Facts from February

I'll attempt to keep this brief and still give you an update of my crazy life here.  So, I have a lot of pictures. :-)

The teacher training I presented went very well.  The teachers left inspired and excited to put into practice the things I presented.  As I walked around the school today, I heard teachers implementing the things I had shared.  Wow, does that make me feel good!

Tina learned that she can climb stairs.  Now she has study times in our apartment.  She is also correctly reading short vowel words and stories with comprehension. (Ex:  The cat can tag a rat.)

We had two days of a national competition last week for preschool and elementary students.  It is basically like UIL for all of the schools connected to IFL.  Children from age 4 to 14 danced for the glory of the Lord. (There were probably over 50 dances with 4-10 people in each dance.) We had groups of students in grades 3-4 dancing to Jason Upton's "Freedom" and depicting the spiritual warfare behind bondage and the freedom we have in Christ.  There were students in grades 1-2 pouring out their worship to "Alabaster Box" by Julie Meyer.  Grades 5-6 called the nations to worship by dancing to "Oceans Will Part" by Hillsong.  Grades 1-2 showed the pain of the cross to "Villa De La Rosa."  It was INCREDIBLE!  Everything was done with such excellence and joy!  IFL placed in multiple categories. :-)

IFL students dancing to "Oceans Will Part"

Banana Cue- My favorite snack here

They won first place!

We had a fire in the field behind my apartment on Saturday.  Everyone united to be able to put it out.  The fire department showed up with one fire truck and  little hose.  They didn't even take the truck out into the field.  So, IFL became the Fire Brigade!  It was awesome to see the unity of everyone to put out the fire!

I tried to upload the videos but the internet here (or this website) can't handle it.  So I'll attach pictures.  There is one video on Facebook that is visible to my "friends of friends."

View from my apartment of the fire's start.  We had high winds that day and the fire jumped the road.

IFL Fire Brigade Goes to Work

Passing the buckets of water across the future talapia pond

Using large sticks to beat down the flames

Carrying Water Buckets

The fire source: burning coconut shells

Fried frog, anyone?

Beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news.

I went out to the mall yesterday with my friend Cheryl.  We chopped off our hair and had a blast being girly.

(Sorry, forgot to rotate this before I uploaded it!)

COFFEE!!

I love me some "Jesus Juice"

Our treat to ourselves

Our meal cost more than both of our hair cuts combined!

This week, I am working on developing a Teacher's Training for ESL strategies/methods.  I don't know when I'll get to present it, but I want it ready for when it's time to.  I also will be working on detailed Sub plans for when I'll be out of town.

Friday morning I will go to Cagayon de Oro on the island of Mindanao to meet up with a ministry from the states.  I will get to meet Anabel, the child that I've sponsored to go to school for the last few years.  She will graduate later this month (March).  I'll be gone until Tuesday.  I can't wait to meet her and to meet up with the people from the ministry in America.

Spiritual Lessons I'm learning:

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 8th month of me being here.  I am SOOO glad I left America!  I love God more now than I did before.  I love this adventure of serving Him!  

As I gaze at Him, He leads me perfectly.  The eyes are the window to the soul.  God's mind, will, and emotions are revealed through His eyes.  Now, we can't literally see God's eyes, but scripture tells us that they burn with fire.  His eyes burn with desire for each of us to know Him.  I want to gaze into the eyes of God and be set on fire with His love.  I want to be guided by His eyes- His mind, will, and emotions.  Just like two people can communicate with only their eyes, even from across the room, I want to be locked into God like that.  I want Him to be able to look at me or at others to understand what He's thinking and desiring.  Then, I want to partner with Him in making it happen.  Jon Thurlow has a song that resounds in me daily, "I know that Your hair is white like wool, I know that Your voice sounds like waters, I know that Your eyes are like flames of fire.  Jesus, You're beautiful.  Jesus, You're beautiful." 

Let me know this Beautiful One. 

Going back to "normal"

This week I'm finally getting back to my "normal" schedule- that is, the one before I had astronomy class.  That basically means I have my evenings "free" to garden again. :-)

Astronomy class is over.  I am now certified to train others in observing the heavens and its space objects from a Biblical worldview.  It was a lot of work and time, but SOOO worth it!  Now I know the names of the space objects that I am seeing or at least how to find out what they are.  I can't wait to observe and sketch again!

I have been putting the finishing touches on the teacher training I'm presenting this weekend.  I feel like I've tried to cram 3 years of college and 3 years of teaching into one training session.  Please pray that I present it well and that the teachers are able to understand and implement the things I present to them.  I will present Friday from 6pm-8pm and Saturday from 8am-5pm (Manila time).

Thursday, we are holding a special meeting for anyone interested in joining the Worship and Intercession Team.  We decided that it was better to have a separate meeting where we could give the application in an interview format rather than have the students fill out a paper and pencil application.  The application is in English and we don't want anyone to be so intimidated that they don't even try to join.  

Please pray for this night.  Please also pray that we hear God as to who is supposed to be a part of the team.  And, please pray for the discipleship process as we put together curriculum to train the new team.

Today, I bought my ticket to go meet the child that I sponsor!  I leave on Friday, March 4th to go to Cagayon De Oro on the island of Mindanoa.  I will meet up with a team from the states (Fullness In Christ Ministry) and drive with them to Iligan City to hold a pastor's conference.  The child I sponsor will be there on Saturday for me to meet her!  I'm so excited!  I will fly back to Manila on Tuesday, March 8th.  It's so great to be on this adventure with the Lord!

I'm still learning to sing, play guitar, make jewelry, write curriculum, write books, hang out with friends, dance, and keep my heart alive in love.  God's given me a supernatural grace to do all of this.  It comes only from a place of absolute dependence on Him.  I love my Beloved!

Fun extras:

I ate fried fish today.  The fish were less than 5 inches long and had their bones, fins, and heads still attached.  I ate all of that- including the eyeballs!  It was very good!

I also had fresh sugar cane today.  I think my jaws are going to be soar from all the chewing I did!

I found my hammer!  I feel more complete now. :-)  I even got to use it!

I think I could eat peanut butter all day, every day.

My second year high school students made me a giant Valentine's Day card and all signed it.  That made my day! :-)

I still hate mosquitoes.

I'm getting callouses from playing guitar. :-)

I actually have run out of things to say! (When does that ever happen????!! Haha!)

"Wounds From a Friend" Sermon

Saturday night, Tita asked a friend of mine to preach Sunday morning.  As I stood next to her, I felt the Holy Spirit nudge me, "Raymi, you preach.  You have a word to share."  So, at 7pm that night, I went into "planning mode" for the church service that started at 8am the next morning.

Scary?  Yes.  But the fear was the fear of the Lord.  For the last two weeks (and probably longer), God had been teaching me about the message He wanted me to share.  Even that day, I had been burdened in prayer with the following message.  (These are my notes made into cohesive sentences.  I may have not said these exact words, especially since I had an interpreter.  I also understand if you don't read it all.  This was a 30 minute sermon that I have transcribed to the best of my ability.)

The main scripture for today is Proverbs 27:6 "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses."

We will look at some other scriptures today, too.

So many reactions can come from this verse.

• We can agree with it, saying, "Yes, I know that's true."
• What?!  My friend wouldn't hurt me!
• When my spouse/mom/dad/son/daughter kisses me, does that mean they are my enemy?!  They kissed me this morning!  Oh no!
• If I get into a boxing match, does that mean I have a new friend?

Well, it's not saying that your new friend is the one you boxed last week.  Relax, there!

The word "wound" in Hebrew here means "bruised."  When you get a bruise, the blood vessels under your skin are broken.  It hurts.  You don't want anyone to touch it or even get near it.

"Trusted" here means to be carried by a nurse.

So, another way this verse can be translated is, "Bruises from a friend can be carried by a nurse, but kisses from those who hate you are abundant and deceitful."

It is natural to hide a wound.  A few weeks ago, I stubbed my toe.  It hurt so bad!  I didn't want to touch it and was even afraid to put shoes on.  I pulled my foot away from anything that would hurt it further.

When a dog gets a cut, he becomes vicious.  He retreats into his wounds and licks them in pain.

A good owner of the dog will put medicine on the wound and bandage it.

I don't know what your wounds are.  Maybe it's the fight you had with your spouse or your children.  Maybe it's the words that were spoken to you by your parents.  And that's not just for you young children, but also for you old children.

What do you do with your wound?  Do you retreat and pull away?

About a year ago, I was in the habit of slandering my friends.  Instead of valuing their gifts, I put them down to others.  I received a text from a friend of mine that said, "Don't interpret your friends to others." In other words, "You are out of line and you need to stop talking like that."  Did that hurt?  Yes.  But I had a choice in that moment.  I could get angry and react, "You don't know what you're talking about.  Who are you to tell me what to do?!"

Or, I could agree and take that wound to the Lord.

I chose to take it to the Lord.  A broken heart, God will not despise.  He will not turn away brokenness.  He is the great physician.

Maybe your wound is deeper than that text message I received.  Maybe it's words that cut so deep you can't get past them.

I tell you, the devil is a hurt whisperer.  He will surround you with people that tell you to nurse your own wounds.  Friends will tell you that you are justified in your hurt.  They may "kiss it and make it better" but really they are doing nothing for you.  They are deceiving you.

I'm not saying your wounds aren't real.  And they really do hurt.  I'm not downplaying your pain and just telling you to get over it.

A dog can lick itself to infection and death.  If the wound is not properly cared for, it will never heal correctly.

If you have a broken arm, the doctor has to set the break.  Once a broken arm is set correctly, the place of the break is doubly strong.

The Lord is that doctor, that great physician.  He can set things right.

Turn to Isaiah 53:2-5.

Verse 2: "He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground.  He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."

A plant can't grow unless the seed casing is broken.  Maybe that wound is being used by the Lord to break open the seed casing of your heart.  You are destined to bloom.  But are you letting yourself be broken?

Verse 3-5 "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.  Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed."

Jesus KNOWS our pain.

The word wounded in Hebrew in verse 5 means, "profaned, defiled, polluted, wounded fatally, pierced, slain."

This deeper than the bruise from your friend!

"Bruised" here means, "crushed and shattered."

He knows your pain.  He can take it.  Will you withdraw from Him or will you give it to him?

What do you do when the wound comes from the Lord?

Hosea 6:1-3 "Come, let us return to the Lord.  He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; He has injured us but He will bind up our wounds.  After two days he will revive us; on the third day He will restore us, that we may live in His presence.  Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him.  As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

Just like when you go to the doctor and they have to set the bone, it hurts.  The surgery hurts.  The needle in the arm hurts.

The Lord is the great Physician.  He will set your wound.  It hurts.  But the doctor sees your healing.  He sees the best way to go about the surgery.  He knows that the temporary pain that is brought to Him will result in long-term health.  Wounds from the great Physician are to be trusted.  He is your best friend whom you can trust.

The Lord says to you, "Don't hold back your emotions from Me.  I know them.  I can be trusted.  Bring that sharp word to Me.  Bring the pain to Me.  I'm the friend that can nurse you back to health.  I'm the one who can perform the surgery and remove the pain.  You may have never been to church before.  You may have never spoken to Me before.  That's ok.  I can still take the pain.  I can still take the wound.  It may hurt in the process, but life will be brought forth.  I am the Lord, the One who forgives all our sin and heals ALL of your diseases- even the diseases of grumbling and infection in your heart.  Bring your wound to Me."

Lord, here is my wound.  It hurt so bad when ________ happened.  It hurt when ______ was said to me.  I give this to you.  I don't hold it back anymore.  I choose not to withdraw but to let you heal me. Please speak to this and heal it.  I submit to Your healing process.  I will fulfill the prescription of worshipping and reading the Word to complete this healing.  Thank you.  Thank You for taking my wounds.

Lord, in every place that there was a wound, place your joy in its place.  Make it doubly strong.  Make it into a testimony.

In Jesus' Name.  Amen.

God of Wonders

Each week is so full and overwhelming (mostly in a good way); I am running out of titles for my blogs! I'm about to just start posting "Wow 1, Wow 2, Wow 3," etc. Week Of Wonders 1, Week Of Wonders 2, Week of Wonders 3, etc. :-)

I started the astronomy class last Thursday.  We have class for three hours every day with an hour break for dinner as well as reading homework.  Needless to say, I had to surrender my garden back to the original cultivators.  When this class is over next week, I will resume caring for my garden and learn more intensely.

For the high school classes last week, I taught from the book, "Oh the Places You'll Go," by Dr. Sues.  The book is a road map of sorts through the seasons of life.  I gained so much insight into my students through an activity where they compared their life to the themes from the book.  Some of the boys who are "naughty" revealed their true hearts through the assignment I gave.  Now I know how to pray and can partner with the Lord in helping them to live from their hearts.

This week, I am teaching the correct way to pronounce short vowel sounds.  I took the students out to the playground to practice.  High school students were running around, actively engaged in making and finding the correct sound cards!  I was so impressed with their desire to participate!  (I also have quite a few students who don't want to participate.  Please pray for wisdom for me that I would be given a way to motivate them.)

Tina continues to use her cutting skills, and practice her English pronunciation, too.  She is getting so much better! I am so impressed with how far her English skills have come in only 7 months.

My adult students are also learning correct pronunciation as well as story telling.  I am blessed and impressed by the dedication of these two students to learn English.

At our youth service on Saturday, God showed up in an awesome way.  We gave Him freedom to minister to individuals and to worship without limits.  Those with tired, weary hearts were refreshed.

God continued to meet with people at the Sunday service.  We had a "mini-revival" of sorts break out.  God's presence was so strong during worship.  After the message, the worship team got back on stage and we worshipped for about another hour.  The spirit of poverty was broken off of the region.  A word was given for people that God was present to meet their needs.  The men of the church took the banners with God's names on them and waved them over the congregation.  There was so much freedom!  I am praying that this freedom and love continues to increase each week.

It truly is the Lord's grace that I am able to do all that I am doing.  Just stating my schedule wears me out!    Please pray for continued grace to be disciplined to do what God has called me to do.  He fills me with joy and energy each day as I obey.

I am finishing up the Powerpoints for the teacher training I am conducting on February 18-19th.  I was supposed to finish them a few weeks ago, but I am only able to work on them a little bit at a time.  It's slow going!  I met a Filipino college professor who travels the world this weekend.  She wants a copy of my powerpoint when I am finished!  No pressure, right?!

We finished the Worship and Intercession Team application.  We are praying to be able to start the application process this weekend and have a new worship team in place by the first weekend in March.  Please pray that this can be done and pray for the right people to be on the team.

Today, I woke up at 4am to observe stars with a telescope.  I'd never done that before.  It was incredible!  From where we are, I could see the North Star as well as Scorpio, the Southern Cross, and Venus.  We also saw a star cluster, double stars, and open clusters of stars.  Tonight, we observed again.  I saw Jupiter, 3 of Jupiter's moons, our moon, Pleates, Orion, a red star, and Orion's nebula.  I made a sketch of Jupiter and its moons.

God is SOOOO CREATIVE!  If He made all the stars of heaven and knows them by name, how much more does He know and love me!  The stars can't have relationship with Him, yet He cares for them and knows them.  I am astounded by His love for me!

For the last few years, I have sponsored a child from the Philippines to go to school.  I found out this week that I will get to meet her in March!  I still have the details to work out in regards to this visit.  I never dreamed that I would be able to meet Anabel!  God is so good and faithful!  Truly He directs our paths.

God is an awesome provider!! Annie, Tina's sponsor, is on her way back to the states.  She is leaving our apartment her guitar!!!!  She is also leaving her training notebook and some basic songs.  Wahooo!!  I now have a really nice guitar to learn on.  And Nancy and Judith have a really nice guitar to play! This is confirmation to me that I really do need to take advantage of this opportunity to learn.  :-)

God is so good! :-)  Thank you for your prayers!

Wowsers! What a Week!

I have been so busy since I returned here!  I love it!

I've said it before and I will say it again.  Nothing stays the same here!

Last week, I was a substitute for 3 days for English and Values classes.  That meant I was also the lesson planner for those subjects.  I taught these classes in addition to my normal load of 3 SSRW classes a day and teaching Tina. cRaZy!! High schoolers take more effort to win than third graders!

Last Wednesday, there was a regional dance and academic competition for the preschool, so all of school was cancelled.  I was able to go to the chiropractor as well as extend my visa to March 7th.  While I was out, I went shopping.

I FOUND SPINACH!!!!!  I was SOOOOO excited!  I had FRESH SPINACH salad for a few days!!  I even got to share it with my friends.  They loved it! Here's a really bad picture of me with my friends on the night we ate it.  The "rings" are banana peppers from my garden patch!

Saturday night, the youth group had our first C.A.R.E. cell groups (life group, home group, small group, discipleship group- call it whatever name you want).  I currently have 5 girls and an apprentice in my group.  This is very exciting!  Now the students from age 14-20ish will be discipled more intentionally and have a place to really share their hearts.  To my knowledge, this has never happened here before.

I am not in charge of providing the curriculum for these groups-Tennie is.  But, I will help Tennie by covering her in prayer and helping her to find resources should she need me to.

This week, I have worked on finalizing the training materials for the upcoming teacher's seminar.  I just have to type up the information and create a powerpoint.  Easier said than done, for sure!

I am continuing to have guitar and voice lessons.  I can almost play two songs on the guitar.  I know the finger placements for the cords G, A, D, Em, and D#7.  In voice lessons, I am learning how to relax my vocal cords, how to identify notes by ear, and properly sing Amazing Grace.  I just need to practice- A LOT. :-)

Today, I started teaching Adult English Classes.  I currently have two students, but will hopefully have 3 or 4 more by next week.  I teach that class on Wednesday and Friday.

I work in my garden each day.  The kids LOVE to come help me.  One day I went out to work, planning on listening to a sermon and pray while I pulled out rocks and weeds.  Instead, I had an army of children take all my tools and use them properly while I just watched and directed!

Tuesday, the worship leadership team and I met to develop an application process.  Again, to my knowledge, there has not been an application for the worship team in the history of the ministry.  We are not just forming a new worship team, but we are mingling worship and intercession into a "Worship and Intercession Team."  Please pray that God puts the right people together.  Intercessors will be required to be at all worship practices and worship team meetings. We want to have a new team ready to go by the end of the month. This will take a miracle, but it is desperately needed.  Once this new team is in place, we can intensely disciple people in the heart of worship and in prayer.  I am heavily involved in this process.

Tomorrow, I will start attending an 8-day course in astronomy.  We will learn how to assemble a telescope, map the sky, sketch what we see, and attach scriptures to the constellations we observe.  I am excited about this, but honestly nervous about having enough time in a day to do it.

The Lord is victorious! Tonight, during worship, I was kneeling and singing. All of a sudden, my back popped!! I wasn't even moving at that moment! The Lord is my chiropractor!  I was overwhelmed with joy, so I started to dance. My back popped in a different place! The Lord is continuing His work to heal my back! He's not finished yet, but I am so excited! I will dance like David danced!


My back popping tonight reminded me of what He said a year ago when I was praying about coming here, "I've got your back."  He meant it in more ways than one.  One of the ways He meant it was for my physical healing.  But He also meant it as far as protection.  You, my dear readers, are in a place to partner with Him in causing His promise to come to pass.  As you pray, you cover my back.  Please do not stop praying.  I can't do anything without the Lord's help.  If He gives you a scripture, word, picture, prayer direction, etc, please send it to me so I can agree with it.  Thank you so much for your faithfulness to the Lord and to me.