Listening

It's been a while since I touch these keys composed of letters and numbers. The sound of music on my earphones made my night complete. I miss this quiet moment of my life.  I want to go out at this hour and watch the glimmer of stars while listening to You. I want to sit and rest for a bit on Your arms. I want to inhale again Your grace and be wrapped with Your love.

Many things happened this last month. I stepped my feet on a rocky and muddy road. Literally, it happened.  It was strange for me, to head into a weird place that you've never been to. A whole month full of adventures, and it was a lil' bit scary.

I was so destitute before so I decided to join all the activities that were presented to us for the month of May. I was desperate to get out of my place and find a stilled environment to renew my soul. I wanted to pack all my things and never go back. My mind and my heart were suffering in the void. In short, I was burned out, tired, and exhausted.

For the first activity, we went to Mindoro. We rode on a ship, it was an ordinary ship. It started to sail, as the waters from the ocean moved us slowly and carefully. It was thrilling to be back, to meet old friends and of course those little children I ought to see. It was five days mission trip. It run smoothly, yet I need to rest for a day because something happened to me. My diarrhea knocked me out.

The things that we learned from our mission trip to Mindoro were used for our VBS  here in our town. We had two VBS, inside our church and outside the community.

All those activities taught me a lot about God and His work. But, I wanted to give this one a highlight.

This was our last mission work for the month of May. We went to Marinduque to venture many things about God and our purpose. We were so excited and ready to use all the strength that was left to us after so much work in previous activities. We were six, all in all, three boys and three girls. Before we go, our pastors and our church members laid their hands on us in deep prayer. I was so overwhelmed at that time that, wanted to use every minute to serve our Lord.

The day had come, and my nerves woke me up at one in the morning. I packed all my things and uttered prayers of strength and discernment. We met at church and went on at three in the morning. We were half asleep on our way.

As we came to the port, we were so excited to ride on a ship and continue to close our eyes again.  Yet, it seemed that we were only the persons who had scheduled. We started to ask the people who worked there, and the only answer that we receive is "wait". We need to wait for another ship to come for almost six hours because the second trip will be at 9:30. We hold our breath for a while, and patiently wait. Thanks, I brought a book written by Ann Voskamp and read between the lines while waiting.

At exactly nine-thirty, the ship had come. Waiting is really a virtue. All of us were seemingly tired and didn't even mind talking for a while. We just shut our eyes and let the waters run the ship. I opened my eyes and found my buddies marveling around the ship, capturing His wonderful creations.

At last, we're down, the ship had stopped roaring around the ocean. Backpacks are at back again. Heading on our way, we gave attention to our bothered stomachs, so we decided to fill them with so many nutrients that we need to take. We receive a call from the Pastor in Boac that we need to change the route, instead of having our VBS in Boac, we will just go to Kansurok to meet young people, to motivate them.

We rode a jeepney, ( a vehicle with a maximum of 24 passengers, actually it depends on the size of the jeep and also on the driver 🙂 just kidding) and depend on the driver our way because we didn't know where it is. And finally, we're in Kansurok, but we need to ride again in a tricycle (a vehicle with a maximum of 6 members, but legally just five or four? I don't know). But there was one big problem, no one would accept our offer to be there.

Finally, one man accept our offer. He let us ride on his motorcycle with one condition, he will just bring us on the safe path, meaning we need to walk more than three hours. And we haven't any choice but to accept. We all agreed.

We finally arrived on the rocky road, and the man just left us with a message, "just go straight on the road, just walk and you will see the church, no turning right or left and even turning back".

We started our day walking on the road. At first, we were so happy, laughing and enjoying the stones around us. Yet, the cloud started to change, rain started pouring while the rays of the sun penetrated our faces. Actually, I hated the feeling, I was tired. With heavy backpacks and heavy raindrops, we continued walking.

We couldn't see anyone, only trees and the noise of the birds. Few houses were built in the woods. We started losing our motivation to go on, we started losing our trust in the man who told us the way.  We started complaining.

Three hours had passed. We saw houses again and started asking and finally, they told us we were near. Our strength started to rise up again and our feet started moving again with our faith and finally, we saw it.

A wooden place, with trees around it, and beautiful flowers welcomed us.

All of the sudden, I found tranquility and inner calm. We found the place, and I found myself listening to Him. I forget His only way, and He will light our way whenever it gets darker.

We finally arrived.