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Hey Everyone...
It seems like the days have been flying by since my parents told me that I could stay somewhat long term in the Philippines this summer. Since I got the news that I could go, I have been reading The Dream Giver. For anyone who hasn't read the book I really recommend it. It talks about discovering your big dream and pursuing it. As I was reading it I couldn’t help but realize that this story reflects what has been going on in my life. In the book the main character discovers his dream and wants to do anything to pursue it, but faces multiple problems in the process of getting to his dream. The book has been so motivational and has helped me understand that there are going to be obstacles but you can make it through it walking with God. Since my freshman year in High School going to the Philippines has been my big dream, and now that I am pursuing I am overwhelmed with many emotions. My heart has always been in the Philippines doing mission work and I woke up this morning with butterflies in my stomach, realizing tomorrow is the day I go to follow through with my big dream. I am so excited and ready to learn the culture, language, and more about the average day SOTH life.
So after weeks of praying, packing, and preparing I’m finally ready to head out and see what the Philippines has in store for me. I will try to blog when I can!
- Ashley
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6/26/09
Good morning everyone!
Sorry it has taken me so long to enter another blog.. I've had some technical difficulties with the website. I've made it safety although while waiting in the airport to leave I was our flight was going to need to stop in Oregon to fill up with gas because there was a volcano erupting in Siberia. So because of the volcano we needed to take a longer way around because the air traffic around that area was closed due to the ashes in the air. This meant that I would be arriving in Japan for my at 9:30, but the original connecting flight was suppose to leave at 7:30. So for awhile I was freaking out worried that I would miss my connecting flight and have to stay in the Japan airport over night! But since the volcano had been erupting for the past several days they knew to hold all the connecting flights. So I left on Wednesday at 3pm and arrived at the SOTH house on Friday at 3am!
Since I've arrived I've been teaching their 9th grade high school English class everyday from 10:15-11:15. So far we’ve covered nouns, verbs, singular/plural verbs, present/past/future verbs and this week were going to be going over how to make complete sentences and paragraph stuff. For a couple days I was a little discouraged because I was feeling like I wasn’t a very good teacher. I’ve never had experience doing anything like this before so it is definitely out of my comfort zone. I have a book that I’ve copied worksheets from and that’s what we have been doing each day but I find it really hard to explain why certain things are the way they are. But on Wednesday we played a review game that I had learned when I was in Spanish in high school and the kids really enjoyed that! It was good because it showed that they had actually been learning what I’ve been teaching AND when they won the game they got some American candy that I brought with! Each day they say thank you for teaching me! And all of the children here really value their education. One boy said that education is the only weapon for getting a good job in the future and he is eager to learn everything he can.
More on the fun side, I have purchased a guitar and have been getting daily lessons from the SOTH’s son Kenneth. We practice until my fingers can’t take it anymore! For anyone who is a beginner at guitar you probably know what I’m talking about! The kids have been asking me whether I can cook or not and I didn’t know how to explain that the things I eat the most is Easy Mac and Ramon, but that still counts as cooking so I said yes. Haha.. So on Friday I made Taco’s for them! It was really great! For many of them it was their first time eating taco’s and they loved them! After that we went and saw Transformers 2 and the kids were so grateful and happy to get out of the house and go to a movie! They loved it and had a great time.
Tomorrow I believe we are going up to the second site in Zambales where the younger kids stay (from 2 years old to about 13). I will be teaching English there too but more of the basic ABC stuff.
I’m really enjoying my time here and I LOVE every minute of it!! What a joy it is to serve and what a great God we have. God is doing amazing things here.
Well I have to head off to church now so I will try to write again before I leave for Zambales!
God Bless!! --Ashley
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7/14/09
Hello again,
Hannah (another missionary from MN) and I left Bagiuo on Monday and took a 10 hour bus ride to San Antonio, Zambales, this is the site that houses the youngest kids (18 months to 13 years old).
I am teaching 3rd grade from 8-11 (9 kids in the class) in the morning and 2nd grade (7 in the class) from 2-5 in the afternoon. I have honestly never done anything so challenging and I can easily say that I regret not giving my utmost respect to all the teachers I had in school! I cannot exactly put in words what is so hard about teaching these kids but it is mentally exhausting doing it for 6 hours each day. Today I tried to explain to my 3rd grade class what "specific" meant. As many of you know, I am not the best person to try to explain things so this was something that was very difficult. Haha.. I just hope that they learn something from me, whether it is what the word "specific" means or if it is what proper and common nouns are.
PLEASE pray for patience and the knowledge for me to help teach these kids the things they need to know to further their education. Hannah and I are the only teachers at this time, if we weren't here no one would be teaching these kids. The staff is looking for registered "real" teachers that are Christian. So far they have had a lot of applicants but none of them have been Christian. This is an important factor because the teacher will be with these kids everyday for more than 6 hours. They need someone that will be a great role model for them!
We have a lot of great activities planned for the kids the next coming days before I leave for Manila again. We have a lot of one on one time to really get to know the children individually and group activities such as relay races and devotion time. And hopefully we’ll take some kids mountain climbing in the hills behind the San Antonio site.
The internet connection is terrible here in Zambales, so this will probably be my last one for about week! Thanks for all the support and prayers! It really means a lot!
Love Ashley
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7/23/09
Hi Everyone,
This is Tim Beadell, bloging for Ashley. First of all Pam and I are very proud of Ashley and thank you for supporting her. Ashley asked me to post some links to her facebook pictures of her trip. She traveled back to Manila and was up late, so here are her pictures.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2029383&id=1313097386&l=8c4ed0cec9
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026803&id=1313097386&l=01ca168eef
She'll be traveling back on July 30th, so please join me in praying for safe travels and that she leaves the Philippines bringing God glory and that God will bless the Administrators, Staff, and Children of Shepherd of the Hills (SOTH). May SOTH get the support they need to feed, cloth, and house the orphans of the Philippines.
God Bless your day, Tim Beadell
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07/26/09
Well I have a couple days left and it feels like my 6 weeks have flown by. I would like to start this blog off by saying thank you so much to everyone that has sponsored me and have been praying for me on this trip. It has honestly been the best 6 weeks of my life, and if I got to choose if I were to go home, I would stay here! I have learned so much about myself and what I would like to do in my future. I now know that teaching is not one of my strongest qualities, but I’m very glad that I got a chance to do it. When in doubt, bribe the kids with candy. As far as my future goes, It’s all in God’s hands now!! Being here on my own without a mission team, I’ve been able to really connect and talk with the kids to learn more about them and their pasts. What I’ve learned has broken my heart but also made me more eager to come home to get the education and skills to be able to help counsel and pursue my career in social work.
Once I finish college, or even before, I would love to move to the Philippines and help get the kids on the streets go to a non-abusive orphanage that really builds a strong spiritual foundation and that will help allow the children to reach their goals. Before the kids were at Shepherd of The Hills orphanage, many of them were at other institutions. I heard numerous stories of physical and verbal abuse at these other institutions. Many of them are very corrupt and have unimaginable things going on behind the closed doors. It has become my dream to move here to the Philippines and be able to help find these homeless and sexually and physically abused children to an orphanage that will take care of them and meet all their needs. These children have not had easy lives, and if they are being abused at home and then taken away to an orphanage that abuses them… It just gets harder and harder to keep the faith, after so long these kids start losing hope.
Shepherd of The Hills orphanage is a blessing the these kids lives, they raise the children in a family setting, they have mother/father figures that love each of the kids and also a great spiritual life considering what they all have been through. The children here are all amazing, talented, and caring kids, but they have their off days too, they still need mentoring and someone to talk to when they miss their families or the bad memories of their past come up again. I would love to be able to be here permanently to mentor them and be that someone that they want to talk to and share what their feeling. Each child has a dream of their own. Some want to be scientists, teachers, accountants, computer technologists, and they need help to be able to achieve that. I truly believe that I can help in this part of their lives.
Today I woke up with a heavy heart knowing that I have to come home in a couple days. I cry every time I leave the Philippines but I have a feeling this time is going to be a little harder. I’ve really grown to love each kid individually. After weeks of teaching, learning, and playing we are like one big family and it’s hard to imagine that in a couple weeks I’ll be back in Iowa going to school instead of being here with the kids. I know I will be back someday, but I’m not sure how soon it will be. When the kids ask “Ashley when will you be back?” Its really hard for me to say “I don’t know!!” I just tell them to pray for me to come back as soon as I can!!
So… Thank you again so much for all your support. I am so blessed to have great family and friends that understand why I’m so passionate about what I do here. I can’t express how thankful I am that I was able to come here and stay for 6 weeks! I literally woke up every day and thanked God for this opportunity.
See you in a couple days!
God bless
Ashley
