Before moving to the Philippines, many of you heard me say: “I have lived in the same house my whole life and have been blessed with a great church community.” Now I can say I lived in Manila for 21 months and it was amazing! When I left Pittsburgh, I thought I would be tutoring about 12 students from 3 different orphanages. I knew very little about the people I would be working with and had no idea where I would live. I did know that God had called me to trust Him in everything. I have hit some speed bumps in the past 2 years…days I just wanted to go home and days I questioned why I was here. I have lived through big changes in Project Pag-asa too. But if I were offered the same opportunity again, I would take it in a heartbeat. The blessings I have experienced outweigh those times of struggle. I praise God for these last two years.
When some people hear the word “missionary,” they think you must have everything together and that your relationship with God must be legit. Taking that huge leap of faith does make you legit but what I have learned is that it also puts a big target on your back for Satan to try and hit. One lesson God has taught me on an ongoing basis since I moved here is to TRUST HIM. Trust that I was doing HIS work for HIS glory. I typed “HIS” all in caps to acknowledge that Jesus gets all the credit for the things I did while I was here and what I hope to do when I come back in August. While here I realized that teaching may not be my life long calling but the time with my students was one of the best parts of this life changing adventure. I was at Project Pag-asa to teach but more often those students were teaching me…I spent hours listening to the student’s stories and was awestruck by how much joy they have despite all they have been through. I think what my students needed most was someone to listen and really hear them
I know God has many more adventures waiting for me but right now I am trying to live in the moment. I am excited to be home for the next three months sharing with as many family and friends as possible stories about the way God walked with me every step I took and was patient with me as I learned to rely on Him more and more.