Open the eyes of my heart Lord

So far I have been blogging my experiences without really asking for more financially- I actually hate to ask for money. Even going through college, I felt so apologetic asking my dad for money for groceries even though I knew he would love to provide for me. Well, I am stepping far out of my comfort zone and going to ask you to examine your financial positions and hearts in the meantime.

Most of Pandan and the surrounding neighborhoods are filled with needs. Everyone could use something. So I have daily asked God to open my eyes to see and ears to hear where He desires. Well, today I was introduced to a family who has grabbed my heart to the point of tears. They are a family of six. The father was actually a pastor in their hometown in the mountains but because of their son’s severe breathing condition, they had to move closer to town for the medical care. Now the father works in a plywood company and only makes money for whatever work they can get in a day. The momma sells fish. The four boys are all supposed to be in school, but cannot afford it due to the medical bills for the one son. This son has breathing attacks once a week and usually comes to Miss Patti to use the nebulizer. However, sometimes they are more severe and he has to go to the hospital. He is eleven years old and he is fully aware of how his medical condition affects the whole family. He has even said that he wishes he would die so that he wouldn’t be a burden to his family! The family currently lives in a one room shack that is literally the size of some of our walk-in closets (no exaggeration!). The house is actually starting to lean because it was built with whatever they could find. Also, high tide comes up so high that it shifts the house as the water comes into the flooring. This family loves the Lord. I was told by Grace (my adopted Filipino sister ;)) that they have never complained nor do they ever ask for anything.

I do not want anyone to act out of guilt or out of following rules with no heart (so please examine your heart and pray about it), but  God says in:

James 1:27 “Religion that is pure and undefiled before god, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their afflictions, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” Not that these are widows or orphans, but I think they fall in the same category of those who need help.

Matthew 25:40 "And the King will say, 'I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!'

Therefore, I am asking to fundraise to build them a house that is sturdy and will fit them all. It will be nothing fancy, but it will be amazing for them. The cost will be around $350. The house will be made fully of bamboo from the siding to the floor to the framework. Please let me know if you would be willing to donate to this cause so I can begin to see if this could be possible.

Thank you all for your faithfulness to pray for me while I am here. God is so good.

-W

"Be still..."

Good morning to all!

Start off with two verses of encouragement:

"The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.” Exodus 14:14
"Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" Psalm 46:10
To be silent or to be still means to let go, make yourself weak. Meaning- trust God to direct you and be your strength, do not rely on yourself! I love being here and I love the people i am surrounded by, but I still struggle with feeling tired or worn out or like I need to be doing so much more or figuring out everyone's problems. But I do not, I need to be still and be silent and rely on Him and trust that He will guide me. 

I have learned that the blessing with coming on a mission trip for a longer period of time is that I can do my mission by just living with the people. That means cooking, cleaning. shopping at the market, working out, playing, learning, worshipping, doing laundry, taking naps, walking in the roads can all be a part of my mission trip. And my goodness- I love it! 

Mimay's house is coming along great! One of my favorite parts of building the house is going to market with ate Mayang and Mimay to buy the supplies. People in market always ask them where I am from and they now say "She's filipina!" And they ask, "Is this your friend?" and they said "No, this is my sister." :) Ah- it makes me smile! I have taken them to grab a snack while we are in town, so one day they told me they were going to buy me a snack! How cute! 

Two guys named Michael and Sean invited me to go on a jog with them at 5am. I stupidly and pridefully said yes. Keep in mind, these are typical-super in shape and muscular filipinos. We ended up running for 2.5 hours!!!! They gave me a whole tour around Gingoog! It was really fun but man- I was so tired when we finally got back to Pandan. 

Last night I stayed at the Nehemiah House in Gingoog because they were short staffed. I got to teach a Bible study on what the Bible says about beauty vs what the world tells us beauty is. It was a nice reminder for myself as well!

Then this morning I went to have breakfast with the Dagoldol family! Kuya Nick (the father) realized that two of his boats hadn't come in from the night before, so we jumped in a boat to find them. The fishermen were having such a good catch where they were that they had kept fishing! When we found them i got to watch how they fish with their nets! It was so awesome!!! Then I went back to breakfast with the Dagoldols. Guess what we had? Fish, more fish, then some more fish and of course- rice. :) It was so much fun! 

Mass wedding is in two weeks! There are 11 couples getting married and we are estimating that 200 people come to the wedding. This means planning something big!! If you would like to sponsor a couple, we could really use some more sponsors- it's about $85-$100 (this includes the food, the dress, the guests for that couple, and the equipment). A job I took on is to make sure all the couple's have rings. I think I mentioned these rings in past blogs, but they are made from a 10 peso coin. They are beautiful rings!!! And hand made right here in Pandan! 

Anyways- that is all for now! I will be back in the States in 2.5 weeks and I cannot wait to wear a sweatshirt and scarf and boots!!! 

Making the wedding rings. Done by cutting a hole in the 10 peso and flattening it to creation! 

Kuya is making almost 30 rings in all! 

Ate alma- my filipino momma :)

Running buddies/Gingoog tour guides

Showing me the town plaza with the giant fruit

It amazes me the tricks the filipinos can do! 

After he did this, he took his shoes off and did it barefoot on the cement because his shoes were too heavy!!! hurt my feet to watch!!

Hard to not want to run with this backdrop!

The pier at 5:30am! It was so active with workout groups and fishermen!

Going out to see the fishermen at work. Love the hat right?

The engine wouldn't start so we make an assembly line to push the boat in :)

A morning bath in Pandan. Such a common site every day

My scenery for my morning run- could it get any better?

Fish for breakfast, fish for lunch, fish for dinner, hey how about fish for snack?! And yes, those are eyes and teeth- they are eaten too!!! 

The Dagoldol family :)

Notice you see 4 different plates with different kinds of fish on the table ;) and then rice. 

Guitar practice! 

Love you all!

Yet Another Culture Shock

At church today, ate Alma asked me if I would come share at her Bible study this afternoon. For those of you who don't know me, I am not a natural teacher. But I have been praying for God to use me while I am here, and if this is how He has answered that, then I know He will be faithful to give me the wisdom and words. So I accepted.

Two hours later I am sitting in the walkway to a shack that I literally had to do the limbo to get into the doorway. All five of us sat on little plastic stools within the same 4 foot radius. The rain was coming pretty hard and her leaf-roof just wasn't holding it back, so I had my raincoat with the hood up and my Bible tucked into my lap. The pigs were right behind me so they were pretty vocal about their hunger thoughts, and there were chickens running across our feet.

I was teaching on Psalm 23. It made me laugh when I read the verse first verse.. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want." Well my goodness gracious, if I am going to teach this verse to this group of women in this surrounding, I sure as heck better check my heart and attitude about my wants!!!

It ended up being a wonderful Bible study. And these women really open up and share their hearts. It's so bitter sweet to heart them pour out the incredibly hard struggles they go through (like their husband's gambling the little money that they do make for food, not being able to afford health care, drinking problems, their kids running away) and yet they thank the Lord over and over.

All in all, I thought this experience was just too unique to keep to myself. :)

Comings & Goings

I only have three weeks left in the Philippines! I continue to look around everyday and remind myself "I only get to live on a beach surrounded with mountains for 3 more weeks!" BUT there is so much to do in so little time :)

The mass wedding is coming up on November 30th. The mass wedding is something that came about when Patti was teaching about God's plan for marriage and for husband and bride. Most people here are not legally married because it costs too much for the marriage license- and some do not even have a birth certificate to begin the process of a marriage license. however, after the bible study- so many women expressed interest in doing marriage according to God's plan. Sooo.. Miss Patti went through the mess of figuring out how to get birth certificates, marriage licenses, and so much more. Now we are planning a "mass wedding" to take place in the church where all these couples (10 in total) can be married and have a wedding! :) there are so many preparations for the wedding! Some couples do not have rings and cannot afford them-so Rachel (visitor from Oregon) and myself are sponsoring the cost to have rings made here. They are made from a 10 peso coin and only cost 50 PHP to make! They are actually really beautiful rings! We are considering the idea of having more made- sending them to America to the churches that represent the Kenneys and see if we can sell them as a fundraiser for the mass wedding!

Just some pictures from the days:

Guitar lessons are now being offered to the older ladies and the younger boys from the previous lesson are teaching it! How precious! 

Catchin fish however you can! After all- the fish is the way of life here

The Friday morning bible study group in the waiting shed. 

Two of the little girls who now call me "ate Whit-nayyy" with the "nay" part screamed! 

Believe it or not, we prayed about these piglets in bible study. it was a litter of 15 which is a fortune here (1,500 PHP a piece)! So we praised the Lord for this litter!! 

 The next few pictures are some of my favorite parts of the mornings! I get to wake up, go outside with my cup of coffee and join the community as everyone helps pull in boats from the night before and clean the fish and haul them to market. It is always so much fun and i get to talk to people all morning! 

Separating out the fish from the night's catch

One of the guys playing the guitar during morning catch. He knows like every American song there is!! He also plays in the church band. 

some of the women in the waiting shed during the morning catch 

Only in the Philippines :) 

Annamae (her baby Alexa) and Mimay (her baby Mark Joseph) 

The kids all strip their clothes and play in the ocean while their parents deal with the fish :) 

This is a shot of basketball practice. We have it everyday and it is always a highlight for me! we end up playing for like 2 hours and these guys have gotten comfortable enough with me to joke around. It is a blast! 

This is the Saturday morning Gingoog City Volleyball Association. They start playing at 5:30am and we play til 8:30 am then go eat breakfast together. Everyone pulls up on their motorcycle- it is awesome!

Another project- a wonderful lady named Lot Lot who comes to the Wednesday Bible Study is going to be in the mass wedding. Unfortunately, her teeth were in awful shape. She has so many completely decayed teeth and missing others. Over the past few weeks, we have taken her to the dentist numerous times to have them all pulled and now are fitting her for dentures!!! This is another project that I (through my wonderful sponsors and God's provision) have sponsored! She is so so grateful. Many time she has been telling me thank you and will cry to me, or in Bible study she made her prayer how thankful she was for God hearing her cries for new teeth! She will be able to smile and feel beautiful for the first time in a long time! And the dentures only cost $100- to make a woman feel confident and beautiful!! How awesome is that! And it is just in time for the mass wedding. She is so grateful and sweet that she asked me to take part in the "binding with cords" in her part of the wedding. This just means i will be placing the corded veil from her head to her husbands. I am so excited! ;)

The one on the left is ate LotLot. She just got 4 teeth removed. She's tough!

Yet another project- I have mentioned Mimay several times in my blog. She is my age and has 3 kids. Her husband helps bring in the fish every morning and sometimes drives a motorella, but besides that, there is no income. I walked her home one day because i was holding her sweet baby boy- Mark Joseph. I was astonished when I saw her house. Not because it wasn't finished and not because it was hidden behind the others- but because Mimay has never once had a frown on her face when I see her. She has 3 kids (including a month old baby) and lives in a house that doesn't even have 4 walls and yet, she is always smiling and thankful to God in our bible studies. It didn't take God long to tell my heart that we needed to finish this house for her and her family. Looking at the building supplies, it will cost somewhere around 12,000 PHP ($300) to build their house with bamboo and some more bamboo :) Adding electricity costs about 4,000 PHP ($100) to set up everything and for the equipment but the monthly cost is only about 70 PHP (less than $2) for the bill every month. I am cutting it close on my budget left for my stay in the Philippines and I really want to be able to use some money to bless other families in the community- so please be praying for God to give me discernment and wisdom on how to best accommodate this family along with the rest of the community!!

Standing in Mimay's house. the building behind it is a pig pen and the bathroom. The yellow bucket is the kitchen sink and counter currently. 

Mimay's House before the fix up. 

Picking out the bamboo wood for Mimay's house. I am a professional now  ;)

On a really fun note- This is the best "mission" trip ever! I get to be involved in a community, get to know everyone, play with them every single day, and I get to live on the ocean!!! Since I go out to the waiting shed every morning to watch the fishermen bring in the catch from the night while i drink my coffee, i have gotten to know the fishing community around here :) one of the men offered to take me out on his boat to see the coral and the cold springs. It was amazing!!!! I was literally so far out into the ocean and i could see the bottom crystal clear!!!

Taking off for our ocean adventure

Mimay has had 3 kids and is doing flips off the side of the boat with me! I love her :) 

Being a big kid while i can

Kuya Nick and his boat :) Thanks Kuya! 

When else in my life?! 

A whole new definition of relaxing

We had a blast trying to do underwater pictures. I think we did this for 45 minutes and laughed the whole time! 

The Americans are Here

Where to begin?

-We had a group of Americans (yes- I have now reffered to them as Americans and don't include myself. I call the filipinos the filipinos and the kenneys the kenneys. Where does that leave me? I'm not sure :)) come from Oregon this week...13 of them actually. I was so thoroughly excited to not be the newbie anymore and to get to watch other people react to things that I reacted to as well! Seeing them come into this place that I have fallen in love with made me realize the growth that God has given me from being here. For instance, Rachel (one of the girls here) asked me tons of questions:

1. Do you miss home and your family like crazy?
Answer: Yes, I miss my friends and family but it does not sadden me for a minute because I am in love with the people who surround me and I know that this is where my Father wants me to be. I have not questioned that for one minute. I actually have not had the big roller coaster of emotions of highs and lows. I know I have hit moments that are harder than others, but I love where I am and I love the thought of seeing God look down on me and smiling for trusting in His will and not my own- because me being here was totally by His doing and not mine.

2. What's your favorite part about being here so far?

Answer: I simply couldn't answer it. I love building the relationships by just living life with the filipinos. They are so amazing, full of laughter, hard work, singing all the time, never in too big of a hurry to talk- why wouldn't i love that? I love basketball practice everyday and beach time because I have gotten to know the guys who take part in it and I can goof around with them like only athletes can do together ;) I love the sense of community- i know that any of those people in Pandan will have my back or are looking out for me- heck- they bless me all the time with helping me with laundry, rides to places, delicious fruit, hinna tattoos :) Funny story that goes with this: I finished bball practice the other day and I was so so hot... it's at noon in the dead heat of the tropic day on a black sand court with no covering. Anyways, we got done scrimmaging for over an hour so I went to the fresh water spring to cool off. People bathe in there all the time. I jump in the freezing cold water and one of the old men in there doing his laundry said "no no no no! you are destroying your body!!" I asked what in the heck he was talking about... apparently, they think that if you go from really hot to really cold you will like die. The next day I promise yall I had about 15 people ask if I was okay and told me they were all so worried because I got in cold water ;)) I seriously feel so loved... I try not to scare them by doing that anymore even though I know that my body fully rejoices in the cold relief :)

3. What is your ministry here?
The awesome part about being here for 3 months is that I am not doing a to-do list at all. I am simply living with people and when i see a need, i can respond. In the meantime, I just hang out with them and make sure that my head and heart is on God so that I can be a light for them through my attitude and actions. I wake up in the morning, have my quiet time with God, then go to the waiting shed to hang out with the town while everyone helps bring the boats in and waits for all the fishermen to return with the tamban (fish). Then I just live the day with them :) and pray continuously of course...

Anyways- I am rambling on now- so here are some pictures to catch yall up on the rest :)

Sign for a Jeepney stop. I drive a jeep but now I think I will always think of these honkin' steel machines instead :) 

One of the local owner's of a fishing boat. NOTICE: He is wearing an Iowa Cyclones shirt :) 

Everyone helping pulling a boat up in the morning.

My fingerprinting process at the National Bureau of Investigation for my nursing school application. It was so ghetto... This is where the prisoners get fingerprinting because everyone else does it digital. I am so surprised I got accepted into nursing school with those janky prints :) 

My fingerprinter in the corner of a rainy, nasty corner of the NBI office

my fingerprints- What a joke!

This is from when i was at nehemiah house. but these are all the wonderful women of the nehemiah house staff! :)