Camp Craziness and Powerful Love.

It is definitely one of the highlights of the year for the kids and I, a while week living at hope Mountain watching wild activities, eating not so exciting food but seeing young people's minds challenged and their lives changed. It is called Conquest Youth Adventure Camp and this year we ran two along side the Catalyst Youth Leadership Academy.

It is fun, high energy and at times quite messy...especially the flour and water fight at the end. The kids and I run the medic room, treating everything from bee stings, to rope burns to headaches and even suturing a finger this year. But the medic room is best known for the prayer, you see the kids first response to an injury or sickness is prayer.

Funnily enough even though we as parents taught them this, I am constantly challenged by their pure faith and simple trust. I was listening to a recording I made of Ethan who was explaining a miracle that had just happened in the medic room, he finished the story by stating "and the miracle happened...of course...because God just loves us to bits."

When was the last timeyou thought about God loving you to bits? I encourage you to stop and ponder on that thought for a moment.

Rain, Rain Go Away...

...Go away to Texas

You know it is deep when if you take a sudden step you could end up under the water. That is exactly how the school was the day our team went in to try and rescue some of the books, paperwork and furniture in our local elementary school. It is not our school, just a school we have close relationship with, a local government school where we do education sponsorship, breakfast club and "supply a teacher."

The school is the catchment for two larger squatter communities and this year it didn't even have enough chairs to accomodate all its students. Thanks to education sponsors we were starting to change that problem. Breakfast club provides a healthy meal to students before they start the school day and supply a teacher helps teachers with items for their classroom to assist in their teaching.

This relationship has grown over time and it is heartbreaking to see the disaster that is still on going even today. The water is still 2 feet deep in places today and the students are currently "attending" class in a covered court not too far away but that is a tough situation to teach so many children.

What can you do to help? Pray, we need the water to recede before we can clean up and start again. Help us to buy a pump and some hoses to help get the water out faster, it is tough during wet season to beat the rain but a pump would still speed up the process and hopefully if installed well it will create a way to stop the school from flooding like that again. Additionally, we are still on the hunt for some extra rice to help us with breakfast club.

Pictures

Left from the top:

School yard under water; Glen and Sarah rescuing what they can; Inside one of the classrooms.

Right from the top:

Breakfast club; Outside forming part of the chain transfering items.

Physical training has some value...

...but Godliness has value in all areas of life, both in this life and the one to come.

4.45am my alarm screams obnoxiously telling me that whether I am ready or not the day has begun and I am required to be alive, alert, awake and enthusiastic. In 15 minutes the Global Impact team and students from the Global Impact Boot Camp are going to gather outside to work out together. I think this morning is cardio morning, it must be because my shoulers are declaring for all the world to hear their unimpressed opinion over yesterday's chin ups and push ups.

Cardio means running and last nights rain can only mean one thing in our village...mud. Lots of muddy puddles, slippery patches and just straight up holes designed to cause an entire vehicle to disappear. So the running starts a little slow as we all learn to navigate our streets in their current state, however as we get going it is actually a little fun and very rewarding. When we arrive back at the base it is amusing to compare the mud spatter patterns on our shoes, socks, shorts and even as high as our shoulders if we were running to enthusiastically.

I have never been a distance runner, I loved sprinting as I was growing up but at 35 years old I have a vested interest in keeping this body of mine fit and healthy. We have a whole lot to still accomplish on the planet and it is so much easier when we are healthy. So here I am with the gentle prompting and encouragement of my wonderful and ridiculousy fit husband running early in the mornings and building muscles that I forgot existed long ago.

Rice, rice and more rice.

Our special thanks and appreciation for this exciting entry has to be extended to Westside Church of Christ in Brisbane, QLD. This amazing church of generous and kind hearted people donated 15 sacks of rice to Global Impact Davao base and left it entirely up to our discretion how we used this blessing.

Each sack has played an important role in our last few months, as we have journeyed with these sacks in an attempt to better convey the blessing of rice to our ministry and our gratitude to Westside. Rice is a staple in the diet of every Filipino I know, so this kind of a gift impacts lives all over the city, in tribal areas and in squatter communities.

4 sacks were used during our annual Catalyst Youth Leadership Academy (allowing us to scholarship a number of syudents), 2 sacks during our annual Conquest Youth Camps (188 campers attended), 2 sacks during community outreach with the Academy students, who spent a day on the streets of Davao reaching out to the poor and lonely. 2 sacks were sent to Astorga to help with schools starting for tribal children and 1 sack used to bless a friend from the Bagobo tribe whose uncle passed away. 3 sacks have been donated to the SAFE homes to help one of the single mothers open a Carendaria (an eatery). The last sack is on hold ready for the start of breakfast club next week.

The story of one sack
A funeral is a multiple day event here in the Philippines, especially if you live in one of the many tribal areas surrounding our city of Davao. Renante, a friend and this year a student in the Catalyst Academy, received the very tough news that his Uncle had died during the first week of the Academy.

As a way of blessing him and his tribe we sent a sack of rice with him to bless the Aunt who was still alive. His appreciation was obvoius when he received the gift but on his return he was ecstatic as he told the story of arriving at his Aunt's residence to discover she had no food to share with the many tribal folks and relatives who would be there for many days until the burial completed the proceedings.

Renante shared that when he presented our gift to her, she was so blessed and kept asking "but why? why would they give to someone like me who they have never met?" This opened the door for Renante to share God's love to everyone who was there. This open door was created by generous hearts and a $45 sack of rice.

Our thanks to our parnters and also to the generous gift from Westside Church of Christ.

Catalyst

Our definition for Catalyst is an agent of change. Change in every sphere of life can be caused by a catalyst who is passionate about a cause and willing to instigate change even if it costs them personally.

April and May are the summer months here in Davao, no school and plenty of free time for the future leaders of families, churches, barangays, cities and even our country. Here at Global Impact we take advantage of all that free time by hosting the annual Catalyst Youth Leadership Academy (YLA) and Conquest Youth Adventure Camps.

Catalyst YLA is a four week intensive training for potential youth leaders, designed to be holistic and very fun. This year we are running a five week intern training along side the Academy with past Catalyst graduates who are interested in further leadership development. Students for Catalyst are joining us from all over our island (seven different tribes included) and the USA.

During the up and coming months we would appreciate your prayers and we will post photos and video on facebook when we can. We are running a campaign to help pay for the tribal kids Academy experience and if youwould like to help, let us know. $50 once off donation will pay for one student's tuition for YLA.

On a personal note Sarah and Ethan have started baseball at Faith Academy. Sarah feels a little like a fish out of water helping to coach the t-ball players when cricket is much more up her alley but Ethan is loving it just because it is a sport.

Also, we are excited to welcome Wendy Morton who will be joining us for a little over two weeks during the Academy and lending us a hand.

The Difference of One???

I recently watched on the news floods devastate different parts of Australia including my home state and the city I grew up in...all from here in the Philippines. In two weeks time we get to take a trip back to Australia and will see first hand some of the damage caused to property and houses of people we know and love.

Sometimes being faced with the harsh realities of extreme poverty on a daily basis makes accessing the "right" emotions for an event such as this complicated. I am so far away from what was my reality, yet the pictures and video footage make it real in my head. I can access the facts online with ease and feel emotions relating to the disaster but I am left with a hollow emptiness as to how to process the news.

Often the realities we face close to home can blind us to what is happening around the world. The day before the flooding hit the headlines, I received the news of a little girl's death. For over two years our team has been working trying to make Abigail's life a little easier. Born with what the doctor described as "down syndrome and muscular dystrophy combining forces to destroy any chance of life," Abigail had no hope from the start.

Hope, one of the more powerful forces in the universe and something her whole family lacked until Abigail's situations touched the heart of one short term missionary, Vincent. Since that time he has faithfully sent money every month to try and bring hope and practical needs to her life. We donated a stroller to make transport easier, dropped off groceries regularly, built a vege garden and started a fruit store all to make her mother's life a little easier.

Unfortunately, in somewhat rapid succession both mother and daughter died due to health declining faster than help could arrive. Abigail's loss created a question deep in my soul relating to our effectiveness? Punishing thoughts like "if I couldn't save Abigail what good are we doing?" haunted me for weeks. An urgency to keep trying was constantly battling the feeling of failure and the thoughts of just quit.

"The Difference of One," the catch cry of Global Impact was really put to test in my own life and after great deliberation and meditation I can honestly say with all my soul...IT IS TRUE! Success can't be determined by what I think the outcome should have been but by the live's changed for the better. Abigail had a short life but it was a lot better due to the combined efforts of people who believed in the Difference of One.

Thank you Vincent and thanks to our friends and family who believe we can make a difference here.