When I was growing up, I prayed a prayer that I thought nobody heard. My sister Bubit had been praying the same prayer, too. Our prayer was to have a family.

When I was still a baby, my mother died. Then when I was three years old, my father died. My oldest sister married and went away with her husband, so there was only my sister Bubit, my brother Niksun, and me, the youngest.

Bubit took me out of the mountains and cared for me. When she went to Manila to go to school, I went to live with a family. They made me their slave, not feeding me until I finished my work and sometimes beating me until I could hardly walk. I began to hate people because I felt nobody cared about me. But God had not forgotten me. Not long after that, Kent and Leonda George found me and took me back to my oldest sister. Though she fed me, she had her own family and wasn’t really like family to me. Because of all that had happened to me, I was a rotten person and always fought with people. Then one day I was reminded of my forgotten prayer when Kent and Leonda invited me to live in their home and become their daughter. It wasn’t always easy for me to adjust to having a family, but I know God helped me, because now I’m a happy person.

We recently went to Thailand to attend a retreat for AFM’s Asia missionaries. I wondered what I would do, but then Mrs. Payne asked me to help with the children. Oh no! I thought. I like being with children, but sometimes my shyness turns me upside down. But I agreed to help, and it changed me. I met lots of wonderful children who made me smile and laugh. When I was a little girl, I never used to smile or laugh, but now I think I can never stop smiling or laughing. At the end of the first day, even though I was tired, my heart was full of happiness. I made lots of friends, and I wish I could take them all home with me. We did lots of things I will never forget. Now I am thinking about teaching these things to the children in Kemantian!

I’m attending high school in Kemantian and am almost done with my studies. Sometimes when I’m alone I begin to freak out because in a year or two I’ll be going to college! I don’t know where to go. I’m afraid to do anything because I don’t really know what to do. I didn’t grow up expecting to have these opportunities. But I know deep in my heart that God will answer my prayers about my future. If He wants me to go to college in America, even though I know I’ll be homesick, He will comfort me and give me lots of family again. I’m thinking that, before I go to college, I might be a student missionary somewhere. Only God knows where, but He will prepare the way for me if it is His will.

I’m so thankful God gave me the George family, and I’m also thankful to be a part of the wonderful AFM family. Missionaries, please be strong and courageous, for the Lord will be with you wherever you go.
Please pray for me and for my future. If you want to know the rest of my life story, please pray that I will have courage to write it.

***
Special thanks to: Mrs. Payne for asking me to help because I really enjoyed it; Daniel and Gabriel for keeping me busy; Rachel, Nikki, Ebony and Chris for serving God with me; Mr. Laurence who taught me how to enjoy myself; and to the other people who make me proud of my people. Thank you so much.

• Twitter