What does it mean to love unconditionally? I have heard it said and have talked about it many times in my life. Jesus had unconditional love for us, but I do not think that I have more fully grasped what unconditional love is more than last week at King’s Garden Orphanage.
This feeling of such love is unrivaled. To show up somewhere, where these kids have no pre-knowledge of you, your name, your background, your faults or any idea of who you really are, and they run out and cling to you. There were no conditions or requirements that I had to me in order for them to come to me and want to be held or hugged. They simply wanted to be around me and be loved. The love I may have thought I was giving to them was reciprocated a thousand times more by them. I thought I knew what unconditional love was up to that point, but I have been mistaken.
I cannot fathom the extent of my Father’s unconditional love. All He asks of me is that I call on Him and give up myself. I learned so much about the depth and authenticity of God’s love this past week from kids at an orphanage. I learned first hand through a personal experience about God’s unconditional, never ending, never changing love. I have known it and experienced it before, but this encounter made it so much more real to me!
Number 6:22-27 I have read this passage so many times in Bible College and have memorized it. As we have spent the week at the orphanage, I saw on the wall a list of some of the names for God in the Old Testament. I remember this passage as soon as I saw that poster. This blessing is asking for God’s divine favor to rest upon others. It helps us understand what a blessing does and it conveys a couple of different things. It conveys that God:
Blesses and keeps (favor & protection)
Face shine upon (be please)
Be gracious (merciful & compassionate)
Turn face toward (give His approval)
Give peace
The blessings we offer up will not only help the one receiving it, it will demonstrate love, encourage others, and provide a model of caring to others.
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” (vs. 72) When we are in need, we put a name of God upon us and He will bless us. There are many names of God, all representing a different aspect of who God is.
Adoni- Lord; My great Lord
El- The strong One
El Elyon- The God Most High
Elohim- The all-powerful one; Creator
El Olam- The eternal God; everlasting God
El Roi- The God who sees me
El Shaddai- The all-sufficient one; The God of the mountains; God Almighty
Immanuel- God with us; “I AM”
Jehovah- “I AM”; The one who is; The self-existent one
Jehovah Jireh- The Lord will provide
Jehovah Mekaddishken- The Lord who sanctifies
Jehovah Nissi- The Lord is my banner
Jehovah Rapha- The Lord who heals
Jehovah Rohi- The Lord is my shepherd
Jehovah Sabaoth- The Lords of Hosts; The Lord of Armies
Jehovah Shalom- The Lord is peace
Jehovah Shammah- The Lord is there; The Lord is my companion
Jehovah Tsidken- The Lord our Righteousness
Yah- ““I AM”; The one who is; The self-existent one
YHWH-“I AM”; The one who is; The self-existent one
It’s only you and me here now . . . God, how great is your love! I cannot fathom you most days but I know you are near to me. It doesn’t matter what I am going through, I know you are faithful and unchanging. No one, nothing, no mistake, or fault defines who I am, only you, love and grace could ever tell me who I am. Worthy to enter your throne room and sit at your feet, to sing my praises out to you! God, you are my life, you are what I live for. Many things may come up but in the power of Your name they are overcome!
God, thank you for everything. I love being in another country where the people love you and are so passionately on fire for you. The worship songs that we sing in Tagalog make no sense to me, but it does not matter because you hear the praises of your people! I love that no matter where I go, you are still the same. It does not matter if I am here or in the states, You God are constant. The praises we give reach the throne room of heaven as a sweet aroma to you.
Yesterday we boarded a bus from APTS in Baguio and headed out on a 7 hr bus ride to Bataan where we will be staying at King’s Garden Children’s Home. The countryside is beautiful here and I am always amazed at what God has done. As soon as we arrived and put our bags in our rooms, the kids were all over us. There are about 50 kids at the orphanage. We played some basketball with them until dinner time and then our team met to go over the schedule for the week. Right now Jason, Rhen and I are headed to Morong, Bataan which is about an hour and a half from King’s Garden. Jason will be preaching and today is Father’s Day.
Jason preached about God’s love as a father and then we had lunch at the church. The pastor took us over to the South China Sea after lunch and then to Mt. Samat and we looked around at the WWII museum there and then went up inside of the cross. Tonight we finished sharing testimonies . . . still healing, but God is faithful in helping me heal.
We arrived here in Baguio in Saturday. We are staying at APTS(Asia Pacific Theological Seminary). There were 6 of us interns here at that time, and were split up into three teams to each visit a different church. Miles and Ren attended church with Connie. They went to a much more Americanized church. Heather and Garret went with Pastor Mayo (Mio) to a church in the mountains, still kind of close. Jonathan and I traveled with Pastor Oliver to a remote AG church in the mountains about an hour away from APTS. I was informed the night before that on my team of Jonathan and I that I would be speaking the message, more of a teaching for about 30 minutes and Jonathan would be leading worship.
On Sunday we all woke up, put on our skirts and best clothing that we brought and headed out to church. Pastor Oliver picked us up at about 9am and then we made the long hour journey winding through the mountains to get to church. A little bit about this church: It is an AG church plant only about 2 years old. Pastor Oliver is 28 and has grown up in this village, attended school and is a public school teacher, but then decided to go back and become a licensed AG pastor. The village this church is in used to be inhabited by headhunters, but they are now on another mountain and have come to know Christ!
When we finally arrived at the house, service had already begun. People were sharing testimonies and as soon as we got there, all the heads turned and the smiles began to come out. It was obvious that even though we had not exchanged words that they were happy to have us there. We had the opportunity to participate in worship songs in the native language which was amazing to sit and listen to something not in your own language, but to also know that those praises are reaching God, just as our songs do. I got to sit in God's presence while song of praise went to heaven, even though I did not know the words. Pastor Oliver introduced us and then Jonathan went up and shared his testimony and played a couple of worship songs on the guitar. Then, it was my turn. I was so nervous, but as soon as I stood up, all fear left me and I knew that God would give me the words to speak that I was not by my strength but His and that whatever the words were, they would be blessed. I had prepared the night before a message on God's provision and plan for our lives. The people in this area are headed into the rainy season which causes a lot of devastation with landslides and mudslides. Last year a mudslide killed over 100 people. There is also a lot of flooding and where they live, it is all farming and the city is on the other side of the mountain up a steep road that has been washed away many times. I opened with Matthew 6 where it tells us not to worry about what we will eat or drink or wear. Showing us that God care so much about those who choose to follow Him. I really wanted them to know that God is the one who provides and plans. I reminded them that God directs our steps in life and that so many times when we are in a difficult situation, we want to do things our own way. God wants us to trust Him. I know from my own experiences that His plan is always better than mine that even though in the moment it may not seem like it, that it really is! I closed with the passage in Numbers 11 that speaks of Moses and the Israelites in the desert complaining about too much manna and no meat. Read it if you don't know the story:http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Numbers%2011&version=NIV At the end of it all, God asks, "The LORD answered Moses, 'Is the LORD's arm too short? You will now see whether or not what I say will come true for you.'" God had always provided and come through for them and this story shows that God is always listening to our cries and prayers. He loves is children so much and wants us to put our trust in Him. It was such a blessing to speak what I know to be so true and to bring encouragement to the people of this village!
We ate lunch with the people at the house, and then walked about a mile or so to another house up in the mountains for a Bible study for another 2 hours. Here Jonathan and I shared our testimonies and a couple words of encouragement and finished our time with some of our worship and some native worship. The most challenging thing about the whole time was that there is such a language barrier. Pastor Oliver knew English well enough to translate for us with our testimonies and my message, but it is so hard to "relate" or interact with people who do not know your language. God is good through all of it though and I really enjoyed the time that we spent yesterday, it was the beginning of a stretch to get up and speak in front of a completely different culture. The one huge this that I take away from yesterday is that the church as we know it is so different from how we see it back in the states. Church is not the nice building that we meet in and the worship team with lights and everything, but the church is in the people. This has never been as evident and real in my life s it was yesterday. To truly see the bride of Christ reflected in the lives of people who live in true poverty was so heavy on my heart. I thank God for the realization of re-knowing what it means to be the church. The church cannot be destroyed if it is truly the people and not the building!
So I have officially made it through my first week in the Philippines! It has been incredible so far. This entry will be long because I am catching up from all of last week.
On Sunday June 6, the other 2 interns, Heather and Garret and myself all flew to Bohol. Bohol is one of the larger islands in the Philippines, it is pretty far from Manila, much closer to Mindanao. The three of us had the amazing opportunity to come to the Philippines a week early and stay at the Bohol Beach Club. This week was completely dedicated to all of the AG missionaries and their families in the Philippines. It was a retreat week of them and the three of us worked with their kids all week while all of the business meetings went on. Heather and Garrett went with the toodlers-5th graders. I had the great privilege to work with the age I love the most, the youth!!!
I thank God so much for the passion that I have for working with youth and that I had the opportunity to once again this week jump right back into it.
Sunday: Arrived in Bohol, it was kind of a day off while everyone flew in. Michaela, Heather, Garret, Josh and I all spent time on the beach and in the ocean swimming and finding starfish, climbing coconut trees, and laying in the hammocks on the beach. That night we were broke up into our groups and we took the time to meet each of our groups. With the youth, I was able to work side by side with an amazing man of God, Cornell Jordan. He is known for hitting kids in the face with the truth, which is exactly what happened! Our first night we did a spiritual assessment test so each of the MK’s (missionary kids) knew where they were spiritually, t was not for us to look at, just for their own personal knowledge.
Monday: We had breakfast and jumped right into our day. Cornell and I met Kim who helped us out for the rest of the week with the youth. I started off the morning after breakfast with a devotion, talking about Psalm 37:-3-7 that we are to commit ourselves to the Lord, to delight and trust in Him. In our first session, Cornell spoke on overcoming struggles.
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
[1 Corinthians 10:13]
Jesus is always trying to passionately save us from impending danger and He always provides a way out. Often we choose not to take the way out because of our flesh, but we have to make it a priority to always look of the way out when we are tempted.
So that we didn’t overwhelm the kids too much, we had free time after lunch for about 3 hours so we would go swimming, play games, or Frisbee on the beach. Then we had dinner, and headed into our night service. This night, we had the worship team come in, and then Cornell spoke on Don’t Just Face Your Giant, Fight Your Giant! It was a great refreshing look at the story of David and Goliath. We really focused on the verse where Goliath calls out to them saying, “Why are you lining up to fight?” Cornell challenged us with the same question. When the devil calls you out and asks you why you are lining up to fight, will you just stand there and face him, or will you step up and truly fight. If you don’t standup and fight, who are you embarrassing when you just stand there? The other challenge was that we do not need to be clothed with earthly armor, like it describes what Goliath wore in 1 Samuel 17. We are to be like Daniel who was so knowing of his heavenly father, stood there saying that “ You come against me with sword and spear, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty . . .All those gathered here will know that Lord saves; for the battle is the Lord’s . . .” (1 Samuel 17:45, 47).
Tuesday: This was everyone’s day off. About 30 of us woke up at 4:30am for breakfast at 5am to get on a boat at 6am. We spent the morning dolphin watching and then snorkeling. God’s creation is truly amazing, everything from the beautiful sunrise to the vibrant colors of fish and coral. Seeing all of the fish and sea turtles was such a sight, until it started to itch all over. I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something in the water, but then my lip was hit and yep, JELLYFISH! All over my body I was being stung by hundred of tiny jellyfish which quickly brought all of us swimming as fast as we could back to the boat . . .poor Cornell got left. This was a great story that made for lots of laughs later at lunch. After lunch, I learned how to ride a motorcycle! This was a lot of fun. The Dailey’s took me out and we did a 3 hour motorcycle ride to the other side of the island and through the countryside.
It was a wonderful day!
Wednesday: Same schedule as Monday with breakfast followed by devotion with Kim, and then into our first session with the Mk’s. Cornell spoke on Who is the Holy Spirit? It was a great challenge for all of us to just truly remember who the Holy Spirit is, and his relationship to the Father and Son. It was great to spend time in prayer after just reflecting on it. I was really happy to have time after the message in the morning sessions to break the group in half and spilt into small groups to go a little deeper and discuss what the message was on. In our evening service, we started off with 15-20 mins of just having the MK’s spend time in prayer and seeking God. Cornell then brought a very powerful message entitled, Spirit Filled. It was so good! A lot of scripture and some hard-hitting things on what it truly truly means to be Spirit filled!!! I loved being reminded that God does not care what you look like, he wants us to care what He looks like to the people who see us. We have got to be a reflection of who God is in everything that we do. The Holy Spirit is what gives us power and if we truly know God, we HAVE got to be willing to let the spirit work in us and through us to reach and change others for Christ.
Thursday: Our only session with the MK’s was in the morning. We talked about the calling of every Christian. The thing I took away from this was from a short video illustration we watched. The verse at the end was Jeremiah 1:6-8 which says,
"Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD." I was really able to use this to talk and encourage the Mk’s when we had our breakout session.
That afternoon, a group of us went to the Chocolate Hills and to see the tarsier, my favorite little animal ever! Then we headed out to dinner with everyone for one last meal together at the Bee Farm where we had a talent show and a great time of fellowship. God is always good and blessed me as I was given the privilege to meet so many missionaries and to then pour into their kid’s lives.
I am so thankful that God blessed me to have the opportunity to work with the youth. I learned a lot from them and was able to pour into them over the past week!
I am now sitting on a 6 hour bus ride to the mountains in Baguio. I will be writing more often now.
Hi everyone from the Philippines! Am I ever so happy to finally be here! I met up with 2 of the other interns in LA and we then had the longest flight to the Philippines, 16hrs and 20mins!
I definitely did not get much sleep, but the highlight of the whole flight was the sun! For almost 16 hours we were in total darkness. I looked out the window once, long enough to see a few stars and marveled at how clear it was. About 2 hours before we landed in Manila, the sun started to rise. This had to have been one of the most gorgeous sunrises I have ever seen. (The picture does not nearly do it justice.) The clouds were like pillars in some places and a little bit puffy in others. The colors in the sunrise were incredible and I sat back and thanked God for what an amazing creation He has made!
We are now staying at AGMF here in Manila and have met a couple of the missionaries that will be with us this next week in Bohol at the missionary conference, and ones that we will be working with later this month. The Philippines is an incredible country and reminds me a lot of the time that I spent in Guatemala. There are the dirt poor and the rich, there is not really any middle class, you are either one or the other. I have never feared for my life more than when we are in the car driving, there is no speed limit and people just drive where ever they want, literally. One second there are 2 lanes and the next second there are 3, 4, or 5 lanes. Oh, and don't stick your arm out the window, probably not even a finger or you will lose it! They drive within inches of each other. People also just run across the road whenever, so you have to be careful. Oh and 1 more thing, people stand in the middle of busy roads and try to sell things . . . just waiting to see one get hit by a car.
I have experienced a couple different local foods here already today. I won't even attempt to spell any of them, maybe on a later posting. We were too full tonight, but I think that we will be trying balut sometime in the couple days. (That is duck egg embryo, about 14-16 days fertilized) We also rode in a fun little tricycle, quite interesting.
Well, it has been a long day, it is finally 8:40pm here on Sat. June 5th (5:40am Sat. June 5th) I have been up for almost 48hrs with about 4 hours of horrible sleep on the plane, I can finally go to sleep. We are getting up early to fly to Bohol in the morning and will be there for a week.
"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace" [Acts 20:24]
I cannot believe that I leave tomorrow! I sit here on the floor in my room, wondering and looking at all the things I have left to pack and know that I am so blessed to be going somehwere so far out of my comfort zone! God's hand has been upon everything leading up to tomorrow and I am so thankful for all that He has provided for me. I have had so many sleepless night thinking about what we will be doing and who we will encounter. The prayers and support of family and friends has been overwhelming and I am so excited to have the opportunity to go.
This feeling of such love is unrivaled. To show up somewhere, where these kids have no pre-knowledge of you, your name, your background, your faults or any idea of who you really are, and they run out and cling to you. There were no conditions or requirements that I had to me in order for them to come to me and want to be held or hugged. They simply wanted to be around me and be loved. The love I may have thought I was giving to them was reciprocated a thousand times more by them. I thought I knew what unconditional love was up to that point, but I have been mistaken.
