Hey all! I am in the Philippines! It feels so good to be back! I am staying with my whole squad of 28 people at a hotel for a few days while we process everything that happened our first month, and get ready for our ministry in the Philippines. But before things get busy here I wanted to share more pictures and stories from Indonesia.
In addition to the large orphanage I talked about in my last blog we also went to a smaller orphanage (I am not putting the names on here for their safety.) The class sizes were much smaller which was really nice for the students because they got a lot more one on one attention from the teachers. The love that the teachers had for each child was evident in everything that they did.
The principal took us to each class and everyone on my team took turns leading the classes in games, songs, or discussion based on the ages of the kids. One of the classes I lead was for the 5th graders, and I decided to teach them “Simon Says”. The teacher told us that they just learned the body parts in English, so I thought it would be an easy game to learn. I explained the game to the teacher, but she was not able to understand through the language barrier so the kids ended up just copying what I was doing. And they were SO into it! Never in my life have I had the complete rapt attention of so many people as I did in that moment. Every single student and even the teachers were playing and touching their heads, shoulders, knees, toes, etc when I called it out, and were eagerly awaiting what I would come up with next for them to do. It was so cool to see how quickly they warmed up to me and how willing they were to come out of their shells and be silly with me.
We also got to go to a really poor area and play with the kids there. They have a multipurpose building that they use for a church, school, and after school programs for the kids. This group of kids really impressed me. They were so attentive, eager to learn, and polite. I never would have guessed where they came from if I had not been told. They have so much joy! They loved playing the games we came up with, learning some simple English songs with hand motions and they sang us some Indonesian songs.
It is so fun to be with and watch these kids! They experience so much joy in the small things and live 100% in the present moment. I can learn a lot from them! My goal this month is to follow their example and be all in. Right here and right now. Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice so that I can live a free and abundant life.
“…I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.” John 10:10
I can’t change the past, I am not promised tomorrow, but I have the present moment and out of gratitude for everything He has done for me I’m going to live to the fullest.
In Him,
Heidi
Tessie West took all of these awesome pictures! 🙂
