Faith Academy

On Saturday, I arrived safely in Manila. The flight here was extremely exciting! I couldn't wait to get here! I spent Saturday night at SEND's guesthouse, and Sunday I went to church with the guesthouse manger. She goes to an international church here in Manila. It was neat to be worshiping with people from all around the world! I'm sure Heaven will have a degree of similarity. The sermon was neat, too. The pastor encouraged the foreigners to give our hearts to the Philippines while we're here and leave a little bit of it here when we leave. It was a great reminder for me to throw myself into my ministry and not be focused on other places, but give myself completely to this work God has for me. After church, we went to lunch at a chalet, and it was BEAUTIFUL! It was surrounded by shrubbery and fountains. We had fresh mango shankes, which were delicious! The food was delicious as well! Shortly after that, Anne from Faith came and picked me up and took me to my current location.

While I wait for the two ladies I'll be living with to arrive in Manila, I'm staying with a family in a really big house right on Faith's campus. It's technically not part of Faith Academy, but it's right next to it. It's nice to be so close for my training. The campus here is absolutely gorgeous! It rains a lot here, since it is rainy season, and it's definitely humid, but it's not as hot as I expected it to be. I'm sure it will get warmer when the sun comes out and when it's no longer rainy season. The campus is quite large. We got a tour today during our orientation, and it will take a little bit to get used to the campus, but hopefully not too long!

Last night we had a staff picnic. It was neat to get to meet some of the staff here at Faith. There are a lot of people here from a lot of different places! Quite a few teachers are from Australia and New Zealand, so I'm thinking it'd be neat to come back to the States with an Australian accent... =) Some of the staff are also from Korea, and a lot of the secretaries are from here in the Philippines. I love the diversity!

Today was the first day of New Staff Orientation. There were about 25 of us, and they gave us quite a bit of information. We shared our stories of how God brought us to Faith, and it was neat to hear other stories of God's provision and timing. We got a tour of Faith, learned about the technology on campus, and met with our departments (middle school, high school, etc.). That was so great - to get orientated to middle school! I'm super excited about getting to teach, though there are times when I'm definitely struggling to believe that I can do this! I guess that's the thing, though, I can't do it alone - only with Christ! =)