Final Moments in the Philippines


My students found a waterfall near Abian, Nueva Vizcaya.
If I did not know that I would be back again one day, I think these final moments in the Philippines would be much more difficult; however, Lord willing, I will be back in January 2015 for Come to the River, Happy Family’s annual leadership conference. (It will be skipping one year, so I have until 2015 to prepare for my next trip to Asia.) This place has been a place of learning, healing and meditation. I thank God that he brought me to this island country, taking me completely unawares by his love and provision in my life. God is great, and he is faithful to guide me, as I follow the path led by Jesus Christ. I have never felt this established before in my thoughts, in my plans and in my desires. I attribute this state of being to the time I have spent in the Philippines because I had the opportunity to look at myself pretty deeply and look at God quite profoundly, seeing where I fit in and what I must do. I’m ready to hang up my wandering shoes and get to work.
My students, "the World Changers"
 After returning from Myanmar, I came back to the Bible school in Baguio, which was in full preparation mode for graduation and the outreach trip planned to the province of Nueva Vizcaya. I was the guest speaker for the graduation ceremony, an honor bestowed upon me as the ambassador for the McCartys and their representative at the ceremony. The class was called “The World Changers” class, and I spoke of the need to surrender their lives to Jesus in order to follow God’s plan for their lives and the way in which daily, personal sacrifice keeps that commitment to surrender fresh and palpable. I am hopeful that my students (14 graduates) will actually change the world, starting in their own communities. 
Nueva Vizcaya is particularly lovely with the green rice paddies and blue mountains.
The day after graduation, we left on an outreach excursion to meet with a rural church community in Abian, Nueva Vizcaya. I love that province because of the beautiful combination of bright green rice fields and the bluish deep green of the mountains that surround the fields and loom above the moist plains. The best part of the trip was being able to have that time with my students before sending them back to their homes. I hope to see them all again.
Hannah's 6th birthday and her homemade Barbie cake

Staff outing to the Itogon hotsprings
When the students left, the school felt very empty, but Jether and Hannah (the 8 and 6 year old children of the Bible school directors) filled the void with their chatter and running around. We even made it to the Itogon hot springs for a day of relaxation and bonding. I had fun making Hannah a Barbie cake for her 6th birthday; it actually turned out pretty well in spite of my limited baking materials and was appreciated by all her guests (the Bible school staff and her family). I completed the reformatting and organizing of the Bible school curriculum, spending about 100 + hours on the project. I am pleased that it is done and organized on flash drives for each of the staff members. Tomorrow, March 28th, is my last day in Baguio, and I will leave with a sense of a job well done and purpose completed. I am off to Vietnam to fellowship with the young people and to bring a message of encouragement to my friends and their church community for Easter. One more week in Asia!
A present from my students, thanking me for the time I took to be a part of their lives

Comments

Anonymous said…
Kelsey, thank you for your beautiful post. I just finished reading it and was very blessed. Love your photos as well!! I think the Filipino people truly allowed you to be a part of their lives.
March 28, 2013 at 2:47 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Going Bald So I finally went through the shaving of my head, which I have wanted to do for a long time. It was a really interesting experience: I did it while I was in Bicol because I wanted the staff to see me without any hair, as I had been discussing it with them for the past month. They are so great! No one said that I would look bad without hair or that I would be a disgrace or something, but they had some practical questions I needed to consider. One said: “You shouldn’t shave your head because the mosquitos will get you even worse!” And another said, “Are you sure you want to shave your head? You are going to need a lot of extra sunscreen!” Both of these comments are certainly true. Without hair, one loses her natural protection against the elements, but I was too set on shaving that I simply laughed and had a good time with their comments. I cut my hair short in stages, which you can see from the pictures. (The first was taken in May 2009 at my college’s research symposium. The...
Read more

Tabaski: The Feast of Mutton

Image
According to Muslim tradition, once a year, Senegalese people celebrate the holiday Tabaski, which commemorates the Koranic account between Abraham and his son Ishmael: God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael, who accepted his fate as a sacrificial offering to God. However, as Abraham was getting ready to slaughter his son, an angel of the Lord appeared to him and told him to abstain from killing his son because God had found him faithful and had provided the sacrifice in lieu of his son. To memorialize the religious significance of the holiday, Muslims—generally married men, grown-up men with stable jobs, and widows—purchase rams, which they eviscerate on the day of Tabaski by slitting their throats in the name of Allah (also the Halal method of killing an animal). Islam honors these sheep with the belief that the souls of these sheep go directly to Paradise (as well as those who are killed for the naming ceremony). There are three salient factors composing this holiday: the ...
Read more

College Friends in China and Los Angeles

Image
Starting the walk up and down the Great Wall at Mutianyu Dinner potluck party at Esther's home My friends from high school and college are all around the country and the globe, so I was blessed to see three college friends this past February before starting a new vocation on Raspberry Hill Farm in Sullivan, WI. I started the month with a two-week trip to southern China to pay a visit to my friend, Esther, who works for the State Department at the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, a city of 18 million people. She will be there for two years, starting back in November, so I was glad to have the opportunity to see her in her new realm of work and society. While she worked most days, I took my time to read and do CrossFit work outs, knowing that once I returned to WI, I would have a lot of items on my plate, transitioning into a new career. I enjoyed seeing her home, meeting her friends and eating and cooking together. She even hosted one of my friends from high school, who happen...
Read more