I thought I’d give you a visual overview of my time in The Philippines. I am so excited to show you all the little friends the Lord blessed me with. After the first week I became discouraged because while our work in the library was good and what The Philippine Christian Foundation (the school in the dump) needed, I was longing to build relationships with the people and to share with them about Jesus. The week after I asked the Lord for these things I already had handfuls of friends and one very best, crazy, Filipino friend Lynie (if you are reading this, you know I love you girl!). God has been lavishly loving me lately by giving me things I want and not just things I need. Or perhaps He is just giving me more of His desires and teaching me more how to pray into His will. Either way, it has been amazing to see big and small prayers answered day in and day out.
Without further ado, here are some pictures!
The Manila skyline at sunset
Team Judah at the end of training right before we were sent to the dumps
Yes, we are crazy. Crazy in love!
Some people in the dump scavenging for treasures to support their families
The school in the Smoky Mountain Dump where we worked
The out of control room we made into a library
Working in the library at The Philippine Christian Foundation
An albino roach we found in the library. Believe me it was one among many… Did I mention we also found spiders like I have only seen in textbooks and baby mice/rats? Thought you’d like to know!
The terrace where Team Judah and Team Libre hung out ALL time time 🙂
The ladies of Libre and Judah before salsa dancing at The Penguin
My little group of 15-year-old girlfriends: Raafi, Donna, Marjorie, and Christine
Myself, Lynie, Aaron, and Steph at the top of Taal Volcano
Isn’t Taal beautiful?
Aaron and some of the boys in the skills training class, where teenagers are taught technical skills to help them get jobs. (Note – my favorite, Roly Poly as I like to call him, is the one looking away from the camera in the bottom right corner. He made the paper flower I’m holding in the next picture!)
The girls I liked to play basketball with. It was the first time my height has been an advantage in quite a few years!
Lynie and I 🙂
And finally, Aaron on the toilet. Its the little things that make life bearable…a nice breeze, a good book….
Thanks for viewing! I will miss The Philippines and all my friends there, but I am excited about the next leg of the journey!
