Thanksgiving

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving, Filipino style, sort of. We tried to make as American as possible. On Thanksgiving some of us decided that there was nowhere better to go than Mcdonalds to celebrate the holiday. There was one restaurant serving a "thanksgiving meal" but it was over $20, so we decided to pass on that and stick with $5 Mcdonalds. We had quite a feast, well I had a feast and the other missionaries just had dinner, but I had an awesome Thanksgiving feast. It was fun and I felt good being full on Thanksgiving. It also felt good because Liz and I have our feeding Thursday afternoon and then head straight to our group bible study, so it's about 8:30 before we get dinner on Thursdays so it was well worth the wait.

On Saturday we went to Carla Village to watch the Ati school put on their first ever performance for United Nations Day. We went and watched them perform and represent some different countries from the word. It was really neat because the entire community was there to watch the performance and the kids I think really felt special to have everyone there watching and caring about what they were doing.

The performance starts with prayer, then the Filipino National Anthem, it is always kind of awkward for us because we don't know the words so we just stand there while everyone else is singing.

 The preschoolers presented their song about the seven continents as well as their pictures of the continents. They did a great job singing their song.

 The kindergarteners presented their Nigerian dance. It was a long dance and I was amazed with how well they memorized the whole thing.

 The grade 1 and 2 students did their South American dance and it was a pretty awesome dance and a lot of fun to watch. If you're thinking that these kids look big for the grades they are in that's because they are. The school here just started and the kids are placed in their grade level based on what educational level they are at not what age they are. The Ati didn't have much access to school before First Love built this school for them in their village. The kids were allowed to go to the public schools but they are far away and they would constantly be teased for being Ati and if they struggled in school. The public schools here are packed with kids in the classrooms and there is not much aid for struggling students; you either get it or you don't. Some of the Ati have spent some time in the public schools so they have a little bit of educational background but for a lot of them this was their first year. The school here gives them exactly what they need in a free education right in their village where they have loving teachers and are not teased because of their race or because of their educational level. They are excepted where they are and they are taught in classrooms where they are able to learn. This school is really going to do incredible things for the Ati kids and is going to give them so many more opportunities for their futures with the ability to get an education, especially in English.

 Snack time after the performances.

The grade 1 and 2 students, some of them.

I really miss coming over to Carla village for the feedings. I am doing the youth group for the missionary teenagers now at the same time as the feedings and I love doing that, but I definitely miss these kids and hanging out with them. They still enjoy climbing on me and are still in awe of how my beard feels and in this picture the hair on the back of my neck haha.

 On our way to Carla village, the airstrip is right next to the road so when a plane is taking off or coming into the airport the road will be closed and the traffic will stop to wait for the plane to pass. We are on our trike jammed in together I think there were 6 of us, plus the driver on the trike. I usually get the back of the bike seat which is definitely the worst and scariest seat because 1 I'm male and 2 it's Filipino size so if you're too tall you wont fit, I barely make it.

 The traffic backed up after they let us through.

The walk either to the village or the walk back. I'm not sure when this was taken I was too busy watching my step. It is so beautiful on Panay. I love the countryside and the jungle over there. It's funny because we live on a paradise island but every time we go to Panay we are amazed with how beautiful it is and how nice it is over there.

 The grade 1 and 2 classroom.

After the performance we went over to the Russell's house where they had a Thanksgiving feast prepared for us. The Russell's are a missionary family here with First Love. They were on Boracay for I think 7 or 8 months and then made the move last month over to the other island near Carla Village. They are working with the Ati and in the school. We miss them over on Boracay but it is awesome to see how much they are doing with the school and with the Ati community. They are making such a huge difference.

 The turkeys cooking over a fire.

The turkeys hanging in the house.

And the turkeys getting ready to be eaten. I wish I had a picture that showed the feet and claws better. You'd think the turkey would look less appetizing when it still has it's claws attached but we were so ready for turkey that we could care less.

 Apple, something else, and kalabasa pies. The kalabasa pie was amazing, it is the closest thing we have to pumpkin here and when all the spices and everything else was mixed in it tasted almost exactly like pumpkin pie, it was incredible.

 We even had some Thanksgiving decorations that one of the missionary's friends had sent her.

 We had an awesome meal and it was so amazing to be able to eat turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, and almost pumpkin pie, but we also had a lot of fun hanging out and enjoying each others' company. There was about 40 of us there and we had a great day just hanging out.

All we needed to make it better was a recliner and some football. We had plastic chairs and the kids playing keep away with the frisbee, which was pretty close. There were just as many tackles as a football game. If I look really skinny in this picture it's because I've lost over 10 pounds since I've been here. People have been noticing that I've lost a lot of weight. I probably put 5 of it back on after Thanksgiving though haha. I've been trying to put some weight on but I haven't really been able to. So I guess we'll see what happens.

 To make the day even better the donut man came by to bring us fresh donuts. This was probably one of the most amazing things in my life. Apparently the guy rides around the island on his bicycle hauling fresh donuts and dips them in sugar and he sells them for 5 pesos, which is like 12 cents. The guy hit the jackpot coming by our group. He probably sold twice as many to us as he sold the rest of the day. I bought 4 and I severely regretted not buying like 10. They were delicious and the closest thing to the donut shack I'm going to have for a long time.

 You can see how excited I was.

 On an entirely different note the kids found this spider. Definitely one of the creepiest I've seen, and no that's not my hand.

 Yosef pretending to eat the spider, he was pretty brave to get his face that close to that thing.

Me and Praise showing off our cool glasses, I have my Filipino pose down.
One of the awesome parts of the day was being able to share Thanksgiving with some of the Filipinos from our staff. They obviously don't celebrate the pilgrims and Indians feasting together here in the Philippines so a lot of the tradition was new to them. As well as the food. There are turkeys here but I don't know if anyone actually eats them because I've never actually seen turkey meat or heard of anyone or anywhere having it. Potatoes are eaten about the same as turkeys, there are a few things that potatoes are used in but in my family we ate some sort of potatoes in almost every dinner so coming here with no potatoes has been tough. There are also no pumpkins here and no pumpkin pie. I think the kalabasa being made into a pie was a new thing as well. We had one of the Filipino teachers and her daughter who is in kindergarten with us and she was asking a lot of questions about Thanksgiving that were really funny to us but totally understandable because it's just not seen here. We had some little decorations and there were two little people decorations one was a pilgrim and the other was an Indian and she asked what they were, because she's probably never heard the story before. She also when she heard we were having turkey asked her mom what turkey was. That was funny to me and I hope she ended up liking it. Her mom also was funny, she had some mashed potatoes and she saw my plate and said "oh you have the gravy on your potatoes?" I told her yeah its mashed potatoes and gravy. So she said "oh, I will have to try that". She tried it and said "wow, that's really good". It made me laugh because it is so common for us but I guess you would never know if you've never seen it. It was really fun to be able to share some of our traditions and food with them since they are normally sharing their traditions and food with us all the time.

 The Russell's have some pigs now and I was like oh that's cool, then I realized oh that's probably our Christmas dinner, that was slightly less cool.

We had our first ever Bible challenge quiz bee at the school today. Last week each class had a bible quiz to determine the top 5 from each class that would participate in the quiz bee finals. The finals were today. The kindergarteners went first, then grades 1-3, and then grades 4-6.

 This is grades 1-3. They were on teams equally divided with all three grades. One student from each class was in each of the 5 teams. Which was good for equality sake, but it also made it hard because I had one student on each team so I wasn't able to root for any team in particular. I think my class would have taken it if they were together though so I guess it's only fair to split them up, yes that might be a little bias, it also might be a little true.

 Adding up the scores of the kindergarteners quiz.

 The first place team of kindergarteners.

 The third place team of grade 1-3, I was trying to take pictures but also had to keep my kids under control and stuff so I didn't get a lot of pictures.

 These are the five participants from my grade 2 class. Arah, Mikaella, Hazel, Heshen, and Kristian.

The grade 4-6 quiz bee.

Some of the school staff after the quiz bee. You know you're in the Philippines when there are ten adults in a picture and I'm the 2nd tallest haha.

 The Christmas tree in our grade 5 class. All of the rooms are decked out with Christmas decorations and you're probably thinking oh that's normal since it's after Thanksgiving, these have been up since October. We've had 2 full months of Christmas season and we're still a month away from Christmas. And those are empty boxes wrapped in Christmas paper, not real presents unfortunately.

 My photogenic 5th graders posing in front of the tree. The rest are hiding from the picture.

My photogenic 2nd graders who follow the camera around the room as I'm taking pictures. They get in almost every picture.

 Karryl Angel, Jules and his tonsils, Kristian, and Rjon.

 Joe Cedrick and Rjon.

 Ralph Jay, Arah, and half of Heshen.

 My siamese twins conjoined at the head.

Joe Cedrick, Hazel, and me. This is what people would look like without ears, in case you ever wondered.
A funny little story from today in my 2nd grade class. During the club time we were hanging out and everyone was just doing their own thing. Apparently Kristian had some tape and he put it on Jules arm and pulled some of his hair off. Jules comes up to me with a whiny face and says Mr. Schmidt, Kristian stole my hair. I started laughing I was expecting him to complain about the fact that it hurt or something, he was just upset that that hair belonged to him and Kristain stole it haha. I really do need to start writing things down because so many funny things happen in class but I can never remember them. My kids are pretty hilarious.

Another event this week was our small prayer group that meets every week. It's low key and we usually just pick a night when we feel like we want to do it and we do it. It has been really awesome though because it is hard to have people to talk about things with and there is so much stuff going on and it can be hard when you don't have any one to share it with. But we have come together and shared our weeks and our praises and our struggles and it has really been an amazing way to get to know each other more and be able to support each other more. We are able to encourage others that are going through things we are also going through or things we have gone through before. we are able to share our thoughts and get prayer for things in a totally loving and non-judgmental group and it is something I am definitely thankful for. It has made things so much better her for me having that group. These last couple of weeks I have really struggled with my 2nd grade class. I really feel like they aren't learning from me and it's so hard to come in and want to make a difference and then feel like you aren't doing anything. My 5th graders have been doing amazing and it makes it so hard to see my 2nd graders struggle so much. I have really had a hard time with wanted to continue to teach them. It has been so hard to wake up everyday and be motivated to teach them because it feels like I'm doing such a bad job. Talking in my small group last night and talking with my partner teacher in grade 2 tonight, they were really able to encourage me. I was talking with Hya tonight and before I even said anything she told me how much the kids love having me in class and how much like a father figure I am to them. Everyday when I come in to class I get tackled at the doorway by my kids and throughout class there are students who randomly come up and hug me or grab my arms or legs or try to climb on me. She told me that a lot f them do those things because they see me as a father figure. That really cheered me up because I am so glad that I am able to be that for them. I told her about how I have been feeling with the class and she was able to encourage me and make me feel better about it. For our bible study last week we listened to a guy do a sermon on youtube and part of his message was about telling yourself you are doing better than you think you are. I thought that it was great to hear and everything but I just didn't believe it in the grade 2 situation. You can tell me I'm doing better than I think I am all you want but it's not going to encourage me if I don't believe it. I think we are naturally critical of ourselves and so I think that it is true that we are doing better than we think we are, but what I realized is that it doesn't matter if someone else tells you that, you need to be able to tell yourself that. I was so concerned about their quiz scores and their understanding of adjectives and science that I totally lost my focus of what I was doing. Why I was there. Yes, I am there to teach them English and science but that is definitely not the only thing I'm doing there. I was so focused in that I lost focus of what was really happening and now that I am able to focus back out and see the things that are going on like being a father figure to a group of kids who may or may not have their father at home with them is way bigger than if they understand the 3 states of matter right now. I was able to get a new perspective and was able to tell myself that I am doing better than I think I am and I'm able to believe it. I think throughout life if I was able to tell myself that it would have made things so much easier. With that said please pray that I would continue to feel confident in my teaching and what I'm dong here and please pray that my 2nd graders will understand what I am teaching. We have our mid-quarter quizzes tomorrow, please pray that my kids will be able to remember everything they learned and be able to put their knowledge down on the quiz.

This was another awesome week and it was really awesome taking some time to remember all of the things that I am thankful for. I wrote the following little poem thing on Thanksgiving and I'll put it here instead of listing all the things I am thankful for because I could go on forever.

I am so thankful for all the opportunities that I have been given to do awesome things,
I am so thankful for the joy that I have for what I do,
I am so thankful for all of the those days that seemed like nothing was happening, but prepared me for the tomorrow that was in store for me here,
And I am so thankful to have the privilege to serve such an awesome and powerful God.

I am so thankful for everyone who has shaped me into the person I am today,
I am so thankful for everyone who has and continues to love and support me,
I am so thankful for my Agape family here on Boracay,
And I am so thankful for the God who has given me so much more than I could ever desire.

I think being here in the Philippines has done a lot of things for me but one of the biggest things is opening up my eyes to all the things I am so thankful for. Being on the other side of the world living in a different place and culture really opens your eyes and gives you knew perspectives.  I think I am so much more grateful for what I have been given and what is gong on in my life. I am so much more grateful for my family and friends who love and support me and I am so much grateful for all things God has done for me in my life. I have truly been able to see all the things God has done in my life to prepare me for this time that I have here. There were so many times that it was hard for me back home. I was trying to give so much time to things and trying to do my best in everything but I didn't seem to be able to do enough. I never felt like I was doing what I was supposed to be doing, but everything I did helped prepare me for everything I am doing here. Everything had a purpose. There were times when it was tough being the college student who didn't drink and didn't party. There were times when it was tough being the college kid who didn't do so many things that it seemed like everyone else was doing. But I thank God that He gave me the strength to keep standing firm all of those days because all of those days that seemed like they didn't mean anything were the days that led me to now. It is so easy to look at today and everything we have going on today. It is so easy to be dragged down by the things we are dealing with today, but everything that happens today makes a difference in your tomorrow. Every choice you make has a difference in your tomorrow and it might be hard to see for a while, it might seem like your todays are all the same and you are never getting to tomorrow, but eventually your tomorrow will come and you will realize how important your yesterday was, in either a good or bad way. I am so grateful I lived my todays how I did and that I was able to because of the strength that God gave me to be able to do it. All those days that I thought meant nothing were so crucial in the tomorrow that I have discovered here in the Philippines. I hope this is meaningful to everyone reading this but especially to teenagers. You are going through a lot of tough and confusing times and I really encourage you to stay strong and stand firm in your faith. You have a lot of days and it only takes one day to change your entire tomorrow, every day counts. I don't know what your tomorrow holds but I do know that if you choose to live today based on faith and following God's path it may not be the easiest thing today, but it will be totally worth it tomorrow. 

I definitely can't make a list of things I'm thankful for without including everyone who has supported me in some way or another on this mission. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for your support and I am so grateful for it. I honestly can't describe how thankful I am that so many people believed in what I am doing here and believed in sending me to do it. It is so amazing to have that support and I want you to know that I don't take it for granted. Your financial support and your prayer is so greatly appreciated and is allowing me to do so much here in the Philippines, Thank you so much for everything you do for me, and happy belated Thanksgiving. 

Just a side note, it's 3 in the morning and so there may be some typos or sentences that completely don't make sense because I am definitely a little sleepy. If so then I apologize and hope you will ignore them, if not then completely ignore this last paragraph, it never happened.