Spring Festival in the Philippines

As I attempt to sum up my Spring Festival Holiday words can’t seem to do our trip to the Philippines justice. How can I explain in words, or even through pictures, the way that God broke my heart for His? How can I explain in words the immense poverty I saw as I daily walked out of the KIM gate and kids came running up to me. As we drove through Tent-City and screamed out the window “FEEDING” and kids, teenagers, adults came running for a half cup of porridge? You see the way that God stretched me, broke me, molded me, and filled me is indescribable. My prayer is that throughout this short blog you can get a GLIMPSE of the way I saw Gods heart for HIS people.

First, let me give you some basic lingo for this post…

•        KIM = Kids International Ministries. This is a ministry that has many different facets one of which is an orphanage, another is a Christian school for kids of the neighborhood, Dentistry, Swimming lessons, Disaster control, and the list could go on and on. I’m not exactly sure of ALL they do but it is amazing.  We assisted them in the construction of some class rooms for the orphanage, YES I helped in making CEMENT.. 12 bags of sand, 4 bags of concrete, and 30 buckets of gravel X10 My arms are going to look awesome J KIM also has lodging for Christian Service groups who come through, they provide meals and an AWESOME swimming pool. 
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• Journey For Hope = a drop in center for children of the community. Kids only go to school either in the morning or the afternoon so when they have free time they can come to JFH be spiritually and physically fed. This place is AMAZING. Check out their website “http://journeyforhopeph.wix.com/journey-for-hope “

Every morning when we would leave the gate of KIM kids would come running and would hold on to our arms and ask, “What’s your name?”, they would walk with us to where we were going, either construction at the  orphanage, Christian neighborhood school, or to the car where we would go to do service in another part of the city. One morning as I walked out the gate I was finishing a piece of toast, a girl just stared at me, finally I asked her “Do you want this?”, she looked up with the biggest eyes ever and said “YES”. I handed her my half eaten toast to which she was so excited to eat.

As I look over the past two weeks the words that come to mind are, Contentment and Joy. See as the kids on the street would run up to us they would have such a big smile on and would be so Joyful, they were content to be were they were and to be pleased with what little we could give.

These two words also came to my mind every time I entered Journey for Hope, except at this place another word was added, LOVE.  The kids at Journey actually would remember your name, write you notes, and remind you that God Loves you. Journey for Hope is a Christian organization where those who come every evening will have a devotion and then dinner. The kids will SCREAM a the top of their lungs different praise and worship songs! They are not only content and joyful but the Love of Christ is shinning through them. Here in my experience is where my heart grew for two individuals. God totally put them on my heart, Arvie and Bernadette. Arvie is one who sings with passion and does not care what any one thinks, I pray that he will continue to do this. I can see God using him to do great things, to be an influencer for his family, community, and who knows where else. Bernadette is one of the older kids who will be going to college next year, graduating High School at the TOP of her class, literally the top of her class. She works hard daily to provide all she can to survive. Parents for these two are relatively in the picture but they are not supportive. Both needed to be sponsored in order to continue education and hopefully provide more nutrition, etc.  I’ve never felt so challenged to say “YES” to this type of ministry, to allow the blessings that God gives me, financially, to bless others. Yes I’m not rolling in the dough however, if I cut out a few coffees here and there and perhaps don’t pamper myself EVERYTIME I feel like I deserve it then the doors for sponsoring these two individuals who are making a difference in their community is more than possible.

Bernadette and Arvie

My last day at Journey for Hope I was giving Bernadette a hug goodbye and I told her, “I hope school continues to go well” … She looked at me and said maybe I can’t go to college but I will try, and always try my best. I said, “Why can’t you go to school? Did you read my note (where I told her I would be sponsoring her)”.. She said “Yes”, obviously she hadn’t read it thoroughly so I asked her to open it again, she started to read it over again, this time super slowly. When she got to the word “sponsor” she looked up at me and said “REALLY?” she then began to cry and say thank you thank you thank you. She told me that she will try her best every day and that she will try to be the top of her class in college too. She was so excited that she would have this chance to go to college and get a better education. Now, I don’t tell you this to boast in any way but to simply remind all of us, who have SO much, what Joy, Love, and Contentment really looks like.

I cannot explain to you how my heart is engraved with a broader picture of HIS love, I pray that God will continue to BREAK MY HEART FOR WHAT BREAKS HIS. God is Good, God is Faithful, God is providing, and God loves! If you think you’re in a hard spot right now then you probably are, I just want to challenge you to learn the secret of what it means to be content.

I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:11-13)

Day of Showers

The first week of school was coming to a end, I woke up on Friday morning to be blessed with a downpour of rain as I was walking to work. Oh don't worry the rain stopped, however it was too wet to take my lower elementary classes outside. So I had my students in this little indoor area, which has no air conditioning or fans needless to say it was extremely...awesome! Wuhan is still reaching temperatures of 95+ mixed with the humidity of the rain means DEATH. After leading one class in a dance to the song "My God's not dead" I was literally DRIPPING with sweat, I did this for 3 classes which gives me my first 3 showers of sweat for the day. PS the kids love ROARING like lions! 

The rain had been off and on all morning so I decided to take my middle school classes outside, 6th grade had no problem then came 7/8th grade. As they were finishing their laps I felt a few rain drops. within 2 minutes the rain drops turned to a literal down pour, 30 students and  2 teachers, oh how fun. So I sent the majority of the class and the other teaching on their way back to school (about a 5 minute walk)... While I had the privilege of waiting for the 2 kids who sadly were on the far side of the track :-) Rain shower making my overall shower count to 3.

The last class of the day was High School PE which was inside. I decided to do a 30 minutes aerobic/strength training workout, of course being the awesome teacher I am I couldn't just tell them what to do I had to show it and do everything I was asking of them. So after thirty minutes I was drenched again, shower number 4. 

After school I walked home and felt so gross I had to take an actual shower, shower total = 5. After I took a shower I jumped on a bus headed towards HanKou (another part of Wuhan) to be in a Video/Photo event for my friend who was leading his first BodyPump class, yes the token white face! BodyPump can be described as Terrible tuesdays times 10!  Terrible tuesdays are what my sports teams know as the worse day of practice as we push ourselves to extreme levels of fitness. So after BodyPump I was again drenched in sweat equaling shower #6. 

As I walked back to the bus stop it again poured, I was walking in flip flops along side of the rode and found a pot hole that was covered with rain, yeah that was unfortunate. I got home about an hour after finally getting on the bus :-) Arriving home I immediately jumped in the REAL shower :-) Making my day complete with 7 showers!  

You might be thinking "wow, thats a crapy day"... And at first I thought that as well, but then I was reminded that God continually "showers" us with blessings. I had the privilege of leading 3 classes where I saw students get so excited to roar like lions, singing MY GOD'S NOT DEAD, yes sweating profusely and dancing hard enough to get their little heart rates up.  I am fully aware that every student doesn't understand the meaning nor can they actually speak english however, God isn't dead and he can turn our crapy days into days of blessings. Not only did I see God blessing that time with the young kids but, looking back I am reminded how God uses each storm to bless us, I pray that while I stood in the BodyPump class they didn't just see a simple foreign face but they saw something different and that is Christ. 

on a side note ... I was also grateful that the rain was real rain and not rocket fake acid rain. (China can actually "make it rain") 

I ask you today, where are the storms in your life? And how is God using those storms to be immense showers of blessings? 

Must read - GUIYANG TIME!

As I sit on the train and try to think about how I can sum up my last week in GuiYang my head hurts. How can I tell you the wonderful things God is doing in a single post? How can I explain the extreme need that is not only in GuiYang but around the world,part of what I saw this week? How can I describe the extreme faithfulness God and HIS people have shown? How can I, in a word or a paragraph, give you a picture of the kids smiles that came across their face when someone showed a single ounce of love for them? What I write below is a mere glimpse into a precious corner of the world  where God has chosen his people, my friends, to be a light. I encourage you to do something about it, get out and see the world, move from your comfort zone and experience God in a new way, allow HIM to guide you, allow him to give you nothing so that you can see HE is everything you need.

The day after Christmas I got on a train to GuiYang, after arriving and being met by two dutch girls (my friend wasn't home yet) who were volunteering at the orphanage/foster home I enter into a house full of joy. Let me stop here and say " I cannot express my admiration for the three dutch girls who not only came to serve through volunteering of their time, but also raised support to bring for the home.. AMAZing, plus these girls are just awesome." Okay so I got to see the kids, oh man... I was a littler overwhelmed at first because these precious kids had been so malnourished and not loved due to their down syndrome. One boy is almost two years old and looks like he is MAYBE 6 months.

Down Syndrome kids and adults hit me close to my heart. Some of you know my Aunt Martha who was a huge blessing too many, she had down syndrome and lived past 50 years old. I know that my Aunt Martha showed the love of Christ to many and was a major teammate in bringing people to the Lord. My grandparents could of given up but they didn't, my grandparents displayed patience and love unlike anyone else, they unconditionally loved her. Which then taught my dad and his siblings, which in essence taught me to love without judgement, to love past skin color, past physically or mental disabilities. Because, you see, no matter what we look like, how we act, or the problems we have GOD daily chooses to love us. These kids before coming to this house have been shown no love. They have been told they are not worth anything, why would their parents want to keep someone supposedly imperfect? They have been left alone without food, warmth or care. This is where my friend steps in, somehow the government has found favor in this place and will allow her to take kids in and throughout that God has been faithful in providing. Everyday in the afternoon they have a singing time, what a blessing to hear them sing"He's got the whole world in his hands." As mentioned above my aunt Martha had down syndrome her favorite song to sing was Jesus Loves Me... during singing time a girl named XingXing was asked what do you want to sing? She doesn't speak well but she started singing/screaming/humming Jesus Loves Me, my heart sunk and I was reminded of what an awesome God we serve. You see these children aren't simply getting their nutritional needs met but God is meeting them, loving them, and these kids are not stupid they KNOW JESUS LOVES them because the bible tells them so.

While I was there in GuiYang I basically helped in feeding the kid, giving them medicine, played with kids, helped the Chinese cook learn how to cook more nutritional food on a budget, and cleaned new apartments. See this home has to move at the end of this month because the local government is going to tear down their house to put a road in. Please keep them in their prayers as moving has already proven to be very hard. Below are pictures with some more stories, I like pictures and thought you all would enjoy them too.. Plus my time on the train is about up, I've been on my way back to Wuhan for about 15-16 hours, I lost track of how long I've been o here.. hahA!

This girl has recently been adopted, she is lovely!! Sooo cute, 2 years old!

These two are rejoice and xingxing they had to go and get shots one day.. Luckily they actually like getting shots so it wasn't a big deal :-) Kids can only be adopted if they are under 12 years old, I believe they are both around the age 6

His name is Daniel and he is almost 2 years old... He is soo cute and just a content baby!

Yeah he can sit up and hold him self up, he has gotten so much stronger sense being at the the house!

He really didn't want to let go of the chair.. If I could of taken him home I probably would of... When I put him down the last time he cried and didn't want me to g:-) in This picture he has on 3 layers of clothes, imagine how small he really is.

You could say I really like him! haha

This is MOSES.. he is soo precious.. 5 years old!!! Everytime you walk in the door he screams.. "HELLO" After saying Psalms 23 you can ask him "where is if found" and he will answer "BIBLE"

QingQing,,, so cute and well he was well nourished as a kids because he didn't look like anything was wrong but later they gave him up. They believe he has autism :- )

I got him to sit down only if I was singing OR making my lap a horse ride... hehe HE loved it!

Precious Sammy Sleeping!

Rejoice, she is soo precious.. REjoice in the Lord always and again I say REJOICE!  (She loves this song)

Such a precious girl, I know I've said that alot but really so lovely!

Learning to help each other!

The airplane works EVERYTIME, this is the same boy who liked the horse ride!

At this point he is just SMILING so big,, I was willing to make him "fly" anytime!

Dutch Girls! Love them and what a true blessing! 

I don't mean to sound "preachy" but as I sit here, tears flowing from my face, I can't help but want to scream.. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW BLESSED YOU ARE, if you eat two meals a day, STOP COMPLAINING. if you have a heater or air conditioner, STOP COMPLAINING. If you are privileged to have doctors, medicine, a church to attend , or a family, STOP COMPLAINING. I have just spent a week with children who would die to have that and right now your fellow sisters in Christ are serving them and being faithful to God. They don't know where next months rent is going to come from but they are completely trusting in HIM to provide for their every need. They don't complain, they don't want, they DO smile, they DO love, and they DO show Christ. This week I laughed more than I have in a long time. So before you think about complaining or perhaps before you buy that next dress, or that extra thing that you DESERVE think about this post and get involved. Be apart of Gods work around the world. I wasn't going to do this but I really feel called to CHALLENGE you to get out and help, we are so blessed. Actually we are BLESSED TO BE A BLESSING... I don't care if you do it in China or but do it somewhere. Just do something. I have information for this place in china that I have talked about, there are many ways you can help, prayer support, volunteering, donations, financial support, and more. Look at the website.

http://www.journeyofajoyfullife.org/

Celebrating Chinese Style

So last Friday came and I was for sure ready for a break, work has been rather stressful recently. I was ready to travel to my friends house in the province of AnHui to a large city called HeFei. We had tickets for the 5:15 train, I left work at 3:30, got on a bus at 4:00 J Well, at 4:45 we realized we were going to be late so we got off of the bus and tried to get a taxi, well at 4:45 it’s the taxi change time.  To make a long story short we jumped on some mo-peds, 3 people on each scooter racing through crazy traffic, I’m not kidding when I say we nearly hit 5 cars. NO JOKE.. actually my friend was carrying my bag in his hand and my bag got stuck in-between the bus and our bodies 3 times. : - ) Oh how I love china! We got to the train station at 5:00 and had to literally RUN/SPRINT to make our train. Image seeing a white girl run through a train station where people are trying to take her picture, as if I was a movie star. Oh it was great !

So HeFei, it isa large city, however, there are NO foreigners, LITERALLY. I stay with my friends family, My friend works at Mr. Mais. Mr. Mais is a coffee house that has the same values as most of usJ Also, my friends mom is a “SisteR” it’s a great feeling staying with someone who knows HIM. A lot of times I stay with Chinese families there are Buda’s or different offering/sacrificial things set up. Staying with this family is so comfortable as verses like James and Matthew are printed on the wall. I call them my Chinese family, love them.  This past summer I went to visit them for the first time, while I was there we went to a small town called NanGang where their uncle is. The uncle was in the end stages of building a KTV (karaoke) and mahjong building :- ) The KTV was set to open October 1^st, the family asked if I would come back to be there for the opening, of course I said “YES”

Okay so September 30^th is Mid-Autumn festival, October first is National day (equivalent to our July 4^th) . I arrived in HeFei on September 30^th, September 29^th we went to NanGang, and here is where the fun begins! I will just list a few highlights and then show the pictures below : -)

-       24 hour KTV

o   As par tof the opening festivities we lit fireworks and firecrackers, holy smokes it was soo loud and it continued forever, lets just say my Dad literally would of had a heart attack!

o   So actually the KTV place was open when I got there, I was just helpful in attracting more costumers : -) Oh the joys of being a foreigner

o   Oh and the KTV place is not only a karaoke place but also a Mahjong room : - ) Many rooms with mahjong tables, SOO fun. I learned how to play the local mahjong!

-       Riding on top of a truck trough crazy village traffic

o   So the guys had no time to translate the local language into standard Chinese… they just said “we are going, want to come?” Next thing I knew I was on top of the truck holding on as “uncle” was zipping through village traffic, which is faster than big cities

o   And then we ended up at a crash site, where one of the family members had driven their car off the road: -) We were going to help them! At this time we were literally in the middle of a village, for real! There was an older couple walking by the car and saw me. I stood up and the man (at least 55 years old) go scared ran to one of my friends and hugged him. Hahahaha, I’ve never had that affect on anyone over the age of 5 !

-       Being the only foreigner

o   While at one of the many meals I was sitting at my table and every 2-3 minutes another person would come over to “cheers” me!

-       Getting to refuse all the cigarettes

o   Man I was so thankful to be a girl J because I am a female I am able to kindly refuse all of the cigarettes that were offered to me. Unfortunately my friend who is a male, could not do the same thing.

o   One of the most funny things was watching him make some terrible face as he HAD to put the cigarette in his mouth, as soon as the giver of the cigarette walked away he would stick his tongue out like a little kid!! Haha it was soo funny:-) 

-       Eating Pigs feet

o   Oh man I ate Pigs feet, what else can be said.. IT was pretty FATTY! And many people said “Pigs feet is good for your skin, girls must eat this”

On the train TO HeFei

Random funny sign!

KTV room! (the small room) They are NO JOKE when it comes to KTV!

The amazing wall hanging picture we bought to give as a gift to celebrate the opening of the KTV.. Oh PS this lights up, got to love it!

Awesome Scaffolding!

Cha... AKA TEA! Which flavor would you like?

The Boys, aka my brothers!

Come on, lets have some fun! (ps check out the sky its totally, ALMOST< blue! )

The chinese words say "Every-time we are together we always have fun!" (or at least that is the gist!)

My friends Little Brother

FOr real little brother, that means his parents probably paid a good amount of money to keep their second child : - )His mom is the "SISTER" and his Brother works at the coffee shop here in Wuhan

This is my REAL younger brother!

In the process of eating this thing.. ITs a lot of work for a little meat!

I was supposed to eat that orange stuff and the membrane looking stuff (I did : - )

My friends Mom also the "Sister"

What have a gotten myself into?

I kind of like this picture... The debree from the explosives : -)

:-)

Oh boy, its going to be a loud one..

hahah the left overs!

pigs feet picture one!

Pigs Feet picture two,,, don't forget this is good for your skin!

I tore this fish up! NO JOKE!

Forgot to tell you that on the way home the train was soo packed that we had to buy standing tickets, oh and we couldn't get on the fast train so we had to take the slow train which took 5 hours : - (

My Good friend Chris, he works at the coffee shop and I stayed with his family!

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A lesson in Hospitality !

It never ceases to amaze me, the lessons that HE chooses to teach. This past weekend was one of those times when HE decided to teach me how to be more hospitable. I was invited to a city called HeFei which is in AnHui providence about 2-3 hours away from Wuhan. My friend Chirs invited me and our other friend Jack, so of course I was like “YES, I would love to come” When we got there of course they picked us up and we went immediately to dinner where there were 4 teenagers awaiting to talk to me: -) Talk about feeling like a super star, every place we went there were people who had come from a ways away to talk with me.  After dinner we went back to his house, which is always just an interesting experience. You never know what your going to walk into, air condition or not, toilets or outhouses, beds or rocks, etc. However his house was beautiful, same size as my parents with just as much love. I was remidned that his mother is a believer : -) She had paintings up all over and it was evident that she was living a life for HIM.

The next day we traveled to a small village where his good friend lives. This village was so “CHINA” it was crazy. What do I mean by that? Well what you think of China (if you don’t live here) is what it was like! I loved it! I’m pretty sure I was the first foreigner in that village. We stayed at a hotel and I am for sure that I was the first foreigner in that hotel and also at the place we ate breakfast.. His friends own this huge building where they will open a KTV and Mahjong bar!

I always learn a lot about hospitably, they didn’t ever let me pay for ONE thing, They always wanted to make sure that I had enough food, air condition, and comfort. They went out of their way to make sure I was having a good time. People tried their hardest to speak English OR they tried their hardest to understand my Chinese. They didn’t laugh (to much) when I made a mistake with Chinese.  They put my put my interest before their own. I mean seriously its always amazing to me! Anywho, I will let the pictures below show my love from this weekend. I do challenge us all to daily be willing to learn from whomever we are with, for me I learned how to be more hospitable. 

Chris' Parents, AKA HUA MAMA (Flower mom), & Baba!

Winter, Spring, and Fire... Three Girls waiting for me! 

Funny Chinglish on top of the elevator

Me and Chris at a Museum

Pretty sweet wall at the Museum, it was amazing!

Being a little smaller city there are more factories and wahtnot, hence the fog

Me Jumping with Chirs' little brother I can him DIDI

Everyone Jumping, you could say I got them started on this fad!

1st day in the park/museum, loved this area, soooo beautiful!

Fish, YUM!

Tang Jiaozi!

Corn Pizza, kind of! It was delicious

Funniest thing about the weekend, this kid saw me and then refused to look up. He would just roll his eyes.. hah Actually he started crying at one point, everyone thought it was hilarious

Entrance to the Park, second day

sweet !

Not really sure if your allowed to make fun of these things but, yeah we did!

Hilarious!

I always think these buildings are really cool, yeah its a toilet! haha : -)

beautiful island like thing!

the walk in the village back to the river where we went swimming!

(Sorry the pictures are out of order) this was from the park on the second day, absolutely beautiful!

diving in the river,,, iw as trying to teach them... They had to stop after their 4th belly flop, apparently I'm not a very good teacher.. hahahaha!