The REAL tour begins :)

Bong singing her beautiful song called
The Sun Sets, The Sun Rises

Bible Witness Camp:

Our official tour began in Illinois at Bible Witness Camp where Bong works. This camp is mainly for black children and young teenagers that do not have as much as other kids. It took us a while getting there because we were lost and the road signs and GPS were not of much help to us. Once we got there we got settled in and went to bed. It was a long day for everyone. The concert was on Sunday after church so we had to practice on Saturday with the kids and get everything set up for the actual concert. The people of the camp were so great and welcoming to us. They prepared every meal for us in their very nice camp kitchen so we were well fed everyday. The pastor of the church at the camp is Bong’s best friend Mary’s brother in law. He helped us with the RV and made sure everything was how it needed to be. We went to their small church on Sunday, which is located in the camp. The concert began at three and a good number of people showed up. The concert went wonderfully and Bong got to share her testimony and a little bit of what her camp in the Philippines was about. We were able to also get a few sponsors for Bong’s ministry, which is the soul purpose of this tour! Praise GOD J We left the next day, very very early (5am) for Chicago since most of us had never been. We got to spend a little bit of the day in the city, which was very cool! We saw the Bean..which is famous for I don't know what reason, but it was still pretty cool. We took some neat pictures in the reflection. We also stopped at the famous popcorn place called Gerald's (I think) and bought some yummy popcorn. Kali and I went shopping for some hot weather wear (skirts and shorts) because we were in long jeans. We ate at a delicious pizza place, deep dish of course, this ended our short Chicago trip nicely. We then headed towards Madison, Wisconsin, which was our overnight stop. Mary, Megan, Bong and Leah stayed in a hotel, and the rest of us stayed at a KOA nearby.

THE BEAN!!!

Grace Fellowship Church:

Our next stop….Washburn, Wisconsin, which is about the very tip top of the state of Wisconsin by Lake Superior. We arrived and were greeted by a very friendly Pastor Keith Vik. He was very witty and fun to talk with. Pastor Keith has a family of 7 kids, 6 girls, 1 boy. We stayed at a beautiful guest home of the Smylie’s right on Lake Superior! GORGEOUS!! That was a huge blessing. Bong and Leah stayed with a Filipino family in Ashland, which was about ten or fifteen minutes away on the other side of the lake. The first night we were there we had dinner at Pastor Keith’s house with three of his girls and his wife came later. We had good conversation with the family and I found out that Pastor Keith was in the marines with one of my best friends dad’s….small world huh?!?!? When we went back to our guesthouse on the lake, Megan went for a swim and we watched. The water was wayyyy to cold for any of us older people. Raleigh Kali and I did a little sneaking and we sat on the rooftop of the house and watched the beautiful stars and ate popcorn. J We were out there for about 30 to 45 minutes before Mindy caught us and told us to get down. It was fun while it lasted J Wednesday night we did an unplugged concert with Bong, which was very neat. To define an Unplugged Concert basically just means no kids choir and a more intimate setting and set list. The concert was a huge blessing to many people. Many church and non-church members thanked our team for the blessing of Bong’s testimony and ministry. So far, I would say that was my favorite part of the trip. J We headed out the next day for Minneapolis, Minnesota and we were able to go to the MALL OF AMERICA! This was awesome! Probably 6 out of the 8 of us had never been so this was cool for us. We rode some roller coasters, ate some yummy food, and shopped. We stayed at another KOA in Jordan, Minnesota and the other four stayed in a hotel. A good nights rest was needed, and we got one! We went to Perkins this morning, and now we are headed to Sheldon, Iowa. Should be there in a couple hours!

New Places:

Our wonderful sunset in Illinois
on the way to Bible Witness Camp
(AWESOME)

Just for a little side note…I have now been to five new states that I have never been to: Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and now Iowa. J That’s pretty exciting for me! I will be going to three other states on this tour that I have never been to as well!! 

Big Ben

Big Ben is our new home for the next four weeks. Those of you who do not know who Big Ben is....I will inform you...

Hugging Big Ben..he needed it. 

On the Road again

Big Ben is an answer to years of prayer, but also the last couple months of prayer. Big Ben is our Motor Home that has been donated by a lovely ANM couple Bill and Carole. Bill spent 3 weeks and probably a lot of money fixing this thing up and getting it road ready for us. You may wonder where the name Big Ben came from...well its a long story so lets just say..we wanted a man along on this trip, so Raleigh came up with Big Ben. :) The first day we saw him I told Mindy I wanted to give him a big hug, and although this did not happen the day of, it did happen a little later in the week. We got back from Queens Bible Church on Tuesday night and Big Ben was not there yet. But Wednesday Morning we arrived at ANM and there he was...so handsome!! :) We took a quick mini tour of Big Ben, and Bill later on gave us a informative talk about how to treat Big Ben and what important things are needed for him and how to take care of him. We were planning on driving to Lynchburg that night..which WOULD happen no matter what! We found out that the generator was not working properly and this would just not do. We prayed for him, and stayed positive. We left around 5:30 after packing everything into Big Ben (when it was scorching HOT) and began driving him down the road, we were told that the generator kept shutting off which meant no air conditioning. But we had faith in Big Ben and we drove him all the way home with the air coming on and off, and let me tell you the process of turning on the air is difficult. We drove him to Lynchburg and Kali and I stayed at her house that night. Mindy text us and told us the generator was going to be checked in the morning. We left the next day (thursday) and it was ridiculously hot the entire 9 hours in the RV even when the generator worked. We came to the conclusion though that all Big Ben's Generator needed was a little love. It had not been driven or used in a very long time, so all it needed was some love which is what we gave him :) He works great now, and we have not had any generator problems since we left that Thursday morning!!



                                                          The RV park in Nashville, TN:

Just laying down on our little bed in the RV

Thursday night we arrived in Nashville, TN which was our hopeful destination. We were traveling there to stay at an RV park called Yogi Bear RV park we had heard about. When we got there we went to Publix, which is a grocery store. This was at 9:15 and it had been heat lightening like crazy out. We grabbed some subs and groceries from the store and got back in the RV and drove down to Yogi Bear RV Park. The storm was really picking up on the way there and we were getting hit pretty badly. As soon as we pulled into the Park the entire Park's electricity went out...What is it like following us or something?!?!? We pulled into a parking spot and just sat and ate our subs in the generators air conditioning. We knew there was another RV park around so we figured we would try that out..we were gone for about an hour in the RV trying to find the place and when we came back by Yogi Bear the lights were on! YAY!!!! So we went in picked our pull through spot and got our beds ready and went to the bathrooms to brush our teeth and use the bathroom. Moma Spurrier was showering and right when I was leaving really loud thunder hit so we ran to the RV. God was really providing for us the entire night because as soon as Moma Spurrier got in the RV the storm hit really hard again. The entire night we were all thinking about the worst things that could happen to us. I didn't fall asleep until 2:30am, which is 3:30am in Lynchburg. So I was tired but could not sleep. God was so good to us the entire night and we realized today that God was with us the whole night..one step ahead of everything! Gosh, I love Him for that :) So far it has been an extremely interesting and fun experience in this motor home. :) More to come....MUCH more!!

Its Time to Catch Up!

Im sorry I skipped Week 5 and 6 at ANM, but it was all pretty much the same :) Preparations!!!

The Last Week at ANM:

Mary Poppins on Broadway

We had our last week at ANM, which just consisted of Tuesday and Wednesday. We left on Wednesday for our pre-tour trip to Queens Bible Church, which is a Filipino church in Queens, New York. Tita (meaning aunt, it is a name of respect for women older than you in Filipino culture) Salva and Tita Emily hosted us. They were the most helpful, humble, servant hearted people I have met. The Filipino church was just the same. I learned that Filipino’s are the most friendly, loving people. Our purpose for being at QBC was to help out with their VBS. The really cool thing about the VBS is that I was able to help get the curriculum going years ago by recording the music, which is now used in the curriculum. The days were very long. We were at the VBS 9 to 5 for two days, and the first night for about 3 or 4 hours. We had to drive in from Yonkers, NY where Tita Salva lived which is about 30 to 40 minutes away. The nice thing about Yonkers is that it is a very rural non-New York City like atmosphere so it was nice to get away from the Manhattan area. Every night Tita Salva and Tita Emily took us into Manhattan to be tourists. We were able to see Times Square, the 9/11 memorial, China Town, Southside Seaport, and we got to see MARY POPPINS on BROADWAY!! J That was pretty awesome. In the middle of the show something interesting happened too. A guy started choking on something he was eating and everyone was watching him and screaming for a doctor or to call 911. Thankfully he was fine, and there was a certified paramedic sitting right near him.

                                                      Come on everybody we are leaving today:

Brooklyn Bridge My favorite ever :) 

The VBS went great! J The kids were wonderful and very cute might I add. 99% (not an accurate percentage) of the kids were actually Filipino. Mindy had Kali and I sing the songs up front for the kids because we actually knew them, so that was a lot of fun for us. Raleigh, Kali, and I on the first day worked in the Bible Explorations room where we did the skits for the kids. The older Filipino kids (more our age) did the skits too and they were a lot of fun. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming to us we immediately felt like we were at home! The second day Kali and I helped with crafts and Raleigh did snacks. We were pretty exhausted by the end of it all. Praise the Lord six kids got saved through the VBS. J Sunday was the VBS graduation where all the kids performed the songs in their groups and got their certificates. The thing about Filipino’s is they eat…A LOT. Everyday we were there we were stuffing our faces, and when it comes to food you don’t say no. Sunday afternoon we went home and took a four-hour nap. Which was fantastic. We ate at California Pizza Kitchen in Yonkers and just relaxed that night which is what we needed. Monday we explored Manhattan with Tita Salva and Tita Emily. The weekend was a success and we cannot express the gratitude we have towards Tita Salva and Tita Emily they were wonderful! J God gave us a great start to our long journey for the rest of the summer and we look forward to everything He has in store J

Week 4 - Busy busy busy

Filling pretty bags with
Filipino necklaces. 

We now begin the business of getting ready for the tour. Most of this week has consisted of preparation for what is to come! We have done an abundance of work this week preparing for our tour which is only a little more than a week away!! Time has seriously flown by.

A little shopping spree:
Tuesday afternoon all of the interns and Mindy went up to Waynesboro, which is only ten or fifteen minutes away, and we shopped at Target for some much needed supplies for the tour. We went to Chick-fil-a first of course for lunch. When we came back we worked hard on doing more of our job requirements. That night we went to Carl and Minda's house for dinner. We had some wonderful Filipino food and talked about our tour with everyone that was there. It was very fun :) We got to learn about Minda's business she has in Charlottesville. She has her own little boutique where she sells ethnic looking clothing and jewelry and scarves. We headed back to the Parker's to stay the night and we had a few laughs with everyone. We heard quite a funny story about Amber Parker (ANM staff) getting in a car accident with a lady that volunteers at ANM. They were sitting still at a light and all of a sudden were rammed in the back by a pick up truck. Funny thing is, these guys were from out of state coming to Charlottesville because they were a demolition team. Looks like they got some demolishing done a little ahead of schedule :) The police officer did not arrive until about 40 minutes later, and when he came he was all nonchalant with coffee in hand. He wrote everything down on his arm...guess he didn't have paper? It was very entertaining to be able to hear all the details of the story especially with Amber and the other lady sharing the experience. After that Kali and I were off to bed! :) 

Our lovely home-cooked
meal :) 

Food from Ghana:
Wednesday we had a wonderful missionary prepare food people eat in Ghana for the entire staff at ANM! I could not tell you what this food was called, but let me tell you, it was GOOD :) There were three different kinds, one with beef, one with chicken, and one with beef and chicken. Well...obviously I tried them all :) We also had plantains not gonna say it was my favorite, but hey! at least I tried some right?!

Meetin' Time:

Meeting under the Nipa Hut

Every so often we meet under the Nipa hut to have a GO NATIVE TOUR meeting. Mindy always has much to tell us, and much for us to have to do. We also had to learn a little bit about Orange leap which is the database they use to store all of their information about sponsors and donors and leaders and churches, and events, and...you get the idea? Its confusing stuff. This took a lot of paying attention since there was much detail to each instruction. But, with all that said, at least we know what we are doing now....I think.

                                                          ICE POPS!!!

The ICE POP team :) 

Staff enjoying their ICE POPS 

As a gift to the entire ANM staff we sacrificed part of our day to meet the needs of others in the office. Spending hours handing out free ice pops, cutting the tops off, and being denied many times of our free gift, it was a tough time for everyone. Ok...thats not really how it was :) It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed giving a little something to ANM for all that they have done for us! We made an announcement over the used and abused intercom system that the Next Generation Department (that would be us) was giving a snack away to everyone and to meet us in the lunch room. Some people were very excited and others kindly rejected our gift. But thats ok! It was still fun. Many people decided they wanted two or three (David Thacker - Accounting Guru) We got a cart and spread the news that ice pops were being given away. It was a little fun outing and break from the tremendously hard work we were accomplishing all day (not really tremendous). It was a fun endeavor and a little piece of probably what it will be like on our tour! FUN! :)

Week 3 - Another 3 days at ANM!

So this week we did the usual meet Mindy at TRBC, go to Starbucks, and travel up to ANM! Tuesday's are always the pray for the nations days so we did that and went on to work on our tour stuff. Let me tell you, Mindy has us doing a load of things for this tour! :) But its fun. Mindy has each of us with specific jobs and job titles. Yes, we are official now. Raleigh has the lovely title of Photographer and Media Relations Specialist. Kali is the Church and Children's Relations and Assistant Music Director. And I am the Product Manager and Sponsorship Director. So we are high up there!

Oliver and Company:

Oliver's Family and the Interns (Oliver is in the yellow shirt) 

Tuesday night we were able to spend the evening one of the members of leadership and his family. His name is Oliver Asher! We came up to their house..way way way in the back woods on Afton Mountain..lots of twisty turny roads. We met their family of five kids and their grandmother. They were very nice and welcoming to us! :) We had a lovely Hungarian meal of rice and chicken (not sure of the exact name) But it was absolutely delicious and I loved it! It was great to get to know Oliver and his wonderful family. We got to hear lots of stories that were quite funny. Their youngest was quite talkative, so id say he did most of the talking, but he absolutely cracked me up! They had a lovely dog named Sasha (he was a boy), but I guess in another country Sasha means a boy name. All the kids were great and although we didn't get to talk with them much it was fun getting to know them and hear their stories!

I knew we should have turned there fifteen minutes ago:
So..we left Oliver's house at around 9 or 9:30pm..and we asked Oliver's wife how we could get home. They told us the whole go straight..take a left...then at the drink machines take another left and then go straight forever. Well..see we passed drink machines..and I was the only one who noticed. I thought to  myself..maybe we should have turned left there, but I never remembered seeing a road to the left. Seconds later we came upon more drink machines, so I thought again to myself, we are supposed to turn here, but again there was no left turning road, just the road veered right. So, we took it and went on it for about 15 minutes. Passing by things we hadn't seen before, we thought, maybe we took the wrong turn or didn't turn. I said out loud, you know we passed drink machines a while ago, and I think we should have turned there. hahahahaha...they all laughed at me because well this was funny, because we should have turned 15 minutes earlier. :) After all that, we finally got to dairy queen got some ice cream and went to John and Lynn Parker's and went to bed. :) I got to sleep in some really comfy sheets. Kali can tell you how much I loved them, because I would not stop talking about them.

All of us under the Nipa Hut :) 

Wednesday Morning Prayer Meeting:
Wednesday morning all of the ANM staff got together and we shared prayer requests within different departments of the office. Mindy told everyone of our need for an RV. If you read my post before this one, you would have found that we did get an RV. We found out about this on Friday. Little did us interns know that only hours after our prayer request was mentioned and prayed for, God answered! HOW AWESOME!!! The power of prayer is magnificent and God is always faithful to us :)



Bong and Leah:

Raleigh, Kelsey, Leah, Bong, Kali, Mindy

We had our final farewells with Bong and Leah on Tuesday or Wednesday, so we got to have a little photoshoot with them which was fun! It made me look forward to spending a month with them in a couple weeks! They are both so fun to be around and I really enjoy their company. Looking forward to July when I get to see them again! :)

Answer to Prayer!

Our RV for summer traveling :) 

So I am sitting at work today..Lion and the Lamb that is, and Kali screams out OH MY GOSH! I said what??! And she said, WE GOT A RV! Now, most people reading this don't understand what this really means. The Go Native team has been praying all summer that someone would provide an RV for our travels this summer. We don't have the funds to get one ourselves! Originally we were going to be riding in a 15 passenger van, a very old van that may not make it very far! We had asked many people if there was a way they could help provide this need. Wednesday during the staff meeting at ANM Mindy mentioned our prayer need for an RV. Mindy texts us today to tell us that a man in Michigan gave us his RV to use for the entire summer travels!!!  Our prayers were answered 2 days later! How awesome is that?!?!  SO EXCITED! God answered our prayers :) But, we do need continued prayers as it will be expensive to pay for gas! Thanks for all your prayers!! 

WEEK 2 - FAITH

Leah, Bong, Mindy, Me, and Kali (Raleigh was taking the picture) 

This week was a very busy week for everyone! Kali and I both had VBS at Thomas Road, so this meant traveling back and forth everyday. This became a little difficult with Mindy because we had to leave early to get to VBS on time; and leaving early for Mindy doesn't always work out with EVERYONE wanting to speak to her about something going on! She is a very busy lady! Kali, Raleigh, and I were able to meet Bong's right hand man (really a woman) Leah. We traveled up to Waynesboro and ate at Ruby Tuesday's for lunch. It was cool because we got to hear a little bit more about Bong's testimony and how she started doing what she does. The more I get to know Bong and Leah the more I love them and look forward to traveling with them for three and a half weeks! :) 


These weeks keep going by so fast its crazy! I only have three and a half weeks left here at ANM, and then we leave for the tour! CRAZY!! I am so excited for the plans for this tour I cannot wait! :) I can say being at ANM has brought wonderful new relationships and a love for these people. Everyday that I come here is full of plenty of laughter's and smiles. 


Wednesday Raleigh, Kali and I met with Mindy for a couple hours and we were able to share our testimonies with each other which was really cool :) It really helped us get to know each other better! We spent one morning really digging into Philippians 2 and I found that I really quite enjoyed that chapter. Philippians 2:3-8 says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing,taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!"  This section of verses stuck out to me the most because it shows such a great character of Jesus. He humbled himself and became like us human beings. How awesome is that? We need to be like Jesus and imitate his humility. :) 


The cool thing about being in a totally Christian environment working alongside other Christians and missionaries is the cool stories you get to hear everyday. Raleigh, Kali and I were able to sit and talk with a missionary couple from Ghana, one day at lunch he taught us a great lesson in less than 10 minutes. He gave us an acronym for the word Faith, and how we should use faith in God and His plans for our life in everything we do. F stands for FAITH meaning having faith in general. A was for AVAILABILITY and in order for God to do work in your life, you have to be readily available for Him to use you. I was for INNOVATIVE, and we have to be ready to change or have changes in our lives. T was for TEACHABLE, meaning we had to be ready for God and others to teach us new things everyday. Lastly, H was for HUMILITY, and this was awesome because it goes right along with what Philippians 2:3-8 says. We should have humility like that of Jesus Christ. He walked away after this, and we all just sat there like WOW, what an awesome message and he spoke it in five minutes! But that's why he is a missionary :) I could tell God had him in the perfect place, and that he loved God. 


Now it is onto Week 3 at ANM...more updates and pictures to come! :)