ankle update

Hey all!! Here is a life update!

So when I thought that my ankle was sprained six months ago in the PI...

it was actually fractured!

AHH!! So its my talus bone that is fractured...pictured below



I go to the orthopedic surgeon on Friday..so I will let you know if I need to get surgery or what. As of now, I am in a boot. :-( It really sucks and I'm pretty upset, so I would really appreciate your prayers!

<3 Anna p.s. on the happy side, check out our wedding website:
http://www.mywedding.com/aaronandanna/

Leia Mais…

Our story made the paper!

Overseas trip ends with a marriage proposal

News from Highland/Fulton

By Chuck Gait
chuckfg@gmail.com
301-854-0867

Posted 7/30/09

I got an e-mail from Highland resident Gina Gulliford. She and her husband, Jay, have lived in the Highland area for 21 years and have raised their five kids here.

Jay works as a manufacturers' representative in the area of electrical and industrial controls. Gina ran a family child care out of their home for more than 25 yrs. Now she works at Howard Community College's Children's Learning Center, a day care, a lab school for students in the education track and EMT students.

Gina also teaches continuing education for the Office of Children Services and in her spare time is a real estate agent.

Their oldest son Stephen, 27, graduated from River Hill High School in 2000 and then from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2008.

Adam, 24, is a 2003 graduate of River Hill High School and graduated from Towson University in 2008.

Jared, 18, is also a River Hill High School graduate, class of 2008 and a sophomore at Howard Community College. The youngest, Ben, 16, and a sophomore at River Hill High School.

I purposely left out their daughter, Anna. She also graduated from River Hill High School, class of 2004. She went on to Towson University and graduated in 2008 with a double major in elementary education and special education. After graduation, Anna left on a missions trip to Australia and the Philippines, departing in December 2008 and returning home again in June 2009. She went to work with Camp Sonshine/Australia and Camp Sonshine/Philippines, satellite camps of a well-known ministry, in Silver Spring. The camp in Australia was the first day camp offered in that country.

One day, Anna sent home a picture of herself surrounded by children from the Philippines. Her mother asked her what was the vegetation in the background. You won't believe the answer: it's trash.

The children surrounding her in the picture live next to the dump and use the dump as their playground. Anna stayed in Iloilo City on the island of Panay in Western Visayas, Philippines.

Gina and Jay were very glad when their daughter returned back home safely June 10. Shortly after her arrival, June 14 to be exact, her boyfriend, Aaron Arpasi, a police officer with the Baltimore County Police Department, popped the "big question," asking her to marry him and she accepted.

Before she left the country for her mission trip, Anna had a guaranteed contract with Baltimore County Public School system and will be working at Sandy Plains Elementary School, in Baltimore, in the fall.

Well, that's all I have for this week. Look after your neighbors. Say a prayer our troops who are serving in harm's way. And remember their families too. Pay it forward and commit a random act of kindness.

Leia Mais…

I'm engaged!!

So I got back from Iloilo, Philippines Wednesday night! Things have been such a whirlwind since then. I was just getting over jet-lag when my wonderful boyfriend proposed!! Everyone wants to know the story, so here it is!

He told me that Sunday was going to be our day. We really hadn't had any alone time together since I had been back, so we were planning a fun day. We went to church, the food court, dropped my computer off at the Mac store and found out that there was a Filipino festival in town. We hung out with our friends Ashley and Dan at the festival, it was a lot of fun! Then, we went hiking at Loch Raven. We came back to my place and I changed real quick and we were off to go on a date! We ended up going to XS in Baltimore, our favorite little sushi place!

Once we ordered, Aaron had a bag and said that he had a present for me! He did this to throw me off and it definitely worked. If he was going to propose he wouldn't do it that way. The bag had a gift certificate in it. The gift certificate was to About Faces, a one hour body massage, mini facial, pedicure and manicure! That was the nicest gift ever! I was very happy and excited with the gift and he said that he had to get me something, so I totally fell for it!

After we ate, he stopped suddenly and said that he had to go to the bathroom. I thought that he may be sick or something and then I was starting to get worried once he took a while to come back. But when he eventually came back he had another present!


I was curious, but he told me that he had spent time making it when I was gone. So I opened it up and it was this awesome scrap book! He entitled it our story. It is seriously way better than anything I could have ever created. He matched our baby pictures (i.e. a picture of me on the beach and a picture of him on the beach, a picture of me taking a nap and a picture of him taking a nap). The next pages were our older years, still matching our pictures together. After that, he had pictures of our family and friends. Next was our life together. He put "who knew two people so different have so much in common." On this page he did things like matched a picture of me as a pirate and a picture of him as a pirate, with captions and everything. The next pages was "we always put our best face forward." It is two entire pages of all our goofy faces. We can never really be serious! haha. The next page is a play on words. He put "we wrestle through our issues" and there are pictures of us wrestling. It was jus so thought out and creative! The next pages show us having good memories, etc. After that, he put "We've been around the world." He put pictures of us in Australia and my in the Philippines when I was 14 and just recently. He put postcards I had sent him and mail I had sent him. The last full page says, "Lets start a new chapter."

By this time, the wheels are beginning to turn for me. hmmm...lets start a new chapter? So then, he tells me that the book is not finished. So I flip to the next page and it says, "Will you marry me?" He gets down on one knee right there. I freaked out and he had to ask me, "Is that a yes?" haha. And of course, I said Yes. He had asked the manager to take a picture, she had been waiting that whole time and so she took the photo.


After this Aaron said that he wanted to make some phone calls so we got in the car to do so. As we were driving home, I talked to his mom and his dad and they both were so excited. His dad even said how he wished he could celebrate with us. As we are driving, Aaron makes a wrong turn and then pulls up into Sara and Liz's house.

I was a little confused...but as we made it to the driveway there was a surprise party waiting! Now, here is the real surprise....our families were the only ones that knew he was going to propose. Everyone else thought that it was a "Coming Home" surprise party. So it was not only a surprise for me, it was a surprise for them too!

Aaron's family came from Florida and Philly just for the party!

This is Sara finding out that we were engaged about 5 minutes after we told everyone.
This face is priceless!

Me and the rents, they are really excited!

It looks like the wedding will either by March 27th or 28th....so mark your calendars!!

Leia Mais…

Some down time before I leave...

So we had a chance to go to Guimaras and do one camp there. But before we did the camp we got to relax and hang out on the island. It was wonderful. Then, last weekend we went to Ahoy and went camping on a sandbar. There were some rough moments for sure but it was very cool.


One of my favorite desserts is Buko (aka Coconut). In Guimaras they climbed up the tree and we all enjoyed our snack! The best part is adding some sugar and milk and ice to the buko juice. It is an amazing refreshing treat!


Aimee and Sarah and I on the beach at Guimaras, just enjoying relaxing.


Sunset on the island.
Riding the jeep to tell the kids about Camp Sonshine! It was a day of fun for sure! I met Diadem when I did camp in Guimaras in 2001! I loved continuing the tradition with her!


Eating Indian Mangos on the beach! Good times...


We also celebrated Sarah's bday! Both my roomates had bdays while here in the PI!
We had massages and fancy dinners to celebrate!


We had banquet to celebrate the Ignite A Movement youth event.
We got a chance to remember what God has done, eat good food and say goodbye to the team!

The roomies and I at the banquet. Of course, we can't be too serious!

After the IAM team left we were off to Ahoy. We camped out on a gorgeous sandbar.


The weather did not always cooperate for us.

But despite the storms we got to see some beautiful sights.


We decided to be adventurous and climb up a moutain nearby. We first had to swim and then the climb turned out a lot more difficult than expected since it rained so badly. My fliflops broke, but we eventually made it up! Can you guess which feet are mine?
This is me looking down on what we had just climbed! You can't really tell how high it is!

This is at the very top. The natives helped us make it there. The one boy is holding a pineapple because they were growing wild all over the mountain! Very cool!


T-5 days until I come home! Keep me in your prayers please! I love you all!

Leia Mais…

Ignite A Movement

May 18th-May 23rd was Ignite A Movement. It was an amazing youth event that took place every night from 6-9. We had games, break-dancing, worship, messages and prayer. God was really moving in us and through us. I was so honored to be able to be a part of the event. The thing that I enjoyed the most was praying for the youth. The cool thing was that I knew most of the kids that I was praying for. It was very powerful and God's presence was in that place. We placed hands on the sick and they were healed. We held those who needed love as they cried in our arms. God is doing big things here in the Philippines.


The first night they talked about "I Am." I don't think we will ever understand how omnipresent God is. But on this night we tried to give an idea about how big God is and how great He is,
how He spoke and created all things.

The second night, the theme was "I am here." It focused on how God is longing to be reunited with His creation. How he wants a personal relationship with you and
how you can come as you are. It was definitely powerful.

The third night was "I am healing." People came up to get prayed for if they had a physical need. By faith, people were healed. Personally, I prayed for a woman (my friend, Jane's mom) who had bad arthritis in her neck and knees. She could barely walk. God knocked her to the ground and completely and totally healed her. It was awesome.


The third night was "I am love." We learned about what true love is. These youth had a chance to come up and be healed from emotional hurt. At one point in the night I was just holding one of our Sonshine Center girls as she cried and cried. My shirt was drenched with her tears, but God healed her that night from all of the pain and hurt that she had experienced.




The last night was "I am with you." This night focused on how even after these nights are over that God is still here with you. He wants to be a part of your life and he empowers you by his spirit. These youth signed a "World Changer" banner,
making a declaration that they will live for God.


Here I am with some of the kids that attended the event. I really loved how God could just use this event to continue building relationships with the youth here in the Philippines. I'm just praying that God continues to work in their heart so that they can make a change for this community, city, country and world.

Leia Mais…

answered prayer

I just love how God answers prayers...and how He is in control and just orchestrates everything. SO with this excitement of course comes a story...

Meet the most wonderful children in the world....Joylyn, Kaday and Charlie. These kids are often found right outside of my place digging through trash, looking for food and recyclables. My friend Linda first found them and gave them food. She started the tradition and so every time I saw them outside of my place I would run upstairs look for any sort of food and gave it to these kids. They were very shy. Nevertheless, each time I saw them I would invite them to our program at the Sonshine Center (which takes place on Saturday mornings), not really knowing if they understood anything that I said.

So last week something different happened. The boy was not with the 2 girls. Now I'm not sure how much English these kids understand, but I still asked where their brother was. The oldest sister said he was dead (come to find out later he was not thank God, but maybe he was sick or something and she just didn't know how to say it). She teared up and even though I didn't know if that was true I was just overwhelmed. I looked at their feet and they were not wearing shoes and their clothes were very dirty. I asked if they were hungry and they said yes.
So that was enough for me.

I took them to BlueJays (a coffee shop) and they ordered a huge double decker U.S cheeseburger. It was precious to see them there trying to eat it, a burger that was bigger than their face. They of course didn't even come close to finishing it. Afterwards, we walked back to find their Lola (Grandmother) and Kaday asked her if I could take them to get slippers (aka flip flops). She said yes and we were off. We went to the mall and I was able to get them new shirts, pants, underwear and flip flops. The people at the mall were so helpful and changed the youngest (Joylyn) right there in the mall.

In this picture Joylyn is wearing her new outfit. I don't think they ever got to pick out their own clothes but it was clear that they liked pink! Every shirt and pants were all pink. It was precious. I felt so blessed to be able to meet some of their physical needs. I walked them back to their Lola and invited them to our program on Saturday morning. Again, there is the language barrier so I wasn't even sure they were understanding anything that I was saying. But I prayed that they would come and we could get them some more help. There would be people that could speak their language and they could be fed (both spiritually and physically).

Well, here they are! They came to the center for our program. I found out that they lived very far away and they walked that entire way just so that they could come! In this picture their entire outfits are the new clothes that they got!

Their Lola also came and I learned a lot about them. Their father passed away when the youngest was 8 months old and their mother abandoned them. The grandparents are left to take care of them. Valerie and I decided that it would be nice to go to their house to see where they lived so after Kids club on Saturday that is what we did.

This is their house. It is on stilts in water and it is basically all things that they have from the trash. It was beyond heartbreaking to know that they lived there.

Valerie talked to the Lola and the boys. She invited them to the huge youth event that is to be held May 18th-23rd (Ignite A Movement). She also just listened and loved them.
She is so awesome!

While Valerie did the talking, I played with the girls. Mostly just taking pictures...

And being silly.

God has really opened some doors to getting them some more help, which is awesome! I am so excited to be able to be a part of it. Also, last night was the first night for the youth event and the Kaday, her Lola and three other boys came!!!! It is so awesome to know that God is moving. I am so excited to see what He is going to do next!

Leia Mais…

Last but not least

Balabago!! Just try to say it....it is really fun, it just rolls off the tongue! Well anyways our last camp was in Balabago. It was actually the first time that we had ever done camp there and what a success it was! The kids were so excited and participated in everything that we did, which is really encouraging and makes camp a lot easier for us as counselors. Needless to say, it was a great way to end a great summer!


We definitly had some fun playing games with these kids.
They enjoyed every second of it!


This is Mary...she was shy at first but she came out of her shell real fast.


Business up front...party in the back!!


During our lunch break the counselors had some dance parties!!
haha...clearly I was very into it, you just can't stop me
when a High School Musical song comes on!

The kids also challenged me to a flexibility contest...clearly Angelie there is winning.
I have to keep working on my yoga skills.


Here we are dancing to cotton eyed joe....yeeehaw!


My roomies (Aimee and Sarah) and I jus being goofy with the kids.


Angelie loved to hang out with us during our breaks, so I got to know her really well.


Praying for the kids on the last day is by far one of the best moments in all of the camps.
The kids are so real and have such a passion to know God more.
It is so truly beautiful.

Camp #7: Success!

Leia Mais…