I think this spring break is the best that I've ever had. The trip to the PHilippines was probably the best missions trip I have ever been on. I was soooo blessed to be a part of it. We're planning a trip there for Christmas of this year, which would be AMAZING. at least we're praying about it:) This trip consisted of many squatter camp visits, that was pretty much just heartbreaking. But it was one of my favorite parts of the trip. These kids lived in homes that were hardly bigger than a restaurant booth, yet they were so welcoming and excited that we visited them.
This lil guy is Eden Steve. He is 9, but he comes to about my waist:) he was sooo cute, he was such a macho man for a little guy. haha:)
these are forms of transportation...i rode on the outside back of the tricycle...so fun.
this is at one of the squatter camps we visited to deliver milk and vitamins and to do a Bible study. what a blast. We always started with about 2 or 3 kids, but always ended up with hundreds. We taught them songs and games while parents joined a Bible study.
this is Ariel. He was absolutely fascinated with bubbles. He was the quietest kid at VBS, but he would always come up and sit next to me, no matter where i was, so I'd always join him and we've have some cool conversations:)
this is at another squatter camp. Kelly and I taught them american football. they were thrilled. haha.
these are the teen girls at VBS. they were great and four of them got saved:)
here's Ariel again. (oh, and btw, his name is pronounced Ar-EE-el.)
these are a few of the many teen guys we had at camp, who absolutely enjoyedVBS as much as the kids. They joined in ALL the activities, from the crafts, to the games, and the group lessons. They LOVED it...and were great at games like Duck, duck, goose!:) haha.
we always brought out the water stuff during VBS because it was SO hot. the kids LOVED it, because they don't usually play with water balloons or guns.
this is Shin and Shan. they're the kids of one of our translators, Ate Sheila, so Kelly and I took them to the arcade and treated them with games:)
herez Eden steven tackling a big water balloon:)
throughout the week, we taught the kids what Prayer was, simply talking to God. by the end of the week, kids were volunteering to pray for the big group!
the door to one of the houses in the squatter area.
this picture pretty much shows all the room that was in the tiny home. this was at the very pinnacle of the squatter area.
isn't she BEAUTIFUL?
all the kids from the first week of VBS.
I think this is my favorite picture of them all. its absolutely precious.
two of the most active and sweetest lil guys we met.
thats the squatter area behind us where all the kids from the VBS were from. This was probably my favorite day, because we visited all the homes of each kid, and got to meet their parents, grandparents, uncles, and aunts and neighbors and perform a few songs for them. they were really excited to have Americans in their homes.
here's kinda how the inside of the squatter camp looks like.
there was a little courtyard in the middle of the squatter area and we did a lil karaoke for a man's lil business.s
Amar was one of our teen guys that joined us at VBS. hes 18 and LOVED VBS.
The second week in the pHilippines, we took a group of 37 teenagers, and 7 Americans and five translators to a camp in Laguna, which was about 3 hours away from manila. each of the teens were from the slums of the city, and some had never had 3 square meals a day, a shower, or a bed to themselves. most of them had grown up in families that shared a home that was as big as two twin mattresses put togerther, so it was neat to see them enjoy the campgrounds. The campgrounds also had a pool that the kids pretty much just LOVED because they don't ever get the chance to swim in a pool. they'd even swim in their jeans and pants and stuff cuz they'd get so excited and jump in:)
these are three girls that were in my small group. Claire, Madel, and Lhen-all three amazing, and two of them strong believers. Next year we might use Claire and Lhen as translators;)
One of the boys tables...we had some really cool young men at camp. Filipinos are really nice gentlemen!
the campgroup. the tires are the end of the zipline, and the pool is the one beside the little huts. the field was fun for night games of capture the flag and rescue.
one of the night games - Eat the bag.
Nora brought a bunch of pamper items and so we called it "Nora's salon." she did their hair and we did their nails and made bracelets, and stuff. it was so fun.
the time in the Philippines was completely different than the other mission trips i'd been on. It opened my eyes to a different side of poverty and darkness. I'll blog more about it later, but my heart broke in so many different ways in the Phlippines, and at the same time, made me fall in love with the people of the PHilippines. I can't even tell you either how much i absolutely loved the team i went with. 18 students, 14 college students 4 grad students, and ilene and nathan and tito june, were seriously placed strategically together by God almighty because of how amazingly well we all got along. I cannot wait to share with you in my next blog about my wonderful team members and how much i love them.
Its taken awhile for me to put this blog up, first because i'm not even through posting all the pics i want to show, and secondly, because i'm working on other projects as well that hasn't allowed me to share on the blog what my heart has been saying the past couple weeks. Tomorrow is the trip debrief and team reunion and i am so so so excited to see everyone again. the only ones that won't be there will be Darice and Eric:( but they will seriously be missed. okay, for now, this is it, but i definitely haven't finished talking about the pHilippines on my blog:)
I am so very proud of my ZOE girls. They have persevered til the end, and have worked so incredibly hard. I had a difficult time as president the first few months of doing this, but God is so good and taught me so much through all this. Our event that we prayed about, planned out, and successfully accomplished was a Pamper/Spa night for the women on campus.
Ms. Hecht was the first one to experience Jamie's facial massage.
The Holy Spirit really really spoke through Melody Laluz as well. Oh wow. He is amazing. Girls stayed behind afterwards crying, praying, and loving on each other in Christ. Melody's ministry is so so inspiring and her message was exactly what girls needed to hear to be refreshed. Three more weeks to persevere til the end. God is so good, we can do it girls!:)
