Wrong...

So, this re-entry thing seems to be getting worse, not better. I feel...wrong... I'm in the wrong city, wrong continent, the wrong country! Everybody keeps telling me, that the Lord has me here for right now, and I agree with that, I know God is sovereign, but he's definately teaching me that I am not supposed to stay here. I can't wait till I get to go, not only back to the Philippines but to wherever else God sends me! Right now, I def. feel that He is calling me back to the Philippines for my next travel and I am so ready to just jump on a plane and be on my way!! Right now, the only thing I can do is pray and that is exactly what I've been doing, praying for the Philippines, the ministry going on there, and everyone involved; and that is what I ask of anyone that is reading this, please pray! Pray for GH, the kids, the group of guys, the family that runs GH, Kuya Bernardo and the Malabon ministry.

I miss them!!

So I've been back 'home' for over two weeks and I still miss the Philippines and the wonderful people there like CRAZY! They are still constantly on my mind 24/7! To give you a little bit of a look at what my mind keeps replaying over and over all day long...here are some pics of me and some of the amazingly wonderful people I spent my summer with and can't wait to see again! Enjoy!

So What did I spend my summer doing???

WHAT DID I SPEND MY SUMMER DOING....

WELL I....

Tried some of the native foods... fried chicken in this case.

Learned to become a bed...

Learned the importance of regularly playing in the rain!

Discovered pure JOY!


Got in touch with my inner Rockstar!

Learned how to become a human jungle gym!

Hung out with mimes!

Played with a doll or two...

Discovered the latest fashions!

Ate Balut... google it.

Enjoyed Ice Cream....all over!

Fell in LOVE...

HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE!!

Loss of Words...

So I was warned that re-entry would be hard...but what I'm experiencing is...I don't know if there are words. Whenever I try to reason how I'm feeling in my head...I can't even make any sense

Breathe...

WOW! So it turns out I wasn't able to blog while I was gone...well let me rephrase that I had two hours a week to be online, and I usually spent that time chatting with my family on facebook and writing updating notes on facebook and checking my mail. But other than that... nothing. So if you want a better idea of how my time was spent, I wrote notes for the last month or so and you can find those on my facebook.
But now getting back to this post... The past two months have been wonderfully crazy! The Lord has really shown me how BIG He is!! I can boldly say I've seen miracles! There is a man in the Philippines who's name is Kuya Bernardo, who should be dead from TB; he came to GH and we were to provide him with hospice-type care (there were nights when we weren't sure he would make it the next 24 hours). We were able to minister to him and to share the gospel with him; and praise the Lord, he accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior and by the Lord's sovreign mercy, he has joy; he has hope; he is alive and is getting stronger every day! There is no explaination aside from the miraculous work of God in his life!

So, for those that don't know, I spent the last two months in a special needs orphanage in Manila, Philippines. We had 36 kids in the orphanage and also had a group of 20 guys we worked with. The kids were absolutely precious! Most of them have been through so much in their short lives; things I couldn't even imagine, and yet they are still going, still willing to love anyone and everyone! The guys, ranging in ages of around 14 or so - 22, were absolutely wonderful as well. These guys have heartbreaking pasts and many have been through hell and have nowhere else to go. At the orphanage, they clean; they run errands; they help with babies and children; they work. We were able to spend alot of time with these guys and really got to know these sweet guys. We ate all of our meals with them as a family and had morning and evening devotions; one of the biggest blessings of this trip was being able to see them worship our Lord and praise our God right along side of them!
Needless to say, these people became part of my family and leaving them last Wednesday was one of the hardest things I've ever done. To be used to seeing them first thing when I woke up and lastly when I headed to bed...to go to not seeing them at all has been crazy tough. I find myself going over my mental pictures of them over and over. I hear kids crying or laughing and start thinking which kid at the orphanage they sound like most. Just simple things bring a flood of memories; hearing certain songs, looking at my many bracelets and anklets, looking at my thumb ring; and a thousand other things that escape my mind at the moment. The next few months are going to be hard...to take my experiences and use them to be productive, to push foward; to not dwell on the past but to look foward to when I can return; to use this trip as motivation to do everything I do as unto the Lord! I pray I'll never lose sight of the changes, the miracles, the God that I witnessed this summer! We serve such a MIGHT BIG GOD!!! To HIM be the GLORY FOREVER!!!