Proud to be Me.

I like being who I am. I have many flaws but I'm still happy with who God made me to be. Sure there are times when I hate the fact that I can't do certain things (or that I do certain things) but for the majority of the time I'm happy to be who I am. I like the fact that I have an amazing family and that they love me very much. I know of a lot of people who don't have a family as close as mine but I'm glad that I have them because they are part of who I am. I like that I am Samoan and that even though only a quarter, I like that I know some of the traditions and that I grew up pretty much with my nana teaching me songs and recipes and stuff. Yeah, I don't like that I can't speak Samoan but maybe one day I'll learn it. I like that I go to AGGS and that I've been blessed with heaps of amazing friends there. Only one year left in high school :O oh gosh. I also like the fact that I am a Christian and that I go to MNL. Yep, cos of I wasn't a Christian I really don't know where the heck I would be. I would not have the amazing friends I do have and most of all, wouldn't have an awesome relationship with my God. It's pretty much been through Christ that I've been able to accept who I am, flaws and all and appreciate all the things I've been given. Sounds cheesy or cliche-ish but whatever, I love you God. Thank you for making me, well me. I love you :)

Day Three of BEDD done.

Tribute to Ms Anisi

Shouldn't I be on holiday? Well apparently no.

Last night I got home from the BE.LOVED event and pretty much went straight to bed. That was at like 10pm. I mean, what 17 year old girl goes to bed that early after just finishing exams and is now supposedly on holiday. Well, me and that was because I was planning on going to Steffi's end of year assembly. Seriously, when your 8 year old cousin personally asks you to come, you have to, right? And so I was all set to go at 8am until I woke up and saw a text from my dean asking to come into school for a farewell for Ms Anisi (Samoan teacher at AGGS) so I was pretty much torn between which one to go to. Cousin's assembly or teacher's farewell?

I love my cousin but I decided to go into school especially given that I've just been named a prefect for 2012 and Ms Anisi probably played a big part in that. So yeah if you don't know her, she's pretty much an awesome as teacher. She is the kind of teacher that most students fear or try to avoid unless you're in her good books (which was me) or you just get to know her. Until this year, she was just that for me. A scary teacher who yelled at us when we didn't sing the school song loud enough or if we had incorrect uniform. But this year, I got to know her better. She started up the Pasifika initiatives at AGGS and has supported Pasifika students at AGGS ever since she started teaching at the school, and from what I understand, she started teaching at AGGS as a BT(beginning teacher) and has been there ever since. Now she's joining the likes of Ms Hayes (one of my favourite teachers who left last year- also mentioned in this post.) and Ms Todd at MAGS :( So to you Ms Anisi, we say good bye but as the saying goes 'Once an AGGS girl, always an AGGS girl!' We love you miss. Thanks for everything you have done for AGGS, especially to our PI girls. You will be missed!

So yeah I guess I'm not really on holiday yet, but today was a good day, and even though I missed Steffi's assembly it was still great to hear that she got an honours award. Whoo! Go Steffi!! :) So a good day all round.

Day Two of BEDD complete. No official 'act' that I can think of that I've done today but hm maybe that'll come later in the day. Ok goodbye for now.

Healing Hands...

As a child you always get asked "What do you wanna be when you grow up?" and the typical response is something like "I want to be a teacher. Or maybe a doctor. Or maybe a firefighter etc". As a child there are so many options. Life just seems to be so kick back and easy as you play dress-ups and pretend to be a million things at once.

Well as a child I always wanted to be a teacher because I thought it was the coolest job in the world. Hey, my mum was a teacher, so I grew up loving school and am probably still the 'teacher's pet kind of student'. But it wasn't until maybe last year that things started to sink in. I was like.. 'hey, after a few years in this place I actually have to go on and do something with my life.' Teachers, doing their job would ask us the question "So what do you want to do when you finish school?" and I was like "yeah I know what I want to do, teaching, right?". I thought about it and was like yeah I can see myself doing that. I'd spent some time in Stacey-Anne's classroom with the kids in her class, and I loved it so I thought "Hey, this could be cool for me." 

But then God showed me through a prophecy that teaching was not what He had planned for me. A guy came to youth group one night in the middle to end of last year, I can't remember exactly, and prophesied over a few people. I was one of them and while I was standing there the guy prayed for me and said that God had great plans for me. He said he saw broken legs being healed and other sicknesses being healed because of me. When I heard this I was like "Huh? Are you sure that's for me? I thought I was gonna be a teacher?" but no haha - God always has other plans, doesn't He? So I took this prophecy and thought about what it meant for me. I think, being so naive about things then I just 'shelved the prophecy' and carried on in my clueless search for career options.

It's funny how God works because at the end of last year at our senior prize giving I got an award. Not many Year 11 students go to this prize giving but I went because I was getting a certificate thing for the 'top of the class' kind of thing (in history, HEALTH and SCIENCE just by coincidence and that's all I thought I was getting) until my name was called for one of the special awards. It was a new one called the "Healthcare Heroes Award" sponsored by an organisation called the Pasifika Medical Association which aims to promote health careers for Pacific Island people. Yes. I know if you are reading this and didn't know I was Samoan, I am. But still I was the 'white girl' going up to receive this Pasifika award. It was quite overwhelming but funny at the same time because through it I won a $100 book voucher (which I still haven't spent) and lots of other books including Science study guides. (I recently found out that I got nominated for this award by my old academic dean - Ms Hayes, who is at MAGS now. But this is my random shout out to her. Thanks Ms Hayes. Even though you will never read my blog you are cool :P) So here, God showed me again how I was going to go into a job related to healthcare and stuff. He's cool, huh?

So because I had 'shelved the prophecy' from last year and kind of gone on my own way, God had to remind me of the things He wanted me to see and know. I went to Elevate '11 earlier in February and kind of asked God to show me how this year was going to pan out for me. It's funny how stubborn I am and was then because while we were there I got another prophecy that I would see cancer patients healed. Like seriously!? I know. I just had to laugh at the words coming out of the preacher's mouth because I was like "Ok God. I get the point. I need to act on this prophecy you gave me last year (and the other signs you gave like the award, right?)" Well needless to say I was and am still stubborn but I'm on my way to something good. I figured  from these prophecies and subtle hints from Him that I was going to go into 'medicine' or healthcare or something but still things were and are still are hard comprehend.

More importantly, lately (as in the past few weeks, not last month or year) God's put on my heart the importance of our spiritual gifts and using them for His glory. I know I have a gift of healing (obviously if I'm going to be a doctor) but this was something which I never took notice of. I always used to give my mum head massages etc. and she said it would always take away her headaches and stuff. She told me I had 'healing hands' and I guess at a young age I never thought anything of it. Another of my 'spiritual gifts' was helping people. I love helping others understand things and teaching them new ways of doing things etc. God was and has been revealing to me these gifts I have to use for his glory. So I was sharing with my life group girls last week about this topic and they thought it was cool too, then tonight at youth Sunia brought it up again when he spoke about ministering to one another through our gifts. I thought it was awesome how God was showing me these same things that He was sharing with others around me. God is good isn't He?

I think the next part for me is just where faith steps in. I know that God is good and that if He gave me the whole picture at once I would freak out and probably go my own way again. God knows how things will pan for me and He said in Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have you. To give you a future and a hope." and everyday I choose to stand on this truth, knowing that my God, who loves me and only wants the best for me is standing right by my side cheering me on in everything I do!

(To my faithful readers, if there are any, I'm sorry for making this a long post it's just been something I've wanted to share and if I've told you in person then I'm sorry for saying it again and again. But hey it's just something I wanted to share.)