trust me ... something beautiful will happen

so, after a long period of no-blogging, i’ve decided i should move back to it.  today i handed in my application to head back to the philippines to work with fishers ministries and babyanne’s mansion.  if i end up going this year, i will make sure to finish journaling, and not stop half-way through the trip.

school seems to be taking over my life now… if im not there, im studying. student life isn’t half as fun as it was at briercrest.

anyways, $2400 for the philippines, on top of missing the first two weeks of second semester. i figure if its ‘meant to be’ for me to go on this trip, that the money will get there, somehow and prof’s will let me miss out…

started and finished the boys ‘planes and trains’ room with diane and tash today. felt great. the boys continued to work on the landscaping. since our group was finished painting, we get to head outside and work with the boys raking and shoveling.

it’s bernie’s birthday, the big 30. had an amazing dinner in celebration, followed by a chocolate fondu and a ton of cake fighting. we then played catch phrase for about an hour.

i started reading ‘a million miles in a thousand years’ again. i had put it down for so long.  the last chapter i read is about job and his suffering, and how job was so thankful for it.  suffering is something we ned to learn to appreciate… we need to find contentment outside the context of comfort.

a theme throughout d. miller’s books is that life isnt a story about us. we’re just characters in a story.. trees in a forrest. somehow it’s so hard for us to wrap out head round the fact tht we aren’t so important. its something i know ive got to work on, and im slowly starting to see it more and more while being here. hopefully that wall will break down soon enough.

seems like its hit the team like a whirlwind… but everyne is reacting to it amazing. still so hard working.

the barn room is officially finished. got sick of spending these beautiful days inside. so i headed outside to do some landscaping in the afternoon.  change of plans… instead of those 40 trucks coming to bring backfill, there are now 90. its a lot of work, but its all coming together great.

this weekend we are going to a resort on another island. all inclusive. pretty stoked.  we’re calling it the ‘little heaven’, it’s our reward for ‘suffering’ these two weeks. its also a great surprise to us that we get this at the end. get in some good snorkeling in and winding down and reflection.

i wonder how many bugs ive eaten on this trip… they are everywhere.

anyways, i am in need of some peace, some reflection, reading and thinking and praying… im sure everyone here is feeling the same. hopefully we can find that at our ‘little heaven’ on the weekend.

im getting healthier! its a wonderful feelings, but sadly, others are catching up with some sore throats and upset stomachs.  we will all be good and healthy again soon im sure.

i had one of those.. ‘interesting’ painting days again. almost finished up the barn room. its nice working with tasha and haavig a set plan of action.  the boys started on the landscaping today. 13 trucks of backfill later, it looks amaazing. theyve done a great job, but there’s still another 27 or so truckloads to be dropped off.  we’re so blesed to have such a hardworking team.

i am repetedly reminded of a discussion we had earlier on this trip about what we wll do once we get home.  steve mentioned that it’s not just about tithing, we need to give our days.  it’s true, we are handed this huge responsibility after seeing this things and this poverty first hand. what im going to do about it, i dont know, but it will be a heck of a lot more than i have ever done before.

i pray i will come home with great stories of what god has dont and is doing here, not just about what we did while we were here. i hope the people who i tell understand the sufferings of the people in this place and know it as truth.

“truly, i say to you, as you did to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (from matthew 25).

side note: sam and lisa, without your amazing care packages, i would be lost, dirty, not writing in a joural, and musicless. thank you. you’re wonderful.

this morning i woke up with the taste of pepto bismol in my mouth… turns out i got a black tongue from it. that was gross. i just brushed it off after a lot of freaking out. turns out a side effect of pepto bismol can be a ‘hairy black tongue’. so much for taking that one again. we go tot sleep in and do devotionals this morning, then we had our mini church service here at the mansion. we headed to greenhills mall and spent a couple hours in the market. after this, we went to the intromurez museum and on a horse carriage ride through ‘old manila’, then out for dinner. what a great day. oh… i have forgot to mention 2 important things about this trip. one: i am so blessed to be on this trip with such amazing people. the community is so wonderful, and i cant wait to see where the friendships lead when we get back home. two: this may not come as a surprise to you, but it was a heck of a shocker to me… they dont flush toilet paper here… they put it in the garbage can… thanks for the heads up lisa. god bless.

so, i forgot to write in my journal on day 7, but it was a fairly average day.  worked on the wall, then started painting the ‘barn room’ with tash. great news, the walls are finished (as far as brick laying goes).  we had a really cool dinner. banana leaves for plates, fresh coconuts, and a rice dish.  the boys for two chickens from the market and slaughtered them in the back hard and cooked them for dinner aswell.  as weird as it sounds, it was kind of an interesting experience.

on day 8, well, i got sick. the morning started off with a stomach ache… smart ol’ me decided to skip breakfast, and had only one glass of water before leaving the house.

we went into the city to do an outreach with some children at pastor mark johnson’s church.  there were probably over 200 kids at the church.  the children were so cute, we played ‘keep up’, ‘the human knot’, did a craft and had lunch.  we also did action songs which were fun. after all of that, we went and delivered rice to some families in the neighbourhood, and candy for the children. it was an amazing experience, and a great opprotunity to see the poverty and the ruined homes that these families come from.

we then went to kfc for lunch and took the philippino leaders from the church. after this, we went to a different part of town where we met with another 500 ish kids, played basketball, dodgeball, face painted and had balloon animals made.  it was great. the whole time we were outside. by the time the children were about to leave, we were handing out candy bags and it hit me like a brick wall. i got super dizzy, tired and had a lovely little fever.

headed over to pastor mark’s for dinner, popped some tylenol and drank a ton of water… felt so much better.

aside from the sickness, it was an amazing day.

today we worked on the wall all day. it was beautiful out, yet again. cloudy, but still hot and wonderful. i’ve got a glove tan, it’s pretty ugly, but im starting to grow fond of it.

we started an ‘encouragement’ thing las night. we all sit in a citcle and encourage the two people of the night. it’s even encouraging just listening to what people have to say to the other team members.

all the days are starting to blur together now. we wake up at six, eat, then get to work, lunch, naop, back to work, dinner, shower, meeting, journal/read and sleep. i’ve got a routine for once in my life. though there’s always a routine, god teaches me something new everyday.

the internet isn’t consistent here, but as marcel put it, it’s ‘consistently crap’.  my journaling has gone down hill aswell, but i guess it’s alright, i wont forget any of the big things that’ve happened.

jeremiah 29:11-13:  “for i know the plans i have for you, declares the lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and hope. then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and i will hear you. you will seek me and find me, when you seek with all your heart.”

today was one of those boring days that you  just push on through. painting and staring at one wall for seven hours is exhauting and mind numbing. having a headache polished it off.  looking back as i write this, i see that the mind numbing boredom of painting a wall is exactly what i  needed.  i was blessed to have bad the opprotunity to stay inside while i wasnt feeling well and spend time thinking and with god and friends.

im in need of a cup half full, so here it goes:

today was beautiful, the warmest day yet. i stayed inside and worked on the ‘princess’ room.  the group ouside did, yet again, a great job on the wall building.

after lunch, a couple of us went to a market about ten minutes from here. they sold everything. puppies were 1020 php ($25 cdn), i was tempted to buy one. we took tricycles (motorcycles with side cars) home instead of having the driver drive us back, super cool experience.

driving here is wild. there are street signs, but nobody obeys them or even drives within the lines.  it’s nuts, you just pray you don’t get in an accident.

after dinner, we had a meeting and talked with karen and jenny about the formation of f.i.s.h.e.r.s. ministries. it’s an amazing story.

hebrews 11:1-3:  “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. for by it the people of old reunited their commendation. by faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of god, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.”

ah, we’ve only been here for three days, but i love it.  the sun is always shining, and when its nighttime, it’s still super hot.  sadly its been super cloudy so we haven’t been able to see the stars though!

today we worked on the wall again, the first wall is finished, the second wall only has one or two lines left. one more wall. our team is solid, and everyone is working together great!  later a couple of us came inside to do some painting in the bedrooms.  though the days are repetitive, we always see and feel different things each day.  the food today was pretty basic, but somehow philippino’s make it taste so much better.

as i write this, i am listening to the twins sing and play amazing music.  i love it!

the philippines is definitely a place that i would love to return to.  i have high hopes that i will come back one day and see babyanne’s mansion with all of the construction finished, and children running around.

well… internet is sadly expensive and hard to find reception here, so i don’t get much time to write.

love. v.

so last night, we went into the city and drove around… it was out of a movie. children as young as 5 were walking up and down the roads selling things or begging.

we got to one spot of slums where garbage was flowing down the river and people had made their homes on top of garbage piles.  before i left, my friend paul asked me to come home and tell him if the children were smiling… i can just say, i’ve never seen a north american child smile as large as these children were.  we got out and took photos and talked with a group of them, they were sweet, young… innocent.  the saddest part: this is the only life they know. they will most likely have no escape, and continue to live and raise families in the same type of poverty.

today was a bright and early wake up at 5, breakfast at 5:30, and work started at 6.  i worked inside for part of the day, painting a shark and underwater scene, then spent the other part of the day outside on the cinderblock wall.  the neighborhood children came to watch us work on the wall, and played frisbee.

food-wise:  for breakfast, we had sweet bread, my new favorite food.  we had a snack between breakfast and lunch of mango, papaya, and leechies.  for lunch we had rice with a lentil-tofu top, and dinner we had spaghetti and salad.  the food here is absolutely amazing!