"And they will know us by our love..."

The title of this blog comes from a song by Christy Nockels called "By Our Love." I won't give you all of the lyrics, but I'll just give you the chorus. You DEFINITELY need to listen to the whole song though.

The time is NOW, come church arise!
Love with his hands, see with his eyes.
Bind it around you, let it never leave you.
And they will know us by our love.


I feel like this song COMPLETELY sums up my trip to Manila, at least so far. Today was such a great day - definitely what I've been needing. School was really great today, which was such a blessing. I had been getting really discouraged because I hadn't been doing a whole lot in my classroom. But today, I got to teach "Character Ed (Education)", which was actually a lot of fun! I started out by leading them in their memory verses, singing "Every Move I Make" with them (which I taught them yesterday), and then I taught them about what it means to take care of their possessions. Tomorrow, I'll be teaching them Proverbs 17:7 ("A friend loves at all times...") and doing a couple pages from their workbook with them. It kind of annoys me that every single subject is taught out of a workbook, so as I go I'm going to try to do additional things besides the workbook. My teacher told me that I only had about 30 minutes to do Character Ed though, so I'll have to start getting really creative! But I'm now in charge of that everyday, which means that I basically lead the first 45 minutes of the day. During math today, I helped a girl understand her division problems, and the look on her face when she finally understood was priceless. I praised the students as much as I possibly could, and I can tell that it is starting to affect them. They all come show me all of their work that they do, and they seem SO appreciative when I praise them. My class is absolutely incredible, and I'm so blessed that I was placed here. Today I had an amazing talk with my teacher, and I feel like we really bonded. When the students went to computer class for an hour, I stayed back in the classroom and just spent the whole hour talking to my teacher. She gave me a boiled banana, which, as gross as it may sound, was actually VERY good. The bananas here aren't like the ones at home - they're much smaller, and when they're boiled are MUCH sweeter. I felt so cultured! :) We just sat and talked all about our lives, and it was amazing. She told me about her family, the struggles that they're having, and about her dreams of going to America. She asked me all sorts of questions about my family and my life in America, and we talked and laughed and had a really great time! After I come back for lunch, the kids are taught English by a different teacher. My teacher, Teacher Ruth, usually just sits in the classroom and does prep or just sits and observes. Today when I came back from lunch, I sat in my usual seat next to the teacher's desk. After a few minutes, she took out her cell phone and asked to take a picture with me! After that, she handed me her address book and had me write my full name (So that she could find me on facebook and we could "facebook chat"...she was so excited about it!), my birthday, e-mail, and school address. I really hope that I'll be able to keep in touch with her once I go home, because she is SO sweet. Today was such an encouragement, and I'm excited to go to school again. :)

Today around 3, I went outside to play with the street children for about half an hour. 2 hours later, I was still outside and did NOT want to go in for dinner. These kids seriously have SO much love, and so much joy. They were hanging all over us, begging for attention. Remember Alexandra, the girl that sat with me at the volleyball game? She was back today :) I got to spend almost an hour with her. With these kids, you don't even have to be playing with them necessarily - they just want to be held. Whether it's on your back, in your arms or on your lap, they will just cuddle with you for HOURS if you let them. We learned a lot of their names today, and they absolutely loved it when we would call them by their name. Seriously, these are some of the most beautiful kids I've ever seen. I didn't take any pictures on my camera, but some of the other girls did. I'll try to take more tomorrow, because these children are so so SO precious. All of us were on the verge of tears as we said goodbye to them, and we all promised we'd come back tomorrow. Saying goodbye to Alexandra was awful for me. Once she realized that I was leaving, she lept into my arms (I knelt to the ground to give her a hug), and gave me the biggest hug I've probably ever gotten. She gave me 2 big kisses - one on the cheek and one smack on the lips. She's absolutely beautiful, and I never want to leave her. All of the kids were like this - there were multiple times today that I would be holding one kid in my arms, holding the hand of another on the ground, and one was trying to jump onto my back. I feel like by the end of the week I'm going to be so sore, but it's so worth it! It's amazing was a simple hug or tickle can do for these kids...I know for a fact that I've found my place here, and those kids are where God wants me to spend my free time.

My devotions on this trip have been amazing - the passage I read today literally gave me chills. I'm going to end by giving you some of the verses that I've found since I've been here, all found when I was going through my study of Psalm. Continue to pray for strength and energy, because that is something we are ALL lacking on this team. Love and miss you all!

-Kristen-

Psalm 68:5-6 ~ "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families, he leads forth the prisoners with singing."


Psalm 68:19-20 ~ "Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the sovereign Lord comes escape from death."


Psalm 69:13 ~ "But I pray to you, O Lord, in the time of your favor; in your great love, O God, answer me with your sure salvation."


Psalm 70:5 ~ "Yet I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay."


Psalm 71:3 ~ "Be my rock of refuge, to which I can always go; give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress."


Psalm 71:19 ~ "Your righteousness reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you?"


The next 2 verses hit me the hardest today...


Psalm 72:4 ~ "He will defend the afflicted among the people and save the children of the needy; he will crush the oppressor."


Psalm 72:12-14 ~ "For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. He will take pity on the weak and the needy and save the needy from death. He will rescue them from oppression and violence, for precious is their blood in his sight."