Hello! The question "Is This Real Life?" has been going through my head lately because I just feel so blessed to be able to be doing this. Many times, I feel like I'm in a dream. I wake up and ask, "Where am I again?" I'm just so grateful to God and to everyone who helped support me and continue to do so. I just think, "Who gets to have this opportunity and experience these things? Who gets to travel the world and share Jesus and offer hope and help? Who gets to meet so many people and cultures and have things like lodging and food already provided for not to mention be blessed with good health and protection?" The Race combines many of my passions like Jesus, people, traveling, cultures, languages, encouraging, teaching, and sometimes dancing! It's really cool to see God in a new prospective of the world and meeting fellow brothers/sisters around the world. Needless to say, even though I miss my family and home a lot, I am a happy chick right now. Sometimes, I find myself thinking about and excited for after the Race, but I really want to soak up everything here because I know the Race will finish soon enough. I can't believe that we're about to enter month 5!!!!!!
I know that my fellow World Racers can agree that there are experiences that you have on the Race where you're like, "Is This Real Life?" Many times they're awesome or funny experiences like singing karaoke in the middle of a Filipino street having all the locals staring at you and another time singing it in Tagalog, the language of the country, seeing God answer prayers like never before, or hearing that you might have to go with a teammate who was told that she might have to deliver a baby by herself (it didn't end up happening though haha). Other times, it's sad or confusing experiences like seeing things like people suffering from sicknesses that are easily treated or curable in the U.S., hearing from the girls that you're tutoring that they have dreams to go to college and travel like me, but they can't afford it, or experiencing a really violent injustice and hearing that the police probably won't do anything because they're corrupt. It is real life, and it's eye-opening.
I had a really good week. We did more tutoring and visiting in the community. On Monday, we took 4 teen girls from our ministry out to a movie and dinner at the mall. Before that, when we went to go pick them up, and we noticed that one of the girl's mom was having a severe allergic reaction, so my team and I brought her to the doctor, and now she's doing fine. The girls were so grateful. They're so Godly, beautiful, sweet, humble, and smart. I love working with them. It was so fun to be able to just have a girls' night and for them to be able to be treated and blessed. It was a little hard because we dealt with some jealousy from other kids in our ministry, and a few kids were asking us why they couldn't come even though we had already planned a day of swimming for the rest of the kids and were planning on taking out 3 other girls later. On Tuesday, we taught spelling in English and a Bible verse, on Wednesday we led their devotions about the Father's love, on Thursday we brought this little boy who was itching a lot to the doctor, and on Friday, we showed them a couple episodes from History Channel's "The Bible" series. Also, on Friday, my team had a team meeting called "Super Feedback" where we all go around and share things that we've noticed about each other that are praise-worthy and things that could use improvement. And it was really encouraging and loving. Before that, some of us also went to a woman's house to do karaoke and eat pizza too which was super fun. I also had some awesome conversations about the life stories of some of my teammates this week. It's really cool how God blesses being intentional with people.
Me, Abigail, Irish, Apple Joy, Princess, Sara, and Megan at the restaurant of choice: McDonald's (they have spaghetti and rice at the McD's in the Philippines)!
Some boys in the community where we visit. They're so cute!!!! 🙂
Spiritually right now, I feel like I'm in the process of God teaching me a lot of things. It's so funny that whenever you think that you kinda understand God or that you're starting to get good at understanding His ways, you realize just how there's always SO much more to know and experience and grow in. One thing that really stands out to me this week is that I was encouraged to rely on the Holy Spirit more. I was talking to a teammate and asked for an example on how to do that, and she mentioned that one example to try is that instead of giving a talk with absolutely every detail already planned (which I usually do because I want to do my best and take it seriously), to just have some bullet points and a general idea of what I might want to say that way it causes me to rely more on God and allows more room for the Spirit to speak through me. That was really profound to me because as I mentioned last week, I feel like I can easily see the things that I do, but I'm having a hard time seeing the things that God does. I realized that I probably can't see what God does because I'm taking so much control that I'm not giving God enough room where I can credit Him or allow Him to work in His amazing ways. Obviously, He's the one in control, but it's just hard for me to see that or allow that when I prepare everything and do everything on my own. Another thing that God has been showing me is how I seek comfort in food and how I've been spending a lot of my money selfishly. Also, I feel like He's given me more confidence that what I have to say is valid and important which I've been praying for, so you can continue to pray for that, and also for my actions too.
We have about 1 week left in the Philippines. I'm kinda sad. I've developed some really good relationships this month, so it will be sad to leave them. On Thursday, when we were at this elderly woman's house, and she asked if we would be here until December. We said no, and we asked why, and she replied that it was her 80th birthday in December! It was quite cute. We took her hand and put it to our forehead because that's a sign of respect here. The kids do it to me sometimes, I think it's quite cool. Everyone calls you "Ate" (Ah-tay) mean sister or "Tita" which I think means like Aunt as a sign of respect. Another thing that might be interesting to you is to know that they celebrate Halloween in the Philippines. I was a little surprised, but then I remembered that they used to be ruled by Spain and later the U.S. I'm not sure what the customs are here, but I've seen some events and costumes for it. Next, we're going to Thailand, and change is on the horizon again with everything and also with teams again. Next week, we're going to invite kids from our ministry to go swimming where we live, so you can pray for that and take a few more girls out and wrap things up. It should be fun!
Here's a good song called "Holy Spirit" that I like if you'd like to check it out:
