It's 2 a.m. my first night home in America. I was hoping to at least make it til 4 a.m.:) It's mid afternoon Phil. time right now. I'm at my parents home and the air conditioning is on. AC feels weird, we didn't need ac in La Trinidad, we didn't need it here when I left IL in June...I'm readjusting to American culture.
We are all home safe and sound. My back held up marvelously thanks to all your prayers. I was even able to push my luggage cart, something that wouldn't have been possible yesterday. I ate steak with my fam for my first meal in the US, and sat next to my niece:) I didn't like a lot of the Phil. meat, it tasted different.
Thanks so much for being a part of this trip. Your thoughts and prayers fueled me and my teammates, helped make ministry happen, and I couldn't have done it without you!
I'm sure I will continually be asked if I think I will return someday. After investing so much of my time, life, and heart there, I don't know how I couldn't return. As to what degree, I'm leaving that up to God.
Right now, I have one more year of grad school to focus on. While continuing to serve part-time as an intern with ISM, I will be interning this fall semester for my Master's in Counseling at Home Sweet Home Ministries in Bloomington part-time and taking one class. In order to get the most out of my education and become a good counselor, I have to invest much energy emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Just one more year and I'll have my degree.
Probably the greatest thing I was reminded of and learned in the Phil. is how precious relationships and people are. The most important things in life are people. Filipinos create their schedule around this concept. In America, if you live a highly ambitious life like me, you spend a lot of time on tasks, and you have to fight to keep people a priority and make time for them in your schedule, a battle I need to continue fighting, and to a greater scale in some areas. I hope to see you soon! Love, Steph
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Wrapping Up
On Thursday, we spent the day jumping off rocks at a waterfall. We had so much fun, and I took a lot of cool pics of that day.
On Friday, I rested in the morning and spent some time with students and had awesome conversations in the afternoon. One of our student leaders asked if we would help her talk to some friends about baptism. We went where she was, and the 3 girls she was talking to wanted to be baptized! We were very excited.
Our trip wouldn't be complete without one final typhoon:) We're in a stage one right now, the lightest of the typhoon stages. We still have a few things to wrap up. One final meeting with student leaders, one last Bible study, a goodbye celebration, and some housekeeping items to take care of.
I know some of you are wondering what our travel schedule so you can pray.
We begin traveling your time, 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Our plane leaves the Phil. at 6 p.m. Tues. night.
We will be flying into Detroit at about noon on Wed. your time:) After that, we will be spitting off. The IL team is going back to IL, and I'll be meeting my parents and spending a couple days with my fam.
I am very much looking forward to seeing all my friends and fam when I get back! Thanks for all of you who have been faithfully praying! We're almost there! Please continue to pray for our travels. Also, I hurt my back a little on our last adventure, so if you could keep that in your prayers, I'd appreciate it.
On Friday, I rested in the morning and spent some time with students and had awesome conversations in the afternoon. One of our student leaders asked if we would help her talk to some friends about baptism. We went where she was, and the 3 girls she was talking to wanted to be baptized! We were very excited.
Our trip wouldn't be complete without one final typhoon:) We're in a stage one right now, the lightest of the typhoon stages. We still have a few things to wrap up. One final meeting with student leaders, one last Bible study, a goodbye celebration, and some housekeeping items to take care of.
I know some of you are wondering what our travel schedule so you can pray.
We begin traveling your time, 8 a.m. Tuesday.
Our plane leaves the Phil. at 6 p.m. Tues. night.
We will be flying into Detroit at about noon on Wed. your time:) After that, we will be spitting off. The IL team is going back to IL, and I'll be meeting my parents and spending a couple days with my fam.
I am very much looking forward to seeing all my friends and fam when I get back! Thanks for all of you who have been faithfully praying! We're almost there! Please continue to pray for our travels. Also, I hurt my back a little on our last adventure, so if you could keep that in your prayers, I'd appreciate it.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Finishing Well
On Tuesday we baptized 2 more students in the creek, and had lunch with our small group leaders, and Danielle and I went through the last book of Philippians with the 2 girl leaders who will be taking over our Bible study to help prepare them. They led for the 1st time Tues. night and did an awesome job!
We went to the last large group of our trip last night. We watched 'Facing the Giants' and had over 130 students come! We said some goodbyes, but I'm glad we don't have to say too many yet and I still have one more small group time left.
What else? I've gotten to do a couple of things I've wanted to do before leaving...go the the Black Market, which is pretty much just a big market with stores you can buy stuff, and Brady and I climbed another mt. in our backyard yesterday morning. Today is Danielle's Bday and we're going to a waterfall you can jump into. I wanted to jump last time we passed but my friends talked me out of it because I was fully clothed and we were on our way to serve in Dagupan:)
We went to the last large group of our trip last night. We watched 'Facing the Giants' and had over 130 students come! We said some goodbyes, but I'm glad we don't have to say too many yet and I still have one more small group time left.
What else? I've gotten to do a couple of things I've wanted to do before leaving...go the the Black Market, which is pretty much just a big market with stores you can buy stuff, and Brady and I climbed another mt. in our backyard yesterday morning. Today is Danielle's Bday and we're going to a waterfall you can jump into. I wanted to jump last time we passed but my friends talked me out of it because I was fully clothed and we were on our way to serve in Dagupan:)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Mountain
Alright, I know you're probably hoping to read some awesome adventure story on how I was the only girl on my team to climb the 2nd largest mountain in the Phil. (that's what I was hoping I would be writing about:) Well, I was the only girl to ride the bus through the mountains to where we stayed the night (which on our team is a big feat), and I have a funny story of how there's Filipino communists on Mt. Pulag right now so we couldn't climb it without a police escort?! Being Filipinos, I wasn't sure how mean their communist party really was, but I didn't think it was a good idea to climb if we would need a police escort.
So what did we do instead? We stayed at a church in the mountains that has 2 stories. The 2nd floor is used for visitors and missionary housing. It reminded me a lot of being at camp:)- a very pretty area. We met some students at the other campus of BSU that go to the church on Sat. night (yes, the college we're working at has another branch in the mountains), and we served at church today. I helped with the kids. It was great to begin a relationship with that church! We had a good time being there and away, I was sad to return home today but needed to because over 1/2 our team is sick right now:( 3 out of 4 came back sick from Dagupan:(
As we enter our last week here, please pray for the sickness on our team, that we'll use our time wisely, and we'll have a smooth transition of responsibilities and information with the campus ministry and leaders here! Please also pray for our goodbyes, especially for the girls on my team who are very sad to leave (that includes me but I'll probably wait til the plane ride to be really sad). Thanks!
So what did we do instead? We stayed at a church in the mountains that has 2 stories. The 2nd floor is used for visitors and missionary housing. It reminded me a lot of being at camp:)- a very pretty area. We met some students at the other campus of BSU that go to the church on Sat. night (yes, the college we're working at has another branch in the mountains), and we served at church today. I helped with the kids. It was great to begin a relationship with that church! We had a good time being there and away, I was sad to return home today but needed to because over 1/2 our team is sick right now:( 3 out of 4 came back sick from Dagupan:(
As we enter our last week here, please pray for the sickness on our team, that we'll use our time wisely, and we'll have a smooth transition of responsibilities and information with the campus ministry and leaders here! Please also pray for our goodbyes, especially for the girls on my team who are very sad to leave (that includes me but I'll probably wait til the plane ride to be really sad). Thanks!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Rain
The past 4 days a typhoon has been passing through, and it's rained A LOT. Being from the midwest, we don't get extended rain. Arnold says he's seen it rain for an entire month here. I thought 4 days was a long time!
It's amazing how much rain can effect your week...I remember shivering through a Bible study under a gazebo with a bunch of Filipinos who remained totally involved in the Bible study despite the dampness, drinking coffee at McDonalds during another Bible study to stay out of the rain, getting soaked from sideways rain going to check on Katie before our Wednesday night large group meeting, a smaller attendance at our Wed. night large group but still a good turn out despite the weather, and finally being able to run this morning because there wasn't a down pour.
My personal favorite rain story though is having someone take this awesome umbrella I got from here and leave another old umbrella, which fell apart on Cris and I as we were on our way to our Wed. night gathering! I think I was way too attached to my new umbrella (I don't buy new nice stuff too often anymore), and Cris and I laughed really hard when the older one completely fell apart!
Tomorrow, hopefully we will see the sun again. It's been great to see all God is doing in spite of the rain! I have had more of an opportunity to spend one on one time with students since I led Bible studies solo with week, and I also got to help train 2 small group leaders. The rest of the team returns tomorrow, and we are serving at a church near a mountain I hope to climb on Sunday (if it's not too slippery)!
It's amazing how much rain can effect your week...I remember shivering through a Bible study under a gazebo with a bunch of Filipinos who remained totally involved in the Bible study despite the dampness, drinking coffee at McDonalds during another Bible study to stay out of the rain, getting soaked from sideways rain going to check on Katie before our Wednesday night large group meeting, a smaller attendance at our Wed. night large group but still a good turn out despite the weather, and finally being able to run this morning because there wasn't a down pour.
My personal favorite rain story though is having someone take this awesome umbrella I got from here and leave another old umbrella, which fell apart on Cris and I as we were on our way to our Wed. night gathering! I think I was way too attached to my new umbrella (I don't buy new nice stuff too often anymore), and Cris and I laughed really hard when the older one completely fell apart!
Tomorrow, hopefully we will see the sun again. It's been great to see all God is doing in spite of the rain! I have had more of an opportunity to spend one on one time with students since I led Bible studies solo with week, and I also got to help train 2 small group leaders. The rest of the team returns tomorrow, and we are serving at a church near a mountain I hope to climb on Sunday (if it's not too slippery)!
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sports Fest and 5 Baptisms
Our weekend was pretty low key. We celebrated Gigi's Birthday (minister here's wife), and I went to 2 church services on Sunday to spend some time with one of our new student leaders. A girl who came with us ended up getting baptized on Monday, so that was awesome.
Yesterday was a holiday, so we had Sports Fest at a gym here. We played vball and bball, and had a ton of fun! We also baptized 5 students who accepted Christ last Wednesday at a nearby Bible college. A great day!
1/2 of our team is in Dagupan for the week, and Pete and Kordell went home. It's really quiet, and Will, Katie, and I are teaching some extra classes and leading some Bible studies for our teammates. Speaking of which I need to go lead one:) We're seeing many leaders rise up and having opportunities to help equip them, so thanks for the prayers! I am looking forward to returning home in 2 weeks:)
Yesterday was a holiday, so we had Sports Fest at a gym here. We played vball and bball, and had a ton of fun! We also baptized 5 students who accepted Christ last Wednesday at a nearby Bible college. A great day!
1/2 of our team is in Dagupan for the week, and Pete and Kordell went home. It's really quiet, and Will, Katie, and I are teaching some extra classes and leading some Bible studies for our teammates. Speaking of which I need to go lead one:) We're seeing many leaders rise up and having opportunities to help equip them, so thanks for the prayers! I am looking forward to returning home in 2 weeks:)
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Large Group Meeting #4
Pete promoted our large group meeting at Saturday's big event, and he spoke on Reaching Your Dreams part 2 at large group last night to 100 people:) We had 16 people come forward and accept Christ for the first time. Definitely a big night, and worth giving a summer for:)
When Pete got here, he signed a document that finalized our paper work needed to work with the university while we are here. Pete also spends a lot of time with my teammates, which means I have a little more time on my hands this week. I practiced with the college vball team one night, which I'd been wanting to do for a while, and went out to dinner with my small group girls.
We've also been working to start some new small groups, as many students signed up with interest, and mentoring some new leaders. God continues to reveal and provide leaders, so please keep praying for that!
Today the girls are off, and the boys are done with class mid-afternoon, so hopefully the weather will hold and I will be climbing the mountain, or doing some other fun Filipino stuff:)
When Pete got here, he signed a document that finalized our paper work needed to work with the university while we are here. Pete also spends a lot of time with my teammates, which means I have a little more time on my hands this week. I practiced with the college vball team one night, which I'd been wanting to do for a while, and went out to dinner with my small group girls.
We've also been working to start some new small groups, as many students signed up with interest, and mentoring some new leaders. God continues to reveal and provide leaders, so please keep praying for that!
Today the girls are off, and the boys are done with class mid-afternoon, so hopefully the weather will hold and I will be climbing the mountain, or doing some other fun Filipino stuff:)
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Big Event and 100 Islands
Last week, we worked hard and planned all week for Pete coming to speak at a Saturday big event. He spoke on reaching your dreams, and the ROC on campus put together an awesome program with 2 speakers. Pete spoke to a HUGE audience and was able to promote Encounter at his speech.
Saturday afternoon I spoke to a grad school class for the first time on Christian values and social change. Grad school students are mostly younger here (21-25, but many of them have careers and families, so they are very mature with a lot of depth. I enjoyed interacting with and getting to know them, and I had an opportunity to talk about Encounter!
On Sunday, we all took off for 100 Islands, which is as the name says. Many islands where you can hike, swim, snorkel, jump and dive. We had an AWESOME time! My 2 favorite parts were swimming to another island with some team members and jumping into a pool of water from a cave. Time to get to work, it's Monday:)
Saturday afternoon I spoke to a grad school class for the first time on Christian values and social change. Grad school students are mostly younger here (21-25, but many of them have careers and families, so they are very mature with a lot of depth. I enjoyed interacting with and getting to know them, and I had an opportunity to talk about Encounter!
On Sunday, we all took off for 100 Islands, which is as the name says. Many islands where you can hike, swim, snorkel, jump and dive. We had an AWESOME time! My 2 favorite parts were swimming to another island with some team members and jumping into a pool of water from a cave. Time to get to work, it's Monday:)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
3rd Large Group Meeting & Camp John Haye
Wednesday night we met with 77 students during our 3rd large group. Very exciting!!! My team has done an excellent job inviting students from their classes and from the basketball courts. Many of the students had an interest in becoming part of a Bible study. Discipleship is a big need here. We are working to develop leaders who will be able to do this when we're gone.
We also found out this week we will be able to use a room on campus with the ROC, the registered Christian organizations on campus. We hope to continue to build a good relationship with the university so next year we can become one. Until then, we are thankful for all the ministry opportunities God has opened up for us on and off campus.
Yesterday was our day off. I went to what used to be an American military base, Camp John Haye, and is now sort of a resort/ get away. There's biking, horse back riding, shopping, pizza, trails, parks, and pretty much everything I like to do there. It's also very peaceful and quiet. I went horse back riding and hope to ride a bike next time. Pete and his 11 year old son also arrived, so we're happy to have them here!
We also found out this week we will be able to use a room on campus with the ROC, the registered Christian organizations on campus. We hope to continue to build a good relationship with the university so next year we can become one. Until then, we are thankful for all the ministry opportunities God has opened up for us on and off campus.
Yesterday was our day off. I went to what used to be an American military base, Camp John Haye, and is now sort of a resort/ get away. There's biking, horse back riding, shopping, pizza, trails, parks, and pretty much everything I like to do there. It's also very peaceful and quiet. I went horse back riding and hope to ride a bike next time. Pete and his 11 year old son also arrived, so we're happy to have them here!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Meeting the President
We are back into full swing here at BSU! Cris wasn't around too much last week, so I found things to be pretty much where I left them. We had a great 2nd large group meeting last Wed. night here, with 55 students! We were all very excited about that.
Monday we got our room situation figured out and worked on plans for this week's events. Encounter's lead minister from the US, Pete Cocco, is coming for a couple of weeks and will be speaking at the University on Reaching Your Dreams in a program put on by the Registered Christian Organizations on campus (what we are hoping to be one next year). We are helping to promote this event and are very excited for the opportunity to link with the other organizations.
Tuesday was Kim (team member's) bday and she wanted to climb the mountain, so in the morning we climbed, and today my girls rested:) While not climbing, we worked more the documents we need to present the university to formalize our service at BSU. We are all looking forward to an end to the paper work!!
Tues night 2 of our team members participated in a camput-wide Christian service at BSU in honor of the university's anniversary. I attended with another team member, and we were seated in front by the university staff. We met the Vice President of BSU, and after the service was over, the President came over to say hello. He invited Danielle and I to a faculty dinner afterward, where we were able to meet more faculty. For those of you praying for a strong relationship with the university, thanks, I can tell!!!
We are still teaching in classes. I will be teaching to a class of grad students on Saturday and am very excited for the opportunity! I also got to go to our 2nd small group I am coleading. Please pray for the leaders of Encounter at BSU who we are helping select and train while we are here. They will be helping lead the ministry when we are gone.
Monday we got our room situation figured out and worked on plans for this week's events. Encounter's lead minister from the US, Pete Cocco, is coming for a couple of weeks and will be speaking at the University on Reaching Your Dreams in a program put on by the Registered Christian Organizations on campus (what we are hoping to be one next year). We are helping to promote this event and are very excited for the opportunity to link with the other organizations.
Tuesday was Kim (team member's) bday and she wanted to climb the mountain, so in the morning we climbed, and today my girls rested:) While not climbing, we worked more the documents we need to present the university to formalize our service at BSU. We are all looking forward to an end to the paper work!!
Tues night 2 of our team members participated in a camput-wide Christian service at BSU in honor of the university's anniversary. I attended with another team member, and we were seated in front by the university staff. We met the Vice President of BSU, and after the service was over, the President came over to say hello. He invited Danielle and I to a faculty dinner afterward, where we were able to meet more faculty. For those of you praying for a strong relationship with the university, thanks, I can tell!!!
We are still teaching in classes. I will be teaching to a class of grad students on Saturday and am very excited for the opportunity! I also got to go to our 2nd small group I am coleading. Please pray for the leaders of Encounter at BSU who we are helping select and train while we are here. They will be helping lead the ministry when we are gone.
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