BASKETBALL MINISTRY TRIP

A few days ago...(ok 12 to be exact) I went with my friend Susan to watch her husband and some other guys I know play in a basketball ministry game. How it works is they travel to various villages/provinces/barangays to play ball and share the love of Christ. This one happpened to be fairly close at a place called Halang Barangay. The guys set up a game with some of the locals. They usually tend to keep the first half fairly close to keep the fans interested, then turn it up a bit in the second half. During half time they share the gospel and hand out tracks and flyers. It's a great opportunity to build relationships and invite people to church and bible studies. During the games I like to walk around and play with the kids and talk to the people. The kids really LOVE to have their picture taken.



You can see more pictures on facebook if you have an account. I really love doing things like that and spending time with the locals. It's times like that when God really shows me my heart and how blessed I truly am. You can watch a video of the trip by going to this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Exz1g4EbKXE

This picture is of Jimwell and his mom. When he was in the womb his skull didn't fully close so the brain fluid is leaking out the hole into this sac. I believe he's almost 1 now but the life expectancy isn't very high. We're praying that a doctor would be able to come and help.




Here are a couple more for you just because they are sooo beautiful!

FEELIN HOT HOT HOT!!!!

It's definately taginit (hotseason) here. Yesterday afternoon it was 98 degrees F but felt like 108. It's one of those times when all you do is sit in front of the fan doing nothing and you still sweat. Thankfully I live in an apartment building that has a pool, so I got some relief by spending time poolside. But a cold front came through during the night and it dropped all the way down to 86 degrees. Wow. (Can you sense my sarcasm?) Needless to say it's kind of tough to sleep on nights like that. But I guess I can look on the bright side....sweating means losing weight right?

AND THEN THERE WAS SIX!

Man, I thought the changing of the guards happened a lot, but no, I think the changing of the roommates in SB1 occurs more often. When I first arrived in the Philippines in July, there were 4, then 5, then 6, back to 5, to 4, and then to 3 for a good amount of time. Every once in a while it would fluctuate between 3-5 for a couple weeks at a time. Now, it's back up to six.


L-R Marissa and Felicity (from Australia), Kim (North Carolina), Rachael (Georgia), and her sister Rebecca (Georgia). And oh, did I forget to mention that it's only a 2 bedroom condo? Ya. It's always nice to have girl time, but alone time is also much needed. The last two nights I have found my solitude on my bed watching the first season of Prison Break.....and there are only 2 words that need to be said about that..... Michael Scofield.



Ok, so he doesn't kick everyones butt like Jack Bauer, but he's way cuter! Sorry Val.

Passion and Purity

I'm reading the book "Passion and Purity" by Elisabeth Elliot. It's designed to help you learn to bring your love life under Christ's control. No, I do not have a love life, except with my Savior. It really is a great book though and I definately recommend it whether you are single, in a relationship, or married. However, God has been using this book to speak to my heart in ways other than in the relationship context. Last night I was reading from ch 19 and this is what stuck out to me:

" I realized that the deepest spiritual lessons are not learned by His letting us have our way in the end, but by His making us wait, bearing with us in love and patience until we are able honestly to pray that He taught His disciples to pray: Thy will be done"

"It was the taking up of the cross daily that Jesus spoke of. Is it a tough thing to do? Then do it. Take it up at once. Say yes to God. He will bring the very best to pass."

"If you love someone, there are many thigns you will do for that person because you love him-not because it's what you'd prefer if love did not enter the picture. The fact is, love has entered the picture. Therefore, in your heart, you can do what He wants, because, more than your own pleasure, you want His. When obedience to God contradicts what I think will give me pelasure, let me ask myself if I love him. IF I can say yes to that question, can't I say to pleasing Him? Can't I say yes even if it means a sacrifice? A little quiet reflection will remind me that yes to God always leads in the end to joy. We can absolutely bank on that."

I hope this encourage you as it has me.

Substitute Mom

I got to spend the last few days playing "mom" to 4 amazing kids, and I loved every minute of it. I had really been missing my nieces and nephew from home so God totally blessed me through this time. Sam is in 8th grade, Allison 6th, Julia 5th, and Laura 2nd.


The Akers parents spent a few days in Guam and asked if I would like to stay in their house and make sure their kids didn't kill each other. Other than playing a game with weapons where the point of the game was to "kill" each other and be the last man alive, no one was seriously injured. The biggest problem we had during my stay was when I flooded the bathroom by taking a too long of shower! Whoops! But the girls were sweet enough to help me clean it up.


The days consisted of waking the kids up, making sure they ate breakfast, doing hair, getting lunches ready, taking them to school, coming home from school to play foursquare, go for walks, eat dinner, pray together, play games, watch movies, and just hang out.


Oh and one of the best parts was I got to sleep in a HUGE bed that is from the states and soooooo comfortable. I had anywhere from 1-3 girls sleeping with me each night :-)


And the parents room has aircon, so I got to actually sleep without sweating and having a fan blasting on me. It was nice. The last day I let Sam drive the car just around the subdivision. It's a stick and he's never driven before so it was a little....uhh...interesting. But actually he did a great job and didn't kill it once....but we didn't tell his parents so shhhhh! :-)



It was such a refreshment and encouragment to me to spend time with them and made me long even more to be a mom someday :-)

Can you say "Single?"

I went out last night with my friends Val and Susan. Val is 26, married with 2 children,



and Susan is 24 (actually 2 weeks older than me), married, and expecting her first baby.


There is no better way to recognize my singleness than to spend an evening hearing stories of "my husband..." and "when you're pregnant...". But I did pipe up every once in a while with something sarcastic. But it really was a great night. It made me really look forward to the joys of being married and having a family. God has truly blessed those two women and it was encouraging to me to hear them talk about the excitement of marriage and mommyhood. It also helped me look on the bright side: I didn't have to find a babysitter and I didn't have indigestion or have to make frequent bathroom runs because of a baby kicking my bladder. And boy did we eat! We first hit up National Sports Grill where we ordered basically a plate full of fried grease. Then we had our first round of dessert at the Chocolate Bar a.k.a. Heaven on Earth.



And you could have found us for our second round of dessert at Cold Rock (pretty much the same as Cold Stone in the States) But the highlight of the evening may have been the Taxi ride home listening to Susan talk about future plans while staring at our Taxi drivers amazing mullet. Business in front...party in the back!!!!