I’m stuck…in LAX since 12 this afternoon and now it’s 9:41 PM and the flight doesn’t leave for another hour.
Gives new meaning to the statement…
“You’ve got to get yourself together
You’ve got stuck in a moment and now you can’t get out of it
Don’t say that later will be better now you’re stuck in a moment
And you can’t get out of it”
A beatiful baby boy in the cemetary community…his face makes me happy even when i’m tired.
Walking through a cemetary where an entire community of people are born, live and play. Wanted you to get a perspective of the height of the wall beside the people walking…each square houses an individual’s remains.
Children playing in the remains of a gravesite
More of the cemetary
This is part of a wall of tombs.
One of the things I’ve already been hit with is how Compassion works! Compassion International works because it is based on 4 core values…
Christ Centered. Each child has an opportunity to hear the gospel in an age-appropriate and culturally relevant way.
Child Focused. Engaging each child as a complete person, we treat children like we’d want our own children treated.
Church Based. We partner with churches, parents and communities — to teach, train and mentor children.
Committed to Integrity. We’re dedicated to delivering excellent programs with complete integrity.
Through these core values, the children in our projects are sponsored by people in the US and partner countries who provide not just monetarily, but spiritually and emotionally. There are numerous stories of children who’ve grown up in Compassion’s projects and as adults are able to thank their sponsors for giving them the light of hope allowing them to get out of the darkness of poverty.
Tonight I was able to view firsthand a long overdue meeting between a formerly sponsored child and his childhood sponsor. We were going through our country “orientation” which involved the basics like, “don’t drink the water, don’t eat unpeeled fruit…ask for pepto if you need it…etc…etc…” but out of my peripheral vision i could see a Filippino couple hugging and excitedly taking pictures with one of our tour attendees.
I didn’t know what was going on, but assumed it was some reunion of sorts, but never guessed what was actually taking place.
It turns out that one of the men on our trip started sponsoring a young boy when the boy was 7 years old…same age as the man’s daughter in the US at the time, well, he sponsored him for several years and when the boy left the project as a young man, they lost touch until two years ago when this formerly sponsored child googled his sponsor’s name and found him on the internet!
AAh the beauty of technology, anyhow to make a long story short, the formerly sponsored child emailed our friend and said, “i’m your son…your sponsored son, are you really my Compassion sponsor?” So, it turns out that indeed he was this man’s former sponsor. Well, they started communicating again at that point and today after 24 years of being in each other’s lives they got to meet each other. It was so amazing to hear this man’s testimony and hear him talk about God’s blessing in his life because of the work of Compassion and his sponsor. He’s now one of the top ranked photographers in all of the Philippines and all because he had a sponsor who believed in him and believed that this boy would grow up to be “something.”
I was witness to the amazing gift of a young boy, now a grown man meeting his childhood hero! You could see how much this Filippino man looked up to his American daddy and I got to see it take place 10 feet in front of me!!! I am blessed.
Yep, uh huh and guess who has internet access? yep, uh huh…me!!!
I’m so happy to report that I got in some running tonight. I realize it’s not the 3 hours I was supposed to run on Saturday, but I ran on a treadmill and actually lasted for an hour…which is not an easy feat for me because I HATE THE TREADMILL! Anyway, for those of you who really care about my marathon training…I ran! Someone out there be proud of me for goodness sake!
So, this is a picture from the 41st floor of the hotel we’re staying in. It’s kinda high up there! This was first thing this morning…way before the run. 
So, i’m that girl that said i’d never wear those “ugly” croc shoes…well, guess what? i’m wearing some today. i decided last week after much thought that, comfort should be key on this overseas trip. So, i bought them…crocs, but not the ones that i consider the “ugly” crocs…no these are a bit more refined looking, or at least that’s what i’d like to think. more of a strappy sandal per se and way more comfortable than flip flops.
obviously i’m out of things to blog about today, do you know what i mean? Love and kisses to you all.
