parachuteLOVE. i'm a little teapot;

i'm proud and in love with the Lord. i love to worship Him and praise Him with all my heart. but of course, i didn't start out this way. i was a Catholic when i was a child. when i was young, i think i only saw God as this supreme being who we should pray to. nothing else. when my family and i came to this certain church and were baptized as Christians, my views on God developed. i attended Sunday School, joined a church play, went to Vacation Bible School and church camp during the summers. i bought Psalty music tapes and watched Veggie Tales, which are some of the common things a Christian child would do. i enjoyed them.

but as a child, i guessed it might've seemed that by doing all these things would make me saved. surely, i did good and i would rarely be in any mischief, but i didn't have the right mind set on what truly believing in God is. i knew, at some point, i was ashamed. i was scared to sing songs in the Sanctuary, paranoid by the people around who could've been judging me. so i kept quiet. when there was no Sunday School, i preferred to run around outside than go into the Sanctuary and listen to the word of God.

when the year 2005 came, i decided to change. whatever i was did to myself back them seemed meaningless without giving my heart entirely to my Savior. i began to attend the Youth services at my church and understand more about Him. Youth Camp 2005 came, and though i wasn't able to finish camp because i went to the States for vacation, i was still able to learn a lot. after some time i came back from the States, that was the time that i really accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior. going to Saddleback Church in the States and attending the Hillsong Concert in Araneta helped me even more to hunger for the Lord. i was so thankful that the experiences earlier that year made such an impact in my life. Slowly, the Lord was reaching into my heart and I had finally surrendered my all.

ever since then, i continuously attended my church's Youth services and even stepped up to serve in the music ministry. The power of praise and worship music captured my heart and eased whatever troubles came my way. within the ministry, I had myself a family with the youth band. but when the move finally came and I landed myself here in sunny California, it was all about starting fresh. Though miles apart, the bonds created were never broken.

growing up in one church most of my life gave me difficulty adjusting to a new environment. But I thought I shouldn't let this hinder me from having God work in my life. As soon as I was fresh off the boat, I was determined to keep myself serving in this new church I attended. The first four months of me living in a new country intimidated me so. But during that period of time was when my Savior had really spoken to me. He had blessed me with the best camp in my life which happened on the summer of '07, preachings and notes that I can go back to over and over again and teach me something new, being able to lend my voice in the music ministry, and wonderful friendships that I know would last.

He had literally picked me up from solitude and overwhelmed me with this new world. I have never been as on fire with the Lord if it weren't for Him working in me in the tough times of 2007. And to this day, He never fails to bless me one way or another.

i was born on October 25, 1990. when my mom gave birth to me, it didn't go so well. it seemed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around my neck and it was killing me because of suffocation and toxic fluids. but after the doctors helped me out of my condition, i made it out alive. i was born and raised in the Philippines. funny thing is, i'm not the most fluent speaker of my native language, Tagalog. my parents insisted on speaking to me in English and they never really taught me how to speak in my own native tongue. i had to learn on my own. it was very difficult for me to cope up with my Filipino subject at school because of that. right now, i'm able to speak and understand Tagalog, although i get lost in words if you speak in such deep meaning.

my family's composed of four people. my mom, my dad, my younger sister and me. when i was very young, we experienced some family problems. but out of those problems came out something good. our family came to God's help. We joined this Christian church near my home and all our troubles began to suppress. i was baptized when i was nine years old. when the years came passing by, the country's status began to deteriorate. my dad went to the States to work because we believed that our future would be most promising there. He has been there ever since. our family had kept contact through instant messenger. i've only seen my dad once since he left for the States. He had rather send us money to keep us alive than spend a plane ticket just to see us. That has to be the biggest sacrifice my dad has ever done for our family, which is one of the reasons I love him muchos. we traveled to LA, California on the summer of '05 to be able to be with him for a whole three weeks.

I had attended the same international school all my life. over there, i was able to meet good friends, those who i cherish until this very day. but of course, there were some people who i dislike, and i prefer to distance myself from them. Talk about kids with the need to climb up the social ladder. I had loved my school until it became corrupted by all the programs and certain teachers. staying there didn't seem to make much sense anymore. though i cherish the memories i've spent with my batch mates, i couldn't wait to leave.

my batch is the class of 05-06. i was supposed to officially graduate with them, but i transferred into the IB program when it was newly integrated into my school's system. my school's silly, and people who ask me about my education get confused. i was in 11th grade, and in my school, that would be my graduating year. but since i moved into the IB program, i wasn't able to march with my batch mates since i still had 12th grade to go.

my family had been planning to move to the States for a long time. ever since my dad had left, we knew that one day, we'd all be together again for good. On April 5, 2007, my mom, my sister and i had migrated to the West. Goodbye Manila and hello sunny California. The first few months I stepped into foreign land was a struggle. Though I enjoyed the taste of beautiful change, I was incredibly homesick as well. I told myself to be patient and that God was planning something beyond my imagination. And you know what? He did.

Jumping into a different school for the first time in my life had terrified me at first. Making new friends by myself? It wasn't exactly my drift. Slowly but surely, I was able to break out of my shy little shell and kick into my spontaneous self. I can't say I'm still the person as the girl who lived back in the Philippines. All I can say is there's more to me than what was. It's insane how a year and a little over that can do; officially graduating high school (class of '08!), a deeper faith in God, new friends that I can count on and new experiences that I can look back to. But no matter what has happened, nothing can replace Manila in my heart.