Juniors' Camp

The boys

"Action" to worship songs

Waiting for the night-time devotion

The girls :)

Each team made their own banner. This was Team Patience.

We only had one nosebleed from the heat.

Funny game called "Find the Sheep"

The "Electric Fence" game

The youngest camper..isn't he adorable?

My favorite game. They balanced the water...

...until they couldn't take it anymore!

Some of the youth helped out

This is our Staff. The theme was SuperHeroes =)

I had the opportunity to give one of the devotions.

All the kiddos!

These are pictures from the 3-day Juniors' Camp I mentioned in the last post. The kids were from ages 8-12 and were so much fun! Our friend Maricel did a great job planning everything and we were blessed to be a part of it.

wonderful creation

One of my favorite things about living in the Philippines is the food. There are plenty of things I miss from the States, but overall, I'm thankful for the healthy and delicious eating here. Filipinos pride in their cuisine (and rightly so).
I'm even more thankful for getting to watch things grow and see how God's creation really provides for our bodies' needs. It's a really amazing process to see food grow.
Apart from our garden, a couple other things I've enjoyed seeing for the first time are cocao (chocolate) and black peppercorn.

Black pepper right off the tree

After two days of drying in the sun...ready to be cooked!

This is the fruit of a cocoa tree

The pulpy seeds inside..sweet and delicious to suck

After the seeds have been fermented and roasted

and ground into chocolate powder!

The powder can then be used to make hot chocolate or melted down with milk and sugar/honey for a super yummy, natural, and healthy dark chocolate bar! Add some nuts or coconut and it's like dark chocolate paradise :)

Hope you've enjoyed a little look into our life here.
-Autumn

P.S. Please pray for us as this afternoon is the beginning of a 3-day camp for children in our area. Josh will be coming each day as the 'photographer' but I and some other young Filipinos will be sleeping at the church with the kids. Pray for a safe and fun few days. And for the Spirit's anointing as we share Jesus' love with the kids. Thanks!

my favorite flowers

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas reading this.
Holidays always seem to get to me here. This never happened to me in America. But now, they sneak up on me and I get emotional. It never fails.
This morning I wrote my mom a message on facebook because I wasn't sure if the trusty postal service between here and America had delivered my written letter in time.
Then we went to church where the mothers were asked to stand. A special song was contributed to them and the children delivered hand-made paper flowers to each of them. I felt my face warming up as the emotions rolled in. Here we go again. I missed my mom.
But this time was somehow different than past holidays. Instead of finding myself in despair, I praised the Lord that I have a mother and that she entrusted me to Him. "Thank You God that I'm in the Philippines and not Mississippi today. I'm right where You want me." As I talked to my heavenly Father, I looked up and a couple of sweet little faces and two precious hands offered me the prettiest flowers. I wasn't standing with all the mothers; I'm not a mom. Both of these girls have mothers of their own. But God has given me the ever-special opportunity for this time in their lives to be a spiritual mother. I play with these little girls every Monday and Thursday at promptly 4:30pm (the only thing they're ever on time for). I've bandaged wounds, held hands, and sang songs with them. I've told them stories from God's Word and prayed for them often. As I took the flowers and offered hugs in return, my eyes filled with tears and my heart swelled with thanksgiving. What a blessing to be a part of their lives. What a blessing that they chose me to receive their flowers.What a blessing that I had a mom who loved me and taught me to love others.

These are my favorites flowers. I receive flowers from these kids a lot..almost weekly (most of them stolen from our own yard, but what can you say?). I like to put them in my hair and they like it even more. It doesn't take much to receive a flower around here..our white skin attracts them. But these flowers are my favorite because they were given out of love- not just love for me, but what I believe is a growing love for the Lord.

I don't know much about being a mother and I don't know when my time will come, but I pray that when Josh and I are blessed with children that we will remember the fruits that come with pouring into them spiritually. And I encourage you to look for the little ones in your life and point them to the only One worthy of their love and adoration.

...So today, the holiday hasn't gotten me down (at least not yet!) but rather has found me with joyful, teary eyes thanking my Father for His goodness.
Happy Mother's Day!!

And the thunder rollllsssss....

Last night we experienced our first real thunderstorm since being here in the Philippines.
I was scared. I was hot. And I was in awe.
We had never experienced a storm like this before...anywhere. It had been such a sunny day and a storm certainly wasn't anticipated. But around 1am we woke up to a hard downpour of rain on a tin roof. It got louder and louder... and then came the lightening. And what follows lightening? THUNDER.  The lightening would light up our house, then the thunder would literally roll all around us. I gained an entirely new definition for ‘rolling thunder.’ It sounded as if God had a big whip and with each crack the thunder would just ripple across the heavens. Each time I would clinch my eyes shut and just wait for the roar. I’ve never experienced anything like it. You could actually feel the rumble.
The pouring rain started coming in through our screen windows. But because the storm had caused a brown-out (Filipino term for power outage) it wasn’t worth it to close the glass and suffer the heat. I held on to Josh’s arm or wrapped the pillow around my head with every strike of lightening, preparing myself for the thunder to come.  Between praying that we wouldn’t get struck by lightening and for peace for Monica in her house by herself, I found myself just worshipping and praising God- the God of the universe- God of lightening and of thunder. His vastness and greatness in light of my smallness and helplessness was too much to take in.

He is the God of the storms; the storms of raging thunder and the storms in my life that sometimes seem even bigger than the lightening bolts we saw last night.  He's so sovereign and He's so big. He's the Creator of the world. And He knows my life's storms. But He leads me by still waters and leads me to get lost in His vast greatness.

The Lord reigns; He is robed in majesty; The Lord is robed; He has put on strength as his belt. Yes, the world is established; It shall never be moved. Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O Lord, The floods have lifted up their voice; The floods lift up their roaring. Mightier than the thunders of many waters, Mightier than the waves of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty! Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits your house, O Lord, forevermore.     Psalm 93