It's the Little Things...

     It's the little things like listening to a six-year-ld girl sing out loud as she bathes in the morning before church, helping a child hand wash his clothes, singing random songs to the top of my lungs while we clean the dining hall, seeing the children hide under the covers when I come in at 5:30 in the morning singing songs to wake them up. It's learning how to cook pancakes over an open fire. It's taking silly pictures with fish before we cook them for dinner. It's finger painting with a bunch of highschoolers. It's having a child giggle as she jumps into my arms. It's toast and strawberry jelly for breakfast. It's understanding a new word in Cebuano. There are so many "little things" that evolve into a big picture. It's when God uses those little moments to encourage me and to remind me why I'm here.
    I hae continued to ask God why He brought me back here. One morning this week, I was sitting in our room journaling and God told me, "daughter, I brought you here to love the children...to show them my love." That may seem like a simple and obvious answer, but to me it was really encouraging and exactly what I needed to hear. I love children. I love their smiles, laughs, interesting questions, watching them use their imagination and watching them discover new things. I love hearing them sing out praises to Jesus. No matter what the language barriers are, children will shout out the name "Jesus!" It's incredible.
    This week has been a lot smoother now that we have gotten used to our schedule. We started a new project renovating the orphanage's library. It's every future teacher's dream...so many children's books to sort through. It's been fun already. The other day we went into Ace Hardware(you can imagine the stares we had). We bought supplies to sand the walls to get ready to paint. It's going to be a fun activity.
    Wednesday Jennifer and I went with Ate Susan and her daughter to the market. It was such a cool experience. We watched her as she picked out all of the fruits and vegetables, spices and fish that she needed to cook for the children throughout the week. We went to many different vendors and collected all of the things she needed. It's nothing like a trip to WalMart(it didn't take nearly as long). My family knows that trips to WalMart with my mom and I are day-long adventures. :) When we got back to the orphanage, we began to prepare the fish. She asked us if it was okay for us to touch the fish and we said, "yes," not knowing what we were getting ourselves into. We cleaned the fish, gutted the fish, took pictures with the fish, and fried the fish. It was definitely an experience. Ate Susan is such a fun person to be around. She's my mom's age and treats me like one of her daughters. She remembers my favorite meals from last summer and cooks them a lot. She's such an encouragement to me.
   I've started my own recipe bok: this week I added Pabolon(aka: cookie crumble). It's flour, sugar and margarine in a frying pan plus powdered milk mixed together. Four delicious ingredients mixed together makes for a delicious treat. See what I mean? It's the little things.
    Friday we did a Bible study at a nearby home. There were about 4 or 5 adults and about 10 children. We had prepared a study from Matthew 6:25-34 about not being anxious. We did not know the family's circumstances until we arrived and when we asked, they said they were worried about financial problems. It was completely God that worked through that Bible study and gave us the words to say. God continued to give us scripture throughout the evening to share with them. It was awesome! After Bible study, we made pancakes for a snack. I sat on the floor over an open fire trying to make the best pancakes possible. I did manage to make a Mickey Mouse pancake which tickled the children. Then they asked me to make Goofy, so I just resorted to Mickey and circles. I told them I would have to practice on Goofy.
    Another sweet moment happened the other day. I was getting ready to leave for community outreach and one of the little boys at the orphanage whispered in my ear, "please don't go home again." It's not even close to time for us to leave again, so this was really hard for me to hear. It's God reminder to me that I am a part of their family.
   God has continued to encourage me throughout the week and has shown me scripture to lift up my spirit. Romans 12:9-12 has been in my mind this week. It says to "rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." I've definitely had to do that lately. I have gotten down at times, but I'm in God's word and in constant communication with Him.

                               Melanie and I cooking rice at a home Bible study.

Chrezty and me.

   Again, I thank you all for the prayers. They are felt here for sure. I ask that you continue to pray for my team and I as we teach in the school, go into the nearby communities and villages, and are with the children at the orphanage. God is definitely working here! 

Red Light, Green Light

 It's one of those games we played as children where one person pretends to be a traffic light and everyone's goal is to be the first to finish. The key is to be quick to listen but slow to move because if you move on a red light, you're out. That's kind of how this past week has been here. We've been getting used to our routine and then we had to stop, change plans and start over. We seems to play this game a lot with God. We do our own things at our own pace changing the green light and red light when it's convenient for us. Rarely do we go or do when God says "green," or stop when God says, "red." We played this game with the children at the orphanage the other day and it was cool to watch their faces trying to decide whether it was a good idea or not to make another step. In life, a green light doesn't mean, "go do whatever you want," but it means to go do what God tells you to do. A red light doesn't necessarily mean start over, but it means to stop, pray, and listen to God. We should only be focused on the signals God gives us. This summer has already been a lot of red light green light, but that has made me more dependent on God than I have ever been, and that is a very comforting place to be.
     Wednesday we had church service next door to the orphanage. Last year while I was here, I learned a Cebuano song called, "Kagawasan," so one of the older girls in the orphanage asked me to sing a duet with her at the beginning of the service. Sing a song in a different language in church? Check. After singing, we had the privilege of being apart of a beautiful worship service with a bunch of amazing children. One of the boys stood next to me during the music. He's 11 years old and I cannot say that I have seen someone worship the way he did very often. I looked over at him- his head tilted up and his eyes tightly closed and he cried out to God. He didn't care if he hit the right note or if he was even singing the correct words- he just knew that he was praising God. Wow! As I watched him, tears rolled down my face. It was a beautiful picture. That's how worship should be for all of us. Some people may say that it was just because he's sad because he's had a hard life. Yes, that's probably a good assumption. He has probably gone through more than any person(especially a child) should ever have to go through, but I could tell by his sweet expression and by the way he would slowly smile, that he was truly in the presence of our awesome Creator. I wish you all could have seen it. Moments like that make all of the trials and frustrations worth it.
     The language barriers haven't slowed us down too much. We have been learning all kinds of new phrases like, "Asa imong _______?" which means, "Where is your ______? " The children always laugh at us because we want to practice. I am always asking them, "Where is your fork/plate/cup/flip flops/etc.?" It's a lot of fun to practice using the language. The people here are so incredibly nice. That's what I love about this country. Literally every person we see wants to know who we are, where we are from, where we are going and they tell us they love us. It's quite amusing actually.
    My team and I are growing even closer than we were before we came. We have two bunkbeds side by side with about two feet of walking space in between them and we're in the room with the girls in the orphanage so we're really close.  It's so encouraging to have such amazing ladies by my side on this journey. We've been stretched in every which way, but it's causing us to rely on God's strength more and more and to grow closer in our friendship.
     Friday we went to a house in a squatter village and did a home Bible study. We were able to give a lady a Bible in her language because she didn't have one. Awesome! Before we left, we took the children outside and sang songs with them. I think I know more VBS/camp songs for children than any other type of song there is.
    We've started doing a team workout at the orphanage which quickly turned into group exercise for the children because they think it's fun. It's an aerobic routine we created. It consists of a bunch of jumping up and down and yelling, so of course it's fun for them.
    I'm constantly encouraged by the little things: laughter; sweet voices singing as they clean; rice covered faces; and yes, even little dirty feet. I love these kiddos.
    I can feel everyone's prayers. Just when I'm feeling down, something happens that picks me up and I can tell God is working through it. The opportunity to come back is amazing. Please pray for our health and safety and that God will provide us patience when our schedule is changed or when things don't go as planned. I'm praying for everyone back home as well. Thank you all(and happy Father's Day!)
Brittney

"Beautiful Feet"

Have you ever thought about Romans 10:15, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news?" I don't know about many of you, but whenever I go out and about for a long time, my feet get dirty. Here, it's dusty when it doesn't rain and super muddy when it does rain. But what's really cool to me is that Jesus thinks that our dirty, tired feet from going and sharing the gospel are beautiful. How encouraging! When we're sharing the gospel, our feet may and probably will get dirty. To us, beautiful and filthy are not two words that normally go together, but to Christ they do. 

I'm back in the country that I fell in love with this time last year. I have a few more Cebuano words in my toolbox--it's fun to see a Filipino's face light up when I say something in the language. I'm still not an expert at the whole navigation thing, but let's face it--if you know me at all you know that I still get lost using a GPS. 

The orphanage has about 15-20 children in it now. There are only four girls, so my team and I have bunkbeds in the girls' room. It's like a giant sleepover every night! At the school, I'm referred to as Teacher Brittney(I think I may get my future students to call me that when I have my own class). We are teaching elementary and high school English and Art. The first assignment we did in highschool was for them to write about why they love their country. I provided them with an example that I made that talked about the U.S and the Philippines. On the U.S side I wrote, "We drink sweet tea and eat cornbread." I think that's a pretty good description of the U.S(well, at least the south) don't you think?

The other day we went and visited a home and had a Bible study with a few of the ladies there. It was amazing. We were able to hear their testimony about their lives and share/pray with them. Tuesday we are going back for You Got Served, where we will help them clean/cook/do whatever they need us to do. I'm excited about that. 

Siesta time is a big deal here. Yesterday we ate lunch at the church and after we were finished, they turned the Sunday School classroom into our nap space. They provided mattresses and pillows. It was nice. 

A few things I want to ask prayer for are just that my team and I will continue to stay healthy and safe and that we will be given many opportunities to serve these people here in whatever ways we can. 

Thank y'all for the prayers!

Love, Brittney

email me at bclant3@gmail.com