Engaging

I'm so sad to report that I didn't take any pictures today :( Well i have a few pictures, but mark took them so I will have to wait until I get them from him. To combat the fears I was having yesterday (fear that I would not engage in this community due to language barriers), I tried to fully plunge in head first today. So here was my day (I'm going to use times, but keep in mind that they don't really care about time here ;)):

4:30 am- wake up because of stinking loud roosters and the sun is already coming up
5-7 am- catch up on emails and accounting
7-10 am- hang out with kennys, eat breakfast, learn some visaya words and culture, and have a quiet time. Also, people from Pandan (the local town) show up all morning with their ailments and she assesses and gives advice/treatment. They all treat her like a doctor here
10-11am- guitar practice with mark and the boys who show up from Pandan. he has about five guitars and he just teaches anybody who wants to learn! it's so great!! sometimes they will jam out together while mark plays the harmonica. Today was my first day so i was learning stings and whatnot. My fingers hurt sooo bad!!!
12-1pm - go to basketball practice. Mark is teaching the boys from the town how to play and do moves correctly. Keep in mind that they have one basketball and a sand/dirt court that is not level and hard to stop on. But these kids love it and Mark is teaching them sooo much!
2:30-4:30 pm- Bible study with patti and some of her closet friends. It felt so good to be real with a group of ladies and share my struggles with them and get to hear their battles and how to pray fr them. These women are incredible! It makes me feel so blessed when I hear what they deal with everyday and they still love the Lord so much and know that He is all they need. God really answered some prayers of mine today by letting me have this time with these wonderful women.
4:30-6:30pm- beach play time. i taught the kids some volleyball basics and then we scrimmaged a bit. It was so fun!!! after playing, i feel like i met 30 kids who all surrounded me yelling out their names. I met  Snooki, Lovely, Regine, Reggy boy, Shella, Krista, Kristina, Giovanni, Jericho, Dennis (who i called Dennis the Menace because he was obviously the funny guy of the group... singing Akon ;)), Jamar, Raymond, Justin, Grace, Laura, Jane, John John, Jonri, Jaman... Okay that's all i can remember right now :) needless to say, there's a ton. Krista (cute lil girl) grabbed my hand on the walk home. Picture this- 10 little kids and the big white woman walking back to the huts in the sand with sea water flowing over our feet and all of the kids saying "Ate Whitney, can I ask you a question?, Ate Whitney, what are your hobbies?, Ate Whitney... Ate Whitney" all while a little girl holds my hand and another grabs my water bottle to carry home for me. Then they all teach me a new handshake before i go in for dinner.

God is so good. In bible study today, we talked about how important prayer is. How it is our direct line to our commander. He sees the whole story playing out and knows what the next move should be. All I need to do is stay in constant communication with Him through prayer and He will guide me. In doing so, I have been promised the peace of God. What more could I want?

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, let your request be made known before God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus." Phil 4:6&7