The Philippines: Day 4

Sunday, March 2.

This was our first Sunday in Manila and we went to two churches. 

The first church was about 2-3 miles from the Weisser's house, so Seth had us walk to it. This church was a church for the blind. The pastor there works with Resources for the blind. His name is Pastor Ranold and he is such a humble man; he's also blind.

(photo taken by Darcy)

He opened his garage so that the church could have somewhere to meet. They are rapidly out growing the garage but they're content in staying there. The people there have such giving hearts! During debrief someone mentioned that even though the people have really no money it seemed that everyone put something into the offering plate. 

Before we left on our trip this church had asked for us to prepare a song and for two of our teammates to share their testimonies. I was apart of the music group. I sang along with Luke and Charlie. Elizabeth played the keyboard, Vica played her ukulele and Jared played his mandolin. We had prepared the song 10,000 Reasons. 

(photo taken by Darcy)

So after corporate worship was done then we sang our song. I am so glad that I was apart of that song! Something that was amazing to see was when we had been singing for a few second I noticed people eyes were closing. They were already blind and they still had the wanting to worship the Lord even more so they closed their eyes. My uncle said that it could have been their way of bowing before the Lord. I just thought that it was amazing and I almost started crying so I don't think I looked up again. 

After we were done Jared shared his testimony then Vica shared hers. Pastor Ranold translated all of what they shared into Tagalog for us. Once they were finished with their testimonies Pastor Ranold went right into his sermon. He spoke in Tagalog the entire time so I had no idea what he was saying. But I understood that he was thanking the Lord for something because he was continually saying salamat po which means thank you. 

We stayed a little bit after the sermon to interact with the people a little bit, then walked back to the house. 

We changed and drove over to the mall we had been at the day before to eat in the food court and exchange more money. It was quite the experience. I had to choose food and then order it. I think choosing was the most difficult thing. They had so many options and not everything looked the best. I ended going for some pork BBQ with a side of rice. It turned out to be really spicy. But it was good! For desert I had a waffle stick that had Belgium cream in it. It was so good!! It got rid of the spiciness of the pork. 

We left there and went straight to the second church. 

 (photo taken by Luke)

This is Christ's Commission Fellowship. That building that you see is all theirs. Everything is paid and and they don't owe a thing on it. That building can hold 10,000 people. That's pretty crazy!! It's a more Americanized church but it was again awesome to see people worship the Lord. Almost everything was in English, so we are able to understand everything. The sermon was really good. The Pastor was teaching on the Flood. He was telling us how, in almost all the cultures they have a flood like story that has been passed down from generations. He said other things that I have learned here at school and from church. Then he brought up the Chinese symbol for flood and boat. To make up the character for flood the characters water, total, together, earth, eight are used. Then to make up boat the characters vessel, eight and people are used. I just thought that was so amazing!! I had never heard that before! It really enjoyed that. 

After church we got into the car, drove couple of blocks to a market. The way that we entered the market you entered this giant dog market. There were puppies everywhere and grooming places everywhere!! I think that was the most puppies I have ever seen in one area before. And of course me being the dog lover that my mother taught me to be, I wanted to take each one of them home. 

After all of the puppies you walk right into a food court. No health department here! It was here that Seth told us to be back there at a certain time so we could eat and watch a performance. We were shown where the market was and went off in groups! 

This was where I did my first haggling ever and I learned that I stink at it. You want 150 pesos for that? Okay! I was no good. 

Our time was up in the market so we went back to the food court. Seth had ordered food for us and we sat down at a table. The performance that we watched was a culture dance. They went through all the different styles of dance that the Filipinos have had. It was really interesting! 

The food was just as interesting. Seth got us a mixer of stuff. Pork, fish, baby fish that looked like deep fried sardines. Calamari, some sort of salty soup, and of course rice. I actually tried everything and really only liked the rice. 

 (photo taken by Elizabeth)

That was day 4 for us! 

The Philippines: Days 1-3

I got back safe and sound from the Philippines on the night of Tuesday, March 11. I spent the 12 days prior with my team of nine (Seth our leader, Charlie, Josh, Luke, Jared, Elizabeth, Darcy, Vica and myself), working along side Resources for the Blind. 

Day 1: We got into Manila Saturday morning on March 1. We left Portland, Oregon on Thursday afternoon, February 27. That means we didn't have a Friday. That was a bit crazy to think about.
We travelled from Portland to L.A. and we had a three and a half hour layover there. We were very thankful for that long layover!! Mainly because in order for us to get to our connecting flight to Taipei we had to go out of the airport and go to a completely different and separate building to check into our flight with Eva Airlines. That took us a while because we had to check in nine people; that takes a while. Then we had to go through security again and find our gate. Seth had us running all the way from our gate from Alaska Airlines to the Eva Airlines check in. I think it was just because he knew we were about to be on a 13 hour flight so he wanted us to have some exercise before we were stuck on a plane. But poor Elizabeth, she had hurt her ankle the day before and it hurt for her to walk, let alone run. But she was a trooper and walked as fast as her ankle would allow her.
The L.A. International airport is super nice once you get into the terminal. It's like a mall in there!
We boarded our flight to Taipei and we were able to sit together! That was so nice! We weren't sure if we were going to be able to do that. The Lord was gracious and kind to us in both allowing us to sit next t one another and getting us to Taipei safely!
We arrived in Taipei and had to go threw security there then find our gate. Once we found our gate we realized that we still have about 2 1/2 hours left in our layover. We went off to explore the airport. This airport was like a mall too!! It was crazy nice! My team and I came across a prayer room that was for Muslims, Christians and Buddhists.

Each had their own room and the appropriate things in it in order to pray. In the Christian room they had Bibles and tracks. Some Bibles were marked to leave there but most were there for the taking. I thought that was really cool.
We went back to our gate and some slept until our plane was ready to board, read or wrote in their journals that our leader asked us to keep while we were on the trip. I chose to do all three. I all so had to try to dry my book and my notebook because they had gotten wet on our first flight from my water bottle leaking. So I was under a fan at the airport in Taipei drying one page at a time. I thank the Lord that the book and the notebook were not ruined.
We finally got to board our last flight to Manila! Everyone started to get a bit more excited. The last flight!
Flying into Manila was so pretty!

The flight only took about 2 1/2 hours and once we got into Manila it was a security check and customs; get a stamp on your passport then your in! No one on the team had any trouble getting into the country. We did have to wait the longest time to get our bags though! I was beginning to think that they didn't make it but the Lord is teaching me that I need to have more faith. All of us got our bags and off we went into the hot world of Manila. 

We were picked up by Seth's mom (Mrs. Weisser) and sister (Omega). We all squished into a caravan and drove to their house. 

Traffic is just crazy there. Actually, driving in general is just really scary. It doesn't appear that they like to obey rules. So there are cars just everywhere! Lanes don't really exist and blinkers don't really mean anything. If you want over you go and if someone is in your way or you're going to hit them you just honk your horn. In the Philippines honking your horn isn't always a bad thing. Its just a more efficient way of saying you're there. 

They'll also get as close as they need to. You have no personal space in the Philippines. 

We arrived to the Weisser's house (which is just gorgeous) and just took in the fact that we were in the Philippines.

This was the Weisser's backyard!! Like I said, it's gorgeous there. They also had the cutest Dachshund every and her name is Latte! She was so sweet! 

Seth had us walk to a mall that was maybe 1-2 miles away from the house so we could exchange money and just see where we were. 

The Weisser's live in a subdivision that has a wall around it and at each gate has guards who are there 24/7. The reason is because right outside their nice subdivision are shacks and poverty. That's how it is in the Philippines. The nice houses are right in the middle of all the shacks. That first time walking threw it was so hard. Seeing the people in the state that they were in and smelling that smell. I have tried to figure out how to describe the smell but I have nothing to liken it too. It's worse than anything I have smelt before. And just right down the road is this 4-5 story mall. So strange. 

While we walked there we got a lot of stares and had a lot of people (mostly little kids) saying, "hey Jo!" They call Americans Jo because of the GI Jo's that came to help them with the Spanish. So we were called Jo where ever we went. 

After we exchanged money we walked back to the house and had a great Filipino meal and had our first debrief and devotional of the trip. That was how we ended every night. We would gather together. Have a teammate give a devo and then talk about how the day impacted us. 

That was the first three days. We traveled, skipped a day and got culture shocked.

My Scrambled Thoughts...

I have been debating whether or not to write this and I finally decided that I will.

I have been having a hard time trying to figure out where I fit in. Like, when I went to Washington for my graduation party I didn't feel like I fit in in Washington anymore. Those peoples lives have moved on and I'm not apart of it anymore. As much as it pains me that I'm no longer apart of any of that I just have to get over it. People are going to live their lives even if I'm not there being apart of it.
But I also don't feel like I fit in in Ohio yet. I'm in that awkward stage. You know that stage. Like if you moved churches and you still talked with your friends from the other church and were trying to make friends at the new church but slowly you were losing touch with the old friends. Then you were invited somewhere with the old church! You were super excited but then you had no idea what you were doing with those people cause you had absolutely no idea what they have been doing for the past few months.
Those are some awkward times.
But then you go somewhere with a group from the new church and you again have absolutely no idea what you are doing there because you haven't been in their lives for very long so you don't get any of the inside jokes that they tell. And you can't be apart of the conversation because you have no idea what they are talking about. Later on in the night you find yourself alone, standing awkwardly by yourself, wondering what you are doing there.
Yes, that is how I have been feeling lately.
It's just I would like to fit in and have the kind of friends here in Ohio that I had in Washington. But I don't really think that's going to happen. I'm going to loose touch with a lot of the students here because when this fall comes around I'll not be going to youth group anymore because I'm a graduate and I have to grow up.

The more I write and basically complain about this chapter of my life. I am realizing that I am not trusting in the Lord at all!! It seems like I have been trying so hard to fit in that I forgot that the Lord has me in HIS perfect plan. I will find where I "fit in" eventually; but right now all I need to "worry" about is how my relationship with the Lord is. Am I doing everything to bring Him glory? By this blog post I would say I have not been doing that.

The Bible verse that has been popping into my head recently when I get like this has been:
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5
I need to trust in Him.   

Graduate!!

                                     Can't you tell that I was and still am excited to be graduated?!
It makes me so very happy and scared to be done! Why am I scared? Because I have no idea what's going to happen in the future. Am I really going to be going to beauty school in a year? Will I pass my GED test? (It would be really embarrassing if I didn't pass that.) Will I still be able to keep my job next fall when I am hopefully attending Aveda and will only be able to work two days out of the week? I don't know! I dislike the unknown so very much! I started to think that people were going to think/look at me as a dumb person for not doing anything right after high school. It has always been my dream to be a beautician! But what if I'm actually not good at hair? Will I have wasted $18,000 on something that I'll never be good at?

I thought all of that while I was waiting for my family to find me after I graduated. I went into this major freak out mode in my head. But this is a test for me to trust the Lord. I have already stated that I hate the unknown so I need to trust in Him if I was peace about the future. I have a very hard time doing that when I've thought that something was going to turn out very differently. But the Lord knows best. He knows what's going to happen with my life. I will follow Him. I will trust in Him with all my heart. 

Senior 2012!

 That will be me!!! Shaking the principal's hand as he says, "Congratulations Olivia." I'll be thinking, "You have no idea you I am but THANK YOU!!!"

I don't know if people understand how excited I am to graduate!!! It's not just because I'm going to be done with high school - that is a big part of it - it's because I get to go down to Pensacola, FL (that is where my school A Beka Academy is located) and walk to receive my diploma!! That is the most exciting thing to me about graduating high school!! If I was living in WA right now I would not have been able to get this AMAZING opportunity! I am very happy to be living in OH right now and that's a big thing for me to say! 

"Deep, Deep Love" by Herb Frombach

"Deeper than the pain of the mobs bitter words, is the love of the Savoir who only says forgive."
Those words are taken from the song Deep, Deep Love. My church choir sang that song at our Tenebrae service on Good Friday. It was the last song we sang and we sang this song and the song before it in complete darkness. You can youtube this song and hear it for yourself but just think of how this song can impact you in the light! Think of how it impacted everyone when sung in the dark!
Read the lyrics again.
"Deeper than the pain of the mobs bitter words, is the love of the Savoir who only says forgive."
How true those words are! Our Savior's love goes deeper than anything that we can imagine! Also his love in never fading. Aren't we glad that that is true? He will love us and guide us forever. What a great and amazing God we serve!
"Deeper than the thorns pressing into His brow, is the love of a Son who dies for everyone."
"Love never failing to hear my call demands my soul, my life, my all."

Good news!!

We put an offer on a house Monday and it was accepted by the owner!!! But the catch is that this house is a short sale. For those who don't know, a short sale means that it could take months for the bank to approve the offer or to not approve the offer. The reason that people do short sales is that they cannot afford to pay for their house anymore so instead of having their house go into foreclosure and not receive any profit they go to the bank and ask the bank to allow them to sell their home as a short sale where they bank can make a profit and so can the owner. Banks only approve on the homes they think they can get a profit from. So the house goes on the market for much less than it is worth and what is owed on the mortgage.
During the banks part in all of this they like to drag their feet and be lazy. Why? I have no idea. Our realtor says that it could take up to two months for the bank to approve. Not as long as I've heard they can take; they could take longer than two months. But the owner has approved. That's one step down.
Like I said in my last post my family and I really like this house. It is almost perfect for us! Nice front/back porch, four bedrooms, three full bathrooms, a half bath, woods around us, fenced in yard, and a big kitchen! This house sometimes feels to good to be true. Hopefully the Lord allows us to get it! Please be praying!