Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Friday, August 14, 2009
Teaching School!
Teaching the elementary and highschool age kids in Baguio- having fun with the word "supercaligfragilisticexpialidocious"
Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Such bright students!
4th grade class in Zambales
4th Graders in Zambales
1st graders in Zambales
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tagalog
Tagalog is confusing.... I looked up the word "cut" and this is what I found...
Cut (break) pumutol
Cut (slice) naghiwa
Cut (chop) nagtadtad
Cut (vegetables) naggayat
Cut (with scissors) naggupit
Cut (with axe) nagsibak
Cut (tear off) pumunit
Cut (behead) nagpugot
Cut (remove) nagtanggal
Oh dear...
:-P
Cut (break) pumutol
Cut (slice) naghiwa
Cut (chop) nagtadtad
Cut (vegetables) naggayat
Cut (with scissors) naggupit
Cut (with axe) nagsibak
Cut (tear off) pumunit
Cut (behead) nagpugot
Cut (remove) nagtanggal
Oh dear...
:-P
Monday, June 15, 2009
CONCERT FOR LIFE Photos
The "Concert for Life" was held in the ballroom of the Heritage Hotel in Manila. There was room for 500 guests and we still had people standing in the back!
SOTH kids singing "I believe I can Fly" with guest artist Drae Ybanez, finalist from "Philippine Idol"
Nathan and Ruth Mejica, directors of SOTH, singing "The Prayer"- they had many audience members in tears!
Another view of the guests
The SOTH band performed several songs and were appluded louder than some of the popular Filipino artists that also performed at the concert! *Hannah's heart swells with pride* :-D
SOTH kids waiting for thier cue backstage
Concert guests in the lobby near registration, information, and merch tables (One of my projects- oversaw the kids making t-shirts, jewlery, paintings, etc to sell to the guests.
VIP packages- another of my assignments! Each one contatined a DVD presentation about SOTH, a brochure, a pledge card, and a handmade gift and thank you card made by the SOTH kids.
The art gallery! This was my favorite thing I worked on and it turned out lovely the night of the concert...
Our official poster for the concert!
SOTH kids singing "I believe I can Fly" with guest artist Drae Ybanez, finalist from "Philippine Idol"
Nathan and Ruth Mejica, directors of SOTH, singing "The Prayer"- they had many audience members in tears!
Another view of the guests
The SOTH band performed several songs and were appluded louder than some of the popular Filipino artists that also performed at the concert! *Hannah's heart swells with pride* :-D
SOTH kids waiting for thier cue backstage
Concert guests in the lobby near registration, information, and merch tables (One of my projects- oversaw the kids making t-shirts, jewlery, paintings, etc to sell to the guests.
VIP packages- another of my assignments! Each one contatined a DVD presentation about SOTH, a brochure, a pledge card, and a handmade gift and thank you card made by the SOTH kids.
The art gallery! This was my favorite thing I worked on and it turned out lovely the night of the concert...
Our official poster for the concert!
June 16th Update
Hi Everyone!
Once again it’s taken me way to long to get out an update…. :-/
I know that everyone has been waiting for news on our big concert on May 16th! It went quite well, in my opinion, for being Shepherd of the Hill’s very first big event- Thanks so much for your prayers! Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches the night of the concert- the program went overtime and people started to leave before the concert was over, we had some technical difficulties and weren’t able to show the video presentation about SOTH that Kuya Nathan worked really hard on, etc. The SOTH staff were pretty discouraged after the event, especially since we raised very little money. I think, though, that the experience that we gained through doing the event was priceless and next time we’ll have greater success! I learned a lot through the process of preparing for the concert, too, and all of my assignments for the event turned out pretty well- I was able to get a few good sponsors to cover the costs of putting on the event, and we had quite a few VIP guests in attendance (Thanks Lord!). I also spent a lot of time working on putting together a kid’s artwork/photo gallery, and creating VIP packages for all our important guests as well as thank-you packages for all the artists and entertainers who participated. We had 12 different Filipino artist/celebrities perform/appear at the event, all Christians and some quite well known, so that was exciting! It’ll be valuable to be able to have those contacts now- and most of them were so moved by the kids of SOTH that they want to help us out in the future too!
The weeks from the concert until now have been the hardest of my time here in the Philippines. I’ve been dealing with a lot of tension between the leadership here and myself. I could use a lot of prayer, though things are beginning to get A LOT better.
Ok, on to a more recent update (today )- I’m wearing long sleeves! Yeah! I’m high up in the beautiful (cold and rainy!) mountains of Bagiou city, an 8-hour bus trip from Manila. I’ll be here for two weeks to a month helping Teacher Leah, the full time SOTH staff member here. I’m being assigned to teach English (over two hour long sessions every day- whew!) as well as various other random tasks. I am really enjoying the cool weather, as I haven’t been feeling very well and it’s hard to deal with the heat, and I’m also enjoying the more peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. Life at SOTH Baguio is much less stressful and hectic than it is in San Antonio or Manila.
We have just 14 kids here in Bagiou- Anna, Joan, Irma, Marycon, Kristine, Henry, Erwin, Bernard, Larry, Richard, Jeremy, Rustom, Teddy, and Gelyn. Jeremy is the youngest at age 12 and Gelyn is the oldest at 21 (she’s a junior staffer now). There are two staff members here- Teacher Leah, who takes care of all the kid’s schooling and is basically the “house mother”, and Ate Analyn, our social worker who also does a lot of administrative work. We also have a young college grad here now, Ate Edna ( a relative of one of our local supporters), who is staying with us. She is pregnant (was drugged and raped at a party) and she is staying with us until she has the baby because she can’t go back home to her family.
I have to run for now, much to accomplish today!
Once again it’s taken me way to long to get out an update…. :-/
I know that everyone has been waiting for news on our big concert on May 16th! It went quite well, in my opinion, for being Shepherd of the Hill’s very first big event- Thanks so much for your prayers! Unfortunately, there were a lot of glitches the night of the concert- the program went overtime and people started to leave before the concert was over, we had some technical difficulties and weren’t able to show the video presentation about SOTH that Kuya Nathan worked really hard on, etc. The SOTH staff were pretty discouraged after the event, especially since we raised very little money. I think, though, that the experience that we gained through doing the event was priceless and next time we’ll have greater success! I learned a lot through the process of preparing for the concert, too, and all of my assignments for the event turned out pretty well- I was able to get a few good sponsors to cover the costs of putting on the event, and we had quite a few VIP guests in attendance (Thanks Lord!). I also spent a lot of time working on putting together a kid’s artwork/photo gallery, and creating VIP packages for all our important guests as well as thank-you packages for all the artists and entertainers who participated. We had 12 different Filipino artist/celebrities perform/appear at the event, all Christians and some quite well known, so that was exciting! It’ll be valuable to be able to have those contacts now- and most of them were so moved by the kids of SOTH that they want to help us out in the future too!
The weeks from the concert until now have been the hardest of my time here in the Philippines. I’ve been dealing with a lot of tension between the leadership here and myself. I could use a lot of prayer, though things are beginning to get A LOT better.
Ok, on to a more recent update (today )- I’m wearing long sleeves! Yeah! I’m high up in the beautiful (cold and rainy!) mountains of Bagiou city, an 8-hour bus trip from Manila. I’ll be here for two weeks to a month helping Teacher Leah, the full time SOTH staff member here. I’m being assigned to teach English (over two hour long sessions every day- whew!) as well as various other random tasks. I am really enjoying the cool weather, as I haven’t been feeling very well and it’s hard to deal with the heat, and I’m also enjoying the more peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. Life at SOTH Baguio is much less stressful and hectic than it is in San Antonio or Manila.
We have just 14 kids here in Bagiou- Anna, Joan, Irma, Marycon, Kristine, Henry, Erwin, Bernard, Larry, Richard, Jeremy, Rustom, Teddy, and Gelyn. Jeremy is the youngest at age 12 and Gelyn is the oldest at 21 (she’s a junior staffer now). There are two staff members here- Teacher Leah, who takes care of all the kid’s schooling and is basically the “house mother”, and Ate Analyn, our social worker who also does a lot of administrative work. We also have a young college grad here now, Ate Edna ( a relative of one of our local supporters), who is staying with us. She is pregnant (was drugged and raped at a party) and she is staying with us until she has the baby because she can’t go back home to her family.
I have to run for now, much to accomplish today!
Thursday, May 7, 2009
A Dozen Things You Don't See in the USA!
#1:It's called "star apple", but it looks and tastes nothing like an apple! It looks sort of like a large plum on the outside, and on the inside it's slimy and tasteless.
#2: Not your typical laundry room! This is where we do all the laundry in project 4, by hand, in large plastic bins.
#3: Whitening creams and lotions are everywhere in the stores here! Ironic, isn't it... in the US, we buy tanning lotions and spend tons of money in tanning salons!
#4:Chicks on a stick! Poor babies... :-(
#5:Bilo-Bilo. This is a Filipino dish that is sort of like hot vegetable/fruit soup. It contains coconut milk, bananas (different than the bananas in the US- cooking bananas), and a sort of sweet potato as well as balls of a sort of dough made with glutunous rice flour.
#6:Chicken Feet! MMmm!!!
#7:People sleeping in the public transportation terminal.
#8: This cute little (big) fuzzy critter (rat) decided to come out for a photo... awww!!
#9: The air conditioning of the van really isn't strong enough to cut through the intense heat, even on full blast... so how to keep the chocolate from melting? Stick it right in the AC vent!
#10: Bamboo as big as trees!!! It's hundreds of years old!
#11:Beetles!!! yummy! (Yes I eat them).
#12: Typical "neighborhood" in one of many, many, slum areas in Manila.
#2: Not your typical laundry room! This is where we do all the laundry in project 4, by hand, in large plastic bins.
#3: Whitening creams and lotions are everywhere in the stores here! Ironic, isn't it... in the US, we buy tanning lotions and spend tons of money in tanning salons!
#4:Chicks on a stick! Poor babies... :-(
#5:Bilo-Bilo. This is a Filipino dish that is sort of like hot vegetable/fruit soup. It contains coconut milk, bananas (different than the bananas in the US- cooking bananas), and a sort of sweet potato as well as balls of a sort of dough made with glutunous rice flour.
#6:Chicken Feet! MMmm!!!
#7:People sleeping in the public transportation terminal.
#8: This cute little (big) fuzzy critter (rat) decided to come out for a photo... awww!!
#9: The air conditioning of the van really isn't strong enough to cut through the intense heat, even on full blast... so how to keep the chocolate from melting? Stick it right in the AC vent!
#10: Bamboo as big as trees!!! It's hundreds of years old!
#11:Beetles!!! yummy! (Yes I eat them).
#12: Typical "neighborhood" in one of many, many, slum areas in Manila.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Three Minutes
I was thinking about my time in the Philippines last April, and was trying to pin down the exact moment when I knew that I couldn't stay away from the Philippines- that I'd be coming back (for good). Here's my story, the story of three minutes that changed my life.
Three Minutes
I knew when I decided to take an eleven day trip overseas last year that I would see things that would wake me up, things that would change me. That’s partly why I wanted to go so badly. I wasn’t disappointed. Shortly after flying from the US to the Philippines, I found myself at a home run by a group of nuns with some of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever seen. It’s a place for the very sick, the very old, and the very young. It’s a place for those that have the least chance of surviving on the streets of Manila. It’s often a place for them to spend a few weeks or days of their lives being cared for and shown the love of Jesus before they die.
Walking inside the front door of the first house in the compound, there were kids everywhere, more than one piled on some of the small beds. Dying kids. Kids with diseases like encephalitis or tuberculosis. I looked at the few nuns scurrying from one child to the next and realized that there was no way that they could possibly care for so many children properly. I guess that they just couldn’t turn anyone away despite the overcrowding. The smell in the air proved that many of the children needing washing or changing. Overwhelmed, I looked up and caught the eyes of one of the sisters. “How can I help you?” A few minutes later, I found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor holding a bowl of runny rice gruel. Gathered around me in a semi-circle were half a dozen tiny malnourished toddlers. They reminded me of scrawny baby birds, opening their mouths and staring at me with eyes that seemed to huge for their tiny bodies. The bowl was empty all too soon. One of the sisters took it from me and motioned to me that she would take care of the babies.
I stood up and wandered into another room, this one holding children of various ages with handicaps or deformities. I found myself drawn to a yellow crib near the center of the room. In it lay a child whose limbs were baldly twisted and bent, looking like nothing more than a tangled mass of skin and bone, really. The child’s hair was closely shaved, and I couldn’t determine the sex. It was impossible to tell the age of the child as well- could have been 7, could have been 13. The child couldn’t speak and didn’t have much mobility, but was responsive to my voice. I watched as the child’s eyes fluttered open and fixed on me. I reached down and grasped the child’s hand, and my grip was returned firmly. I began to sing softly, an old hymn my mother sang to me as a little girl, as tears began to well up in my eyes:
“I am Jesus’ little lamb
Ever glad at heart I am
For my Shepherd gently guides me
Knows my needs and well provides me
Loves me every day the same
Even calls me by my name”
It struck me how fitting those words were. I didn’t know this child’s name, or anything else besides what I could observe, standing beside that crib. But I didn’t need to. This child was known and loved intimately by the Good shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11). I knew that the indescribable love that I felt flooding through me for this unknown child was not mine, and I felt privileged to be an extension of Jesus, holding that hand and singing the words that He wanted to be sung to that child. I think that my words were understood despite the barriers of language and physical disability.
“Who so happy as I am
Even now the Shepherds lamb
And when my short life is ended
By His angel hosts attended
He shall fold me to his breast
Ever in His arms to rest!”
As the last few words of the song escaped my lips, my friends began to call me, telling me that it was time to leave. I didn’t want to go, but I began to peel those little fingers off of mine. The child wouldn’t let go! I couldn’t believe that a child who looked so weak could have such a vice like grip. And those eyes, they were starting to bore into me. I gently tugged my hand away. Not ready to give up, the child’s hand closed around a fistful of my hair as I bent over the crib. One of the sisters had to come over to help me disentangle myself.
My encounter with this child had lasted for only about 3 minutes, but those 3 minutes were enough to make me a misfit. I turned and walked out of the door of that room entirely wrecked. That’s when everything changed for me. I knew that I would never be able to go back to my life as it was before. That little one’s grip had reached around not only my hand but my heart, and I still haven’t been able to pull away. Nearly a year later, I’ve found myself back in the Philippines, and back for good this time. I spend each day surrounded by abandoned and orphaned Filipino kids. I see things that horrify me often, but I also see beautiful examples of the tenderness and compassion of Jesus’ heart. I will forever be thankful for my 3 minutes with Jesus in the form of a child.
Three Minutes
I knew when I decided to take an eleven day trip overseas last year that I would see things that would wake me up, things that would change me. That’s partly why I wanted to go so badly. I wasn’t disappointed. Shortly after flying from the US to the Philippines, I found myself at a home run by a group of nuns with some of the most beautiful hearts I’ve ever seen. It’s a place for the very sick, the very old, and the very young. It’s a place for those that have the least chance of surviving on the streets of Manila. It’s often a place for them to spend a few weeks or days of their lives being cared for and shown the love of Jesus before they die.
Walking inside the front door of the first house in the compound, there were kids everywhere, more than one piled on some of the small beds. Dying kids. Kids with diseases like encephalitis or tuberculosis. I looked at the few nuns scurrying from one child to the next and realized that there was no way that they could possibly care for so many children properly. I guess that they just couldn’t turn anyone away despite the overcrowding. The smell in the air proved that many of the children needing washing or changing. Overwhelmed, I looked up and caught the eyes of one of the sisters. “How can I help you?” A few minutes later, I found myself sitting cross-legged on the floor holding a bowl of runny rice gruel. Gathered around me in a semi-circle were half a dozen tiny malnourished toddlers. They reminded me of scrawny baby birds, opening their mouths and staring at me with eyes that seemed to huge for their tiny bodies. The bowl was empty all too soon. One of the sisters took it from me and motioned to me that she would take care of the babies.
I stood up and wandered into another room, this one holding children of various ages with handicaps or deformities. I found myself drawn to a yellow crib near the center of the room. In it lay a child whose limbs were baldly twisted and bent, looking like nothing more than a tangled mass of skin and bone, really. The child’s hair was closely shaved, and I couldn’t determine the sex. It was impossible to tell the age of the child as well- could have been 7, could have been 13. The child couldn’t speak and didn’t have much mobility, but was responsive to my voice. I watched as the child’s eyes fluttered open and fixed on me. I reached down and grasped the child’s hand, and my grip was returned firmly. I began to sing softly, an old hymn my mother sang to me as a little girl, as tears began to well up in my eyes:
“I am Jesus’ little lamb
Ever glad at heart I am
For my Shepherd gently guides me
Knows my needs and well provides me
Loves me every day the same
Even calls me by my name”
It struck me how fitting those words were. I didn’t know this child’s name, or anything else besides what I could observe, standing beside that crib. But I didn’t need to. This child was known and loved intimately by the Good shepherd who gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart (Isaiah 40:11). I knew that the indescribable love that I felt flooding through me for this unknown child was not mine, and I felt privileged to be an extension of Jesus, holding that hand and singing the words that He wanted to be sung to that child. I think that my words were understood despite the barriers of language and physical disability.
“Who so happy as I am
Even now the Shepherds lamb
And when my short life is ended
By His angel hosts attended
He shall fold me to his breast
Ever in His arms to rest!”
As the last few words of the song escaped my lips, my friends began to call me, telling me that it was time to leave. I didn’t want to go, but I began to peel those little fingers off of mine. The child wouldn’t let go! I couldn’t believe that a child who looked so weak could have such a vice like grip. And those eyes, they were starting to bore into me. I gently tugged my hand away. Not ready to give up, the child’s hand closed around a fistful of my hair as I bent over the crib. One of the sisters had to come over to help me disentangle myself.
My encounter with this child had lasted for only about 3 minutes, but those 3 minutes were enough to make me a misfit. I turned and walked out of the door of that room entirely wrecked. That’s when everything changed for me. I knew that I would never be able to go back to my life as it was before. That little one’s grip had reached around not only my hand but my heart, and I still haven’t been able to pull away. Nearly a year later, I’ve found myself back in the Philippines, and back for good this time. I spend each day surrounded by abandoned and orphaned Filipino kids. I see things that horrify me often, but I also see beautiful examples of the tenderness and compassion of Jesus’ heart. I will forever be thankful for my 3 minutes with Jesus in the form of a child.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Living and Loving
Time has flown since my last update! Life is a busy as ever here at Shepherd of the Hills….
Lets see… After spending time in Zambales, I was able to spend four days at the end of February in Baguio City, visiting the SOTH location there and attending Baguio’s famous flower festival. The flower festival includes several parades feature flower-covered floats, musicians and dancers- some in native Filipino costumes. It was exciting to have a taste of the culture of the Philippines that I wouldn’t have seen in the big city of Manila.
Our facility in Baguio is about 7 hours away from the office in Manila, and we currently have a small house there where 18 of our teens and a few staff members are living. While in Baguio, we looked at a few properties for sale, as we’d like to expand a bit. We actually found an amazing piece of land with some existing buildings on it for about 600,000 USD. We don’t have anywhere near that kind of funds right now, but it’s an exciting dream for the future!
Back in Manila, I’ve been working in the office quite a bit, drafting business letters, creating promotional materials, and communicating with potential sponsors. We are really desperately looking for businesses and individuals willing to commit to support SOTH in 2009. If any of you reading this are able to step up, just for a small amount, it would be so greatly appreciated!
Also, if any of you would like to talk to me face to face, see the facilities here, or meet the children, just contact me via skype. Skype is free to download (www.skype.com) and It will allow you to make a “phone” call to me from your computer for free. If you have a webcam, you can chat with me via video as well. I’d love to talk to you!
I've been learning alot about the Father's heart while here. I felt like writing down some of my thoughts and feelings, and it turned out to be rather poetical... so I thought I'd share with you all:
Sometimes I feel my heart might burst because it is so swollen with love. I love loving and I love being loved…
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I see the way your people have chosen death over life, and I long for them to understand… to reach up and grasp the hand that you are ever holding out to them.
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I see the evil that permeates the world you created to be perfect, and I long for the day that we will be reunited in a place with no darkness, and no tears.
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I don’t think that I’ll ever be “tough” enough to see suffering without it knifing into my soul. I see kids on the street and I long to pull each one of them into my arms… I want to hold them until it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Is this the way your heart feels too, Father?
I am frightened by the intensity of the anger that I feel towards those who inflict the unspeakable on your children. I want to push back the darkness, I want to fight the injustice with my last breath.
Is this the way your heart feels too, Father?
Put my heart inside of Yours. I have glimpsed only tiny pieces of Your heart, and I know You are only waiting for my answer, “yes”, to reveal more. Put my heart inside of Yours. I want my heart to beat out the same rhythm that yours does. No matter how much pain it means, no matter how much sacrifice it takes, I want to be inside your heart. It’s frightening to say “yes”, but I know that my heart is safe in Your hands.
I want to cry tears for you
I want to laugh with you
May the things that break Your heart break mine as well.
May the things that bring You joy be my source of joy.
May the things that You love be those that I love.
Until You come back, or I come to You.
Lets see… After spending time in Zambales, I was able to spend four days at the end of February in Baguio City, visiting the SOTH location there and attending Baguio’s famous flower festival. The flower festival includes several parades feature flower-covered floats, musicians and dancers- some in native Filipino costumes. It was exciting to have a taste of the culture of the Philippines that I wouldn’t have seen in the big city of Manila.
Our facility in Baguio is about 7 hours away from the office in Manila, and we currently have a small house there where 18 of our teens and a few staff members are living. While in Baguio, we looked at a few properties for sale, as we’d like to expand a bit. We actually found an amazing piece of land with some existing buildings on it for about 600,000 USD. We don’t have anywhere near that kind of funds right now, but it’s an exciting dream for the future!
Back in Manila, I’ve been working in the office quite a bit, drafting business letters, creating promotional materials, and communicating with potential sponsors. We are really desperately looking for businesses and individuals willing to commit to support SOTH in 2009. If any of you reading this are able to step up, just for a small amount, it would be so greatly appreciated!
Also, if any of you would like to talk to me face to face, see the facilities here, or meet the children, just contact me via skype. Skype is free to download (www.skype.com) and It will allow you to make a “phone” call to me from your computer for free. If you have a webcam, you can chat with me via video as well. I’d love to talk to you!
I've been learning alot about the Father's heart while here. I felt like writing down some of my thoughts and feelings, and it turned out to be rather poetical... so I thought I'd share with you all:
Sometimes I feel my heart might burst because it is so swollen with love. I love loving and I love being loved…
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I see the way your people have chosen death over life, and I long for them to understand… to reach up and grasp the hand that you are ever holding out to them.
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I see the evil that permeates the world you created to be perfect, and I long for the day that we will be reunited in a place with no darkness, and no tears.
Is this the way Your heart feels too, Father?
I don’t think that I’ll ever be “tough” enough to see suffering without it knifing into my soul. I see kids on the street and I long to pull each one of them into my arms… I want to hold them until it doesn’t hurt anymore.
Is this the way your heart feels too, Father?
I am frightened by the intensity of the anger that I feel towards those who inflict the unspeakable on your children. I want to push back the darkness, I want to fight the injustice with my last breath.
Is this the way your heart feels too, Father?
Put my heart inside of Yours. I have glimpsed only tiny pieces of Your heart, and I know You are only waiting for my answer, “yes”, to reveal more. Put my heart inside of Yours. I want my heart to beat out the same rhythm that yours does. No matter how much pain it means, no matter how much sacrifice it takes, I want to be inside your heart. It’s frightening to say “yes”, but I know that my heart is safe in Your hands.
I want to cry tears for you
I want to laugh with you
May the things that break Your heart break mine as well.
May the things that bring You joy be my source of joy.
May the things that You love be those that I love.
Until You come back, or I come to You.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
It's hard to believe that in a few short days I will have been here for a month! I can honestly say that every day here has been amazing. I just returned from a week in the province of San Antonio, where the main campus of Shepherd of the Hills is located. It is a 4 hour ride by bus from the office in Manila.
We were able to treat the kids to a day at the beach, thanks to some money sent for that purpose from a friend in the UK. It was so much fun to spend the day splashing around with the kids in the ocean and to eat ice cream on the sand.
Most mornings of my time in Zambales were spent helping teacher Elena with the kid's lessons. It is so much harder to teach preschoolers rather than the highschoolers- they understand very little English. Thankfully a few of the older girls helped to translate! In the afternoons I had time to work on several projects that I am in the middle of and in the evening I got to spend lots of time just bonding with the older kids. I have heard so many stories that break my heart. Very few of the children at SOTH have not experienced horrible abuses and it is hard to hear about their lives... I pray that the Lord will be able to use me to help bring them healing in any way I can.
On Sunday we had an open-air church service with the kids on benches underneath the trees. Sunday night was one of the highlights of my time in San Antonio. I stayed up late with some of the teenage girls and boys sitting outside underneath the stars listening to their stories and telling goofy jokes. We grabbed a guitar and started singing all the worship songs we knew with the word "stars" in them.
Another Highlight of being in Zambales was grabbing the cans of silly string that I had brought with me and running around like a crazy woman spraying it all over the kids! One of the sweetest sounds that I have ever heard is a bunch of excited little voices calling "Ate Hannah, Ate Hannah!".
Here are some pictures from the past week: more to come later!
We were able to treat the kids to a day at the beach, thanks to some money sent for that purpose from a friend in the UK. It was so much fun to spend the day splashing around with the kids in the ocean and to eat ice cream on the sand.
Most mornings of my time in Zambales were spent helping teacher Elena with the kid's lessons. It is so much harder to teach preschoolers rather than the highschoolers- they understand very little English. Thankfully a few of the older girls helped to translate! In the afternoons I had time to work on several projects that I am in the middle of and in the evening I got to spend lots of time just bonding with the older kids. I have heard so many stories that break my heart. Very few of the children at SOTH have not experienced horrible abuses and it is hard to hear about their lives... I pray that the Lord will be able to use me to help bring them healing in any way I can.
On Sunday we had an open-air church service with the kids on benches underneath the trees. Sunday night was one of the highlights of my time in San Antonio. I stayed up late with some of the teenage girls and boys sitting outside underneath the stars listening to their stories and telling goofy jokes. We grabbed a guitar and started singing all the worship songs we knew with the word "stars" in them.
Another Highlight of being in Zambales was grabbing the cans of silly string that I had brought with me and running around like a crazy woman spraying it all over the kids! One of the sweetest sounds that I have ever heard is a bunch of excited little voices calling "Ate Hannah, Ate Hannah!".
Here are some pictures from the past week: more to come later!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Day Twelve in the Philippines:
Mastered habits:
Hand washing my clothes in buckets
Using the correct etiquette when interacting with Filipinos (this is more complicated than you would think)
Eating without utensils
Taking (cold) bucket showers
New Foods:
Fish heads (not too bad)
Squid chips (delicious!)
Pancin (thin noodles with a variety of add-ins)
and LOTs more… every day I eat a food I have not heard of before!
New Words:
“Anong ginagawa mo”: what are you doing?
“Saan ka pupunta”: where are you going?
“Hindi Kita Maintin dihan”: I don’t understand you !
And my personal favorite “Puno ako ng Kaligiyahan!”: I am full of joy!
New Experiences:
English Lessons today were interrupted by a HUGE rat scurrying across the doorway of the schoolroom! I attempted to get a picture, but by the time I worked up the nerve to follow it with my camera, it had vanished (drat)!
On Monday I attended a seminar on the end times at Ate Ruth’s sister’s church, along with a vanload of the older teen guys and girls at SOTH here in Manila. The worship was awesome and the teaching was intense- One preacher taught for 6+ hours straight without even one break! It was so exciting to see the church here in the Philippines so passionate about getting ready for Jesus’ return! After the teaching I met many new friends within the church family, including a bunch of adorable kids- Stephen, Jamie, Hannah, Josiah, Jeremiah….. I had a blast squatting in the dust counting bottle caps and bits of cardboard in Tagalog with 2 year old Jamie: “isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito, walo, sham, sampu!”
All for now! So much to do! Here are a few pictures:
Eating Ice Cream with Anne! Hers is cheese flavored. The main flavors here are vanilla and cheese instead of chocolate and vanila!
This is a typical street view...
Learning to wash my clothes with no washer and no dryer!
Side note: does anyone want to send me some money to buy this little guy a walker? Caleb is blind and he gets bored lying in his crib since he can’t have anything to look at, etc… It would be 20 USD max for a nice one. He’s only 6 months but he prays for one every day (With a little help).
Hand washing my clothes in buckets
Using the correct etiquette when interacting with Filipinos (this is more complicated than you would think)
Eating without utensils
Taking (cold) bucket showers
New Foods:
Fish heads (not too bad)
Squid chips (delicious!)
Pancin (thin noodles with a variety of add-ins)
and LOTs more… every day I eat a food I have not heard of before!
New Words:
“Anong ginagawa mo”: what are you doing?
“Saan ka pupunta”: where are you going?
“Hindi Kita Maintin dihan”: I don’t understand you !
And my personal favorite “Puno ako ng Kaligiyahan!”: I am full of joy!
New Experiences:
English Lessons today were interrupted by a HUGE rat scurrying across the doorway of the schoolroom! I attempted to get a picture, but by the time I worked up the nerve to follow it with my camera, it had vanished (drat)!
On Monday I attended a seminar on the end times at Ate Ruth’s sister’s church, along with a vanload of the older teen guys and girls at SOTH here in Manila. The worship was awesome and the teaching was intense- One preacher taught for 6+ hours straight without even one break! It was so exciting to see the church here in the Philippines so passionate about getting ready for Jesus’ return! After the teaching I met many new friends within the church family, including a bunch of adorable kids- Stephen, Jamie, Hannah, Josiah, Jeremiah….. I had a blast squatting in the dust counting bottle caps and bits of cardboard in Tagalog with 2 year old Jamie: “isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima, anim, pito, walo, sham, sampu!”
All for now! So much to do! Here are a few pictures:
Eating Ice Cream with Anne! Hers is cheese flavored. The main flavors here are vanilla and cheese instead of chocolate and vanila!
This is a typical street view...
Learning to wash my clothes with no washer and no dryer!
Side note: does anyone want to send me some money to buy this little guy a walker? Caleb is blind and he gets bored lying in his crib since he can’t have anything to look at, etc… It would be 20 USD max for a nice one. He’s only 6 months but he prays for one every day (With a little help).
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
A Day in the Philippines
I thought that it would be fun to journal a day in my life here in the Philippines for you a to see what a typical day is like:
6:30 Time to wake up and have quiet time!
7:30 am: Breakfast! A hot cup of Milo (similar to hot chocolate in the states, but not nearly as sweet) and fresh bread. Each morning some of the kids will take a bucket around the corner to buy fresh-baked rolls from a sari-sari store. After breakfast- time to get ready for the day and set up for teaching!
8:00-9:00 am: Teaching math class to the teens. Today was my first day to attempt this, and it went quite well! I was thinking back to my childhood today- how I loved “playing school” as a little girl, with my dolls and stuffed animals lined up in rows- and thinking that it’s even more fun to “play school” all grown up, with real live students! We worked mostly on long division and multiplication problems with large numbers. Tomorrow we’ll do fractions. I normally hate math, but I love these kids so much that I don’t mind doing math with them…
9:00-10:00 am: Teaching English. This was so hilarious… I don’t know nearly enough Tagalog to explain new English words to the kids, so I had to resort to a mixture of drawings and charades… You should have seen me explaining the word “clumsy” to my little class! Pretending to run into the doorway, trip over my feet, drop things, etc. It was so rewarding to see the recognition on the kid’s faces, though, when they “got” a new word. We drew a person (whom we named “Fredo”) and labeled all of the parts of the body in English and Tagalog… the kids had a great time laughing at my mispronunciation of Tagalog words! The teens have a good grasp on basic English nouns and verbs, so we are working on adjectives and sentence structure.
10:00-12:00pm: Was supposed to be my time to rest (I only slept 2 hours last night), but as soon as I laid down, three of the little girls snuck in and we ended up playing instead… We rummaged through my things and found a package of balloons that I had packed to play with. We made up a game we now call “paa (foot) balloon” and giggled hysterically as we used our feet to keep the balloons in the air without touching the ground. I did get a little rest after the game, though it was with girls piled on top of me on the bed!
12:00-1:00pm: Lunchtime! Spaghetti- which is Totally different from spaghetti in the States! The sauce has chunks of cheese and other stuff in it as well as meat, and it is very sweet… almost a barbeque sauce taste. It’s a lot of fun to visit with the staff members here at the office over lunch.
1:00-5:00pm: A mixture of office work, Tagalog study, and free time to reply to emails and such. I am in charge of some communications work and I’m currently working on creating a database of all Shepherd’s current contacts and sponsors, as well as contacts that we would like to connect with in the future, like the ambassadors of some of the embassies here in manila- Germany, Spain, The UK, etc. Another project that I am helping with is planning a program of music and dance (to be performed by the SOTH kids) for a benefit concert that we are hoping to do within a few months. I got to listen to one of the girls here, Kariza, playing her violin. She plays entirely by ear and is fantastic! I asked her to learn to play the violin part for Michael W. Smith’s “Sacred Romance” and after listening to it several times she had the melody down! I love how music is a universal method of communication. The kids and I may not be able to understand each other very well yet because of the language barrier, but when we sit down with a guitar and play music together, the language barrier doesn’t matter… music is a language we all understand.
5:00 pm: I convinced Anne to go with me on a walk around project 4 (The neighborhood the office is in) with me (Don’t worry, I asked if it was safe first!) . We took Faye and Rich and Sabrina with us and bought candy at a sari-sari store around the block that was near the neighborhood’s public playground. We also stopped in to visit Henri, a childhood friend of Anne’s, who lives in the nieghboorhood.
6:00 pm: Anne and I decided to go out shopping for some things we needed around the house here as well as a phone card for me to call home. We rode a jeepney to a “class c” mall nearby to do our shopping. We ate dinner while we were out- pizza (from PIZZA HUT- pure joy) and Mango shakes! We rode a taxi back to project 4- some much nicer than a jeepney because it's enclosed and you don't have to breathe in the smells and pollution!
8:30-10:30 Calling home, reading and quiet time!\
10:30- lights out! :-)
6:30 Time to wake up and have quiet time!
7:30 am: Breakfast! A hot cup of Milo (similar to hot chocolate in the states, but not nearly as sweet) and fresh bread. Each morning some of the kids will take a bucket around the corner to buy fresh-baked rolls from a sari-sari store. After breakfast- time to get ready for the day and set up for teaching!
8:00-9:00 am: Teaching math class to the teens. Today was my first day to attempt this, and it went quite well! I was thinking back to my childhood today- how I loved “playing school” as a little girl, with my dolls and stuffed animals lined up in rows- and thinking that it’s even more fun to “play school” all grown up, with real live students! We worked mostly on long division and multiplication problems with large numbers. Tomorrow we’ll do fractions. I normally hate math, but I love these kids so much that I don’t mind doing math with them…
9:00-10:00 am: Teaching English. This was so hilarious… I don’t know nearly enough Tagalog to explain new English words to the kids, so I had to resort to a mixture of drawings and charades… You should have seen me explaining the word “clumsy” to my little class! Pretending to run into the doorway, trip over my feet, drop things, etc. It was so rewarding to see the recognition on the kid’s faces, though, when they “got” a new word. We drew a person (whom we named “Fredo”) and labeled all of the parts of the body in English and Tagalog… the kids had a great time laughing at my mispronunciation of Tagalog words! The teens have a good grasp on basic English nouns and verbs, so we are working on adjectives and sentence structure.
10:00-12:00pm: Was supposed to be my time to rest (I only slept 2 hours last night), but as soon as I laid down, three of the little girls snuck in and we ended up playing instead… We rummaged through my things and found a package of balloons that I had packed to play with. We made up a game we now call “paa (foot) balloon” and giggled hysterically as we used our feet to keep the balloons in the air without touching the ground. I did get a little rest after the game, though it was with girls piled on top of me on the bed!
12:00-1:00pm: Lunchtime! Spaghetti- which is Totally different from spaghetti in the States! The sauce has chunks of cheese and other stuff in it as well as meat, and it is very sweet… almost a barbeque sauce taste. It’s a lot of fun to visit with the staff members here at the office over lunch.
1:00-5:00pm: A mixture of office work, Tagalog study, and free time to reply to emails and such. I am in charge of some communications work and I’m currently working on creating a database of all Shepherd’s current contacts and sponsors, as well as contacts that we would like to connect with in the future, like the ambassadors of some of the embassies here in manila- Germany, Spain, The UK, etc. Another project that I am helping with is planning a program of music and dance (to be performed by the SOTH kids) for a benefit concert that we are hoping to do within a few months. I got to listen to one of the girls here, Kariza, playing her violin. She plays entirely by ear and is fantastic! I asked her to learn to play the violin part for Michael W. Smith’s “Sacred Romance” and after listening to it several times she had the melody down! I love how music is a universal method of communication. The kids and I may not be able to understand each other very well yet because of the language barrier, but when we sit down with a guitar and play music together, the language barrier doesn’t matter… music is a language we all understand.
5:00 pm: I convinced Anne to go with me on a walk around project 4 (The neighborhood the office is in) with me (Don’t worry, I asked if it was safe first!) . We took Faye and Rich and Sabrina with us and bought candy at a sari-sari store around the block that was near the neighborhood’s public playground. We also stopped in to visit Henri, a childhood friend of Anne’s, who lives in the nieghboorhood.
6:00 pm: Anne and I decided to go out shopping for some things we needed around the house here as well as a phone card for me to call home. We rode a jeepney to a “class c” mall nearby to do our shopping. We ate dinner while we were out- pizza (from PIZZA HUT- pure joy) and Mango shakes! We rode a taxi back to project 4- some much nicer than a jeepney because it's enclosed and you don't have to breathe in the smells and pollution!
8:30-10:30 Calling home, reading and quiet time!\
10:30- lights out! :-)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
1 John 2:15-17
"Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity."
~The Message
~The Message
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