Emotional Day

Today has been an emotional day for me....I am thrilled with excitement knowing that I am doing what the Lord wants me to do, yet I am overwhelmed with tears as I tell the people I work with and my friends.....some tears of sadness but most with tears of honor.....Honor that God would choose to use a wreck like me.....Honored by what my faculty and staff, friends, etc have emailed me and honored how they have encouraged me in this step of faith.....

I do hate that some of you found out about this journey online and not from own voice, but I just didn't' know how to tell everyone at once other than on here. I did not want anyone to hear through the grapevine, so what better way than on here.

All night long as I laid in the bed I could hear this song in my head by Aaron Shust

Search my heart, search my mind, search my soul

Make me clean, make me new make me whole

All of my plans, all of my dreams, I lay them down before Your feet

All of my time, all that was mine, I now submit to Your design

'Cause You are the one who can make my life complete

You are the one who can give light to my feet

You are the one and only one who dared to give it all away for me

You are my strength, You are my God, you are my King

You make me laugh, You make me dance, You make me sing

Everything inside, everything outside,

I give it all away You never change,

but You rearrange my heart more everyday........

Specifically the part in bold would just not go away......As I seek to lay down my plans and pick up His.....as I lay down my dreams, and my time, and all that was mine......I can truly say there is nothing like Him and doing what He asks!!! I know the road is long...I know parts will be bumpy...and parts will be smooth, but man what an awesome journey.....I know that He is gonna meet all of my needs according to His riches in glory, and that he cares for the birds so how much more will he care for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today as people were talking to me about trip, I could already see the hand of God at work in the lives of my coworkers....It is my prayer that this some how will infect everyone in this building for the Lord in some way.......

What a privilege it is to know Him and to be His servant!!!!

Important Blog

Dear Blog Readers.....It is rare that I post 2 time in one day, but I can not keep this from you any longer...In an effort to save some time....I am gonna copy and paste an email I sent to my school today....Read and begin to pray.....This is HUGE!!!!!!!!!

Dear Faculty and Staff,

It is with much emotion that I am typing this email. Both excitement and fear, happiness and sadness.......While in the Philippines, the Lord was constantly at work at in my heart......He showed me things about myself and stretched me to be a person that I was not.......As a part of that stretching, He is leading me to accept a position at a Philippines Missionary school as a teacher/administrator. I will be responsible for the "paper work" of the school as well as teaching a lower level elementary class from grades 1-3. Also, as the administrator I would be responsible for the promotion of the school and enrollment..Right now the enrollment is very low, and they are in desperate need of leadership from American, certified teachers....The missionaries have been praying for a year that God would send them 2 men who could work for the school...The missionaries are not able to their mission work effectively because they are having to teach their children......Ironically (that is if you believe in irony) the Lord decided to send me and my roommate to deliver shoe boxes....I can see now it was so much bigger than a shoe box...My roommate is also going as an upper grade teacher for grade 6-8....Honestly I am scared to death, please do not think my faith is some how this super ginormous thing, but the Lord has ALWAYS made a way for me....I am currently in the process of finding a renter for my house, and raising my support.....The position there is a non-paid position, and I will have to raise a year's worth of support just as an independent missionary..I will do that by finding monthly sponsors...This is in no way an email to ask for money, but just to inform all of my family here about the journey I am stepping into in faith..........I am comfortable here at Lone Oak and desire to stay but the Lord is so clear when He speaks.......While in the Philippines I realized just how big God is and how He works all around the world......not just in my little world here in Spartanburg..... After my year of commitment I will pray and consider the possibility of returning here or continuing to teach there for another year. I covet your prayers as I embark on this journey....I know that God will do awesome amazing things as I walk with Him and follow His plan for my life.

Where is Your Trust?

Last night I overheard a friend of mine talking to his parents about a major life changing experience that the Lord is leading him through.....My friend was speaking with excitement and confidence in the Lord, and of the Lord's faithfulness to provide his needs.......His parents, who claim to know the Lord seemed to find something negative to say about everything that he mentioned.......They seemed to take their lack of trust in God and smear it all over my friend's excitement. It made me so sad for him, down right heart broken to be honest because they do this to him often.........

His parents claim to know the Lord and claim to walk by faith.....Everytime you ask them a question about anything their response is "just pray about it" or "trust God" but when it comes time for the rubber to meet the road and for someone to take a step of faith off of the bank into the Jordan, these supposedly Christian parents smack the very God of all creation in the face with their lack of trust..and abondoned their nice little cute baptisty sayings... I am sorry that just slipped out!!!

Quite honestly I am so SICK of the very people who claim to trust God for salvation not trusting Him for anything else......HELLLOOOOOOO!!!! If we can trust God to take the sins of our entire lives and cast them into the sea of forgetfulness, as far is from the east is to the west, and make us in right relationship with Him, how dare we not trust Him for everything else!!......what a slap in the face it is to say that He can not provide something as meaningless as an earthly need......

Our GREATEST need as humans is salvation....forgiveness of sin and right relationship with God....Not where to park your car while you are on a mission trip, not something as small as 139 dollar school loan bill, not your comfort or wants..........

He has already made a way for our greatest need, how much more able is He to truly meet our earthly needs......To say or worry that he won't met the others is such a slap in the face to Him....

I dont understand how we can trust Him for something so HUGE as salvation and then worry about how he will meet our finances, food needs, shelter....etc. I mean seriously the very word that promises salvation also says that God also owns the cattle on a 1000 hills and that He will meet what.....some of my needs...most of my needs....NO>>>>> ALL of my needs!!!!!!!!! I was reminded of this at 1:30 in the morning Monday night when I was not able to sleep due to my jet lag.........God's word says this about it!!!

"Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?" Matthew 6:26

I know we all go through times of doubt and worry, don't misunderstand me here.......I am not trying to judge and throw stones at anyone....I am sure there is at least one person out there that thinks that.....I am just trying to get it into mine and everyone's head that God is so HUGE and so BIG that he meets ALL of our needs....If we choose to go around the world to live...If we choose to serve at a local church and quite honestly if we choose to be a bum.....God is in the need meeting business......If He wasn't He never would have met our first and greatest need.....JESUS on the cross!

I feel the need for an invitation.........could someone sing Just As I Am????? Hope you enjoyed my sermon....Have a great Tuesday!!!!

Home

You know......No matter where you go and how absolutely amazing the trip is, it is always so good to be home.......My students had made this wonderful banner and hung it up on the outside wall welcoming my arrival today........The cafeteria ladies were ecstatic and made me feel so special, my mom, sister, lala, tater, Sophie, mama, chuck, and Mandie were all at the airport to greet us on Saturday....Church folks were so happy to see us and hear how the Lord was working in us........ Being home has made me think of how truly amazing it will be when we all actually arrive at our Heavenly home......The Bible clearly states that we are here on this planet as foreigners, as strangers in a foreign land.......What A Day that will be!!!!!!!!!!

All that said I do miss my Filipino friends......Especially this one guy Philip.........He was the neatest guy and unfortunately we left without being able to say good bye.......I know he will probably read this so I want to take a moment to say just how awesome I thought he was.....He was an example to Matt and I both with his walk of faith.......and his service to the Lord, as were all of the Filipino church members........ For all of you Filipino readers you will be happy to know I have most of Ako Malipiyon almost memorized.......I'm trying really hard!!!!!!

I am excited to tell you all in the coming weeks how much God is and has been working in my life as well as Matt's through this whole trip...... I can't post all the details as of yet.....but you will be amazed at the faithfulness of our Lord.....

You all are free to respond to my blogs again.....Sorry for the blocking while on my trip...I could not read the settings on how to allow certain comments and to block others because the tabs were in Chinese over there and I could not read them to set the correct changes....Hopefully now I will be able to intercept inappropriate comments from popping up here...I would love to hear from some of you......Let me know what you thought of my experiences..........It's good to be home!!!!

Philippines Day 7 and 8

Yesterday was an amazing last day of ministry for us here...... In the morning we visited the local hospital for mentally handicapped children....The children there were so incredibly sweet and thankful for our visit........As all of our children have done, the special needs kids put on a small program for us.......The younger kids danced and then the older hearing impaired kids danced.....It was so great to be a part of their excitement.......I sat down in the floor and we played the whole time I was there.....Giving out the boxes was great at this spot.....The kids were the most excited there!!!

There were 3 guys between 40-50 years old that had been there their whole lives......There contentment was an example to every American who thinks their life is miserable.....I can think of so many people at home (myself included) who at times think our lives are just horrible.....We complain about everything and how much more we need, and these guys had basically lived within the walls of this mental hospital their whole lives, yet were so happy! It makes me all the more thankful for everything.....I mean seriously what a privilege it is to get up and go to work, and be busy at church, and to have bills......Bills mean that I have "stuff" and the money to pay for it!!!!!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!!!!

Anyway, enough of my soap box...... After the hospital we went to help a GREAT MAN named Pastor Reuben with his prison ministry.....The drive was about 50 minutes away so we were able to see a lot more of the countryside.......

The conditions at the prison were UNREAL!!!! There were 70 men packed in each of the 3 cell blocks...The cell blocks were 1 big room with 3 tiered bunk beds, and 2 men per bed......The rooms were approximately 30 feet by 30......Ill post pics when I get home....I again do not have my cord with me......Don't worry about it....I am sure my blog will be filled with Philippines pics for quite sometime!!!!!!

After the prison we finally got to ride a Jeepney around town.....Its like an open air mini bus that is used as public transportation.......The locals took us to a BBQ park.....It was outdoors and every part of the pig you could imagine was being cooked.....I must admit I tried some pig intestine.....Not too bad actually......Matt ate something a little more adventurous.....It is called Balut.......It is basically a fertilized egg that has been boiled after the chick is already formed but not hatched....You could actually see the eyes on the one Matt ate........Depending how old it was before the boiling, it may have feathers and feet......This crazy Filipino named Jireh ate one that was 18 days old in the egg.....It had tiny feet......Seeing as how I can not even force myself to eat a nicely boiled Easter egg without throwing up, I did not even try it!!!! Another Filipino named Khent had 2 of them....He told us his limit was 3.......My limit is a big fat 0!!!!!

This will be my last blog from the Philippines for this trip.........

To my Filipino readers Salamat for everything......You guys are awesome and I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!! Thank you for being so accepting of me, for praying for me, and for making me feel like part of this great place........ Please email me as often as you can..... mrdearybury@hotmail.com or dearybje@spart6.org

Everyone else at school and home.....I'll see you soon!!!!!!! Pray for our safety as we fly....The total trip on the way home is 28 hours.....Please refer to the itinerary on my previous blog for the times...........Thanks for reading and praying while we were here....God has done some amazing things....We cant wait to share all of it with you!!!!!!!

Philippines Day 6

Now, before you read today's entry, there is something you need to understand........My trip here was not a trip to seek adventure and be a tourist....It was to be about the Lord's business....The good thing about serving the Lord is that He does provide fun things to do along the way.......

As you look at the pictures below, just reflect on the previous days posts, and know that an emotional break was MORE than needed for everyone involved.....The first few pics are of me and Matt with shoebox children, then pics of the most amazing "touristy" thing I have ever done!!!!!




This is the little chubby kid I blogged about that reminded me of myself.....He was such a ham.....The pose hand under the chin is something everyone does over her for pictures....You will see a lot of that in my pics when I get back!!!

These are pics of our first scuba diving experience......IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! To be under water was such a cool experience.......I felt so free...and weightless....for a chubby guy like me that was a great feat!!!!!!......I know many of you may see these pics and think ..."I didn't give my money so them boys could go play.." Calm down....It only cost 20 dollars to go.....We were able to go in groups of 4 and we were on the water all day....While we were waiting to go we were able to snorkel and get used to breathing underwater......That alone was amazing.....but then to be able to swim to the bottom and touch, feel, and pick up the things we saw was unreal!!!!!!! While I was under there, I was inches away from lion fish, frog fish, NEMO, DORI, Rainbow fish, jellyfish, sea turtles, angel fish.....it was like being in an aquarium.....I did get cut on my leg by some coral...it hurt bad under water bc of the salt.....

One funny thing that happened when we were under the water was when Matt swam by me and accidentally kicked my air tube out of my mouth.....Thank GOD we had a lesson b4 we went down....For a split second I freaked out and thought I was gonna die, but then I found my mouth piece and blew the water out as I had been taught.......When I got it back in my mouth I think I took the biggest breathe of my life.......We were only at about 15 feet, but that was far enough to freak me out......The pic below is Matt and I underwater, the fish just had to be in the shot.......

Philippines Day 5 (Part 2)

After lunch we went to visit a girls home for Filipino girls who had been sexually abused by their fathers, uncles, cousins etc....We passed out shoe boxes to girls ranging from 4-16 years old.....It was amazing to see the girls who had such tragic situations in their pasts have fun and be kids for just a brief moment....They had a blast!!!

It was fun for us too, because for a brief moment we felt like we were miniature American Idols....They wanted to take picture after picture....It was so cool!!!!

All along the way I have been watching for shoe boxes with address in them so I could take a picture of the child who received the box and then send that pic to the person who sent the box...So far I have about 15 addresses.....I would absolutely LOVE it if someone did that for me, so I thought I would do it.....Most of the boxes we are passing out are from the west coast and Alaska and Hawaii......

It has really been amazing to see the shoebox process in its entirety....It is SO amazing what God can do with a little box packed with His love....Yesterday, I saw a very athletic girl receive a box full of different types of sport balls and a hand pump to blow them up....She was so excited to have her own soccer ball....I saw another girl get a purple shirt that fit her perfectly.....Each box DEFINITELY has a divine appointment with an amazing little child that needs exactly what is in each one.....

Last nigth after the girls home, we did an outdoor evangelistic concert for a community on the other side of town...I was so honored to sing with the church's amazing praise band called "Adoration", which by the way would give Hillsongs a run for the money....THEY ARE GREAT!!!!!! They asked me to sing My God My Savior by Aaron Shust, who all of you faithful blog readers know is my favorite....I gave the band my Aaron Shust CD ( I am still trying to get over the loss!!!!) so that they could learn all of his songs.....My Filipino brother Philip (that's with one "L" not 2 also nicknamed FLIP!) loves the CD. I am sure he has already figured out how to play them all!!!

During the concert we gave away door prizes...Here is what the prizes were...

Rice

Mop Buckets filled with all kinds of goodies

5000 pesos ( about 100 dollars, more than 3 months wages for most of the people we
were singing for

a real live pig ( it was too funny!!!!!!)

Today is kind of an off day for us....We are doing some fun "touristy" stuff....After the emotional roller coaster of yesterday, it is definitely needed so that we can finish strong on Thursday and Friday morning.......Email if you can...mrdearybury@hotmail.com

Philippines Day 4 and 5

Its Tuesday at lunch and I am bloggin on the crazy American/Filipino's computer while we are eating lunch........

Last night was a late night for us and the computers were shut down when we got back to the hotel......I must stop you at this point and warn you that the past few days have been QUITE emotional.....you may to grab a tissue.....

Yesterday(Monday morning) we visited a Filipino prison......While we were there we had the honor of witnessing the baptism of 30 Filipino brothers who were there.....The pastor who baptized them was a former Filipino prisoner who was saved at the prison and now is a prison minister as well as a pastor at a local church........From the moment the baptism started I could not control my tears....To see the faith of these men who committed their lives to Jesus be baptized was the most amazing thing that I have ever seen.......They were baptized in a cement prison bathtub....The preacher stood outside of the tub and dipped them under......
While they were baptizing, this song was playing....the words said this....


"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound .......My chains are gone..I've been set free... My God my savior has ransomed me....."

Chris Tomlin never knew that his song would be played at such an appropriate place......While those men were confined to prison for their crimes, Jesus had set them free.....WOW!!!!!

After the baptism, Jun Lo, one of the other great people we have met here, asked me to speak to the prisoners...I could hardly get the words out....I told them that I looked forward to meeting them all and hearing the story of their redemption in heaven......

When we left the prison we headed to the Leprosarium, a hospital for victims of Leprosy and their children.....In a one room school house still decorated for Christmas, we gave out shoe boxes to the children of the patients.......I CAN NOT WAIT TO SHOW YOU THE PICS!!!!!!!! There was this little chubby kid who reminded me so much of myself...He was a camera ham and had the cutest sun glasses........

Last night we went to a place called Mountain View...It is the highest point around, and the air was very fresh and cool....A nice break from the hot and HUMID air of the day.,.....

This morning I had the most moving and heart wrenching experience of my life.......We went to the children's ward of a Philippines public hospital......It was so hard to see.....I can hardly type without crying about the tragic situations I saw,.......2 ties during my visit I had to leave the area and just break down.....

I first encountered a little guy named Charles...He had Pneumonia and was on a respirator.....He had been there for 3 weeks...The church was paying for his respirator....The family could not afford it...Pastor Les said it costs about 4 dollars a day.......He seem to getting better...As I laid my hands on him to pray I could feel the congestion in his body....He struggled to take every breathe....I went to buy some medical formula at the pharmacy for him, along with some diaper rash cream, but none was available.....His mother said he was doing better, but did not know if he would survive...He was just a few months old.....He smelled like a little baby in spite of his sickness.

The second baby I met was Chris.....He had been in the hospital for 8 months....He had chronic diarrhea.....That had led to other complications......The prognosis was dim....

I saw another 16 year old, I dont remember his name......He was literally about to die at anytime.....

I held anothe little baby who was just 20 days old...Her fever was so high she literally burned my skin as I held her......

Just moment after I left the room for the last time, my heart was so overwhelmed I could not speak or do anything but call out the name of the only helper I know....My eyes are filled with tears as I write...I hope yours are too.....Please pray that God would lead me as to how I can better help!!!!!!!!

God is so faithful to me, and I am so blessed beyond measure......It is hard to accurately put into words how wonderfully amazing he has been to me and to all of us....

Philippines Day 3

Today is Sunday....It is about 8:25pm.......It has been very hot today with a humidity of 150%...I think I have sweat more today than I have in the past year....but what a GOOD sweat it has been........

Let me begin by saying how much fun I am having with the Filipino people......During a 30 minute class on their culture, we learned that they love to be silly and have fun......What a more perfect place for me to be.........

Today our team had the chance to worship at Quest Community church here in Cebu. It is the church that God started though the lives of 2 faithful missionaries, Les and SaraLee Tilka.....Les is from North Carolina and his wife is originally from here in the Philippines........The worship was so amazing........It was so great to see these people freely worship the Lord without all of the restraints of time and tradition.......I mean if I hear one more person back home whine about church being longer than an hour I may scream.........These people worshipped through singing for at least 45 minutes and then the sermon....After church they did not even want to leave......They crave God's word and God's people.......American Christians, specifically those staunch Southern Baptist Conventionites would GREATLY benefit from a day or two here........

Being here has just opened my eyes all the more to how much we as Americans put God in a box and literally dare Him to move...These new excited Filipino Christians have no preconceived notions about Jesus and no traditions to put Him into and they freely receive all of who Jesus is.........He is so much more than a 5 minute worship set, a nice little sermon, and hour long service......O well enough of my soap box.....Most of you who read this agree with me anyway and are not the source of the problem..........


Speaking of people and their traditions......After church we were able to go to a Chinese Taoist temple.......While there, we were able to view the idols of this group and actually see people worship them....You could almost tangible feel the lostness in the place.....The people were actually bowing before statues and putting their lives into the hands of a man made statue......They would place fruit and beer and other objects around them as offerings and then burn incense........The most uncomfortable room for me was the one where their "father god" lived.....There were 2 statues beside him that watched over him......When in this room people could pray to him about specific things in their lives.....Then they would drop these large wooden beans on the floor.......The sign below the god read as this......"to communicate with god drop the beans in the floor and he will speak to you through them." If the beans landed a certain way that determined the answer god was giving you.......One man dropped the beans 4 times and each time the answer was maybe......I wanted to just run in there and tell him how much Jesus loves him.......He broke my heart.......


Before we went there, we went to a Catholic church where 1000's of people were in line to view this small statue of a toddler like Jesus......The people believed that Jesus spirit was in the doll...The doll was encased in glass, but the people would rub handkerchiefs on the glass in hopes that it would bring them the desires of their prayers........To be so close to the Savior and not know Him........

After our city tour, we went back to church for their Sunday night Youth Rally....It was great..I played SkipBo with a bunch of Filipino young people.....They beat me both rounds.....My friend Philip, one L instead of 2, is the youth minister and he spoke of the Father's unconditional love! He showed an amazing slide show of all the scriptures that show us what a father Jesus is to us......It was so overwhelming to me to be comforted by His very words to me about how He is my father!

Tomorrow we will visit the Leprosarium and a prison I think, to deliver boxes....Please pray, I am sure it will be an emotional day.......Email me if can.....I'd love to hear from you.....My address is mrdearybury@hotmail.com or dearybje@spart6.org

Check out Matt's Blog for some pics of yesterday's Operation Christmas Child distribution...I promise to have pics tomorrow, I forgot my cord up the 3 flights of stairs.....Its too hot and I am too tired to go get it tonight......:0)

Its funny to think that right now as I type most of you are just going to church......Except for the faithful AMRBC praise band, they have already been there for 2 and half hours.....I know Julie has been there cause I woke her up with a phone call this morning at 5:40 am ya'll's time.....O well gotta run...I look forward to hearing from all of you!

Philippines Day 2

WHAT A DAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! This morning we began our day with devotions at Pastor Les and his wife Sara Lee's church...They are the local missionaries here in Cebu......We had a time of praise and worship led by an awesome Filipino guy, who thinks he is American named Phillip......He plays guitar by ear and can play just about anything..........

After the devotional time, we headed out to a Very poverty stricken area where the church does a kids club......I was the first to walk into the club and the kids went nuts like we were celebrities......They threw dried rose petals at us...unbeknowst to me and I got a big mouth full....not very tasty........

Then they presented each of us with hand made shell necklaces..They worked on the the night before so they would be ready.....There were about 60 kids or so...Absolutely adorable....I can not wait to show you the pics........

After the gifts, each grade level presented us with a worship song and showed us their knowledge of scripture by quoting MANY verses.....I can hardly type without the emotions welling back up inside of me.....

Then they had a special snack for us.....before we at they prayed.....A seven year old girl surrounded by poverty who seemingly had nothing said these words......"Thank you God for all of Your blessings You have given to me"........It was the most humble and sincere prayer I think I will ever hear.....The tears flowed even more...... I think this little girl had more than I will ever dream of!!!!!

The point of going there was to just encourage the people and to see what the church was doing....After we left there we went to our first Operation Christmas Child Distribution.......

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can not put enough exclamation points..........I got some awesome pics and some videos of the 300 plus kids there.....I cried and then I was ecstatic......Quite an emotional roller coaster.......The looks on their faces were PRICELESS......

I am so honored and humbled that the Lord has given me this opportunity........Because of what I have seen today we better have at least 5000 boxes next year at church......I really think we could do even more........

I could type forever about all the GOD stuff I saw today.......I gotta run for now.....Dinner is in 20 minutes!!!!!!

Philippines Day 1

Well..... we have finally made it.....32 hours after we left GSP we are here in Cebu City, Philippines......The flight from LA to here was long .....How bout it was 17 hours on one plane.....I was so glad to get off of there.....The weather is really warm......Its very westernized where we are.....Lots of English....most of the people speak it or know a coworker who does......Our hotel is okay.....Our beds remind me of the good ole days at NGC.....The people here are SOOO friendly. They are so eager to help us confused looking Americans....It is 11:30 am on Friday morning now...Back home on the east coast it is 10:30pm Thursday night....So that means the time difference is 13 hours ahead here.......We landed right at 830 am this morning in Cebu...right when Julie was having practice....I hope y'all were praying....Gotta run for now....I should be able to blog daily...It cost 75 pesos an hour for Internet...that's about 1.50 US money.....Keep praying for us......

I want to add that I am currently changing my settings for posting comments.......I may not allow them anymore due to comments that some people are posting that are inappropriate...

Philippines Bound

I cant believe its finally here!!!! This time tomorrow I will be sitting at the airport waiting for my plane......I AM SO EXCITED TO DELIVER THESE BOXES!!!!!! As promised, I am posting below our flight itinerary and daily activities for our trip so you all can pray specifically for what we are doing....Be reminded that the time difference is such that when you look at our schedule on your computer....on let's say Tuesday morning.....we will have already completed that day and be getting ready for the next.......

FLIGHT SCHEDULE (Going to Philippines)

Depart: 11:01am Greenville/Greer, SC (Wednesday)
Arrive: 12:06pm Atlanta, GA

Depart: 1:10pm Atlanta, GA
Arrive: 3:00pm Los Angeles, CA


Thursday happens somewhere in here for us!


Depart: 7:25pm Los Angeles, CA
Arrive: 1:55am Guam, Guam


Depart: 2:45am Guam, Guam (Early Friday Morning)
Arrive: 4:20am Manila, Philippines


Depart: 7:30am Manila, Philippines
Arrive: 8:45am Cebu, Philippines (Friday Morning Filipino Time 7:45pm on Thursday EST)


DAILY SCHEDULE
Friday, February 16th
640pm Arrival
Clear customs / immigration
830pm Dinner at Gerry’s Grille Ayala
930pm Check-in hotel

Saturday, February 17th
730am Breakfast with Filipino staff
830am Devotionals at hotel
900am Depart hotel for ministry
1000am Kids Club (Sponsored Kids ministry)
Lunch out
400pm Distribution to children of inmates
500pm Dinner out

Sunday, February 18th
830am Depart for Quest Community Fellowship Service
930am Worship @ Quest
1200noon Lunch out
400pm Church based OCC distribution

Monday, February 19th
815am Leave for CLF Office
830am Devotions @ CLF Office
900am Depart for Ministry
1000am Ministry @ Lapu-Lapu City Jail
Lunch Out
200pm Gift Distribution @ Eversley Leprosarium

Tuesday, February 20th
815am Leave for CLF Office
830am Devotions @ CLF Office
900am Depart for Ministry
930am Gift Distribution at Cebu City Medical Center
Lunch Out
300pm Gift Distribution at DSWD Abused Girls Home
Dinner Out
630pm Outdoor Outreach Concert

Wednesday, February 21st
815am Leave for CLF Office
830am Devotions @ CLF Office
900am Depart for Beach Outing
Lunch on boat
600pm Dinner at Tilka’s house with staff

Thursday, February 22nd
945am Leave hotel for ministry
1000am Ministry at Mandaue City Jail
Lunch out
200pm Gift distribution to mentally handicapped kids at St. Martin’s


Friday, February 23rd
1000am Final city touring / shopping
Lunch out
330pm Leave for airport
640pm Depart Cebu


Flight Schedule (on the way back)

Depart: 7:30pm Cebu, Philippines (Friday Night)
Arrive: 8:45pm Manila, Philippines

Depart: 10:00pm Manila, Philippines (Friday Night)
Arrive: 6:25pm Los Angeles, CA

Depart: 11:55pm Los Angeles, CA (Still Friday Night)
Arrive: 7:00am Atlanta, GA

Depart: 9:38am Atlanta, GA (Saturday Morning the 24th)
Arrive: 10:38am GSP

Thanks in advance for your prayers!!!! I will attempt to blog from there.....I am not sure what our access will be!!!! See ya when I get back!!!!

Blogger's Block

Today I am at a loss of words.........I know many of you find this shocking. I always have something to say.........It has been another whirlwind day here at the school and I haven't really had time to think about anything to write about.....

I could type about the ketchup incident at Hardee's yesterday morning, but I am over that I don't want to rehash it.......I'll let you know if I get any free coupons from the complaint line

I could write about my trips to walmart this weekend, but everyone has been to walmart........not with me though.....and I LOVE to go, you should come tag along with me sometime!

I did have a great Saturday afternoon and evening, My family threw a little going away dinner for me at Mama's house.....We had a blast....Burgers, chips, family and board games......what a way to spend the evening....I LOVE IT......My sweet sister even got me a journal that everyone signed with encouraging words that I could read during my trip....Lots of people at church signed too......If any of you would like to add your words to my journal post a comment on here and I will print them off and put them in there.......


Speaking of the trip, I finished up packing last night...I can hardly wait to go....We leave Wednesday at 11:00 from GSP....What ever you are doing at that time just pray that God would use us to make a difference in the lives of the Filipino children we will encounter and that it will forever change us so that we may minister even better to the children here at home!

I will post our itinerary tomorrow so you can pray us through the trip..........

Glad I didn't have anything to say......I might have typed a book!

SHEW!!!!!!

SHEW!!!!!!......that's how I feel right now.......Today has been one of those days where you go wide open and wonder where in the world has the time went......I came to school this morning and gave a reading assessment to the 12 kids in my reading class.....that was pretty normal....but after reading everything changed.....


Back in the fall I agreed to be a member of the year book committee. Please take note that I said a member of the committee not the leader......Well apparently the "leader" of the committee is not so good at leading.....Being the prepared "boy scout" that I am I was making sure things were in order with my job and all my responsibilities before my trip next week. So I went to the "leader" to ask her about deadlines for the year book while I was gone........The leader of the committee said "Ohhh I have all that stuff in my car, I really don't know...Would you like me to get it....."

So she goes to get the information and we quickly realized she had missed more than 2 deadlines already and the entire rough copy is due on the 28th of this month......I FREAKED OUT!!!!!!!! I have never been a part of putting a year book together and I must admit I was clueless!!!!

In the packet of stuff were all the teacher pages that needed to be edited by the classroom teachers....

The cover and the contract were WAY past due.......how bout they were due before Christmas....

We do not have any pics of the after school groups

The page layouts for each page has not been chosen.....AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I am screaming okay!!!!

Luckily, I have a student teacher, and could devote my time to it today, but in case you all may have forgotten I am in the process of getting my National Board Certification.....The last thing that I needed was to be in charge of one more thing.......The good thing about all this is that I have a GREAT Co-Worker/Friend who is on the ball and she is going to finish everything up while I am gone...........Wish me luck!!!.......Now say it with me one more time........SHEW!!!!

Surrender

On Sunday, our church had baptism and our preacher said that he had challenged one of the baptism candidates to think on this word in deciding whether to go through with her Baptism. I can't remember if she was from a faith that sprinkles or if she had never been baptized, but the point was that she needed to contemplate the thought of surrendering her life to Christ.......


Since then I have not been able to get the topic of surrender off my mind....What does it really mean to surrender....Being the good school teacher I am I went to the dictionary......The following is what the dictionary defines as surrender....

• To relinquish possession or control of to another because of demand or compulsion.
  
• To give up in favor of another.
  
• To give up or give back (something that has been granted): surrender a contractual right.
  
• To give up or abandon: surrender all hope.
  
• To give over or resign (oneself) to something, as to an emotion: surrendered himself to grief.
  
• Law To restore (an estate, for example), especially to give up (a lease) before expiration of the term.

While these are all good definitions, none of them really seem to sum up what surrender meant to me as follower of Jesus......So I turned to the book I should have looked at the first time....The B-I-B-L-E ( I hope you sang the song as you read it, I was singing as I typed)

Anyway, As I looked through scripture online I searched the word surrender, and all I found was lots of verses in the Old Testament where God caused the enemies to surrender.....I thought about what it meant to surrender and I decided to look up the words "lay down"....there I found my answer in John 15:13

"Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."

Jesus was, and still is, our perfect example of surrender...God's word exemplifies surrender so clearly in this passage.....I'm not saying that today all of us need to go out today and stand in the way of MAC truck to save someone, but think about all the things that Jesus laid down, surrendered, to save us........

He gave up all the riches of Heaven and we can not even tithe

He gave up the presence of the Father to enter a sinful, fallen world, and we can not even go across the street!

He gave up the stereotypes of His time to minister to the "woman at the well", but we avoid those who look different, smell different, act different!

He gave up His comfort, but we can not even get up early once a week to spend time with Him!

He gave up His physical body as it was beaten and nailed, yet we complain about working too much and getting tired!

He gave up His life, but we can not give up a day!

As a Christian I was challenged by my pastor's words Sunday to think about surrender.....My thought is....... What have I really surrendered???? I challenge you like my pastor challenged me to examine your life and truly seek to surrender to Him......After all He surrendered so much for us!

Matt's Blog

Blogging is truly contagious......My best friend Matt created one yesterday....Click on the link and check it out!!!! Matt's Lesson For the Day Don't' worry this isn't my only post today........I'LL BE BACK!!!!!

Barber Shop

So I am sitting here after lunch and a fellow teacher walks in and asks me am I running a barber shop out of my classroom.....I asked him why and he said that there was a pile of hair in the floor... I looked next to the red group and sure enough there it was......

My kids were at recess with my student teacher so I went outside and called the red group over....It took about 2 seconds to see who needed to go to cosmetology school......

Sweet little Alex had chopped off all his bangs and good half inch up past his hairline all the way to the scalp not to mention the gaps that dotted the rest of his head.......He was so upset that I saw it....He said he was trying to hide it.....I wish I could show you all a picture but for the safety of all my students I do not post their pics.....It was funny though.....I took him in the office and showed him in a mirror what he looked like and he started crying...His mom came to get him so she could get it fixed.....

The best part about the whole thing is that tomorrow is picture day and he is probably going to have a shaved head!!!I am sure he will remember that kid scissors are ONLY for paper!!!!

BB the Babysitter

Last night I had the privilege of babysitting my 2 nieces while Johnnie-Lynn and Lawrence went to file their taxes.......I must say I had a ball!!!!! Taylor was so excited to be there....Johnnie-Lynn said that all she could talk about on the way there was her bubble bath....The bubble bath is a tradition at my house.....She gets as many bubbles as she wants and then she gets to wash my hair......Last night she unfortunately didn't get to wash my hair because I couldn't put Sophie down long enough...She has this thing about being held.....Its called SPOILED ROTTEN!!!!

Anyway, Before the bubble bath I had this idea to play dress up with Taylor......Every time she comes she wants to wear a "BB SHIRT" so we wore BB's scarves and toboggans......As you can see from the pics Taylor had a ball....Sophie on the other hand not so much......Me.....well...of course I had fun.....I'M CRAZY LIKE THAT!!!!

While we were playing in the hats and stuff Taylor found this lady bug tent in my closet...Now I know all of you are wondering why a grown 29 year old man has a lady bug tent.....My mom bought it for my classroom about 2 years ago but it is way too big......I had it in my closet waiting for a time I could use it......I think I have officially found the time to use it.....Taylor played in that thing for over an hour....I let her put her toy basket in there and she had a fit!!!!! I think the lady bug will become a tradition that rivals the bubble bath!!!!

After a while of playing and me sneaking in an hour of 24, which by the way was one of the most intense......Definitely way better than last week!!!!!! I cant believe daddy Bauer killed his son.....Anyway after Taylor played and had her bubbles she told me she wanted to go to sleep in her bed (the bed in the guest room is hers now whether I want it to be or not) That lasted all of about 10 minutes and then she was on the couch with me and Sophie.... As you can see we were all plum tuckered out!!!! Thanks to Johnnie-Lynn for snapping this picture at about 11 when they came back.....Thanks for letting me keep them Johnnie-Lynn..I am looking forward to the next time already!!!!!

Snow Day Part 2

You all don't know this when you read my blog but I am not very technologically intelligent...This is my third attempt to post the pictures that go with Snow Day Part 2......If only I could be as smart as my friend Heather's boyfriend...He knows everything about technology....She is lucky to have him too because she is not all that bright!!!! (Just a joke...Don't Hate!)

Anyway, on to the rest of my snow day.....After I calmed down from the excitement of seeing the snow fall, I did what any good teacher would do on a snow day...I went back to bed....You will

notice my remote still in hand....A special thanks

to my photographer Matt!!!

After I awakened from my nap I tried to find something to do that I had been putting off for a while....As soon as I saw my Sago palm, I knew just what to do...I got this plant back in the spring...My Granny got it for me...It has really grown but the bottom layer of it died about a month ago....My mom has been bugging me to trim it so I did....It looks much better now!!!

In continuing with the theme of doing things that

normally are not done on a snow day, Matt cooked lunch..It was Stouffers Fried Chicken Breast with fries....It was.........ok....Just kidding for all you who say poor matt matt.....It met all of the healthy guidelines laid out by Dr. Anne Dr. Anne was the lady who came to tell all of our district how unhealthy we were with our eating habits.....Reminder...NO TRANS FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

After several more naps, My mom invited us over for dinner.... I had a great time spending time with my family....That's really what I love about a snow day.....If the roads aren't too bad we always seem to get together....Its a nice change of pace from the day to day rat race..We did some pretty crazy things to..like ride a treadmill while sitting on our bottoms...Don't worry I have video and I am trying to get it on youtube now...I hope you all have enjoyed my snow day adventures

Snow Day Part 1

The snow started to fall around 5:30 am on Thursday, and of course I was up to see it!!!!!!!

My deck quickly covered up and I was very hopeful that school would be closed.

This is the first time my house has had snow on it....I think it wears it well!!

This is my pride and joy......Every time I see my mailbox I know it really is my house....You can see that the roads got covered pretty quickly as well...

This is my recreation of the famous Carolina flag on the front porch....I think I will have it framed.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my "snowday"....There is part 2 coming tomorrow to show you all some of the fun things I did.....