Say yes. He WILL give you the desires of your heart!

Come Holy Spirit.

That is how I have been starting my days off this week.  I cannot even begin to tell you all of the amazing things God has done this week so I will walk you through my day to give you a glimpse.

Today started at 5 am.  Rebekah and I packed skirts, one water bottle, our power bill and just enough money to pay the bill in a small backpack.  We jogged, -Rebekah jogged, I mostly walked- to the Cathedral in town for 5:45 mass.  Once we arrived and sat down I said a little prayer, "God, I'm really hungry, could you provide me with some food?"

Mass finished and I went to the sacristy to ask the priest if he could hear my confession.  On my way I ran into one of our friends Thelma.  Susanna and I had met her a month ago.  When we first met her she told us about this sickness she has.  She poured out her struggles for the last few years with her sickness.  It has caused her to loose one of her eyes.  When Sue and I met her, we prayed with her.  This morning when I saw her she seemed a little sad.  We started talking and she said she was receiving results from a MRI and she was terrified.  We prayed right then.  As I prayed, "Come Holy Spirit." I felt something come over me and the words I was saying weren't mine.  They were God's.  I felt God say, "Ask me for a miracle of healing.  I can do it!"  We prayed for a miracle and as we prayed Thelma shook with tears.  Once we were done, she had a peace about her.  I know that God is going to provide that miracle so I'll update you when I hear the news.

So once I made my way to the sacristy, Father was baptizing three kids.  I got to witness that as well.  Three sacraments in one day and it was only merely 6:45.  Wow!  After Father Gill heard my confession, we started talking about missions.  He ask,"Will you and your friend -Rebekah- join me for breakfast?"  God heard my prayer before mass about being hungry and answered it.  When I told Rebekah about it, she was a little worried about time because we had to pay our power bill, but decided we should just go with it.

We had great conversation over breakfast, and after Father Gill said, "Can I give you a ride home?"  We said sure.  We mentioned we needed to pay our power bill and he said he would take us there first.  Normally it takes about a half hour to pay the bill because of the wait in line and that is normally at 7:30 when the place opens.  We arrived at 8 and it took us maybe 15 minutes in line.  God is so good.  Father Gill then drove us home.

When we got home, I was really sleepy and God rearranged the schedule so I could take a nap.  I had planned my day last night.  I had planned on going on home visits this morning after morning prayer, leaving the house at 10.  Those plans got moved to the afternoon.  Rebekah and I packed three sacks of food, a bible, an umbrella,  and a basket of eggs from Father Gill (I forgot to mention that at breakfast he gave a basket of fresh eggs and a watermelon to take home.)  We had planned on visiting a young woman named Jane first.  We started our walk to Isla Bonita (where we do most of our home visits) and said a prayer, "Come Holy Spirit.  Lead us to who YOU want us to visit."  We arrived at Isla Bonita and I B-lined to the house I thought was Jane's.  It turned out to be the house of our friend Pem Pem.  We visited with her parents and found out that her dad drives a motorella (the Filipino taxi).  We prayed with them, read a passage from the bible, and left them a few eggs.

Filipino Taxi

The next house we visited was Jane's.  Jane, who is 21,  has a severe stomach ulcer (at least that is what we think it is).  We wanted to pray with her and I wanted to buy her a blinder because she has to be on a liquid diet right now.  We visited and many of her nieces and nephews and some of their friends joined us.  Rebekah and I sang songs with the kids and Jane, and read a passage from the gospel of Matthew about healing.  After that, Rebekah and I, along with all of the kids crowded around Jane and prayed for healing in her stomach.  We left Jane's house with so much joy.  She is such a sweet and gentle person and so willing to let us into her life.

We visited a few other people and then headed to Guisano (it's like Wal-mart, but three stories!) to buy a blinder a some ingredients for a chicken soup.  When it was time to go, we walked to the place to catch a motorella and guess who was there!  Phem Phem's Edgar father who we had "accidentally" visited earlier.  We hopped into his motorella and he gave us a ride home.  When we arrived I reached into my pocket for the twenty pesos to pay him.  He wouldn't accept it.  He said, "Maybe next time."  Really?  Two free rides in one day!  Again, wow!

The icing on the cake was tonight for our bible study.  Years and years ago I used to attend a bible study on Thursday night.  I could feel the Lord so close and have desired it ever since then.  Our bible study here is on Thursday nights and tonight felt just like it did back then.  Tonight Rebekah lead us.  We studied the Acts of the Apostles chapter 2 verses 1-4. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.  They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them."

The Holy Spirit did come like a rushing wind tonight in the living room of our friend Tita Lolit.  As a group we prayed together, cried together, praised together.  One of our friends, Brix, was so moved that he asked Tommy (a friend of ours visiting for the states) for his guitar.  He started praying and led us in the most heartfelt prayer.  He told us to close our eyes and imagine Jesus in front of us.  He told us to give Jesus everything; our thoughts, our burdens, our fears, our love.  We all did.

We I first got to the Philippines, I asked God the question I asked Him last year when I was in Mexico, "Why am I here Lord?"  He answered that for me tonight.  He told me, "Sarah, you are here in the Philippines to find your heart."  My heart is whole, content, so full of love, so full of joy, and free.

I am complete, because I have Jesus.  I have ALL the desires of my heart.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13

I want to say a special thank you for everyone who has made this year possible.  You really are feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, and bringing the Gospel to the ends of the earth!

Processing

I promise to have a new blog up soon.  Things are happening so fast here and I'm still processing.  Be on the look-out for what's to come! :)

This is my processing face.  Scary right?

What More Could a Girl Want?

Me and sleeping Neilbryan

While preparing for this blog post, I was looking at pictures from the last month and a half I couldn't help but smile.  I am the luckiest girl in the world to have this life.  God has blessed me so much by calling me to be His missionary.  Not only am I seeing things that I never thought I would see and visiting places I never dreamed of visiting, but I’m also doing things I never thought I could do.  As He stretches my heart and calls me to do more things that I am afraid to do, the closer I feel Him and the more I feel His love.  His love touches me so deep in my heart and fills me completely.  His love fills all the wholes in my heart and heals all the hurts of my past.  Here in the city of Malaybalay, He is healing my heart, making me whole, content, joyful and free.  I feel as though right now I am glowing because He lives inside of me.  This is the joy that the bible talks about and the freedom that Jesus promises.  Joy and freedom can only be found in Him.  Now that I spilled my guts on you, I'll share my day!

This morning Susanna, the Romeros, and I (I miss you Rebekah!) met up with Nanay Mayette and went to church at San Roque, the chapel in Casisang (the burangay I live in).  Nanay Mayette asked us if we could help to lead the youth group there.  Before coming to the Philippines Joseph (the director of our company) asked us to do anything that Father Vir asked us to and anything that Nanay Mayette or Tito Mawi asked us.  We said yes to the youth group.  This morning we met the youth and all shared a little about ourselves.  In the past when someone handed me a microphone I would get clammy and so nervous.  Now it doesn't faze me. I told the youth a little about how I came to be a missionary and shared about my mission in Mexico.  The others shared as well.  We asked them what time would work for them to meet.  Starting next Sunday we will meet at 10 for our first gathering.

The kids with the rabbits :)

This afternoon Lindsey was starting her first meeting with the women of Isla Bonita.  God put it on her heart a few weeks ago to start a group for wives and mothers in Isla Bonita.  We all met at the Diocesan Pastoral Center.  The women met in one gazebo and Susanna and I took all the kids to the another gazebo far away from their mothers so that they wouldn't cry.  We brought blank sheets of paper and crayons for the kids to draw.  After we had been there a while a few of the kids wanted to go by the rabbit cage to feed the rabbits grass.  I was so excited to go with them because as a child my grandmother (Grandmom) had bunnies every Easter and we would feed them too.  It brought back really good memories.  Shortly after that the kids started playing some sort of running/chasing game.  As I reflect on the day, I remember laughter and the kids shouting with glee.  It was a delightful day!

ALS we did, and MORE!

Forgive me for not posting yesterday.  We had a brown out at night and when the lights came back on I was way too tired to get on the Internet!  Thanks for understanding!  This is yesterday's post.

Another marathon mission day.  God is so good to give us so much work.  I love ending the day feeling exhausted from working hard to spread the Gospel!  Our day started at seven when we got up to get ready.  Susanna and I left the house by 7:55 for our ALS class in Isla Bonita.  Today was going to be my first time ever to teach.  I was nervous and not nervous at the same time.  I was going to be teaching ages seven to fourteen and Susanna was going to be teaching ages twenty-one and above.  There was a misunderstanding with the 21 and above students from last week and only one person showed up, our friend Christine.  Susanna is only teaching the 21 and above students every other Saturday and an official ALS teacher is teaching the Saturday Susanna doesn't teach.  Last week when Lizelle (the ALS teacher) said she wasn't going to be back until May 5th the students thought they wouldn't have class until then, like I said small misunderstanding.  Susanna was out of a job, so I asked her to help me with the kids.

Susanna with some of our students.

We started the class with a prayer and sang a song.  Once the kids were settled down they copied the vocabulary words I had written on the board and a few math problems.  They worked the math problems and I realized that today we would be working on subtraction with borrowing.  Many of them didn't know how to borrow.  Susanna gave a great lesson about borrowing mangoes and mongos (a type of bean here) to explain how to borrow in subtraction.  Susanna is a great teacher and I have a few skills to learn from her.  My strength is working one on one with the kids.  Praise God I have many Saturdays to get better and better at teaching!   When it was time to leave one of our friends Joemar asked if we both wanted to ride on his motorcycle.  Sue said no, but I wanted to ride because I've never ridden a motorcycle in the Philippines (I'm all about experiencing new things (: ).  Sue walked home and I rode on the motorcycle.  We had a few hours at home before returning with the Romeros to help with catechism/bible stories with the kids.

Lindsey and Christanne telling the story.

Lindsey and Sammy prepared to teach on David and Goliath and show a Veggie Tales movie about the same thing.  When we made it to Isla Bonita, Sammy and I set up the sheet over the chalk board for our screen for the movie.  Sammy also set up the projector and computer.  Once all of the kids arrived we said a prayed and sang a few songs with hand motions.  (Everyone in the Philippines loves to sing!)  After that Lindsey shared the story on David and Goliath and our friend Christanne interpreted.  God always sends us an interpreter when we need one!  The kids were really into the story.  Lindsey and Christanne asked questions after the story and the kids eagerly answered.  They had paid attention.  We watched the movie and then colored a David and Goliath coloring sheet.  We ended the day with snacks and a prayer.

I was more than happy to fall into bed exhausted from a long day of working with kids and teaching them about God!

Prep Day

Most of today was spent at home.  Tomorrow we have the ALS class in the morning so today Susanna, Lindsey, and I prepared to teach.  I am going to be teaching kids ages 7-13 tomorrow and I am excited but a little nervous.  I have never taught before.  I prepared some addition and subtraction worksheets with double digits and a reading comprehension worksheet.  I hope all goes well tomorrow!  Susanna is going to teach the 21 and above class tomorrow.  She is right in her element; she loves to teach.  Lindsey and Sammy will be teaching kids catechism and bible stories in the afternoon.  The other activities of the day were grocery shopping, Visaya lessons, cooking dinner, and more preparations for tomorrow.

As the sun was setting tonight, the lights decided to go out.  Brown out.  I cooked dinner and made name tags by candle light.  Can you imagine me upstairs with tea lights surrounding me and my little book light trying to see the poster board I was cutting.  I was afraid I was going to catch the poster board on fire.  Luckily everything turned out okay and the lights are back on in time for bed.  Everything is packed for tomorrow and now all is left is to fall asleep. 

So Little Time, So Much to Do

"The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few." Matthew 9:37

Today I was able to sleep in until 8:45.  It was such a blessing.  God knew I would need the extra sleep for the busy day He had planned.  Lindsey was going to our friend Babe's house to plan for her women's group that will start on Sunday and I was planning on meeting her there at 10:00 to go to Isla Bonita with them.  I wanted to do a few home visits while we were at Isla Bonita.  During my prayer time this morning two ladies were on my heart, so I decided that those were the ladies I would visit.  I packed two dispensas (sacks of food) in my backpack and walked to Babe's house.

Once we were all together we walked to Isla Bonita. (I am loving all of the exercise I get here by walking places.  It is nice sometimes to not have a car!)  As we got closer to Ilsa Bonita, I ran into a guy that I met at a meeting I attended a few weeks ago.  His name is JoeMar and he was a seminary.  We talked for a little while and then invited him to our bible study.  (We have a bible study every Thursday evening at 5 at our place.)  He said he could come.  I think it was a "Divine Appointment" that God set up.  Anyways, we continued to Isla Bonita.

As we arrived so did my friend Annalee.  She was the first lady I wanted to visit, so she invited me into her home.  She has 6 children, with her youngest being two year old twin girls.  We visited for a short while, shared about life, read the bible and talked about God, and prayed together.  This is my favorite ministry, just being able to sit down with people one-on-one, and form relationships.  I left her with a dispensa and walked over to my friend Geraldine's house.  Geraldine also invited me into her home and we visited just like Annalee and I visited.  I am so thankful that these ladies just open their lives to me and all of the missionaries.

From the last few weeks of visiting Isla Bonita and getting to know the people there more and more, we are seeing exactly what the needs are.  Many of our friends don't have running water, electricity, and are have hard times in their marriages.  The ministries we currently have there are home visits a few times a week, ALS (Alternative Learning System) classes on Saturday mornings (ALS is a program for people to get their GED), Catechism classes/bible stories for kids on Saturday afternoons, and a women's bible study/prayer meeting on Sunday afternoons.  I feel that God is calling us to do more and more with the beautiful people here and I am so happy that He has let us to this place.

Okay, back to today.  After our time at Isla Bonita (actually Lindsey and Babes left before me), I walked home to relax for a little while.  The sun was really strong and I was tired from all the walking so I was looking forward to sitting down and resting for a moment.  I was home for about 30 minutes when Lindsey said she needed to go to town.  I decided to go with her because I had many errands to run.  We were on a mission to find a place to print out the materials we needed for the bible study we had tonight because it was a brown out (sometimes they come at the most inconvenient times!) We finally found a place, printed the worksheets out, and looked for a place to buy snacks.  We found snacks and hurried home to get ready for the bible study.

Sammy led the study tonight and shared on Luke 9:18-26 where Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?" vs 20.  JoeMar came as well as six others.  The discussion was very deep and people really opened up and shared.  I feel as though God is doing big things in the hearts and lives of those who are coming.  Several of our friends that attended stayed around for hours just talking a hanging out.  We actually invited many of them for dinner.  We had nine plates around the table and had to eat in shifts because we don't have that many chairs!  It was so good to have friends over, sharing the word of God, and just really visiting and getting to know one another better.  At around 9:30 we said good bye to our last visitors and ended the night with community night prayer.

When I was in training in Louisiana a year and a half ago, Mr. Frank said he would pray that he and Mrs. Genie would fall into bed at night exhausted from working for God's kingdom.  I can proudly say that tonight, I am falling in bed exhausted from working hard for God's kingdom today!  It is such a marvelous feeling knowing that I gave everything I had to give today for God and didn't hold back at all.  I pray that I can surrender my life each day in the same way and fall in bed each night exhausted from working for God.

Randomness for the day:
Lindsey bought Anders (really Sammy) Lord of the Rings toys from a store here.  One of the figures is fire that holds the ring.  Sammy builds a wall with suitcases in our living room each day to keep Anders from going by the stairs.  I tripped over the suitcases and my foot landed on the fire.  It shattered, and I mean shattered!  I didn't think it was possible for a plastic figurine to shatter that way.  Only me and my clumsiness!


Hope you've enjoyed my day!  God Bless!!

BEC

So, today Rebekah, my mission partner, left for the United States. Susanna, my other mission partner, brought her to the airport. Her sister is getting married, so she will be spending a few weeks with her family. I promised her that while she was gone, I would post how the days are going and what we've been up to.

Today was a long, slow day. We planned in the morning for awhile and then had a brown out. I was actually happy about the brown out because while I was praying I was preoccupied with the many things I needed to do, but because the electricity went out, I was forced to relax and work on something else. At three in the afternoon Sammy and I headed to the BEC. It was a smaller group this time; Tito Mawi and Nanay Mayette, Nanay Nini, and Sammy and me. Lindsey and the kids came at the end. The more I attend the BEC, the more I enjoy it.

For those of you who have no idea what a BEC is, it is a basic ecclesial community. We meet with our neighbors once a week to sing praise and worship, study scripture, pray together, and share life. I am realizing more and more how important it is to have community. I live in community, but having more community is always welcomed.

Randomness for the day:
The peanut butter we bought yesterday wasn't sealed and was also expired. The never-ending gas for our stove finally terminated, in the middle of Lindsey making spaghetti. Sammy had to go to Ate Jheanny's balay to get her spare gas. There was a worm-like bug in the bread so we had to get rid of it. I think that's all the randomness for today. Miss you already Beks!