PIECE OF MY HEART

Well it's 2 o'clock in the morning and I am wide awake. This is when I would normally be working but I have the night off so here I am sitting all by my lonesome at the computer desk. In just 2 weeks my plane lands in Manila, 17 days and I will begin classes, 21 days and I will be doing my first outreach in a clinic. As the time draws closer people continue to ask me why I am doing this. The answer would take a novel to fully explain but I'll do my best here in as few words as possible.

The all encompassing answer is to be like Jesus. My Hero and Bestest Friend. While I am a long ways from being perfect and a far cry from loving people the way He did, this is just one of the many opportunities I have to allow Christs love to flow through me. From my heart, out of my mouth as I share the gospel and through my fingertips as I bandage wounds, pull teeth and offer other health care these people could never afford.

God is head over heels in love with these people just as he is with you and me. Sadly, many of these people don't know it yet, and they certainly haven't felt it. Well soon that will change. The team and I will be meeting people who are sufferring both spiritually and physically and we get to show them a God that cares for the whole person. He hurts when we hurt. As his child it is my joy and responsibility to act out His love for the people of this world. The world is full of owies and boo-boos, medical missions is God's way of bending down and kissing the world better.

BETER LUCK THIS TIME

In just two short weeks I will be on my way to Manila. Crazy! As I count down the days I remember that last time I left the country. It wasn't really a big deal. I went to California with my volleyball team a few years ago to play in a tournament. It was incredibly fun but a perfect example of how Murphy's Law haunts me.

I don't remember the exact order of the events but the sum was rather unfortunate. I do know the first thing that happened was that my ears popped so bad travelling that they bled for a couple of days. Then for whatever reason I suffered from chronic nosebleeds, at least one a day, sometimes two or three. I also had a terrible cold, which made it difficult to talk. At times the only sound that I could make was a goose-like honk. This turned out to be a lot of fun on the volleyball court. I also had an allergic reaction to the sunscreen that I used on my face and ended up with a beautiful rash. Then to top it off I got pink eye.

Despite all this I did have a lot of fun. However this was only a two week trip, and I am a little afraid of what may happen in eight weeks in the Philippines, especially since the climate and food are so different. If you think of it please pray for better luck this time. I don't want to scare people of with a scaling face and pussing eye.

PLEASE PRAY

I just heard that a typhoon has ripped through the northwestern part of the Philippines last week. The death tolls is around 40, and there are still many people missing. Over 40,000 people had to evacuate their homes as the storm triggered floods and landslides throughout the northern part of the country. Many of those are now homeless. Please pray for the people and the rescue workers. The typhoon also hit the area where we were going to be staying and studying. Please pray also for the leadership as they are deciding how to handle the situation.

And, as always, if you have any prayer requests I would love to hear them and pray for you. You can post them as comments, just click below this post on "comments" or you can email me at dawn14rose@yahoo.com.

I KNOW THIS LOOKS LONG BUT PLEASE READ

Hi everybody!
Sorry if you were looking for some humor, this isn't an emabrassing story. It's time to get a little serious, but a good kinda serious. Promise!

As a college student I have no money, I have negative dollars actually, but I have always wanted to go on a missions trip. I was planning a two week trip for this summer but after a series of date and schedule changes things didn't work out. Then a good friend of mine told me about Mercy Link and the Mini-Med School she is doing this summer. I went to their website and knew this was the thing for me. You know when you just know, it was that kinda a feeling. I was super excited about it, but it was a 7 week long course.

How would I find the time to earn money to go on this trip, and for my next year of college?

I got two full time jobs and have been working my butt off the last three weeks, we're talking 80 to 90 hour weeks, but finaces still worried me since I have a student loan. Despite this, I was gonna go on this trip, I knew this was the one.
My dad mentioned to a friend of his, Randy Vanderveen, that I was going on this trip. Then him and his wife had me over for supper, along with Darren and Christine Andres. They prayed for me, which was the hugest blessing ever, and they also supported me financially. They were both amazing answers to prayer. So Randy, Darren, if you guys are reading this, thank you so much. Whenever I think about your kindness I start to cry. And for anybody else reading this please pray for them. Darren as he works with the youth in his church and is working on getting his masters and his wife Christine. For Randy and his wife Cheryl as they plan a missions trip for the fall, as well as their daughters, Malory who is getting married and Amy who is just graduating from high school.

MMMM CHOCOLATE

I was out and about one day running errands. At my first stop I picked up a caramel Aero bar because I was pretty hungry and ate it on the way to my next stop. It was pretty tasty, I do recommend you try one. So I went to the mall, and to the college, and to a few other places. Along the way I had run into a few people I knew so I stopped to chat a couple of times, yada yada. The whole time I had been completely ignorant to the fact that I had a huge chunk of melted chocolate on my crotch, about the size of a credit card, and on my sleeve. Not only was there chocolate, but there was also some of the caramel. I walked around for a couple of hours in public with this smeared on my pants. I can't believe nobody told me. My pants still bear the scar.