Emmanuel- God it with us

What to say, what to say.

I feel really mixed emotions this week. I’m really happy to go home for Christmas and see friends and family. I’m also looking forward to getting back to work. But leaving the friends I’ve made a Faith is really hard.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how God puts some people in our lives just for a season. I’ve been only know the guys here for 4 months yet the time we’ve spent together has been kind of intense. I feel like I’ve become really close to them, especially my room mate Meg. She is so great and I’m really going to miss her. It really sucks that I’m not going to see them all on a regular basis anymore. But I know that we have a choice when we meet people for a short time. We can either not bother to invest in them and keep our guards up, or we can let out guard down and really make friends. This makes it harder when you leave but in the long run you spent a great time together, learnt a lot from each other and have another great friend (and a great place to stay in the US!!)

With Sharon and Meg, these girls are awesome

All the elementary staff

Me and wonderful Meg

So having thought this over I’m so glad I invested in friendships here. But that doesn’t make it easy to have to leave them. I’ve been thinking over the Christmas story again this year and am struck with the name Jesus is given ‘Emmanuel’ which means God is with us. I love this because it applies to that stable 2000 years ago and today in the Philippines. God is with me and has been with me. When it’s hard and I have to say difficult goodbyes he is with me. When I have to travel half way across the world he is with me. When I continue with my life back in Nottingham he is with me. I praise him for he is with me, he watches over my coming and going, both now and forever.

It's nearly time to go

Hi guys, it's been forever since I blogged and there is so much to say so I thought I'd give some brief highlights of the last couple of weeks and then add plenty of photo's to fill in the gaps.

A few weeks ago we visited a place called Taal which is the smallest active volcano in the world (apparently). The day was pretty epic and invloved a boat trip in the rain (again), a hike up a very steep hill with steaming rocks on each side, a lot of horse poo (you could ride up on a horse if you wanted), and a great but very wet view from the top. Looking down into the crater of the volcano was cool, you could see the water bubbling and smell the sulphur, kind of crazy!

Taal volcano

Me, Helena and Tamara on the boat ride across

We all made it to the top!

A volcanic crater

Me and Karen looking out

Me and Meg love Volcanoes!!


Last weekend me and Meg visited an orphanage to help out as the workers prepared for the kids Christmas party. This was a weird experince. The kids were super cute, but also clearly had a lot of baggage. I think the emotional damage of being in an orphanage, even a christian one must be massive. I enjoyed being a human climbing frame for 3 hours, it was great to show the kids a little bit of love and affection. I pray that God will have his hand on those kids, and guide and protect them as they grow up, even though their situation seems tough I know that nothing is impossible with God.

I know my eyes look weird but I had to use this picture because she is so cute!!

4 little angels!

This has been my last teaching week at Faith. On Tuesday I taught grade 2 about Christmas in England. The kids were facinated with Christmas crackers and the tradition of putting money in the Christmas pudding. The best part though was making Christingles with them. They really enjoyed it and then we went to sing for grade 1 which was really cute, although I think we nearly had a couple of kids set on fire. I think they must have been asleep during their talk on fire safety!

Christingle

They all really wanted to eat the sweets!

Paul with his Christingle

Grade 2 on fire!

Procession

Josh is second in from the left. Look at his face, I think he just tried to set himslef alight!

Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright

This morning I woke up feeling kind of sad. It's only 1 week until I leave the Phils and I'm really going to miss it here. I've made some really great friends and have loved working in the Faith Academy team. All the staff and students are great. Good byes are always tough but I pray that as I am preparing to leave I will know God's hand with me. While it's sad, I also feel ready to go back home and see family and friends and get back to work.

I would really appraciate your prayers as I prepare to leave and as I travel home. I have a really long journey as the airline changed my flight time. I leave the Philippines ar 7:20 am and arrive in Brunei at 9:30am. I don't leave Brunei until 8:50pm. This would be bad enough but Brunei airport is so small its practically non-existent, there is literally nothing to do there. Then after this I still have a 14 hour journey to London via Dubai. Please pray that this journey will not be too terrible and I will meet some like minded people I can talk too. Also just for patience for myself and safety as I travel. I think I might update one for time before I leave. If not I can't wait to see you all in person and celebrate Christmas with you, hopefully with some snow (I know you guys have been greedy and had extra while i've been away!!)

Thanksgiving

Let us enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise!

This week has been American Thanksgiving. Now I’ve watched a fair few friends episodes when they have thanksgiving and often wondered what all the fuss was about. To me it just looked like an excuse to have another Christmas dinner a month before Christmas.

Being here in the Philippines with real Americans and understanding the reason for the celebration has changed my opinion of this holiday. Unlike Christmas there are no gifts to be distracted by and so the real focus in on looking to God and thanking him for all her has given us. I've been working in first grade this week and it's been so cool to hear the children say what they are really thankful to God for. And I think so often we can forget to be thankful because we have so much and do not realise how blessed we really are. At the OMF prayer meeting we wrote down a list of all the things we were thankful for from the past year, this might sound excessive but was a really good exercise; once I’d started I just couldn't stop.

So I’ve decided to make a list of the 10 things I am most thankful for since being here in the Philippines...

1. Great friends to hang out with- before I came I thought I’d really struggle to fit in
2. My amazing roommate Meg
3. A great place to live close to school
4. A car to get around in so I don't have to rely on public transport
5. Work for me to do at school which is satisfying and enjoyable
6. Good relationships with the staff and children at school
7. Financial provision while I’ve been here
8. Internet access which now works at home!
9. The chance to visit other places in the beautiful Philippines
10. My sister Keren got engaged on Sunday (just had to slip that one in!)

I really am thankful to God for the way he has brought me here and walked with me when it's been easy and difficult. My prayer is that I will not forget to look to him and say thank you for all he has done in my life and the rich blessings he has given me.

Ok serious part over. On a side note, the thanksgiving food is pretty good although I’m not sure it can beat a good Christmas dinner UK stylie. They have the usual turkey, mashed potato, corn, stuffing, gravy, with some interesting additions including sweet potato baked with marshmallows and sugar on top. You would think it wouldn't work but somehow it just does!!!

Sweet potato with marshmellows and sugar!!

Filipiniana Week

Hi everybody

I hope you have all had a great few weeks. Life here at Faith Academy has been really busy over the last week or so.

We had a special themed week at school last week called Filipiniana week. This is basically a week where the school goes off timetable and does a range of activities in where the children find out about and celebrate Filipino culture. This was an enjoyable but VERY tiring week.

We started the week with pot smashing. This is a Filipino tradition at children’s birthday parties. A clay pot filled with sweets is suspended by a rope and you have to try and smash the pot with a stick while you are blindfolded. (I’d say it’s a more hardcore version of a Piñata!) All the new staff (including me) got to smash a pot. This was a lot of fun for the kids but hard work for the adults as the head teacher had control of the rope and kept moving the pot away!

Me pot smashing!

The pot; it was harder to break than it looks!

Wack, smash, scream!



Me being disorientated by Mr Taylor



Monday was also a ministry day. Local children from a Filipino school came up to Faith for the afternoon and the Faith kids shared their lunches with the Filipino’s. It was great to see the Faith kids sharing what they had. Some who did not have enough simply gave their lunches away without complaining. This was awesome and made me feel really proud of the Faith kids.

The Faith Kids sharing lunch with the Filipino kids



The kids from the Quatro Filipino school



Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of going on one of the most bizarre field trips ever. We visited 5 places in all during the day. This included a bird show at an Aviary, An eco centre which seemed to be more like a zoo/shell museum, a church, a market and a home for the disabled (locally know as the house without any steps). It was a strange mix of places to visit and the kids found it hard work, the weather was very hot and many of the kids didn’t bring a lot of water so got kind of de-hydrated. Needless to say by the end of Wednesday I was VERY tired, especially as I did the same thing 2 days in a row.

My field trip van

Friday was party day, the kids moved round a carousel of 6 activities including local Filipino games, a dunk tank (with water not gunge) and a food station. The kids had a really great time but I was very tired as I ran a tag game called paintentaira. Playing tag for 2 hours in 30 degrees and 80% humidity really takes it out for you! Needless to say by the end of the week I was exhausted but happy.

The dunk tank! The kids went crazy for this!

Refreshments: we had popcorn, cheese flavoured ice-cream, fish balls and babingk (sticky sweet rice)

Tinikling- a traditional Filipino dance game where the kids jump over moving bamboo poles

babingk



The entrance to school with a special Filipinina week banner!



Me playing paintentaira with grade 3

This week I’ve begun the last part of my work here at Faith. I’ll be supply teaching for most of the class teachers at some point over the next 4 weeks while they have time to do reading assessments and write reports. I’m really glad to be the classroom every day teaching; however I will be teaching a different class nearly everyday so I would really appreciate your prayers for grace and patience particularly with their behavior. It doesn’t matter how good I am; the kids are always going to be worse behaved for a supply teachers than their actual teacher.

Now I am well into November I only have 5 weeks left here. I’ve really enjoyed the last few weeks since break and have felt much more settled and content with day to day life. I have been thinking about coming home, and while I am looking forward to coming back I think that I’m going to find it hard to leave Faith, the children and especially all the great friends I have made. I would really value your prayers regarding my transition back into the UK, my home and my work. I think the nature of short term mission is that the transition part is tough. I found it difficult to adjust when I got here and now I think I’m going to find it hard to adjust back. Please pray that I will know God’s hand with me as I say goodbyes and hellos and that I will know him as my home when all around me I go through changes again.

Thanks again to everyone for all your support and prayers, you’re great! I can’t wait to see you all in the not to distant future.

Video

I've posted the video of the All in This Together dance on facebook so you guys can check it out there. Here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=266700772

Enjoy!

Dancing Queen!

Hi guys

Sorry it's been so long since my last update, life’s been pretty busy since we got back from break. The last couple of weeks have been really great so I thought I should fill you in.

Since getting back to school life has been really busy. I've been doing all my usual stuff in the mornings plus teaching 5th grade science every afternoon for 2 weeks. I've really enjoyed having a regular slot to plan and teach and getting to work with 5th grade has been nice, they are great kids! I've also been helping Meg with some songs for her class chapel which is coming up. I've played guitar for them in their practices and taught them a vineyard kids song along with corresponding dance routine. I'm really thankful to God that he has used me in this way, as most of you know I love dancing and singing and being able to use some of my skills has been great.

In 2 weeks we have a special week called Filipiniana week. During the week, classes go off timetable and focus on learning about life in the Philippines. They learn about cultures, and customs as well as taking a field trip. I'm looking forward to this week; I think it's going to be a lot of fun. After that I think I will be pretty much covering different people's classes until I go home. The teachers have a reading assessment to do so while they do that I can teach their kids. I'm really looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into a big chunk of teaching.

The last 2 weeks we had 3 day weekends. They seem to have a lot of public holidays here which the government can just declare whenever they want. I was feeling a little daunted about having lots of extra time off because I sometimes find the weekends pretty boring, having a lot of free time on my hands with not much to do I have the tendency to over think and then become homesick.

I decided I would go and visit one of the squatter areas, called Cogeo with my German friends. They work there every day and said it would be nice if I taught the youth some dances. This squatter area is quite unique. Unlike other places I’ve visited it's built up on a hillside amongst trees, the soil is dark red clay. To reach Cogeo you have to cross a suspended rope bridge with quite a few slats missing. This was quite scary, especially when a man carrying a pile of bricks tried to squeeze past me! We had a great time in Cogeo, the kids are super cute. We attended a bible study and then I taught the youth All in This Together from High School Musical and my friend Sharon taught the hoedown throwndown. I went back the next weekend and got to teach some more dance and play some games with the little kids.

Me and Sharon and the rope bridge into Cogeo

A man doing his washing in the river

Cogeo rope bridge

Me and Ellis (yes I do love him a little bit!)

Teaching All in this Together to the youth. They were really fast learners!

Some youth practicing guitar in the preschool

Cogeo River (It is usually soapy due to people cleaning and washing in it)

Me, Sharon and some of the Cogeo kids

It's Ellis again and my German friend Helena

Playing duck, duck, goose with the kids

Showing this girl how to play some basic chords

Beautiful faces

More guitar lessons

The 3 amigos. They look like butter wouldn't melt don't they!

I'm so grateful to God that he has given me this opportunity to visit the squatter areas. When I go there it reminds me that although I am here working in a western environment, most of the people here in the Philippines live in extreme poverty. It's great to spend some time with these guys and hopefully teach them something which they will enjoy. What's really challenging about going there is that all the leaders in the house churches are so young, usually in their late teens or early twenties and yet they have such a passion for Jesus and are really committed to serving him. Most of them lead bible studies, worship or Sunday school. I find this interesting when I think back to my own experiences as a young adult in the church, how much was I willing to get involved and serve?

Of course I am still in another culture so while I’m learning these great lessons there are also the inevitable randomly funny moments. We attended a choir practice where they were attempting to learn a Christmas song which no-one seemed to know the tune to but everyone sang very enthusiastically anyway! The funniest moment was every time we started there would be no counting us in with 5, 6. 7, 8 it was simply ready? Sing!

So I was worried about these long weekends without reason, this last weekend has been great, probably the best weekend here in the Philippines so far. I've had such a good time and I’m really grateful to God for giving me such great people to hang out with and have fun. On Sunday night we had a party for Halloween because that is really big in the States. We carved squash because you can't get pumpkins here, played the chocolate flour game and the strawberry lace game. I think the highlight though was playing spoons, in the dark, in the swimming pool. Instead of grabbing a spoon from the table you have to jump into the pool and dive for the spoons which on the on bottom, this is a must play game and was so much fun! Also I’ve just received my Gavin and Stacey box set so I’m busy educating my American friends on British culture and TV, they love it!

Me, Meg and Kelli before the squash carving began

Playing the flour game, luckily I didin't make the chocolate fall!

Squash carving fun!

Here are our finished squshes. Ours says "oh no". It's a Friends reference because me and Meg watch Friends way too much!

The flour pie before the carnage began!

I was feeling really down a couple of weekends ago and I’m really grateful to God for giving me these fun times here. He has been 100% faithful to me the whole time I’ve been here and I want to give him all the praise. I was looking back in my journal which I’ve been keeping since I got here and I was almost surprised to see all the things I’ve prayed about and all the answers to prayer I've seen in just 2 months. My time here has not always been easy but I know that when times are good or bad I can lean on the one who will never let me down.

Give thanks to the Lord our God and king, His love endures forever!

P.s. I have a video of me doing the all in this together dance with the youth. I've tried in vain to add this to my blog. I am currently seeking technical support so watch this space. If I can't add it here I may put it on facebook.