John Paul on the unicycle

Here is a little story:

John Paul, who is the youngest kid at Sankey, is just now starting to be able to ride the unicycle. When Uncle Tom got here earlier this month he started running unicycle practice so the boys will be ready for the upcoming trip. John Paul would just sit on the side, and watch as we went through our routine. When we finished he would pull out the smallest unicycle, and go to the wall on the side where he could lean up against in order to keep his balance. He would stay in there for at least an hour just trying to make it a few feet.

He started sneaking into the gym whenever he could so he could get some extra practice in. After three straight days of practicing like this he was able to go around the gym while holding onto the wall. Once he was done with practicing he would come up to me and say, “Me legs is ouching.” Which is his way of saying his legs are sore. One morning I was able to hold his hand and take him around the gym. Then I starting trying to get him to go across the court by chanting “wall to wall.” He got really into it and in about twenty minutes he was able to go all the way across with no hands.

His joy at accomplishing “wall to wall” was awesome! He couldn’t stop smiling and laughing. He kept saying, “Me is good unicycle!”  To which I was able to tell him how awesome he was.

Then later that night Uncle Tom practiced with him, and as you can see in the video he is now pretty good. He was so excited to show Uncle Tom his skills, and when he was able to actually ride alongside him he was beyond thrilled.

His determination to learn unicycle and become like his older brothers was truly inspiring. He learned how to ride in three days. To put that in a little perspective, it took me a whole month to be able to do what he can do now. Pretty awesome!

Update

It’s been too long since my last post, and for that I’m sorry so I’ll try to give a little run down on what has been happening here in the Philippines.

           

            Uncle Tom and Aunt Karen are here now, and it has brought a renewed life and energy to everyone. It has been so much fun to watch them interact with the kids. They love them so much, and you can really see that when they are able to be with them. To have them here is the highlight of the year for the kids at Sankey. Since they arrived we’ve played a few basketball games, chess, soccer, capture the flag, and a lot of unicycle.  I’m finally starting to get pretty good on the unicycle, and now I’m working on going backwards which has not been easy. I was able to almost make it across the whole basketball court going backwards, but I still have a long way to get as good as the kids.

It has been so much fun to have Uncle Tom and Aunt Karen here! There constant encouragement and their faith in the Lord has given me some a new focus on my mission here. We are starting to get ready for the basketball trip, which starts Dec. 29^th and the church building trip that will immediately follow. The basketball trip will be with some fellow Americans, and the construction team will be a team for Australia. Both will be amazing experiences to share the Gospel to a lot of people. Hopefully all the unicycle practice will have paid off, and that Uncle Tom, Mac Mac, Erwin, Roy, and I will put on a good halftime show for all the people that come out. It should be a lot of fun, and I’ll try and have some of the guys take some video so I can show you all.

So the coming week are going to be very full, and hopefully very fruitful! Please keep us in your prayers as we will be able to spread the good news. Pray that our message is clear, and centered on Christ and not ourselves. This time will be a lifelong memory, and I pray that we are able to really reach as many people as we can.

            Uncle Tom and Aunt Karen took all the kids and Kelly (my fellow missionary) and I to go see The Hobbit in 3D. It was the first 3D movie for most of the kids, and I had so much fun watching them during the movie reach out and try to touch the characters, as they seemed to be right in our faces. They loved it. Just going to the movies is a huge deal, but actually seeing 3D was something that they will never forget. Since we went to see the movie they have been going back and watching The Lord of The Rings every night. I’m trying to get a few of them to read the books, but haven’t had any luck on that yet.

Christmas is very different here than in the States. Kelly and I have been showing them some classic Christmas movies, and it’s been so much fun to introduce them to ones they have never seen before. We’ve watched the Grinch and Elf and we are planning to show them Home Alone which none of them have seen.

 I’m having a lot of fun just spending time with the boys and trying to make a lasting impact on their lives. We finished going through the life of Moses, and the boys seemed enjoyed it. They really pay attention to the Bible studies, and they actually have started to share their thoughts, which is such an answer to prayer. We are now going through a little devotional book on becoming content. It has been awesome to see them actually interact with each other and myself. The Bible studies have been amazing for me as well! Having to study God’s word has been such a blessing, and life changing.

I am so blessed to be here, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what God is going to do during these evangelism trips coming up!