Lapat!!!!!

On April 9th we arrived in the Philippines in the capital city of Manila. Our flights to this side of the world were quite uneventful and thankfully, I was able to sleep almost the whole way here. I really enjoyed having 2 days in Manila to rest and repack before our adventure up north began! While in Manila David introduced us to Carin, she from church and went with us to Lapat. Carin is precious, she grew up in Saudi Arabia where her dad worked but also has an underground church. She has some pretty incredible stories of life behind enemy lines. She told me that going to Lapat was her first mission trip but truly it was her first missions trip without being in danger of being caught and arrested. Carin is also a medical student which was a huge blessing up in Lapat.

Then we were off... 15 hours, a bus, a trike, and a van later we were ready to hike. The trip was long and as the view out my window began to change, it was no longer filled with images of city life but now manly rice fields and occasional villages. I started to realize just how far out we were really going. I never have thought of myself as someone who wants to go and do what no one else wants to do, but there I was hiking that mountain where few americans had ever hiked before and loving it. Now don't get me wrong the hike was hard and i think i was more out of shape than before. Thankfully with God's help and plenty of time to rest along the way we made it! I can't tell you joy that filled me when we crested the mountain and could see the river and lapat down below!

The people of Lapat are unlike any people i have ever met, they have so little in the was of material things yet they have so much joy and life. They know a level of servant hood that I have never known in my life. Pastor Victor is truly an incredible man of God who loves God and loves people. He has lived up there for more than 30 years through good times and hard times he has stood strong. He and his family are like a light house, a point of hope among stormy seas. He has truly change the atmosphere of that place and it is amazing to feel the spiritual change as we walked farther and farther from his house. Pastor Victor and his wife have 4 kids Joel, Elvi, Zahldi, and Khas. Joel and Zahldi are still living at home while Elvi is working abroad in Canada, and Khas is living here in Baguio. I have had the opportunity to get to know Khas the best of all. She is wonderful. She is a women of grace and many talents, one of which is the ability to speak 4 languages! While up in Lapat she would have to switch languages on a moment by moment basis!!

We were up in Lapat for 9 days and while we were there we distributed 12, 100lb boxes of clothes to 3 villages of people. It was so wonderful to be able to give these people clothes and show them the love of Jesus. Through the generosity of others we were able to give each adult 2 articles and each child 8 articles of clothing. It was so exciting to see kids running around in their adorable new clothes! One little girl came in and she was just wearing an old tattered shirt. My heart went out to her and I found the cutest dress in her size and put it on her! I loved it she was so precious! Being up there showed me just how many little things we take for granted.

On morning we were able to have a mini VBS for the kids. We had the kids from all three villages which means some had to hike 30 minutes just to come! The children are the life and the joy of these villages and I love every one of them. We taught them motions to the song I Know Who I Am and they loved it! These kids love too sing and a few will walk around there village singing and it was so cute to hear "I know who I am, I am yours" come out of their mouths! After the song we made signs that said "Ni Jesus ay-ayatena ni ________" which means Jesus Loves _______. We were able to put each childs name on the front as a declaration that God loves them. The kids with great patients and joy assembled their signs and decorated them! They turned out great! Ash spoke to them and we prayed over them before they went home.

Later in the week we went from house to house praying for the families and it was soo fun to see the little foam signs when we walked in the door! I think that praying from house to house is one of the most exciting and exosting things we did in Lapat! It was really amazing to feel the spiritual atmosphere change as we walked from house to house. It was then that my heart was moved for this village and these people. There is a cathlic church in Nanawton the neighboring village and many families attend mass there. In the catholic church there is a lot of deception.


This is all I have time to write now but I will write more about Lapat soon!

from Thailand to the Philippines!!!

Well it has been three weeks now since I graduated DTS. I left Thailand on February 21st and still miss it so much. We were in the US for two weeks before graduating, the first week we went to the YWAM Southeast conference in Talladega, Alabama. It was wonderful to spend time soaking up the Lord after some intense times of pouring out in Thailand. The second week we spent driving clear across the country to go speak in some of our team members churches about our trip and about YWAM Orlando. It was crazy but I loved it. We drove to Cincinnati, Ohio and from there to Chicago, and then to St. Joesph, Michigan, and back to Orlando! Our longest stretch of driving was about 22 hours!
After graduation I headed home kind of in shock that it was all over. It was so hard to leave my friends because we had become so much like family. We saw each other every day for 5 1/2 months and then all at once it was over.
Once home I started planning for my trip to the Philippines! My sisters and I will leave on April 8, 2009 and Martha and I return on May 8, where as Ashley will be staying on till July 10! This trip is very full as usual which will keep us quite busy! For the first week Ashley, Martha, and I are headed back up the mountain to go to Lapat (a small mountain village). Please pray for us because we have non stop travel from when we leave Charlotte to when we get to the foot of the mountain where we hick 3 hours up to Lapat. After Lapat we will be Baguio working with a local church doing worship focused ministry. I am so excited about what God wants to do during this trip! And now I really should start packing!

Where has time gone?

This trip has gone by way to fast. We only have 4 more days in Thailand. I am really sad because I really love this country and its amazing people. I have really mixed emotions right now because I want to stay here, but I also want to go because we have the rest of DTS to finish and people to see. I would love to come back here one day.
Our time with the MST project went really well. I honestly enjoyed working with this ministry. Yes, it was hard at times, but all in all it was good. During our last week with the MST two other teams came to join us for a total of 50 people. It was good, but it got crazy at times. Because there were more of us, some were able to go out and do surveys, and the rest of us were in prayer groups.
I wanted to tell you about one of the conversations I had when I went out with MST. A group of us walk 25 min to the next red-light district. It is called Soi Cowboy. Soi Cowboy is a street that is lined with go go girl clubs and bars with love hotels up above. It is a very hard place to be. We were split into our survey groups and I was with Shea (one of the guys in our team). Anyway, we stood there like normal and asked the men walking by if they would like to take an anonymous survey. After a while, a man walked up to us and told us that he would take it. We never got his name but he spoke to us for like 45 mins about everything from prostitution to God to the Olympics. It was a really great conversation. He told us that he was from Canada and he is in the military stationed in Afghanistan. He was here in Thailand on holiday. He informed us that he was only at Soi Cowboy out of curiosity not sexual services, but a lot of men tell us that. One of the coolest parts for me was after we finished our conversation, he walked into Soi Cowboy and about 20 min later he walked out and struck up another conversation with us. I don’t know if anything we talked about changed his plans for the night, but I would like to think it did.
Over this past week, 2 more teams have joined us with the MST Project, which brings our numbers to 50 people! It has been a blessing in a way because our influence is greater, but it is also hard to work alongside people I really don’t know very well. Last night we crammed everyone into Vashi’s Tailor shop and did it in. The floor was already showing a crack but Saturday night something like a sink hole took place and the shop is basically caving in on itself. Not good! The men on our team are worked very hard to fix this crazy problem. They were able to cover the hole with wood but the bigger issue is still there.
On Sunday we went to the market! It was crazy! This market is only open on the weekend and covers 28 acres of land and has over 10,000 vendors! Yes Crazy! It is really fun and I love markets. This was like no other market I have ever been to because it had everything from food, to cute little clothing, to jewelry stores and animals. We went out in groups of 4 and all was good until we lost one of the guys in our group. It was really hard because there was nothing I could do. I miss cell phones! Thankfully, by the grace of God, we all met up right before we got taxis to come home. All in all, it was really fun.
Today we are going to the Island! I am excited! Our entire team is elated! We will only be there for 3 days but they are 3 greatly anticipated days! I don’t know anything about this place, so I don’t know it they have internet; but if they do, I will put up pics then.