leaving my manners far behind me as I fought my way to the entrance of the gate. I ran right past the security guard and into the "secured" part of the airport....He was not pleased. We hugged and and jumped up and down and smiled ...It was a beautiful moment :) And then it hit me that this was for real!!! They were really here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 This is a reenactment of when I first saw them :)

 So so so happy :)

 It has been almost six months since I have seen my family :)

We are thrilled to be together again and are looking forward to the next three weeks :)

Love to all back home!!!!! :)

I am alive :)

I do apologize for the quietness on my blog this past month...
I had a great month it was just very busy!  The highlight was finally getting a long awaited box from home that my family and friends put together for me...It took three months to get here but it was worth the wait!  My Moms homemade raspberry jam was just what I needed to drive away the bout of homesickness I had been going through :)
School is going really well.  I fall more in love with the kiddos every day :)  Teaching has proven to be very stretching for me but I do love the challenge :)

I am looking forward to welcoming my little sister, Anneke and our friend Alyssa, to the Philippines on October 18th....I seriously can't even tell you how excited I am!!!!  Please pray for them as they prepare for their trip :)  They will be here for Three weeks serving at the school and feeding sites.

It is hard to believe that you are going into Fall/Winter....The weather here is hot, muggy and rainy.  I am slowly getting used to it...I will definitely miss the snow this year!  I never thought I would say that hahah :)

I will end with a verse that was a huge encouragement to me this month.

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.  James 1:2-4

Introducing my students to you

Sittie Asia...Beautiful, shy and such a cuddle bug! When play times come she is more happy sitting on my lap and talking to me :) Her English has improved so much over the past two months! I am so proud of her!

Eleazer is a transfer student- He joined our class about a month ago...He has the sweetest smile ever! I love getting to see that cute face every morning :) His favorite part of the day is snack time :)

Malabanoot Feeding Site

I have the privilege of serving at the Malabanoot feeding site on Friday afternoons. At this particular site we have seen up to 70 children at a time! What a joy it is to love, teach and play with them :)
Teaching the children memory verses
I wish I could tell you all of their names- but there are so many children and I go to many different feeding sites. I do try my best, but it is nearly impossible to learn (and then remember) all of their names! I always think to myself "Lord, thank you that you know each one by name!" :)

I will end with a verse that has really ministered to me.

I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And he shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord! Psalm 27: 13-14

Movie night!!!!!!!!!

I think Kyle took the prize for being the most excited hehe :)
My Roomies Carla and Elizabeth and some of the kiddos

Friday night we invited all of our neighbor kids over for a movie and popcorn.. We had seventeen VERY excited boys and girls crowded into our living room...And several VERY excited adults ;) (Carla, Elizabeth and I were pumped about it too) :)
It was such a fun evening! It was an awesome way to reach out to the kids! We all enjoyed it so much I think we might make it more of a regular activity :)

Introducing my students to You :)

Never a dull moment when this little guy is around...John Rex is my happy hyper 5 year old :) He has enough energy to make me jealous (And I have ALOT of energy haha) He LOVES to sing...He easily drowns out the other sixteen children when it comes time to sing :) Usually he has his eyes tightly shut and his head thrown back as he belts out 'Jesus loves me', 'This is the day' etc.


Tell me this little face doesn't have mischievous written all over it :)
Divine is 4 and so incredibly cute that when she is naughty I have such a hard time punishing her :) Her Father (Bong) is the Chief Engineer for building the school and her Mother (Jing) is a second grade teacher at the school.

Preaching to the Choir

The other day I was thinking about how many "bends" there are in my life that I would love to see around the corner of....just to know "how it's going to turn out." I admit it, I'm human. ;) I'm sure at one point or other in our lives we have all been at this same point.
I snapped this picture the other day while I was walking home from school. What I love the best about it is the brilliant light coming from "around the bend." It is so easy for me to get caught up in thinking that I have the best plan for my life and that I know what is best for me. I think God probably sits up there and chuckles at me. Because the truth is only God knows what is best for us. Only HE knows exactly what we need. Only HE knows the true desires of our hearts. Only HE loves us enough to say no to us and to sometimes allow us to walk in darkness in order to produce faith and hope in our lives. That was the conclusion I came to- If I always knew what was coming next in my life I would have no need for faith. God is teaching me about patience, and waiting for HIS timing, and also teaching me that HIS ways are the best ways. Even when it seems nothing is going the way YOU had planned, always remember that God sees the bigger picture, and through everything He has your best interest at heart!!! Isn't that incredible to think about! God only wants us to have what He knows is best for us!
Since moving to the Philippines I have learned alot about releasing things--dreams I've had, desires I've had. God is showing me that when I release all of the dreams that I have had to Him, and truly abandon my heart and soul to the one who loves me dearest, He begins to place HIS desires and dreams that HE has for me into my heart. What an awesome God. I am humbled and amazed that the God of the universe cares so deeply for me.
Whatever your "bend in the road" might be, whatever it is you might be struggling or feeling frustrated about because you don't seem to be hearing or seeing an answer for it--rest. Rest in Christ. Rest in the assurance that He is working something in your life that is bigger than what is right in front you. Rest in the knowledge that His love for you is deeper than anyone else's. Rest in the peace that He knows best.