May 6th, 2008 Jennessa
Tomorrow morning my mom, sister, dog (couldn’t leave her out!) and I start on our way to Idaho! Before leaving Colorado, we’ll pick my friend Kelsey (KJ!) up at the airport in Denver. On our way we’re going to spend some time camping in the Tetons and Yellowstone, and then we’ll go to Boot Camp in Idaho.
This year Kelsey has decided to stay home so I won’t have my last year’s traveling companion, for which I am sad, but I know that God has a work for both of us, where ever we are.
I don’t know what grades or subject I’ll be teaching yet, but Tim mentioned that it could possibly be English, so I have 3 suitcases packed full of teaching materials, and more in my carry-on bags! I’m really looking forward to this year-I know it’s going to be a great year and that the Lord will be working in the villages! I don’t know what village I will be in either, but of course I am praying that I will be able to return to Pinagbayanan, where I taught last year.
I may update you all from Idaho, but if not, next time you hear from me I’ll be in Mamburao, Occ. Mindoro, Philippines!!
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April 16th, 2008 Jennessa
It all started out with a dream-the dream of an eight year old with what everyone said was a big imagination.
The years have come and gone, and now, 12 years down the road, welcome to a dream come true!
That’s right-May 13 I head up to Idaho for Boot Camp and then on the 18th I’ll fly away to teach in a remote village in the Philippines again!
If you’d like to read more about my mission there, in particular, you can go to my website– www. songofliberty. com
If you’d like more info on the whole project, you can go to Laymen Ministries website– www. lmn. org
I’d love to hear from you all while I’m over there, and the best way to do that is snail mail!
My address over there will be:
Jennessa Harding
c/o Jim Web
Sea Breeze Subdivision
BRGY Tayamaar
Mamburao, Occ.
Mindoro
Philippines 5106
I do get to check my email once in a great while, so if you have my email address you can drop me a note!
Most of all, please pray for me, the kids, and the whole mission project there!
Hope you all have a wonderful year and I’ll see you when…..well, whenever I get back!!
I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Psalms 32: 8
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December 7th, 2007 Jennessa
Well… i’m sorry if I’m a little scattered, hyper or ‘in my own world’ more than usual in the next few…months. No wait, I’m more sorry that I am not sorry…. =]
I got a really important phone call that made my day, today.
I probably don’t even have to say who or what, if you’re a wise old owl or know me well enough. =]
Posted in Layment Ministries, LMN, Jeff Reich, Missions, plans | No Comments »
October 28th, 2007 Jennessa
To the Unknown God
“Ma’am!” Nonoy’s usually sparkling eyes were troubled and the sparkle was gone, and his voice was hushed almost to a whisper. “I saw a witch last night!”
I stopped preparing the black-board for class and turned to look at him and saw that he really meant it. “A witch? Are you sure?”
“Yes ma’am!!” he answered very emphatically and turned to share a few words with his classmates who were starting to show up and sit at their desks and listen. They all sat solemnly and looked at me.
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in picture, Philippines, Layment Ministries, LMN, Jennessa, Missions, thoughts, Waren, Nonoy, Angelito, kids, Pinagbayanan, Agbalite, fear | 1 Comment »
October 26th, 2007 Jennessa
And now for an update from our evermissed teacher, Kelsey J Nelson! =]
The Devil Never Sleeps
One Sunday here in Pinagbayanan my roommate and I were catching up on some of our chores, like our laundry and other things that are hard to find time for. It was a pretty calm day and we were going to go out to the beach for a swim in the afternoon, but just before we were going to leave we heard someone talking really loudly near one of the houses at the edge of the school yard area. I didn’t pay much attention right away, but then it turned into yelling and I could tell someone was really angry or something was wrong. Then it got so loud I stuck my head out the window to see what was going on! There was a young woman fighting with her husband, she was pushing him away from her and screaming something at him in Tagalog that I couldn’t understand. I was really confused so I asked my roommate what she was saying. Venus told me that she had been saying “Just kill me!! Who are you?? Just get away from me! Who are you?” Over and over she was yelling those words and pushing him away from her!
This couple has been married just over a year, maybe a year and a half. We thought at first it was pretty serious because they were pushing and shoving each other, but then when we took a closer look we saw exactly what was happening. She was the aggressor and he was just trying to get her under control. She was fighting him so much that he asked one of the girls standing there to help him and she grabbed her hand and tried to help him hold her. But she tried to bite the other girl! So she jumped back.
Mercy, Mildred, Trina, Venus and I ran over there because we could see that he needed some serious help! When we all were standing there, I noticed right away something was more wrong here than just an every day quarrel between husband and wife. The look in her eyes wasn’t normal, she looked possessed. And her voice was not her normal voice, this really startled us. Mercy told some of the kids standing there to go to the village and get the young womans parents. As they took off to find them Trina suggested that we pray, and so we quickly gathered together for a short prayer for the situation. Just seconds after we prayed she stopped fighting so strongly and she gave up fighting him. She collapsed and he laid her down on a bench there. She lay there and seemed to be unconscious of us being there. Her eyes were half open, they were rolling back and forth, and she was breathing strangely. She slept like that for almost 30 minutes, we went back to our houses and waited for a while. When the young woman woke up she was acting normal and didn’t seem to remember the argument or any of the events that had just happened.
While she was sleeping we talked to her husband and he said they’ve fought before but nothing like that had ever happened before. He didn’t really say much about what happened. He was tired from fighting her when she finally quit and he sat there resting. She isn’t a big girl or anything and he’s a pretty strong guy, so she was really fighting hard. Her family did come, and they just waited for her to wake up and then they went home. It was a really strange experience for me and I just keep praying that God will protect her from another attack, and that He will give her freedom from her bondage.
These people seem to have some belief in God, but it’s just as if their Christianity is another one of their many professions of religious beliefs. It’s like they just try and fit God into their life just because it’s another good thing. They just add it to what they already believe. But they don’t understand that faith in the true God they can find freedom from their other gods that bind them to slavery. They are slaves of fear and superstition. I’m really praying that I can show my students that these things that keep them in fear are really just Satan’s way to keep them in darkness. They are lies, all untruths and they don’t have to be afraid. Duteronomy 33:27 says that “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, destroy them.” Well the Devil may never sleep, but God also never sleeps! It’s great to be here and watch Him work! ~KJN
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October 10th, 2007 Jennessa
I just talked to Kelsey yesterday evening.
She’s doing well and enjoying teaching 2nd grade now, and has been having some pretty interesting experiences in regards to school and village life! Please keep her and the rest of her team in Pinagbayanan in your prayers because the devil is really working to hinder God’s work by discouraging people and by causing problems in how people relate etc and so there have been extra challenges there. Thank you so much!
Hopefully I will have an article from her that I can post here for you all soon!
Posted in Philippines, Layment Ministries, LMN, Kelsey, Missions, Pinagbayanan | No Comments »
October 3rd, 2007 Jennessa
September 3, 2007
Today Tim and I left Mamburao on a van and then got on the ferry to Batangas and then we took the bus to Manila.
The city is so huge it’s overwhelming after being in a little car-less village where the only real noise we have to complain about is the chickens or noisy beetles and Tokos (a type of lizard that hollers really loudly in the night).
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Posted in Philippines, Layment Ministries, LMN, Jennessa, Missions, thoughts, Manila, kids, poverty | 38 Comments »
October 2nd, 2007 Jennessa
I love you, July.
I had just come “home” after church and I was changing out of my church clothes when one of the girl students came into the room and started saying something about a wound or hole in someone’s chest. I thought she was joking with me so I just chuckled and kept on changing at the same speed.
I then stepped out on our front “porch” with my khaki pants on and a nice light blue shirt when I saw several people gathering around with perplexed looks on their faces and talking animatedly in Tagalog. Sir Boni saw me and quickly came up to me and told me that he had a patient for me, even though it wasn’t my week to be doctor. He told me that since I was the American and was a certified first aid giver and because I so loved the natives and was always looking for someone to give medical care for, and because I knew so much more than them about medical things (I don’t have a clue where he got that idea) and because…well, I think this was the topper…because I wasn’t afraid to get covered in blood…they had brought him to me.
I looked over to see who my patient was and saw the very adorable little brother of my 2nd grade student, Jocno. What I saw was blood covered brown skin, a blood soaked shirt, and very big, sad brown eyes-July!
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Posted in Uncategorized, Philippines, Layment Ministries, LMN, Missions, thoughts, kids, July, Jocno, Toto, Medical, Paluan | 3 Comments »
October 1st, 2007 Jennessa
Contemplating on the last few days here in Mamburao I’ve been seeing how fragile life is…
Here, where we are staying at the mission headquarters, we are across from a Catholic church, and are right on the street.
In the last 24 hours four different funeral processions have gone by, to go to the church.
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September 30th, 2007 Jennessa
Wow.
June 14, 2007
KJ tells me I have a new over-used word; “Wow.”
At first when landing I was wowing over the fact that this was actually happening and then as we got closer the green carpet of earth turned into a thousand times ten-thousand palm trees. Wow! I’d never seen palm trees except from a car window before!
Now, as I speak…err, write…from my comfortable spot on a mattress…a sudden “dong, dong, dong dong” joins into all the other “morning rush” sounds that can be heard through our window. Read the rest of this entry »
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