I arrived in Manila, Philippines last night. The flight over was interesting to say the least. I sat next to a guy who found joy in picking his nose, looking at it and then wiping it on the tv screen in front of him. Couldn’t tell what was making me more nauseous, him or the motion sickness. Last night was a little tense. Not only did I sweat my weight in water but I was by myself downstairs and a mouse ran between my feet and towards my bedroom. WELCOME TO THE PHILIPPINES! I decided not to look up photos of the freaky Aussie spiders until I was out of the country and for some dumb reason decided to do it last night. I was sitting at the computer, in the dark, by myself looking at pictures of the ridiculously nasty "huntsman spider" and a huge black thing ran between my feet. I think my heart has never come closer to stopping in my life! Luckily I saw a tail on it or else I probably would have screamed my head off! I HATE spiders! Especially ones that are the size of dogs! Other than that...the Philippines has been awesome so far! It’s always a step of faith getting off a plane on a leg of this trip. Always praying that the person who I’ve never met or seen will remember to show up, know when to show up and if/when they do, hopefully they’ll know what I look like because I don’t know what they look like. This has been an adventure of a life time. And I’ve never once been stressed or worried. Seriously the grace of God. Ever since the moment in LAX when I felt God’s authority and confidence, I’ve never questioned His ability to take care of me on this trip and He hasn’t let me down yet. I got off the plane and passed many people with signs that had peoples names on it but none that had mine. I should have panicked but I didn’t. I stood around for a second and then an airline worker smiled at me and told me to keep walking. I thought I was getting kicked out of the airport but as soon as I walked out of the airport there were more people with more signs and still…none with my name on them. I should have panicked but I didn’t. Stood around for a couple more minutes and another worker said, “walk over there..” and pointed to what looked like a parking structure. Thinking that I didn’t want to make any workers mad and cause a problem, I’d just do what they said. Worse comes to worse, I could stand in the parking structure and try and figure out how to get a hold of someone. Again, little did I know…I was being directed to where I needed to be. (Thank God I just went with the flow!) I walked across the street to the parking structure (walking across the street in Manila is a death wish in itself, let alone with luggage!) and as soon as I walked in, I noticed it was a big ramp and at the bottom was a HUGE area with many people with signs with names on them and FINALLY, one had mine. It was such a cool experience to not have been stressed in the situation, even though I feel like many would have. (I feel like IIII normally would have.) I felt like a fish just relaxing and flowing in the current of God’s guidance. I didn’t stress out or fight any urges to freak out and wait at the airport, I went with what I felt peace about and it lead me to exactly where I was supposed to be. Could you imagine if I stayed where I saw the first group of people with signs? I’d probably still be there!
A group of people from Cottonwood Church is meeting up with me in the Philippines tomorrow morning. I had a whole day in Manila today that I needed a place to stay while I waited to meet up with the team. One of the ladies on the team from Cottonwood, Becky, has family that lives in Manila and they graciously offered to pick me up from the airport and give me a place to stay until the team arrived. I was picked up by Becky’s brother from the airport. On his way home he stopped by the WWII memorial for all the USA and Philippine soldiers who gave their lives in the war. It was amazing. Just like the one in the USA (so I've seen in pictures). Ironically I’ve never seen the one in the US but now I have seen the one in the Philippines It’s humbling to see how many soldiers gave their lives in that war. The memorial was beautiful. Then we went back to his house and I relaxed and ate dinner with his family. Later that night he took me to his sister’s house where I would be staying. Praise the Lord…they had air conditioning in my room! Beautiful house, beautiful family! Such generous people! I stayed with Becky’s sister, her husband and her 2 daughters. One of the family members actually lived in Long Beach, Ca for many years and we got to talk for awhile.
This morning I woke up and walked out of my room still ½ asleep and Becky’s sister was standing their waiting and said, “BREAKFAST TIME! Come and get it!” It made me laugh. They are so hospitable and friendly. Most people know, especially my mom…I’m a slow riser in the morning. Just because my eyes are open doesn’t mean I’m awake. Not today! The second I walked out of my room I was being fed. I think I ate 2 times my body weight in food. SOOOOOOOOOOOO AMAZING!!! I’m positive that if I lived here I’d be fat very quickly. From fruits that I’ve never tried (or heard of), to halo halo (the best dessert EVER!), coconut juice, sugar cane juice, pepper lunch, puto cakes (not that kind of puto….rice cakes!), ice scramble and more. And then there were meals in between haha. I’m not kidding, before I could finish eating one thing, someone would put something else in front of me. I have a strict rule not to deny food given to me on trips like these. Not only do I want to try it all but I don’t want to disrespect anyone, especially when they were paying for it. However, I actually had to say no thank you twice because I was literally afraid that I would barf if another grain of rice went in my mouth. Such delicious food and it’s only day one!
Tomorrow this wonderful family will take me back to the airport to meet up with the Cottonwood team that is on their way to Manila as I’m typing. Then the whole team will take off on another plane to Ozamis, Philippines where we will be working with Mike Keye’s ministry. I can’t wait, it’s going to be amazing! This part of the leg of my trip I’m pretty positive that I won’t be near a computer so, keep myself and the Cottonwood team in your prayers as we claim the Philippines for Him! When the team returns to Manila by plane, I will be picked up by Kids International Ministry and will work with them for awhile :) Hope all is well at home! Off to Ozamis! Wahoo!
I love you so much Schmooo! What a beautiful picture. That is a gift in itself. I know God is going to use you and the team to do great things for Him! I can't wait to hear about your amazing adventures.
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