Zanesfield

Thank You for your Prayers!! Don't stop :)

2011-07-05T10:25:00.000+08:00

I promised you an update on what we were going to do for Mari's education.....
We have been working hard trying to figure out what direction we are to go. We have had many meetings, lots of phone conversations, and visits to different schools. Here in the Philippines, there is no government subsidy for the education of the handicapped. We have found that special education here is very expensive and not what Mari needs.
After a LOT of prayer and discussion, we have made the decision that we need to return to the US.
Since making this decision, we have had several confirmations from the Lord that we are doing the right thing.
Please be praying for us as we make this transition. It effects our family, our work and ministry environments, and our friendships. Transitioning internationally is never easy. We plan to be back in the states by the end of July, in time to enroll the kids in school for the up-coming fall semester. We will be moving back to Redding, CA, and remaining on Nazarene contract through the end of October. We are praying that God will unveil the future for Eric's work in His perfect timing. Eric's dream is to continue to work with APRC and the Global Church of the Nazarene, via virtual connections, but we are not sure that will be possible. Staying on contract until the end of October should give us time to seek out options to make that dream become reality.
The boys have said and are saying good-bye to all their friends, and it is so hard. They are in agreement with the change, but they will miss their school very much and the incredible friendships that they have had there.
We thank you for your prayers for us. We know that without the support of our prayer warriors back home, we would have never made it this far.
We are very grateful for the time we were given here in the Philippines, and will cherish, always, the opportunities for ministry, friendships, and for the spiritual growth we have had while we have been here.

Alay Lakad

2011-04-21T22:20:00.000+08:00

Tonight here in Manila, there are millions of people making a long pilgrimage up the hillside to the catholic church that houses the shrine of "Our lady of peace and good voyage." It is an amazing event and the throngs of people walking the streets to the cathedral is an unbelievable sight. Most of the people are doing so just because so many others are doing it. Some are taking the pilgrimage because they want to experience some measure of a sacrifice or a penitence. Some walk bare foot. Some carry their statue of baby Jesus. Some carry a cross. Some are laughing and not serious about the walk. Others are very serious and sincere. They believe that their "lady of peace and good voyage" will take care of them.

Here is a short video that our communications department made. I hope you can watch it and learn a little about Filipino customs for Holy Week. Just click on this link Panata "Alay Lakad"

Please pray for all of these people. Some of them know that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father. Some of them believe that they have to earn their way through their religious actions. My heart aches for that misunderstanding, but yet, I myself fall into the trap of thinking I can earn the love of the Father. My prayer for all of us this Easter is that we would learn in a new way, how the Father loves us as we are, not because of what we do. Ephesians 2:8-9 says "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast."

I am so thankful for the Grace that has saved me, and continues to save me. I am thankful that I don't have to take that trek up the hill with all those millions of people to be saved. Christ is RISEN!!!

We pray you have a wonderful Easter!

Stay tuned for a shadow teacher update.....

Shadow Teacher Update

2011-04-12T15:30:00.000+08:00

We have been working hard at trying to find a shadow teacher for Mari, specifically one to shadow her next year so we can enroll her in the Kindergarten class. We were pleasantly surprised at the response we got from our advertisement at the University of the Philippines. We looked through lots of resumes and then narrowed it down to about 8 women. We ended up interviewing four, with one yet to happen. God is helping us fine tune our selection. This week is a big part of the selection process. All potential kindergarten students come for 3 days of "pre-kindergarten." This enables the kindergarten teacher to evaluate the children and for basic readiness testing to be completed. This week is "pre-kindergarten" and Mari went today for her first day. She did great! What a huge blessing and answer to prayer. She wasn't intimidated by the other kids, even though she didn't know them. Thursday and Friday of this week, we will have two separate ladies come and "shadow" her for the day. This will give us opportunity to see how Mari reacts to them, and to see how they work with the Kindergarten teacher.

Our prayer is that the Lord will very clearly help us see who is the best shadow teacher for Mari at this time. We feel like the Lord is giving us some good direction, but want to complete the process before we make our decision. We know that as long as the Lord wants us here, he will provide what Mari needs.

Will you please be praying with us, especially Thursday and Friday (your Wednesday and Thursday) for us to be wise in this decision process. Will you also join us in praying for the Special Education departmental needs at our school, that God would raise up special education teachers and therapists to fill this void.

We love you all! Thanks for sharing this journey with us!!

Are You Living?

2011-03-21T09:43:00.000+08:00

As I was heading up to the seminary, slowly weaving through the traffic, I caught the words to the song...

Today I found myself,
After searching all these years,
And the man that I saw,
He wasn't at all who I'd thought He'd be,
I was lost when You found me here,
And I was broken beyond repair,
Then You came along and sang Your song over me

It feels like I'm born again
It feels like I'm living
For the very first time
For the very first time,
In my life
(Third Day, Born Again)

It was so appropriate for the moment. The service I was heading to was about re-birth. It was about getting a new body.

My colleague and friend, Dr. Rio, had a radical transformation in 2005. He had slipped into a coma because his kidneys were failing. While in the coma, God clearly called him. Dr. Rio heard God say to him "everything you have heard and read about me is TRUE." Dr. Rio miraculously came out of the coma, and had an intense hunger and thirst to seek God. He took his family to the church on the seminary campus and that began his transformation. Dr. Rio fell head over heel for God and served him with all his might, doing medical missions, offering free clinics to his people, and going to seminary to become a preacher, all the while, going three times every week for dialysis.

This past Monday, Dr. Rio had yet another radical transformation. Dr. Rio was completely healed, and he received his new body. Jesus called him home.

As I was going to his service, listening to this song, I couldn't help but think about each one of us. We have the opportunity to really live, or to walk around like the dead.

We had another tragedy this week in our Nazarene schools here in the Philippines. The president of our Visayan Nazarene Bible College also got called home to her perfectly healed, new body. She was just diagnosed in January with cancer, and is now free and clear.

This has been a difficult week with all the trauma in Japan, the fighting in the middle east, and right here in our community, the passing of two very prominent people of our body.

But......God comes along and sings his song over us, we can be born again, we get to live despite our circumstances. He is God, and He is offering us life! WOW!

Dr. Rio knew that he was going to lose the battle with his kidneys eventually, yet it didn't stop him from living. All of us are going to lose this battle with our earthly bodies eventually, yet, that doesn't have to keep us from really living now....with peace.....with joy.....with God singing over us.

I hope you can sing that song with all your heart. If you cant, seek God....he promises to show himself to those who seek him. He loves us so very, very much!!

Please Pray With Us

2011-03-02T10:40:00.000+08:00

We are at an exciting place with Mari! She is really wanting to learn, and wanting to be in school :) She will be six years old on the 18th of this month. She is acting just like all six year-olds in that she is like a sponge, taking in and soaking up the things she is taught. We are so excited about where she is. It is by far greater than what we expected when the doctor first told us she had Down Syndrome.

We have spent several hours in meetings and in discussions with the administration of the kids school about the possibilities of Mari continuing to be educated there. She has been in the 3 year old class this past year and has loved it. The school has never educated a child with Down Syndrome before, so we are, yet again, in new territory.

What we have come up with is a plan that will require a great miracle. That is where we really need you all to join with us in prayer. We are going to pursue enrolling Mari in the kindergarden class this coming August, but she will need to have a shadow teacher. Eric and I need to find the shadow teacher, and pay for her. She will also have to go through the schools approval process.

So, here is how we are asking for you to join us in prayer.....

1. That we will completely rest in the fact that God knows exactly what Mari needs and that we just need to allow him to be God and take care of his precious daughter.
2. That God will raise up someone with experience with Down Syndrome, whose native language is English, or who has mastery over the Engish language.
3. That this person would be a perfect fit with Mari, with the Kindergarten teacher, and with the class as a whole.
4. That God would provide the necessary funds to compensate this portion of her education.

We know that God is going to continue to take care of what she needs. We also know that he could totally surprise us and do something totally different than what we are praying for.

Thank you for praying with us. Your prayers are essential in the battle that rages.

I would also like to give you a little follow up on...

1. Luke is doing just fine and has healed wonderfully from his concussion :) He spent a couple of very "boring" weeks taking it very easy and not doing much of anything, but he is back at life, full speed. Thank you for praying for him during his healing.

2. The monitor lizard wouldn't eat, so we let him go :) He was pretty scary anyway. Luke said a couple days later that he only had one more creature he needed to catch....a python. Lucky for him we have seen them around. Oh dear!

May God bless you today on your journey. He is beautiful beyond what we ever deserve! Rest in his grace today! I will leave you with some words from a song that I pray ministers to you today as much as they have ministered to me....

Sparks will fly as grace colides
With the dark inside of us
So please don't fight
This coming light
Let this blood come over us
His blood can cover us!

Luke

2011-02-01T10:20:00.000+08:00

The boys played their last rugby games for the season on Saturday. They both enjoy it so much. It really is a good sport for all that testosterone. I really am not sure what we will do without practice everyday. This last game was at a school south of Manila, about an hour and a half away from our house (on a good travel day). Unfortunately, both teams lost their games, and it was a bummer of a way to end the season, but none the less, they enjoyed every game they played.

Luke unfortunately did not get to finish his last game. During the first half, he was hit in his temple by someones knee while in some sort of dog pile tackle. He got up and continued to play. When half-time came and Luke went over to the side-line, he had significant gaps in his memory. The coach caught on and realized that Luke was quite upset by this and started asking questions. They came and got me and told me what he had figured out, but at this point, Luke had no memory of even playing in the game, let alone where he was or what the day, month or year was. Coach told me he was not going out again and we could do whatever we needed to do for him.

After about 30 minutes, things started to come back, slowly he began to remember what he was doing and what month it was etc. We took him to the doctor who did a CAT scan, and admitted him overnight for observation. The CAT scan did show some bleeding, but not an extreme amount. We were discharged the next day and told to take it easy and the doctor ordered limited activities.

We are so grateful that it wasn't any worse. God continues to keep all of us in his tender loving care. So if for some reason, you were prompted to pray for us on Saturday (your Friday night) or Sunday (your Saturday), now you know why. We always appreciate how God puts us on your hearts and minds.

May the Lord bless you and keep you today as He shines His face upon you!!

Strengths, Dinners, Dragons, and Teachers

2011-01-25T10:49:00.012+08:00

If I said, "empathy, developer, connectedness, belief, and restorative," would you know what I was talking about? These are my strengths according to the Clifton Strength Finders Assessment :)

Strength Finders is an assessment of personality from the perspective of Positive Psychology. Instead of telling you your weaknesses, it helps you identify your strengths. Last February, Eric and I went through this assessment and then some training. We recognized some great new things about ourselves and the way we interact together. Our organization has started using it to identify who are best suited to do certain tasks and who fits where best. It has been a fun thing to discover.

Saturday, we had the opportunity to do this discovery and training with our group of 20 from APRC. All 20 of them took the assessment and found out their strengths, then we spent all day discussing how our strengths interact, with others, and within ourselves. It was a great time of team bonding and gaining understanding of the group dynamics! We are excited to see how this furthers our ministry and our work environment.

Last week we had the honor of hosting our team at our home for dinner with our Regional Director(RD) and with one of our General Superintendents(GS) and his wife. We had a wonderful time together, eating and sharing some encouraging stories. Our GS encouraged us to be aware of two things. First that Satan wants to discourage us, and second that Satan wants to divide us. He challenged us to choose to be always encouraging to one another, and to avoid any kind of criticism. I see this happen so often, we cover up our criticism in all kinds of mischievous ways so we don't have to admit that we are criticizing. Ouch. It was a great challenge to us as we are trying our best to be disciple makers. Really, who wants to be discipled by someone who is divided and discouraged. It is not an easy quest, but with the help of our Lord, we can do it! I am really enjoying taking on this challenge, and I hope you will think about taking it on also....just say "no" to discouragement and to division. Say "yes" to encouraging one another, and that in itself will eliminate any criticism :)

Sunday we all went on a walk around our neighborhood and Luke returned to the house first. As he approached the gate, he saw a 3 foot monitor lizard (dragon) sunning himself in front of our gate. As the dragon realized that Luke was threatening him, he ran into the drain pipe in our driveway. Luke ripped off his shoe to plug one end and plugged the other end with a stone. About that time Jon arrived and ran inside the house, per his brothers orders, to get a pillow case. Then they got the garden hose and turned it on, threading it into the drain pipe. Eventually, the dragon came out the end that Luke was hovering over with the pillow case. Luke grabbed his head as he came out and threw him into the pillow case. The hunters in the family were quite excited about this little adventure, and all ended up involved in this. Needless to say, we now have a new pet....a scary one!

Eric and I realized in December that Mari was ready for more schooling. Even though she is in Pre-School twice a week and in her specific therapy four hours every week, she is needing more. Her age is almost six, and she has the desire to learn and understand, but her developmental age being 4, makes it a challenge. We have been praying about this, and trying to figure out what we can do for her to contribute to her education. There are schools here for special education, but trying to find the right combination of teaching, location and cost has proven to be very difficult. The good news is that for a few months, we have a visiting Professor and his wife here teaching. "Miss Kay," the professors wife, just happens to be a retired school teacher who works with pre-school children in the states, helping them to read. YEAH! So Miss Kay is coming to spend time with Mari on her off school days to work with her! It is a great answer to our current problem. God really is the best at providing for our needs!!

Pondering...

2011-01-04T22:03:00.005+08:00

January brings a lot of soul searching for me. I like to look back at where I've been and what I've experienced, how I've changed and grown, both for the better and for the, well, not so better. The Lord has taught me a lot of stuff over this last year. Sometimes I think the only reason I am here in this place is so that I can come to know Jesus and learn to rely of my Savior, and not on myself.... I had some really great lessons this last year, but there are four that stand out in my mind, that I am still holding onto.

A year ago, we were in the States for deputation, recovering from the trauma of the typhoon flooding we experienced and wasn't even slightly interested in returning to the Philippines. My faithful Father gently listened to my cries and used a scene from the flood to heal me. First, he pointed me to Luke 7:24...
" ²⁴ After John’s disciples left, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? "
Was I being a weak reed, swayed by the hard times? Later in that chapter is the story of the prostitute breaking the alabaster jar of perfume on Jesus' feet. Jesus said to those around him, questioning the behavior, “I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love."
As I was processing this story, I looked at this picture...
This is one of the rivers in Manila, riddled with houses and furniture and junk. In my heart I heard that gentle voice say to me....Linda, see all that junk....it's just like all the anger and resentment you are holding onto, your own sins. Let me wash your heart clean, just like the typhoon washed away all that rubbish. But when I am finished, you will be whiter than snow. There won't be any rubbish backed up in the river beds." I really felt, at that moment, all that anger and resentment and pain and sorrow wash away.

I do not have a green thumb. My mother is really great with plants, but I do not share that gift. I usually don't water my plants. It is quite simple, really. So, when I don't water my plants, I can't expect them to stay green and beautiful. This year I have learned that I can survive heat and drought, and my leaves can stay green and I can continue to produce fruit, I don't mean actual physical heat and drought, but metaphorical heat and drought. Even though I don't understand the why's or the what's, I can, and do, always trust my Savior...my hope is in him and my confidence is in him...
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord
and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.
"They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit."

I love that fact that my LORD is my constant source, and that no matter what goes on around me, I can always produce fruit....I have felt the hand of God and his beautiful presence in the midst of heat and drought and know this to be true!

This last October I was reminded that Jesus said "I will build my church"... "you go and make disciples".... My responsibility is to disciple the people around me....to simply help them take one step closer to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! God will build the church here in the Philippines....I am to disciple the people God puts in my life...I love that because it reminds me that Jesus said "take my yoke upon you for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." God is also building the church in the States, and in every country and nation....we are simply called to "go and make disciples." The lady I chat with in the grocery store...I can say something to try to help her take one step closer to Jesus. The mother of the disabled child I share the waiting room with every week...help her take one step closer to Jesus. The guys that deliver my water....just one step. The lady I buy groceries from...bless her...just one step. What if every time I had an interaction with someone they took one step closer to Jesus. Eventually, depending on how many interactions I had with that person, they would meet Jesus, face to face.

Do you ever feel like an Israelite? You know, God has done incredible, incredible things in your life, and then you start whining and moaning about some ridiculous thing? Well, that basically sums me up some times. I have really been feeling homesick, and feeling the sacrifice of being separated from family and things I know and understand...my culture...being in a country where there are different bugs and diseases that are not in the states, etc., etc., etc. I was reading in Hosea and this verse leaped off the page...
Hosea 6:6
I want you to show love,
not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
more than I want burnt offerings.

Wow....He really just wants my relationship...not my "sacrifices," not my "burnt offerings." He wants me to have love for others, to show it. It's about experiencing relationship with God, to such a degree that it oozes off onto those around me. I am sure that I haven't finished processing that one yet.

I don't know what is in store for this coming year, but I do know that God is guiding and directing us all along the path, and that every step of the way, he is guiding us.

Isaiah 42:16
I'll take the hand of those who don't know the way,
who can't see where they're going.
I'll be a personal guide to them,
directing them through unknown country.
I'll be right there to show them what roads to take,
make sure they don't fall into the ditch.
These are the things I'll be doing for them—
sticking with them, not leaving them for a minute."

Whatever the LORD has in store for us this coming year, whatever the LORD has in store for you this coming year, I pray we all sit back, watch, and be amazed at what God does!

Habakkuk 1:5 says...
The Lord replied,

“Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.

The Message says is like this....

Look around at the godless nations.
Look long and hard. Brace yourself for a shock.
Something's about to take place
and you're going to find it hard to believe.

We love you and love serving our Savior! We pray this year brings you freedom from sin, green leafs in your time of drought, many steps closer to your Savior and that you will KNOW your Savior and not just offer sacrifices and burnt offerings :) Then....watch and be amazed!!!

Blessings on you!!!

Christmas and New Years in Manila

2011-01-01T10:04:00.007+08:00

I love the diversity in how everyone celebrates Christmas and New Years!

Christmas begins in September....that is the beginning of the "ber" months and that is when we start hearing Christmas music. Slowly, the decorations are carefully hung throughout the city, the streets, the malls, the stores and the houses. Places you didn't notice before suddenly become alive with Christmas decor.

December 16 is the beginning of the Catholic services, which happen every night until Christmas. At that time, the children and young people begin going door to door and caroling. There are several lively Tagalog Christmas songs that the kids like to sing. It's quite cute. They come to your door and sing, and then expect some sort of treat or money. Some people do not respond to the carolers, but we just can't pass them by. Mari really enjoyed handing out treats to the kids that came. Several of them came back night after night. This goes on nightly with the pinnacle on Christmas day. Then they come to the gate saying "Pasko na," which means it's Christmas. Some of them will also say "Pumasko na," which means it is time to give me a Christmas present. Either way they say it, they are expecting a little gift. We bagged small bags of rice to hand out. I couldn't decide if they were not impressed with the rice, or they were intrigued by the bags that we put the rice in for they were decorated with snow flakes and stars. The fun thing about this is that we got rather familiar with several of the kids who live near by. Some of them sell bread every day, and we see them when we are out exercising. We are now quite familiar with them and on first name basis :)We had a fun opportunity to have a group from one of the churches come to our house to do a special caroling presentation. They are a group of 30 young people who gathered crystal goblets and glass bottles, added water to each in order to form a musical choir. They call themselves the "Glass Choir." We invited all our neighbors and several other friends from nearby, and they came in and performed about six Christmas carols for us. It was a lot of fun and gave us more opportunity to connect with our neighbors.The malls were crowded beyond anything I could have expected and we managed to do our shopping without any pick-pocketing incidents!! Mari did decide she did not care for being in the mall with all the people, so she started kicking her leg off to the side of the stroller and kicking the people that were too close (which was just about everyone), then she started grabbing their shirts. Unfortunately, I totally understood just how she felt....however, I did my best to get her out of the mall as quickly as possible and come back without her. The people really didn't appreciate that Christmas greeting.

Most Filipinos have their big celebration on Christmas Eve. The ladies will cook all day, then go to a church service in the evening, return home, have a special meal at midnight together with all their family, then exchange gifts. It makes for a rather late night. So, I was surprised when the kids came ringing our doorbell at 7:25 on Christmas morning :)

The following week, however brings in the new year, and that is a fabulous celebration!

On December 30th, small little roadside stands appear, lining the major streets, one butting up against the other. They all are selling fire-works, including the big flowers like you watch for 4th of July. Also along those stands are fruit stands selling round fruit. There is a belief that if you give someone 12 pieces of round fruit, they will have good luck throughout the year, one piece for each month. So, as you can imagine, half of the road is blocked with traffic from the fireworks and fruit stands. It is a sight to behold.

Eventually, people start detonating their fireworks, with the anticipation of the grand finale at midnight, ringing in the new year. Imagine 30 million people each buying multiple big display fireworks! We sit on a hill overlooking most of Manila, and as the evening draws closer to midnight, the cacophony of explosions gets louder and louder. I had it described to me as sounding like popcorn popping....four 4-6 hours, non-stop. It is just mind-boggling to know that all over Manila, 30 million people are participating in the same party, celebrating the new-year coming and the old year going. This is our third New-Year Celebration we have shared here in the Philippines and every time I am dumbfounded by the experience. It always goes way beyond what I imagine it, even though I have experienced it three times!That is what I am going to count on this year....That God has things in store for us that will blow our mind, beyond what we imagine or expect, even though we think we can imagine it, or even if we think we have experienced it before!

I pray that your new year will be just like that! I look forward to hearing stories of how God has just blown us away by doing more than we ever imagined!!

Ephesians 3:16-21
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Amen and Amen!!!

Happy New Year!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-26T06:53:00.001+08:00

Celia

2010-12-01T11:49:00.002+08:00

My helper, Celia, has been having a small bible study in her home for several months now. One of our seminary graduates, Judy, has actually been leading it. There are about six of them that meet regularly. A couple months ago, Judy told me that Celia and the other women in the bible study all prayed to receive Jesus as their savior. All of these ladies are great Catholic women, but didn't know that Jesus was their High Priest and that they could go directly to God through Him. It was a great day!

Then last week, Celia came to me with a heavy heart. One of the ladies in the bible study with her, named Tata, has been without work for quite some time now, and times are really hard for Tata. Celia asked if it would be OK to give one of her work days to Tata, who has worked in many peoples homes. I was fine with that. Mostly, though, I was really touched by Celia being willing to give up one day of work for her friend to have one day. Celia makes about $7/day, and she is a little on the high end for her line of work.

We made a plan for Tata to come and help Celia on Wednesdays. Wednesday came and Tata didn't show up. We weren't sure what happened, so Celia went out to find out what happened. She was excited when she came back. As soon as Celia had offered to Tata the extra day, someone had contacted Tata for a part time job...not just one day a week, but 4 days!

God provided for Tata, but most importantly, for Celia, God showed her that sometimes when we surrender and do what he asks of us, we get it back in return. Not only did Celia get the peace of offering the day to Tata, but she also got the financial assurance that God is still looking out for her finances.

Trust God with your finances! :)

Where does the time go???

2010-10-03T19:35:00.006+08:00

I really am not sure how we have been here already five months. It has zoomed by!
The boys safely arrived the end of July after a great summer staying with their Aunt Elaina and Uncle Ric. We basically got them off the airplane, showered and sent them off to school (actually there was a couple days in between). All four of our kids are going to school at the same place, as Mari has started pre-school there! It is really fun! This is the only year it will ever happen :)
We spent the summer months with two different college interns. One from PLNU, Kate, and one from NNU, Ryan. It was such a blessing having them here with us this summer. It is so fun orienting people to the Philippines, showing them the fun differences and similarities to our home culture.Andy got the opportunity of going to Thailand with his volleyball team. They played in a tournament with other Asian schools and got 3rd place! We are excited for them and for the great opportunity they had of going and being a witness to the other teams there. He enjoys playing volleyball, but both Andy and Luke are counting down the days until they can start playing rugby. They LOVE that!

Eric and I worked together and provided childbirth education classes to three couples all associated with APNTS. It was a lot of fun working together, teaching and encouraging them. One of the couples delivered a beautiful little girl three weeks ago. We got to meet her for the first time today at church and it felt like we were meeting a little niece.

We got to spend some time with some friends from Papua New Guinea while they passed through Manila. We tried to collect several of us who had been to PNG at one time or another, and shared a meal together in our home. It was a fairly large crowd :) (plus a couple extras).

The gang in Eric's office is ramping up to do a call campaign for Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NCM). They will be making phone calls via the internet to every local churches missions president, across the US, almost 5000 people! This is the fourth year the group has done this call campaign. The intention is to make the missions presidents aware of available materials to help get the word out about NCM and the World Evangelism Fund. Each phone call includes a "real-time" prayer between the caller and the missions president. Once again, we get to experience the mission field calling "home." Please be praying for this group as they prepare for this awesome opportunity. The first calls will begin on October 18th.

These past seven weeks have been riddled with sickness in our home. With the exception of about 6 days, there has been someone in bed with a fever and aches and pains. Our schedules had to be adjusted quite a bit. Luke has just come down with it again last Wednesday. There are a lot of people really fighting sickness this month. We know that several of you have been lifting our health up to the Lord, and we really appreciate it.

Thank you all for the way you keep us in your prayers. It is essential!

May God grow you and bless you today!

In service together,
Eric and Linda

As time goes by...

2010-06-15T13:43:00.002+08:00

We have had a few fun experiences lately that have been encouraging to us.

We joined the youth church that meets in the backyard of our old home. We were unsure of how they were doing. We just dropped in on them and surprised them. There were approximately 20 people there. We were thrilled to see them functioning on their own. We really believe that our primary job is to encourage and pray, side by side with the people the Lord puts in our paths. They were working on scripture memorization and singing and praying for one another. God is working still amongst them. Please continue to pray for the Sampalukan Nazarene Church!

This weekend, we were able to go up into the mountains to the town of Baguio. Eric and the IT team went up to the Luzon Nazarene Bible College to do an assessment of their computer needs. The team plans to do a work and witness trip up there in the next few months. We attended church at the Pico Church of the Nazarene while we were there. This church suffered terribly back in October when a typhoon (hurricane) caused landslides in their area. The church lost 16 members in just a few moments. It was good to be with them and see that they are healing. It was good to see how they are moving forward in their spiritual lives. God is at work among them. Please pray for the believers and pre-believers in the Pico church and surrounding area, as they continue to heal.

I love how God continues to work day in and day out. I personally prefer quick answers and solutions, but a lot of time we just have to keep going and wait for what is to come. As time goes by, God continues to be Lord of the universe and King of Kings.
I am reminded of Isaiah 40:28-31
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

It is always fun to look back and see the places where the Lord has worked over time. It gives me courage for tomorrow :)

"Vacation" is over!

2010-05-11T05:02:00.004+08:00

We have safely returned to the Philippines from our home assignment. Our travels were completely uneventful and everything went smooth as silk. The flight from San Francisco was not very crowded and the kids each got to sprawl out and sleep. We have left the two big boys back in the care of their Aunt Elaina to finish out their school semester and to work for the summer. This is an interesting new phase for our family. The boys are excited about it and are enjoying themselves so far.

We have been unpacking lots of boxes as we are moving into our new home. God has given us a great blessing of a beautiful home up on a hill, with a beautiful view, and a beautiful breeze! We are so very thankful for our new place. The Field Strategy Coordinator and his wife will be moving back to the states in August, and they previously resided here, but moved out early so that we could settle in. We are truly grateful to them for going to that effort. This is also the same home that we went to after our other house flooded back in September.

Eric will be going back to the office tomorrow, and he is eager to dive back in. I will be heading to the clinic also. We have missed our friends and are eager to get caught up on what has happened in peoples lives while we have been away.

Our home assignment time was wonderful! It was a real time of spiritual renewal for both of us. After we arrived back in the states around Christmas, we were both very "spent." We did take our vacation at the beginning of our home assignment and basically just spent it recovering and being with family and celebrating Christmas.

We were blessed to speak 45 different time while in the states, and each time we got to be with members of the body of Christ. It always amazes me how fabulous the Followers of Christ are. We really enjoy meeting our brothers and sisters. We were so happy to connect with so many of you. Of course, we were grieved to not be able to connect with so many of you.

One great story we would like to share with you from our home assignment happened in Fowlerville, Michigan. Fowlerville Church has been especially kind to us. When we were there in their church, they took us to a place called Christian Resource International http://cribooks.homestead.com/ and told us to pick out 300lbs of books and they would send them to us in the Philippines! In the warehouse, there was a language section with a small section of Tagalog. As Eric glanced at the small section, he noticed a Tagalog Bible, just like the one he lost when our house flooded. Who would have ever suspected that in Michigan, there would be a Tagalog Bible! We were also able to replace the Bible Andy lost in the flood. It was such an exciting time picking out books that we knew would be of benefit to our peers here in the Philippines.

Many people think that furlough, or home assignment is a time of vacation. As I already mentioned, we spoke 45 times between January 31 and May 1, and we were in ten different states: California, Nevada, Idaho, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma. We successfully had two surgeries (both minor), and several medical and dental check-ups and procedures. We home-schooled our kids in the middle of all that (thanks to the help of Eric's sister, Elaina), and got Mari to ballet when we were in the area. Sound like your dream vacation? I must say, the lovely beaches on the Philippines are calling my name very loudly!

Sunday, we had the joy of going to a special Family Camp service where many of the youth from the church that was organized in our back yard, Sampalukan Nazarene Church, were in attendance. There was a time of testimony, and Mark Anthony, the leader of the Sampalukan church, stood and shared with all of us. As tears were streaming down his 17 year old face, he shared with us how God has been changing and transforming his heart. He expressed his gratitude to many of us who have been shepherding and discipling him. It was a beautiful thing to see and hear. Please continue to pray for Mark Anthony as he leads the church.

We are so happy to be back. God has really been gracious and kind to us in preparing us for our return, Thank you to all of you who have joined with us in this journey. Thank you so much for your prayers! They are more precious to us than anything! Thank you to all of you who have given financially, in this tough, tough time. We pray that God will show you His faithfulness as you obey his promptings.

God bless you all!

Ephesians 4:1 "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received."

Visa Update

2009-10-26T15:34:00.003+08:00

I just wanted to let you all know that we were granted a two month extension for our visa renewal process. This was a big relief. It does create still a bit of a snag, for Andy. He is taking drivers education this semester in hopes of getting his license when we get to the states at Christmas time. However, we need the visa to get his driving permit. Of course, add in the abdominal surgery, and we have quite a quandary for our now 17 year old learning to drive. It was hard on him last year on his birthday to not be getting his license. Yesterday was his 17 th birthday and the cold hard facts are settling in that he might not get to drive still. I keep telling him that I would really rather he learned how to drive in the states, not hear. I just can't imagine the difficulty trying to relearn everything once in the states. God knows and we are resting in that. Andy, by the way is doing really well. He will return to school tomorrow.

Our remaining 6 1/2 weeks here will be full of adventure! Eric just left last night on an IT missions trip down to the Bible College in Cebu. There are six of them. They will be working on the computer system at the college for three days. They have been planning on this trip for several months now and we are excited that it worked for them to all go. Eric will fly from there to Singapore for some meetings.

Next week, we have three medical mission teams coming into the area for the week. There will be one team on the APNTS campus and the other two will go outside of the city. It will be fun having them here. Please be praying for the members of these teams as they come and offer their knowledge and help. Teaming up with them will be several local Filipino doctors and students who want to be involved.

After that, we will try and get everything boxed up and put into storage so that it can be high and dry while we are gone :)

More Drama...but Resting in Powerful Arms and Strong Hands

2009-10-20T08:46:00.002+08:00

First….you need an update on how things are going, then on to more drama in our lives.

Last week on Wed, we got clearance to move into an apartment on the APNTS campus! We will be there through the end of our term! It is a furnished apartment so we are able to pack up our things at our other house to prepare for home assignment. There was a time last week when we were actually “living” in three houses at the same time. Hmmm…I find that a bit awkward considering there are many people who have no home at all right now. Actually, we were (and still are) trying to get our belongings out of our flooded home, getting our clothes, etc., from our directors home, and moving into our temporary apartment…talk about confusing J

The clean-up is still on-going at the house, but making great progress. Yesterday, the contractor came in to begin with the necessary repairs. The neighborhood is coming along well…the garbage has finally been picked up and/or burned and things are beginning to take on the look that we grew accustomed to. The wall that fell into our driveway is cleaned up and being re-built. Some of our neighbors are still working to clean things up, and some of our neighbors are gone, either for good, or for the duration of the rainy season. On one hand there is a strong overtone of new beginnings and conquering the devastation of the flood. People are just moving on and getting on with life. However, there is still a stench that remains. It is the stench of the mud, but it represents so much loss and fear.

As we watched the pictures of the repeated events up in the Northern Part of the Philippines, we watched with a much greater understanding. When we first arrived here, we spent our first week up in Baguio at the Luzon Nazarene Bible College, and we were oriented by Pastor Galino and his wife Melinda. We attended their church and shared meals with many of their church members. Their church suffered great loss from the landslides last weekend. They lost 16 church members to the landslides. On Wednesday Morning they held a funeral service for all 16 members. Five of those members were one entire family. This is such a difficult time for our friends all over the Philippines. These last two storms have stolen almost 1000 lives due to the actual storm, or the diseases that are pursuing them.

Thursday as we were trying to move into the apartment, Andy began feeling very sick. He was suspicious of what he ate for lunch. As the evening progressed, it looked as though maybe it was something that he ate. However, the next day he did not improve and started having localized pain in his right lower quadrant of his abdomen. At about 5 in the afternoon, I ran him down to the Hospital close by and requested some blood work (you can do that here), and discovered that his white blood cell count was very high. I called Eric and told him that we needed to get Andy to the emergency room (not the one we drew blood at). The long and short of it is that by 1130 that night, Andy was having surgery to remove his appendix. We are giving praise to the Lord for pushing me to get him in because it wasn’t too bad. If I had waited another day, it would have been much worse. Praise the Lord! He came home on Sunday and is doing remarkably well. He is a bit discouraged about the fact that there will be no rugby for him this season.

Last bit of drama….we have been working on getting our Visa’s renewed. They are to expire October 22. Two weeks ago, we got word that there would be an extension of time given to renew our visas because they don’t have them finished yet. However, yesterday we just got word that we might not get the extension. What does that mean? I do not know! Please pray that we don’t have to deal with visa drama on top of everything. I believe we might have to take a trip out of country and come back in as visitors, but having a child who just had abdominal surgery, I don’t really see that as a good option.

Yesterday as I was reading the Word, I came upon this verse….Psalm 89:8 “O Lord God Almighty! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, LORD? Faithfulness is your very character.” We have truly felt Gods faithfulness throughout these crazy, chaotic days, and trust him entirely. Later on verses 10-13 say “You are the one who crushed the great sea monster (in Hebrew this represents chaos). You scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours: everything in the world is yours—you created it all. You created north and south. Mount Tabor and Mount Hermon praise your name. Powerful is your arm! Strong is your hand! Your right hand is lifted high in glorious strength!”

We praise the Lord for the way he is daily sustaining us and holding us in His powerful arms and strong hands J

We pray that you are feeling His powerful arms and strong hands today! They are always there!!!

I added more pictures to the flood album. If you want to see them, go to this address...

http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/2009CamdenFloodAlbum

Flood Update

2009-10-08T15:42:00.001+08:00

Our dear friends and family,

We are feeling the loving arms of our heavenly father through this crazy time!!! It is such a challenge being the recipient of ministry rather than being the ones ministering. However, it has been an amazing journey watching the body of Christ rise up and take care of the whole situation.

We have had incredible amounts of help in our home! There are no words that can truly express how grateful we are to those who have come in and gotten muddy and even possibly sick while helping us through this huge mess. The most of the mud is gone!!! YEAH!!! There are still tell tale signs of mud everywhere, but they too are slowly disappearing.

We got our car back yesterday and it is running!!!! Our dear friend Nanding jumped right on it and we have it back. The external damage from the wall falling on it was really minor! It’s almost as though the LORD had his hand on it as it gently lay down on our car. There are some dents and scratches, but very, very minor. The seats are clean but drying and we are trying to expedite the process with some light bulbs inside the car. We won’t be driving it for a few days in order to give it time to dry.

We have three young boys coming to help break up the wall and start getting that cleaned up. We are paying them to do the work, and it is so awesome to be able to help them provide an honest wage for their family.

We have an electrician coming today to check our appliances (washer, dryer, freezer, stove and ref) and then we will know more what we have to deal with there. All of our small appliances have been taken in to the shop for cleaning and hopefully repair. Of course, there are multitudes of small appliances in all the shops, so it could be a while.

We have new couch cushions and mattress on order and they will be done in a few weeks. The wood furniture has all been scrubbed and dried. The cloth couch has been scrubbed and washed, not sure what the outcome of that one will be, but we gave it a good attempt.

The blisters on the walls have subsided some, but a lot of those blisters popped. It is really amazing thinking about the simplicity of cleaning up a cement wall as compared to a sheet rock wall! The walls will all need to be re-painted.

We pulled the pantry out from under the stairs because it was all press-board that expanded and stunk REALLY bad! BLECK! We also had to rip out some of the uprises on the stairs. All the doors are ruined and will need to be replaced.

We think the kitchen cabinets will need to be pulled out also because they have been through four floods, but have never soaked for 36 hours before.

We have decided that we will not go back in the house. We do not yet know what we will do. We will have some sort of temporary housing during the remaining 10 weeks of this term, and then make decisions when we return here in May of next year. We will have to pack up our stuff and figure out what to do with it in the mean time. Please pray for very clear direction in this.

It is amazing to watch other people respond to the flood. Just in our neighborhood as I drive back to our house, I see piles and piles of garbage. All stuff that used to be something assumed as necessary. Some places I see it just tossed into a heap. Some places I see it stacked orderly. Some places I see children rummaging through it to find something they could sell, or use themselves. Some places I see old men or women collecting wood pieces, either for firewood or for re-building. Some houses are meticulously washing and cleaning everything. Other places are discarding everything and starting over. Most everyone has gotten their car running, at least to a certain degree.

The grocery stores are settling down, and the lines are not quite so long. There isn’t the panic in the air that there was last week. The stores are still low on some foods. I noticed yesterday that the cheap food is completely picked over and there is none left. However, there is plenty of the imported stuff. No one can afford it now.

The kids have all gone back to school. The people have all gone back to work, and it’s almost like nothing happened. But you look around and it’s obvious that something happened. I saw a lady walking down the street yesterday wrapped in a sheet.

Remember the old saying about Timex watches? “It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin!’” That’s what Philippi no people are like. The majority of the people in this area were affected by the flooding, and everyone is just doing their part, getting things put back together. I know so many people are really hurting because of lost loved ones. I have heard many heart breaking stories. But, I have also heard a lot of great stories about people helping others, and of people calling out to God and finding Him. I’ve seen people reach out and help. I’ve seen people offer themselves and their money. AMAZING! There are a lot of people/organizations giving food donations. It is fun to drive somewhere and see a mob of people and realize that someone is passing out food. It can be dangerous, but it is happening.

One of the things I see myself and many others battling is discouragement. I know that Satan is having a great time discouraging people. 1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” BUT, Eric read to me another verse Monday morning that has really encouraged me and given me a great boost…Jer 20:11 “But the LORD stands beside me like a great warrior. Before Him my persecutors will stumble.” Satan is my persecutor, and I am watching him stumble and fall.

Please pray for all of us to remember that our LORD does stand right beside us like the great warrior. That is awesome! Unfortunately, there are a lot of folks who don’t know that.

Sept 26, 2009 The Flood

2009-10-02T11:25:00.000+08:00

Saturday, September 26 in my daily Bible, it reads,

“Save me O God, for the floodwaters are up to my neck….But I keep right on praying to you, LORD, hoping this is the time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation. Pull me out of the mud; don’t let me sink any deeper! … Don’t let the floods overwhelm me, or the deep waters swallow me, or the pit of death devour me.” Psalm 69:1,13-15

We knew there was a storm coming in, just a “tropical storm” and not a typhoon. No problem! What we didn’t know is the amount of rain that would accompany it. We have experienced knee deep water so many times in our driveway that we have gotten a bit relaxed with the possibilities of our home flooding. After a lot of rain during the night, I checked the driveway about 9:00 am and saw that the street our driveway connects to was already running with water. We decided we probably wouldn’t be going anywhere for a while. By 10:00, Eric went out to check a drain in the driveway and the water was already to his knees. The rain was not letting up at all and we decided the water might come inside the house. We directed the kids (praise GOD we were all home together!!!!) to start taking stuff upstairs to one of the bedrooms. We started with food and water and moved to electronics and books and whatever else we could salvage

At 10:45 the water took up residence in our home, waltzing through the front door. 11:06, the water came over the gate to the back yard and started filling up the yard inside our wall (that protects us from floods….all the other floods that is).
11:11 Most of us were upstairs, but Andy was in his bedroom on the landing trying to get a few thing up, just in case it got in there (none of us thought it could possible get that high). At 11:12 there was an eerie rumble and very loud crack followed by the sound of rushing, turbulent water. Our neighbor’s wall that we park next to had broken and all the water behind it burst into our yard, forcing a wall of water over our protective wall and into our house.

The water level reached it’s highest at about 3:00. We praise the Lord that it didn’t get any higher, because about this time, we started noticing there was a current going through our house and out our back gate. We rejoiced as we noticed the level dropping about an inch, then four inches, and we were beginning to feel a sense of relief that the water would soon run off. Unfortunately, we didn’t know that all the waterways in this entire area were flooded, the water had no where to go. We went to bed(earlier than normal because we only had one candle upstairs) knowing that all of our belongings were floating around below us. I kept trying to talk myself into thinking about all those times as a kid that I slept on the lake J No matter how I tried, it just wasn’t the same.

The sun rose and the water was still 3 or 4 feet deep. We thought we would just wait out the day, knowing that eventually the water would recede. The boys decided that it would be fun to try fishing off the roof. We watched from the windows and from the roof as underwater life rose to the surface of the water leaving its tell-tale rings. There are a lot of fish and fresh water eels that end up in this type of flood. One of our neighbors was seen tossing a one foot long fish out of his belongings J

We had no idea what was happening all around us. It is a strange feeling knowing that so many people’s lives are being completely altered all at the same time. I was simply thinking about our immediate neighbors, not for a minute was I thinking this was such a wide spread disaster. We knew that there were probably people being swept away in currents, never to be seen again. We knew that the squatter houses along the water ways were being demolished. We knew that our neighbor was praying fervently for his sisters two boys who were missing. The water that yesterday seemed so hostile, today seemed so calm, almost soothing, but it was contributing to an eerie silence, a silence that was void of roosters, tricycles, jeepney horns, and other motors.

However, through the silence, began the chatter and laughter of our neighbors. Despite the horrors of the day before, I heard singing. I heard laughter. I heard conversation. I heard the hope of a new dawning. As the sun rose in the sky, I was so happy to have the light back! I was reminded of Isaiah 60:20 “The LORD will be your everlasting light. Your days of mourning will come to an end.”

As the boys were fishing, Tata (one of the employees in the Field Office) waded into our yard and told us he was here to fetch us. We gathered a few items and waded through thigh high water to dry ground. It was very devastating walking through the house and seeing the very thing I was imagining upstairs. The disaster of the home we have tried to establish over these two years was demolished. There was mud and muck on every surface.

We are staying with our Field Strategy Coordinator and his wife. We do not have any answers yet to all of those questions floating around just like all the rubbish on the water. We are just taking it a day at a time and letting the LORD guide and direct our paths.

There has been an incredible number of people coming in and helping us clean up. Every day I am just dumb founded when students from the kids school come in and spend the day helping. We have had meals brought in. We have had people taking laundry to clean. We have had people who have been there every single day. We had one guy who went without sleep for 36 hours so he could spend the day helping us. We have had some of our kids from the youth group come and help us. It has been overwhelming!

The kids have not been back to school. The whole area has taken the entire week off for clean up. The students from our school have been grouping together and going out to the myriad of families affected and helping with clean-up. It is an amazing, dirty job. Fortunately, most homes are made of cement walls and floors, therefore, the cleanup is much easier than in a wood home with dry-wall. We give praise to God for that!

We will keep trying to give you info. Please keep praying. There are still places that are waist deep in water. We love you all and are happy to tell you that your brothers and sisters in Christ here have been so gracious to us!

We are the body of Christ!!!!

Ramon

2009-08-14T19:37:00.002+08:00

Ramon is one of the boys that regularly comes to the youth fellowship in our backyard on Sundays. He has grown very dear to our hearts. He speaks no English and we do our best to get by with our limited Tagalog. He comes from a very large and very poor family. Between one and two years ago, his mother passed away. He currently lives with his grandmother because his father left many years ago, and hasn't come back.

Ramon does not get to go to school. He is about 15 years old. He doesn't read. When we were doing a special program for the kids to earn a Bible, he was actively doing what was required, with the help of his peers, to earn his very own Bible. It was very important to him to earn his own Bible.

I first met Ramon outside our gate when he was selling fried bananas, known as "banana-que." It was his source of employment to contribute to their meager income. Since then, he has had a couple other jobs, but nothing that has lasted.

Last week, Ramon's brother, Edward, died of pneumonia.

Please pray for Ramon. This is the second death in his immediate family in the last two years. Edward died on Tuesday and Ramon was in our backyard on Sunday. He had his usual smile on his face and interacted with the group. But when we sang the song "God will make a way, where there seems to be no way," in Tagalog, he began weeping. Edward was very close in age to Ramon. We never saw Edward in our back yard.

For some people here in Manila, this is just a normal way of life.

Eric was able to go one evening to visit Ramon and his Grandmother. Although life is very difficult for them, they are a very gracious family.

Please pray for Ramon and his family as they mourn the loss of this young life. Please pray for Ramon's health. His health has slowly been deteriorating as we have been with him. Please pray for us as we have opportunity to minister to Ramon and extend the arms of Jesus to him. We love him dearly!

Summer

2009-08-03T10:51:00.004+08:00

Summer has held a lot of activities for us. The kids finished school on the 29th of May. They went back to school last Thursday, Aug. 6. They are feeling a bit like it's been a short summer :) Andy is now in his Junior year. Luke is a Freshman in High school, Jon is in 4th grade and Mari has just started a one day per week pre-school. We had a great summer.

We were able to take a crazy drive to the beach in June to go snorkeling/diving with another family and with one of the teachers from the school. We had a good time exploring the underwater creation :) We have found that under the water is one place there is not quite so many people. It is always fun to go exploring God's creation. We are blessed to be in a country where the underwater display is fabulous!!!

We were blessed to have spent the first year in this country quite healthy. Unfortunately, our second year has not been quite so healthy. We have spent several months this year fighting intestinal bugs, colds, sinuses., etc. Aside from the miserable intestinal bugs, they are quite similar to what we experience in the states. It seems we get close to being all well and someone else gets a bout of sickness. It is really making me more aware of how grateful I am for the times I am feeling healthy. It has also heightened my awareness to pray for encouragement to those who fight chronic illness.

Four years ago the global NYI voted to have their meetings done via video conference. We were blessed to be part of this here at the Manila site. That meant that Eric and his team were responsible for orchestrating the Internet capabilities. We were connected via video conference with Orlando, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, India, Africa, Europe, and India. It was as though we were all in the same meeting. We could talk to the folks in each place and make decisions as a truly global church! It was wonderful to be a part of the GA, and it was really exciting to be a part of history in the making. We were at the site for 10 days and it was a fun get-a-way, although not a relaxing vacation. What a blessing it was!!! The theme for the week was "Up all night!" In order to be involved in the meetings, we had to adjust to Orlando's schedule. We are just the opposite time schedule as Orlando. So, we had to stay "up all night."

We came home from the 10 days working with the GA to jump straight into registration for the students of APNTS. This year, because of the flu pandemic, we made all students go through the clinic for screening. It was a busy few days to see 80+ people, but it was so much fun to meet all the new students and to see all the returning students. I am blessed to be involved in their lives.

One year ago I was diligently searching for a close place (less than two hours drive) that was equipped to give Mari the therapy that she needs. I kept hitting road blocks and after a time, I just stopped searching. I told the Lord that I knew we were here because he wanted us here, so he needed to help me find the right place for Mari. One year later I received a call from my friend who said there was an opening in a close therapy center that is good. She suggested I call them right away. Within 5 minutes Mari was set up for weekly speech therapy! We went in for our first session and when it was over, we were also set up for weekly occupational therapy. Just this week we have been able to avail of another weekly session with a one-on-one pre-school teacher, who is specialized in special education! God has really opened up this door for Mari and we are truly rejoicing! The center is only 30-45 minutes away!!! We have met many new people there, and it is a doorway into a very hidden society here in this country. We are praising God for his provision for our precious daughter! She is also beginning one morning per week pre-school class at the same school the boys go to. This will give her the opportunity to socialize with other kids, rather than just being one-on-one with teachers. She has to have a parent in attendance in all these meetings, which has greatly impacted scheduling, but it's just part of life :)

We helped celebrate the 20th anniversary of one of our local churches by hosting a concert in our backyard. It was a fun afternoon. We had over 80 people in our backyard celebrating through praise and worship, and through the Word of God.

Our Sunday afternoon group had a donation of some medicine and so the leaders decided it would be great to do a medical outreach to the kids and their families and friends. Unfortunately the first day we had planned to do the medical outreach we were rained out, so we just postponed it a week. We had most of our regular kids and some of their family members, and some of their neighbors. It was a fun time. We just checked heart and lungs, weight, blood pressure, temperature and distributed the donated medicine.

We are now experiencing our third rainy season here. When we had our first flood, it was so exciting! It was about 14 inches deep and we were just in amazement of it. The first season was rather dry. Last year was a bit more rainy, and so far, this year is even more still. We have a special place where we can park our car to avoid flood damage to our car, and a special wall around the house so that we remain safe inside the house. After a certain amount of rain, the neighborhood transforms into a place similar to Venice, where all our streets are just rivers. However, we don't have the boats to traverse the rivers. This doesn't pose too big of a problem, just give it about one hour and it will run off. A couple weeks ago, we made the mistake of sleeping through a rain storm. It is such a nice lullaby :) While we were pleasantly sleeping, our car was getting bathed by waters contaminated by...I don't even want to think about it. So, four days later, we have our car back and it is sparkling clean and doesn't even stink. Needless to say, we might not be so lulled to sleep in the next rain.

I have been officially indoctrinated into the world of "motherhood." I know...you are thinking that we have four kids and our oldest is almost 17....what have I missed out all these years? Here is a really bad play on words to give you the only hint you need....it has been a "louse-y" time :) You have to figure it out!!! Welcome to motherhood in the tropics!

The time has come for us to begin the process of heading back to the States for Home Assignment. If you would like to schedule us to speak at your church, please go through the deputation secretary at headquarters. Our current schedule is on our blog. I have also posted some new pictures on the blog.

We love you all and are looking forward to seeing you all in person!

Oops!!

2009-04-28T19:51:00.003+08:00

It is always funny to me the mistakes we can make with our words. Unfortunately, sometimes they can get you into trouble, but other times it's just funny.

I noticed in my last post I wrote "We also went and visited a home for malnourished our unwanted babies." Two things, first, our babies (the four that aren't really babies anymore) are quite well nourished, and second, no matter how ornery they might get, they are always wanted :) Forgive me for my editing oversight. It was supposed to be "or."

So, here is another funny word mistake, only it involves two languages. Eric was riding home in a tricycle today (public transportation) and was chatting with the driver. Eric tried to ask the driver if he worked six or seven days per week. He tried first in Tagalog, then switched to a combination of Tagalog and English. The driver seemed to be thinking for a few minutes and then replied to Eric, "fried chicken, home fried!" Hmm...good thing we are still getting Tagalog lessons :) Eric simply went with it and told the driver, in Tagalog, that his (Eric's) grandmother made the best fried chicken. Nice recovery Eric!!! Maybe next time he will try again to ask how many days per week the driver works.

Andy and his classmates performed "Ruddigore," by Gilbert and Sullivan, this past weekend. It was a wonderful play, and they all did so well! We were proud of the kids. The cast was entirely made up of the High School students, and there was even a full orchestra, comprised of students and faculty. Here is a picture of Andy in his picture frame. He stood here for most of Act II.

We are working on trying to schedule our deputation services during our home assignment, January 1, 2010 through April 30, 2010. If you want to schedule a service, please contact us. We will keep our service schedule posted on our blog.

We love you all!

March and April

2009-04-23T14:39:00.011+08:00

We had the wonderful opportunity of having my (Linda's) parent's here for a 2 week plus visit! It was such a great time! We drug them all over Manila and introduced them to the life we live here. They especially loved the traffic :) We were very thorough and (accidentally) took them down one of the busiest streets on a Friday night! We wanted to make sure they had proper introduction to "traffic!" We took them on a tour of the APNTS campus, which included the Communications department, and the APRC department. We got to show them how we do technical support for all of the regions of the world. We got to show them where the phone calls are made for NCM and any other Call Campaigns we have done. We got to take them to the beach. We got to go to Corregidore Island which was so amazing!!! We also went and visited a home for malnourished our unwanted babies. If you would like to read about it, here is a link to the website. http://gentlehands.typepad.com/news/index.html I cannot begin to write all the amazing stories we heard there. Go look for yourself. You will get your heart tugged!!! Then we went to visit an orphanage and a birthing home. This is one of the few places here in Manila where the father can be involved in the birth of his child. It is an experience a lot of fathers here don't get to experience. I made sure to introduce Mom and Dad to one of the most amazing aspects of Manila, the sub-culture of the malls! For all of you shoppers reading this, really there is no greater place to go shopping :) Most of those clothes you buy in the US are made right here :) If you come for a visit, I would be happy to introduce you to the sub-culture of the malls too :) Mom and Dad got to meet the youth group that meets in our back-yard. We just had a wonderful visit. It was really a boost to our moral to have them come and see what we do and who we work with. Of course, the boys loved playing games with Papa!Mari celebrated her 4Th birthday while my parents were here. That was really fun! We are so blessed to have her in our family :) Her vocabulary in continually expanding, and thanks to Barney, the purple dinosaur, she is really learning some great stuff :) Please be praying with us about good direction as to how to go about educating her in the future. She probably could go to the same school that her brothers go to IF we get the proper teachers. BUT, we serve Jehovah Jireh, the Provider, and I know he will provide for her needs. While you are praying, could you tag on a request for a speech pathologist at the school? Not only does Mari need one, there are a lot of kids at our school that need one :) There are good speech pathologists here in Manila, but getting an appointment, getting TO them (through traffic...could be a two hour drive one way), and affording them are sometimes things we cannot do .

The last time I wrote, I shared with you the story about EJ dying from Diphtheria. We had to give 53 people antibiotics, then we were supposed to give them all an injection. Unfortunately, the Philippines has a very limited supply of these shots. But, once again, I serve Jehovah Jireh, and within not too much time, we were able to get the necessary injections. I have been in the process of making sure all of those people are getting their shots. It has kept me a bit busy. Thank you for your prayers for getting the needed shots.

We also have been blessed to have yet another WW team here on campus. This team was made up of two separate groups who joined together at the same time. Half of the group was from the east coast and the other half was from the west coast. It is so much fun to get to know more of our brothers and sisters from across the United States. It is also really fun to watch the team members fall in love with the people they get to meet. The timing of this team was especially helpful to me because one of the members on the team was a MD. When I found out, I recruited him to help me give the shots in the clinic. I think he enjoyed himself. I enjoyed allowing him the opportunity :)

Easter here in the Philippines is a very important holiday. This is a predominantly Catholic country, and there is a very large emphasis put on Holy Week. There are lots of activities that happen during this time. I got to really look and learn a little about one of the traditions on Palm Sunday. Available to purchase beginning Saturday night are "palms." The young coconut palm leaf is taken and woven into beautiful designs. They are then purchased either Saturday night, or Palm Sunday morning. They are carried to the churches where they are dipped in Holy Water and then brought home to bless the house.

The day before Easter, we had the other missionary families over to our house for coloring eggs and we had a BBQ together. It was a fun time. The kids also had their annual egg hunt, and they enjoyed that :)

April brought yet another birthday. I was the one receiving the blessing of yet another year on earth. My husband and some angels from home put their heads together and sent me to the symphony for my birthday. It was such a wonderful evening!!! It was like I was lifted up to a cloud and the breeze of heaven just blew right over me giving me a kiss on the forehead. Thanks to those of you involved :)

When we got home at 1130, we were handed the baton and took over the 40 people that were having a sleep-over in our back yard. The youth group that meets on Sunday's had their annual overnight. Unfortunately for them, about the time we arrived back to our house, so did the rain. They quickly scampered under cover, but couldn't do anything to keep their sleeping places dry. We made some quick modifications and soon enough, they all were under cover and dry. The following morning, Eric rose up at 4:30 and whipped up enough pancakes for all of them. God gave Eric the passage in John where the resurrected Jesus invited the fishing disciples to "come to breakfast." He got to share with the kids that Jesus always wants them to join Him. After filling their bellies with breakfast, and filling their hearts with the word of God, they headed home. They were on their way even before the sun was completely off the horizon. We sure love those kids!!! They have succeeded in worming their ways right into our hearts :)

These kids also had been spending the whole week helping in VBS. They are on summer vacation right now, and rather than participating, they got to learn how to be the leaders. There was a special graduation ceremony Sunday where the kids got to show off their memorization skills and the things they learned. The parents come out and see what they have done all week. As I looked around at all the younger kids, my heart swelled with the thought that some of those kids might be showing up in the youth group soon. Even if they don't, Jehovah Jireh provided them with His word, and they hid it in their hearts, and God promises to never let His word come back void! I hold on to that!!!

We also got to go to a small Bible study while there at the ceremony with the adults. Pastora Jahil took us back into the village, through lots of houses, up and over, in and out, and we stopped at a house with a big lot where they meet every Sunday. There were only two other ladies there. The home owner's name is Niyrbus. She is still seeking. Please pray for her and her family. The other gal's name was Haydee. She said she also has a study on Mondays she attends. We all got to share a verse and talk a bit. Very low-key, comfortable study :) Please pray for Pastora Jahil as she works in that village to bring Jesus into their homes.

Beginning tonight, Andy will be in the high school musical/drama. The school is doing Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore. We will be taking the group from APRC and the Communications department tonight for the opening night. Then our whole family will go again on Saturday. Andy has really enjoyed being involved in this. I am happy to see him branching out in his education/experience circle.

The Lord Will Be Your Everlasting Light

2009-02-05T16:04:00.000+08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

Isaiah 60:19-20 “The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light and your days of sorrow will end.” Praise the Lord!!!

We have had a really tough month here at APNTS. If you have been prompted to hold us up in prayer, we thank you so very much. There were times when I simply asked the Lord, “Please just put us on someone’s heart, to stand beside us in prayer.” I trust more in the Holy Spirit placing us on your heart that I do my email. J God is so faithful and we know that we are always in his hands. I recently heard someone say that all things that happen have been filtered through the loving fingers of our Heavenly Father. He loves us more than we can ever ask or imagine. Despite difficult times, God is our Savior J Despite difficult times, we learn more about his love and grace. Despite difficult times he refines us so that he can see His reflection in us J

EJ was the son of two of our employees who came to campus daily with his parents because he had no one at home to care for him and he wasn’t in school yet. EJ died of diphtheria. He was well one day and dead two weeks later. Because of the contagiousness of diphtheria, 53 people on our campus have had to be treated for prevention of the disease. We are currently trying to locate enough immunizations to give to these individuals also, but the country is having a shortage of diphtheria immunizations and they are very difficult to acquire.

Michael was one of our long time staff who had a rich heritage in the Nazarene church of the Philippines. His faith was a wonderful testimony to all who knew him. He was always smiling despite the fact that he had no functioning kidneys. He was always encouraging others to “fight the good fight.” Michael had been on dialysis for 4 ½ years. The Lord called him Home.

We have been walking through a dark valley with a friend who has needed help on her journey.

We know that our trials now are really fleeting, and that one day the Lord will be our everlasting light and there will be no more sorrow! We praise God for his faithfulness!

Blessings on each one of you!

Poverty

2009-01-08T15:31:00.004+08:00

Every day we are confronted with extremes here in this country. Being in the city, we see a lot of financial extremes. There are the very, very rich people, and of course, there are the very poor. I have never in my life seen poverty like is here in Manila. I thought I saw poverty in PNG, but it was very different. Yes, the people had no money, but it seemed they could always survive off the land. Here, the land seems to swallow it's people.

I was driving downtown yesterday and saw a mother and three children. Because I have been processing this poverty a bit more than usual, I really watched them. The mother was probably late 20's. She had three kids with her, guessing ages 4, 2, and under 6 months. They were seeking shelter under the overpass. I was stopped at a stoplight preparing to turn left. The place they were seeking refuge was between the lane I would be driving on to merge into the street I was turning onto. They were resting on a cement divider that was in the shape of a triangle with the wide part of the triangle up against the cement pole supporting the overpass. The triangle of cement stretched out like a bed for them to rest on. The mother was fussing over the three. The eldest seemed to be fighting taking a nap. She had the other two lying very systematically next to him. Arranged from eldest (next to the post) out to youngest, at the edge of the cement. She was watching over them as they took their afternoon nap. I just looked at her and wondered what or where she dreamed she would be at this stage of her life. She was dutifully caring for her kids, even though in the States she would have been turned in for neglect. I couldn't understand why she had chosen that place to rest, but as I thought about it, I realized that it was raining. There they had a dry place to rest their heads.

I have recently been introduced (not in person) to a painter from the Philippines, Joey Velasco. He has painted a picture called "Jesus and the Street Children." It is a picture of Jesus and what appears to be the "Last Supper," but instead of the 12 apostles, it is 12 street children. I have given you a link http://www.metacafe.com/w/yt-bzYgSJCPEtYwhere you can see the picture and watch a video about the painting and how it came to be.

I hope you have a few minutes to go watch this video. It is broken into 13 segments...quick ones. These are the children that come knocking on my window when I am stopped at an intersection, asking me for food. These are the children who have grown up and come to my gate asking me for money. These are the kids that come into my back yard on Sunday afternoon for church. These are the little girls that come to my gate every Monday morning collecting plastic containers for recycling.

If you can't watch the entire video, it's OK.

My prayer is that God will just give me a heart like his and that I will always look at every possible encounter with another soul as a divine appointment, made by Jesus himself.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-12-31T09:03:00.002+08:00

The New Year is breathing down our neck! Whew!!! Where has this year gone? New Year's in Manila is quite a sight! The streets are lined with Fire Work Vendors that set up shop just for the festivities. Some people, like our kids (Luke specifically) are enjoying the ability to legally play with fireoworks. Tonight the city will begin to sound like war has broken out....the sky will become like a festival, and eventually, the fireworks will be obliterated by the smoke from all the display.

We will be having a year-end worship service in our back yard with our friends from the neighboring subdivision Sampalukan and our friends from the Cainta Church of the Nazarene. They will be combining groups and meeting in our backyard so those from Sampalukan won't have to pay for transportation to Cainta. They will be meeting between 6 and 8pm, then we will go up to the kids school where we have full view of Manila from the hills of Antipolo.

We have recently gone through some mission strategy training and it was just superb!!! We are excited to see what God has in store for the coming year. We focussed on the divine appointments that God arranges for us to connect with people who need Jesus in their lives. We focussed on the importance of intentionally connecting with people that God places in your path. It was a great time!

When we returned home, we were trying to make up for being gone and the need to ready for two Christmas parties back to back happening in our back yard, one on Sunday and one on Monday. As I was hanging up Christmas lights in our back yard, one of our neighbors whom we have never met, was at our back gate excitedly saying, "MA'AM, excuse me, I am your neighbor! MA'AM, excuse me, I am your neighbor!" I went to the gate to introduce myself, finding this rather funny, especially concerning the focus of our previous week. After we made proper introductions, he proceeded to tell me that the previous night/morning at about 1:30 AM, there was a big snake (probably a python) about 6-9 feet and the diameter of a mans forearm trying to get into his yard, from our yard. He had shooed it back into our yard and called the neighborhood security. They arrived at our gate and beat on our gate for some time, but were unsuccessful at waking us, so they left us to our sleep, and to our snake. Our neighbor had come to alert us to this new visitor in our yard. He was especially concerned because he knew we had kids in our yard every Sunday. He even asked if he could come sometime :) We decided we better call the security to have our yard searched. Four guys came with big sticks and big bags to hunt for our guest, but they were unsuccessful in finding him. We later learned that there have been four other pythons killed in the surrounding lots recently (I was not able to get the word "recently" defined).

The funny thing in all of this is that through our snake, we were able to meet 5 new people in our neighborhood, plus the four snake hunters :) We later took our new friends Christmas cookies. We are praying for our neighborhood, and are looking forward to knowing the "rest of the story" in regards to meeting people through the "snake" in our backyard.

We think of you all so often, especially during the holidays. As the Lord brings you to our minds, we hold you up in prayer. We are richer people because the Lord has given us the blessing of your friendship. We pray that during this new year, you will come to know our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in a new way and that your relationship with Him will strengthen and deepen and you will hunger and thirst for more and more of Him.

Blessing to you all!

100 Years!!!

2008-10-07T07:41:00.005+08:00

Just like in 1908, we celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene by walking around our tent waving our hankies :) The day started with a celebratory service in our church in Taytay. We had a big choir singing the songs written specifically for this celebration. There was a big brass band (about 25 people), the children marched in with all the flags of the countries the church of the Nazarene is in, then we had a presentation by the Color Guard. We had the pleasure of taking in 100 new members in the morning service, 94 as profession of faith, and 6 as member transfers. What an exciting moment! Just the Saturday before, there were 103 people baptized. We were challenged by Dr. Silvernail to live a life of Holiness! And we were reminded that the old fashioned idea of waving the hankie was done in surrender to our Savior and Lord.

After the morning service, we took a lunch break and re-convened on the APNTS campus for a district wide celebration. Just as people were arriving, the rains also arrived. The four tents that had been carefully placed over the desired seating just wasn't enough. Quickly another two tents were raised in order to house all the sound equipment and the expected 1500 plus people. The rain plus all the people made quite an exciting walk through the slippery grass. Some folks just took off their shoes and quit fighting the mud.

There were several presentations by churches from the district. The youth group that meets in our back yard was one of the presenters. It was a real treat for us to watch as the teens did their presentation of "Shout to the Lord" with sign language and choreography. Rather than spending money on gloves for each person, they came up with the idea of taking water base paint and making their hands white. Genius! We also had a 100+ person choir that presented the "One" song created for the occasion, Battle Hymn of the Republic, and the Hallelujah chorus. We were again challenged by Dr. Silvernail. We ended the evening with a wonderful time of prayer for God to move among us and to empower us to be Holy! As we waved our hankies, we walked the muddy, slippery perimeter of one of the tents and sang together "It's a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, washed in the blood of the Lamb..."

Got him!!!

2008-10-06T12:47:00.002+08:00

Here is our house guest. All I can say is by having such a large rat, I feel a bit assured that there isn't a large snake out there eating the rats. However, I hope there aren't little rats attracting the cobras.

(Notice the mouse trap beside him....I just don't think that would have even threatened him)

Floods and Pests

2008-09-30T19:54:00.006+08:00

I though I would put up some pictures from our flood last week...we did actually start moving stuff upstairs in case the water actually came in the house. Our home, for those of you who don't know this, is in an old rice patty. Hmmm. Our whole subdivision is. There is a stream that goes by our house...a bit away, but when the sky let's loose, the stream comes for a visit. There is a history of our home (which is owned by the Nazarene Philippine Field) being flooded with three feet of water as the record, but with many times coming inside the house, just not that high. Therefore, surrounding the house is a sealed, cement block wall. There are gates that we can open during dry season, but they are able to be sealed off during rainy season. Our driveway is also equipped with a ramp...somewhat like an oil changing ramp, for our car to rest on dry land when it does flood. There have been some very prudent missionaries living in this house who have gone to a lot of effort to keep the inside of the house dry. We are grateful to them!

(This is the driveway on a normal day...)

(The back yard floods after the front)

(The picture below is inside the wall...starting to get concerned!)

(This is the following day. The water was over the top of this bridge)

(There is a new building being excavated for here and the wall along the street fell due to the flood.)

The morning after the flood, I went to grab a "box" of milk out of the pantry and my finger went right into the milk. Scared me half to death...yes, I'm a little jumpy at times. I looked down at the box and this is what I found. Fortunately, the hole was chewed on the top of the box and not the bottom....

Then the next day I was watering my plants and noticed that one had some strange "dust" on it. I looked closer and noticed on the ledge beside it was a bunch of wood shavings...

I looked up (which was the only direction there was any wood and this is what I found...

(The hole is the size of a golf ball)

It appears that we have a stow-away in our home. Hopefully soon I can tell you the end of the story. In the mean time, I will probably be walking the house with a rather large stick!

I took the dog outside on the lawn to bathe him and discovered he was being the carrier of a family of ticks. I had even put the medicine on the back of his neck so he won't get them. Hmm possibly the medicine didn't work?

As he was out on the cement drying (after I had carefully sprayed all the dirt off the patio) I noticed that there were these slug-like, worm-like things heading toward him and he was having a fit! I called my helper to the back yard and asked her what they were. She got a little panicky and stomped on them and say "these are bad, bad! They will suck your blood!" Ewww! They were leeches!

Some days here I am blissfully ignorant to the wild-life that takes place all around me. I think I prefer to not know there are rat's trying to bunk with us. I would prefer to not have my dog providing nourishment for the local tick family, and, I CERTAINLY didn't want to know that the back yard that I let Mari play in, barefooted, is the home of leeches.

Well, despite yucky flood waters and pests, we still are still very grateful to be here. Fortunately, the good things outweigh the bad :)

At least it has been over a year since I have been awarded this orientation to our new home :)

Interceding

2008-09-16T15:00:00.006+08:00

Recently, Eric found a great story in The Prayer Shield written by C. Peter Wagner. It has really given me a lot to think about. I want you to experience it as written by Peter Wagner ......

"In the days soon after the Iron Curtain had come down, John Maisel had made another of his frequent trips to the Eastern bloc. This time he lectured on "Is Jesus God?" at Moscow State University, then to a crowd of 20,000 to 30,000 in Bucharest, then home to their base in Vienna. Jane[a personal prayer partner of the author and his wife], in Dallas, was much in prayer for him. The lecture turned out to be excellent and many were saved. Obviously the forces of darkness were greatly upset, not only by Maisel's lecture in Moscow, but by the power channeled through Jane's intercession in Dallas.

On One of those nights at 2:00 A.M., Jane was awakened by the presence of an incredible force of darkness there in her room. She says, "I battled in prayer and still it was more than I could handle. It drained my whole energy and life support system. I couldn't move--I was totally paralyzed." As she communed with the Holy Spirit she was assured that John himself was in no particular danger at that time. She sensed that "this powerful force of darkness had been sent to destroy John, but it had attacked me because I was standing in the gap." At the peak of the battle, Jane cried out for reinforcements, both angels and intercessors. God sent then both.

In the twinkling of an eye, Jane sensed an angel come into the room and usher out the spirit of darkness. The battle was over but Jane felt limp and drained. Then a fever and laryngitis came. But she rejoiced that the victory had been the Lord's.

The next morning the answering machine in Jane's office recorded a call from Cindy Jacobs who, like Jane, is one of my 19 personal prayer partners. Jane returned her call and routinely asked Cindy how she felt. Cindy's response was unforgettable. "I'm fine, Jane," she said, "but the question is how are you? What was that incredible force of darkness in your room at 2:00 A.M.? That was one of the most powerful principalities I have encountered! I was doing battle with you in intercession until its power was broken!"

We really want you to know how grateful we are to those of you who hold us up in prayer!

I hope this is encouraging to those of you who are fiercely doing battle for loved ones, friends or co-workers.

The best part about all of this is that Jesus is interceding to God on behalf of my requests and your requests! He is so great!!!

Our prayers are not in vain!

Umbrella Part 2

2008-09-12T12:19:00.003+08:00

Wednesday...It had been pouring since about 11:00 that morning and after the rains the other night, I knew it was going to flood quite easily again. It was about 1:00 pm and I got the message from the school that there would be no after school activities because of flooding in Manila. The kids would all be sent home at 2:00, and if they rode the school service vans (aka school busses), then those would still be running.

Our boys usually arrive at about 2:25 when they ride the service vans, so at about that time I went outside to open the gate to make the delivery easier in the heavy rain. I was greeted with the creek yet again at the gate. Now, having just been driving in the flood waters the day before, I knew how deep the waters had to be between here and the school for it to be at my gate.

There were several men working on the house next door, and had decided to quit working in the deluge. That made me feel a little better since they were standing on some scaffolding. They were seeking shelter next to our gate, and just watching the creek rise. I finally discovered that they were actually waiting for a truck to come pick them up, and not just hanging out.

I moved the car up on the "ramp" to keep it out of the flood waters and went inside to wait for some word from the kids. I knew that they were with the bus driver, but what I didn't know was what exactly he was going to do with them. I knew that there was a significant chance that he would be sitting out on the main road, just waiting for the rains first to quit, then to run off. I knew that it was highly possible that he was just going to tell them to walk (or swim) home. I was not particularly excited about this idea. I phoned Andy (because of the different transportation styles we have, it is not good for kids to be without cell phones here), and discovered that he wasn't with his brothers, but that he was going to a friends house. Hmmm.

3:00 came and went and I hadn't heard anything from the kids. By this time, our driveway was covered in 8 inches of water, at the shallowest point. The other night is wasn't even covering the entire driveway. I know the service vans are taller than my car, so I knew that they could get through deeper water than I could.

I decided that I probably could text the bus driver (send him a note on his cell phone) and at least tell him he won't be able to get to the front gate. We do have a back gate that doesn't flood quite so rapidly. I suggested that he drop the boys at the back gate.

I kept going outside to see the water level and it just kept rising.

3:15 I heard whistling at the back gate...the whistles of two boys :)

I can't even imagine driving through what the driver had to in order to get me my kids.

I am very thankful for the school service vans!

The water receeded by about 5:00 :) It really runs away fast.

The first picture is out our back gate looking toward our street...if you went on down the "river," and turned right, the next right is the front entrance to our house.

Where is your umbrella?

2008-09-09T19:22:00.005+08:00

Hi again!

I am always amazed at the amount of water that comes out of the sky here in Manila...especially as it accumulates on the ground and in the streets :) Yesterday we had two really heavy showers within about four hours of each other that rendered some pretty exciting moments.

The first storm started about the time I went up to the school to take Andy to the doctor for a strange rash on his foot/leg. I was a little dismayed that I had gone out in the middle of the sunny day without my umbrella, yet again. As Andy and I slowly climbed the hill from the seminary up to the medical clinic, I was amazed at the amount of water coming down the hill. Along both sides of the road, there is a "ditch" that is about 1 meter by 1 meter, and it had raging white water rushing down the hill. We came to a "Y" in the road and the water was accumulating about 6 inches deep. Many, many people drive a car like ours, so as I watched other cars like mine going through the water, I also proceeded. No problem...whew!

We got to the doctors office, after carefully making our way up the hill and trying diligently not splash all the people on their motorcycles or "tricycles" (motorcycles with a side car...carries anywhere between one to about 8 people, depending on how you stack them). Upon arrival at the doctor's office we were told that we had to return after 5:00, but before 6:00. We ran over to the grocery store in hopes that the rain would stop while we were inside, and it did. When we went back down the hill, there was no white water raging down the sides, and the "Y" had no standing water.

We returned to the doctor, and after a quick visit, headed into the pharmacy next door. While we were inside the pharmacy, the sky opened up again. Once again, I had not brought my umbrella with me...it was in the car. We made our purchase of some topical medicine and some antibiotics and headed back down the hill.

We got to the same "Y" and the traffic was stopped...there were cars that were not going through. Slowly, the traffic director was guiding certain cars through...my car was allowed through. The traffic worked it's way slowly down the hill and as I passed the seminary, I looked at the "water fall" that was rushing out the gate. We worked our way down the main road to our house and traffic slowed way down. Again, we hit an area where the water was accumulating and traffic was going one car at a time through. Occasionally, there was a Jeepney that would just gun it and go like a motorboat right down the street. At one of the three really bad spots on this main street, Andy noticed the Barber shop had about 6 inches of water standing inside their shop. The peculiar thing was that there were still hair-cuts being given. The barbers were just standing in the water cutting hair just as though nothing were out of the ordinary.

Finally, we turned into our subdivision and worked our way around the car that had either stalled, or decided it was going to wait out the rain. Down the road just a bit, we could see there was some cross flow of water going across our main street. As the cars in front of us cleared and proceeded through, I could see that there was a large gate that had been opened and water was rushing out, just like the dam had been opened. Down the way just a little further, there is a sidewalk with about 5 feet walls on both sides...that gate was also opened and it looked like someone had opened up a fire-hydrant and it was shooting white water into the street.

The worst "puddle" we went through was one of the intersections in our subdivision and I found that my knuckles were getting about as white as some of the water I had seen rushing about in our excursion. I am certain that if we had been even 10 more minutes we would have not gotten home until late into the night. As we approached our street, we were greeted with the "creek." It must have wanted to come up for a visit. Andy climbed on top of the car and opened the gate from a top of the car...then I pulled forward as he closed the gate from the top of the car also. The creek hadn't come all the way into our driveway, for which I was grateful. We were home by 7:30, safe and praising God for yet another safe journey.

One of my friends was coming from the opposite direction at about 7:30. She and her husband ended up completely stopped on the main road until 1:30 am ... waiting for the rain to run off so that the cars could get through. Again I am so grateful that that is not our story.

This morning, as I was driving up to the seminary, I was amazed at the way the streets were already cleaned up. Unfortunately, there is a lot of rubbish that flows in the waters when they rise. However, the streets were already swept clean, and many individuals were sweeping up whatever gifts the flowing rivers brought to their door. Just like the barbers, it was just no big deal... It is really amazing to me the way we adapt :) Thanks God for making us like that!

Time Flies

2008-08-22T13:45:00.002+08:00

Thank you to all who have prayed for Eric and Nathan while they were in PNG. They arrived back in Manila safe and sound. God was definitely working ahead of them. The greatest thing is that now it is possible to help remotely. We can help their computers in PNG, from our tech room here in Manila. Technology really is amazing. Eric got to connect with so many of our dear friends! It was great water to his soul.

While Eric was there, he was sitting in front of his computer, stumped as to how to fix a problem. His Skype phone rang and it was one of his friends from home who happens to also be in the same line of work, Rai. Rai asked Eric what he was doing and Eric relayed the problem he was stumped on. They tossed around a few ideas, and then Rai picked up his cell phone and called another friend Mike (who actually went to PNG last year to work on their computers). Rai put Mike on speaker phone, and placed it close to the microphone on his computer. This way, Eric could hear what Mike was saying, and also talk with Mike. They had a conference call using Skype and cell phones. If you are not terribly impressed with this, you have to understand that when we lived in PNG, we couldn't even get email files that were over 500k, sometimes over 300k. As they dug into the problem, they realized that some of the programming was in German. Rai speaks German. The three of them together were able to solve the problem. It is so fun to see the way the Lord goes before us :)

Another great story from PNG...Eric wanted to connect with our friend Pastor Jerry. It was quite a journey, but Eric, Nathan and Dr. Becky went to Pastor Jerry's church on Sunday. When they got there, they were told Pastor was speaking in another church. After going to a couple different churches, they found him. He was being a guest speaker for a brand new church, six weeks old. There was a young boy in that village who got very ill. He went to Kudjip Hospital and there found Jesus Christ. His parents also found Jesus Christ while there. The boy got well, and the family returned to their village, on fire for Christ. In their enthusiasm, they asked to start a church. When Eric was there, it was running 40 some people. It was great to see how the whole picture works. The seed was planted in a time of crisis. God grew that seed, now the family is scattering and watering seeds in their village. Now the village has started a church and they are having guest speakers until they can get their own pastor. Please pray for the new pastor for that church! Praise God!!!

Our kids have started back to school, and actually are having their first "full" week of school this week. They have had holidays or in-service days and so even though they started school Aug 12, this is their first full week. I suppose they might feel a little tired by the time Friday is over. Andy is playing on the JV Volleyball team. He is enjoying learning a new sport. They have done really well so far, winning 3 out of 4 games they have played so far. He has started his Sophomore year in high school, and is enjoying this year. He has a busy, busy calendar. Luke has started his 8th grade. Whew! They grow so very fast! He has decided to learn how to juggle. One of the teachers is teaching a group of kids after school. It will be fun to watch him master that. He also is enjoying his art class. He is really a good artist! Jon has started his 3rd grade and is class this year is only 13 (as compared to 27 last year). He is also playing soccer with some of his buddies on the elementary soccer team. They have Saturday "tournament" type competitions. They play six games that are 12 minutes each. He will participate in four Saturdays like this. He is enjoying it. Mari is adjusting to playing by herself again, since her favorite play-mates had to return to school. She is continuing to speak, more and more...I think that one of these days she will be consuming the talk space...that will be a praise!!!

We are planning to start up a bible study for adults in our home soon. We found the leaders who are Filipino, who will come to our house and lead the study. We were specifically trying to start this for the traffic enforcer who works outside of our subdivision gate. His name is Levy. Eric has been building relationship with him over the last several months. Levy is asking a lot of questions and really wanting information. Eric was able to give him a Bible some time ago, and now Levy specifically asked to go to a Bible study. When Eric went to invite him to our home for the Bible study, Levy's co-worker told Eric that "yesterday was his last day, he resigned." Eric is really discouraged about this, but we know that God will work all things together for His perfect plan. Eric has no contact information to contact Levy, except for there at the intersection. Please pray for Levy as he is searching. Also, please pray for Eric to get another opportunity to connect with Levy to invite him to the Bible Study.

Please be praying for the people in the Philippines. We don't really watch any news here, and only occasionally get tid-bits from the Internet. There is fighting down south, but we are safe here in the northern part. Please be praying for our pastors and church members down in the southern parts. We have several students and workers who have family down there who are being greatly effected by the fighting.

We love you all and love hearing from you!!! Keep up the great communication :)

Hugs to you all!

God is Making the Way in PNG

2008-08-05T15:34:00.004+08:00

Many of you know that Eric is currently in PNG with our volunteer Nathan (from MVNU), working out some bugs (haha) in the computer system there. I wanted to share with you the message that Eric sent out this morning :) He and Nathan return to Manila on Aug 12, and Nathan returns to the states on Aug 18. Please keep them in your prayers.

Greetings to all of you,

Linda gave me a verse in Isaiah 45:2 "I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron."

God did that yesterday and is doing it again today. Papua New Guinea is a spiritual battle zone and our enemy is bold here. Our God is bolder!

We accomplished yesterday (our first day) what I thought would take 3 days or not be possible at all. We now have installed a new Firewall (Internet protection) and the ability to remotely access the Kudjip Hospital network in Papua New Guinea (PNG) from the APRC office in Manila. Wow!

We can access even a missionary or hospital workers local computer and help them fix the problems. We see what is on their screen and share keyboard and mouse control of their computer with them. Obviously they have to know we are doing it and allow us access. Wow! again.

God is really allowing APRC to have a long technology assistance reach. Praise His Name!

Another miracle this morning. I am only aware of one man from PNG whom I would trust to provide contract support for the Kudjip Hospital network. His name is Timothy Kapak. I trained him to install computer cabling in May 2004 before my family left PNG. He now owns a large Electrical Engineering company headquartered in Mt. Hagen near Kudjip Hospital. He also owns a computer support business. I have had no contact with him since I left PNG in 2004. This morning I called his office from Kudjip and reached him. Amazing. There is a long list of miracles here:

Kudjip only has one working phone line at the moment, I found it and it was not in use by someone else.
Timothy has been gone for 4 months doing contract work on the coasts of PNG, he is just back in Mt. Hagen this week
This is the only week I will be here, he is available this week to meet.
His company has a new technician that appears to have a skill set that meets the Kudjip needs.
God's timing is perfect, what a miracle.
Praise God for the way He has been leveling the mountains before us!

We have 7 more days and lots more miracles needed so please keep praying.

Blessings,
eric zane

Princess and the Bubbles

2008-07-24T18:15:00.003+08:00

Mari was invited to a Princess Birthday Party last Saturday. She and two other girls got to dress up like princesses, dine in the princesses palace and of course, blow bubbles...

Thank you Jesus for our beautiful angel, Mari the Princess :)

Thank you Brian for the great pictures!

Church

2008-07-20T15:43:00.004+08:00

The room was 16 feet by 25 feet. The air was only moving due to the fans gentle hum. The room was a patio area in-between two homes. The chairs were set up with a dividing aisle down the middle, three chairs on each side, and about 15 rows. The podium stood, accompanied by a table with the elements for communion. Delicately hung behind was a simple curtain and a banner stating Cainta Church of the Nazarene Anniversary Celebration.

The house could be found after making several jig's and jag's through the brightly colored neighborhood and fortunately for us the neighborhood guards knew the way and were happy to escort us (on their bicycles, and armed with their usual artillery).

The church gradually filled up with laughter and smiles and kisses. Very few seats remained empty, and several people chose to stand in the back. Occasionally the loud roar of a motorcycle would join in our worship, as they passed by on the street.

The music started with a guitar and tambourine, and then was joined by the humble voices of the people. As we stood singing, the words to the song invited a precious spirit that made me unaware of my own comfort level. I was able to forget about the chair in front of me pushing against the front of my thigh. I was able to forget about the chair behind me pushing on the back of my calve. My breathing was calm and peaceful, rather than the anxious pull of the heavily humidified air. My body was perspiring and sending droplets of water down the back of my legs, back, stomach and face at a rapid pace. And yet, God was there! He was speaking directly to me, reminding me that no matter the circumstance or comfort level I live in, He will ALWAYS be God. He is LORD! He refocussed my vision, turning my uncomfortable moment into a beautiful time with Him.

Here are the words to the song "Here I Am" written by Reuben Morgan...

In to Your hands I commit again
All I am For You Lord
You hold my world in the palm of Your Hands
And I am Yours, Forever

Jesus I believe in You
Jesus I belong to You
You're the reason that I live
You're the reason that I sing
With all I am
I'll walk with You
Wherever You go
Through tears and Joys
I'll trust in You
And I will live in all of Your ways
Your promises, Forever

Here is a link to hear it sung by Hillsong on youtube...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrAafe7Mns

The church celebrated their 19 anniversary and it was an honor to be part of it. We feel somewhat attached to this church, simply because the meeting place of this particular church used to be in our back yard.

Three hours later, after worshiping together and feasting together, we piled in our car and turned the air-con on high :)

I pray that you are met by Our Savior today, in whatever circumstance you are in...comfortable or uncomfortable! Our God is capable of breaking through...I LOVE it!!!

How do I process?

2008-07-17T15:20:00.005+08:00

How do you process the realization that you spent as much in one trip to the grocery store for your family of six as your friend makes in one month for a family of 5? Then, add to that the knowledge that your electricity bill is equally as much. How do you process feeling like you sacrifice so much financially, and then make that kind of discovery?

In my passport country I live at "poverty" level. Now, I am "wealthy" and don't even see it, and yet, I struggle regularly trying to stretch the money.

How do I rationalize spending approximately 30% less on a cup of coffee from Starbucks (here vs the States), and at the same time spend one half of the daily wage being made by the people serving me the cup of coffee? In California the Minimum Wage is $8.00/hour. I certainly wouldn't spend $32.00 on a Mocha.

In the old days (before we became missionaries) I didn't have this perspective. Sometimes I wish I still didn't have it. The past 5 years have been as though the Lord has had me on his potters wheel and made a whole new me.

All I know is that I am a work in process. I know that God is always working on me. I am easily consumed with my selfish desire for comfort...my coffee, the temperature, having my family at my side.

I don't know how to process some things. I would just rather turn my head and not have to process it. There is no where I can go to get away from this.

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:6

I am claiming that promise!!!

Some lessons are fun...others, not so.

2008-07-09T10:37:00.004+08:00

Some lessons are fun.

Lesson 1: We got the opportunity to participate in two special occasions in one day. We started our morning at 9:00 am attending a Filipino Wedding. It was very similar to a Western, Christian wedding. However, there were a few additional elements that we really enjoyed. The couple kneeled on a bench together and there was a "veil" placed over and around them to signify the relationship that only they would share. Then there was a chord in the shape of an eight that was looped around each person, one loop of the figure 8 on the groom and one loop of the figure 8 on the bride. In the center where the chord crossed was a large emblem. This signified that they were tied together with a chord, with God in the center of them. All of the events that took place in the wedding, and the reception, were explained, with the significant symbolism. We enjoyed it. We ate a full Filipino buffet and it was delicious. Then as we left, we were given a souvenir in remembrance of their day.

Lesson 2: At 3:00 pm, we packed ourselves off, just a couple blocks away from our home to the 7th birthday party of our neighbor, A.M. (short for Aaron Michael). Here in the Philippines, there are certain birthdays that render a birthday party. Other birthdays are met with a "happy birthday" and possibly a gift from parents, grandparents and godparents. For the boys, their 1st birthday, their 7th birthday and their 21st birthday render these large celebrations. For the girls, their 1st, 7th, and 18th birthday's are celebrated. We have now been to both a 1st birthday and now to the 7th birthday party. They were both fully catered meals with hired clowns, cake, prizes and games. After much fun, the birthday party ended at 6:00. It was quite a fun day!

Lesson 3: Andy and Luke just went to summer camp. This is the same summer camp they went to last year. They participated in a "fear factor" type event. One of the tasks they had to do was to eat balut. Now, this is a delicacy here in the Philippines. It's typically the standing joke for foreigners..."have you eaten balut yet?" What is it? Well, it is a cooked duck embryo. Andy got to experience his first balut. He said it was actually good, once you got your brain to stop gagging about the idea of it :)

Some lessons are not so fun.

Lesson 4: Eric was driving to the Seminary last Thursday and slowed to turn right into the seminary. As he made his turn, a motorcycle tried to pass him on the right. These are the times we are acutely aware that you are praying for us. The motorcycle driver got up without a scratch. At exactly the right moment, God arranged for the perfect people to walk up to the seminary gate. Getting in an accident in a foreign country can be really scary. The security guard (who happens to be our helpers husband) was immediately there. Three pastors arrived (one who used to work in the government, and went to law school), Eric's co-worker Danny arrived, and two other co-workers in WMC, Jay and Calm. Our dear Filipino friends basically grabbed Eric and sent him off to the office, so that he would not get in the way of the negotiations. It was decided that there would be no contact with the police, and negotiations were made. We had the motorcycle repaired by the end of the day, and now it is a part of our educational history. We are so thankful that God prevented any bodily injury to the motorcycle driver. We pray that he was able to see Jesus through the wonderful people God orchestrated to help in the whole process.

Lesson 5: The regional team in Singapore and here all use a type of cell phone that is actually more of a computer than a cell phone. These phones have enabled the leaders to drastically cut down on their international calling bills. These phones are equipped to utilize the Internet (Voice Over Internet Phones) to make calls. Eric and his co-worker (being the regional computer people) have these phones, specifically, so that they can do proper technical support. Well, I guess I have to say Eric "had" one of these phones. Here in Manila, it is not a matter of "if" you get pick-pocketed, but "WHEN." This morning, Eric's phone went to a new home, to an owner with a skill of slipping things right out of their hiding places. There is a standard trick...a group of guys work together (named "lag lag baria gang"). Two of the guys cause some sort of drama. The third guy drops coins right by the targeted individual. The unsuspecting "nice guy" bends down to help pick up the coins, and whammo, you get pick-pocketed by the other two guys causing the commotion. So, Eric being the nice guy, bent over and there went his phone. The sad thing about it is that he carries his phone in his bag, about 95% of the time. Bummer, this day was one of those 5%.

Lesson for all of us.....

Lesson 6: Whatever you do, don't stop praying! We covet your prayers :) We truly believe that we have been bathed with your prayers and without them, there is no telling how different things could have turned out.

We love you!!!

The Eye

2008-06-25T08:51:00.004+08:00

Typhoon, Cyclone, Hurricane...they are all the same thing, just in a different part of the world.

Typhoon Frank was noted to be heading towards the Philippines, but it appeared it would go North, before it got to the Phillipines. Somewhere along the line, it shifted and came right through the middle of the Philippines, and passing right over Manila.

The wind really started whipping around 4:00 am at about the same time, our power went out. There were treas swaying, windows rattly-banging, strange thumps and bumps. We weren't really sure what was trying to blow off the house, but couldn't find anything. Then about four hours later, power was restored, and the sky's were blue and all was calm. We were looking right into the eye of the storm! WOW! Then, the winds picked up again and the rains really started pelting the ground. Water was beginning to accumulate rather deep in the back yard. The front yard was still OK, but we knew that if it kept up, we would be looking at the creek overflowing it's banks and coming down our road.

At about 12:00 noon, the creek toppled over her edges and the brown water flowed into our driveway. As the level was quickly rising, Eric and Andy pulled in from church, just in time! Within about 15 minutes after they got home, we had about 8 inches of water in our driveway and the street we turn off of was looking somewhat like a fun river to go down with an inner tube. The rain stopped and as quickly as the water rose, the water receded.

There were many, many people effected by this typhoon (hurricane). We were safe and dry and very comfortable. However, hundreds of thousands of people here in the Philippines do not have that same story to tell. There are unknown numbers of people who weathered this storm very wet and very cold. Many of them don't have a home to return to. The waters rise so very fast that there is no way to escape in time.

Please be praying for our people in this country. Praise the Lord the numbers are no where near what has happened in Myanmar and in China, but every life is precious! There are families who are grieving today. There are people still waiting to hear if their loved one was recovered from the Ferry Boat that capsized carrying 700 people. There are people wondering how they will rebuild their homes and their lives. There are people who are wondering why they should rebuild their lives and their homes. There are people who have no hope. Yet, there are people who do have hope, who are reaching out to those around them.

Casting Crowns
And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I know there is so many natural disasters happening all over the world. There are people all over the world trying to figure out how to face this new day. They are facing thoughts and emotions many of us have been blessed to not endure.

Oswald Chambers says, "Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them...Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me." We need to be praying for people who are enduring any kind of "storm" in their life to be "saved not from the hour, but out of the hour." God has so much to teach us, and so much of the time we just won't listen. I wouldn't wish sorrow on anyone, but at the same time I wouldn't ever trade the personal sorrow I have experienced. It was through those times I have grown closer to my Savior.

The storm we just experienced on Sunday didn't have horribly high winds, but they were strong. I keep remembering how strange it was when the eye of the storm passed over us, and how peacefull and calm it was. I understand all of those analogies about storms much better today. I want to keep my eyes on Jesus, no matter what is happening around me. He is my peace!

Psalm 107:29

He stilled the storm to a whisper, the waves of the sea were hushed.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your inquiries to our safety. Please know that we are also praying for you all in the states being effected by the flooding. Keep your eyes on Jesus! He is in the storm!

Wakes and Revival

2008-06-14T11:34:00.003+08:00

There is a time for everything here on this earth. We were given the opportunity to celebrate the journey into Heaven for the father of one of Eric's co-workers. There was a week long opportunity to view the body and say farewell. This family also chose to have nightly revival/evangelistic services for loved ones. Then, after one week, the body was transferred to the cemetery via hearse, while all the family and friends followed along behind, walking. It was a wonderful time of reflection on this particular man's diligent journey, leaving for his children a wonderful legacy of faith in God. It was also a wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with many, many people.

Please pray for Judy and her family while they mourn the passing of their beloved father.

Good Reading!

2008-06-08T17:02:00.002+08:00

There is a great new magazine being published here. I really want you to read it. It is a "street" magazine. It is a magazine written to give those without a voice an opportunity to be heard. Some of the people who are natives to this country are being made aware of a lifestyle that they don't even know about. The magazine is called "The Jeepney." I have put a link to their web-site in the side margin of the blog. You can go look at the first edition of the magazine on-line. I do not know if they will put their other editions on-line.

Here is the link http://www.thejeepney.com

If you really want to know how to pray for our country and the things going on here, this is a perfect place to start.

Thanks for being on our team :)

Vacation Bible School

2008-05-31T11:33:00.008+08:00

Vacation Bible School! One neighborhood over from ours, there is a group of young Nazarenes who are doing the groundwork for starting a church. The neighborhood is called Sampalucan. They regularly have Sunday School in the afternoons on Sundays, for elementary and for youth. Then there is a small gathering in one of the leaders homes on Sunday evenings. This summer, they hosted a Vacation Bible School for the kids in the neighborhood (or barangay as we refer to them here). We got to attend the graduation/closing ceremony for the VBS. The ceremony was held on the basketball court in the middle of the barangay. They brought out a sound system and chairs and hung the VBS sign on the wall behind them.There were about 75 kids who came to VBS. They met in a very small area, one that you might decide was too small to conduct such an activity. These kind people are used to being in very close proximity to one another, and it didn't stop them when they realized that they would have about 40 kids inside the pastors home for their individual classes.

On Sunday, there was a graduation ceremony, where most of the kids recited scripture they put to memory during the week, both in English and Tagalog. Then they all performed some sort of song. It was delightful. We looked around the basketball court and took note that there were approximately 250 people listening to God's word emanating forth from the mouths of beautiful innocent children.

Eric was excited to see some of his "tri-cycle" driver relationships get closer. He discovered, during the VBS events, that two of the drivers live in this small neighborhood. Praise God the two men are some of the most open to Eric's relationship with them. They are Nok and Eddie. Pictured here is Nok washing his "tri-cycle". You can see the VBS assembly in the background. Please pray for them and for Eric as God leads him in discipling these men.

Please be praying for these children as they take the lead in finding friendship and relationship with Jesus Christ. Planting a new church from the children up is not usually the perfect strategy, but that is what God is doing here and we are striving to help in anyway we can. Our prayer is that the hearts of the parents and families will be softened as they watch the faith of their Children grow and strengthen. Pray with us that a complete, kids up to adults, Nazarene Church will grow and prosper in this neighborhood.

TWO Teenagers!

2008-05-15T18:03:00.004+08:00

We have reached yet another milestone in our family :) Luke has reached those eagerly anticipated years...his teens. May 11 we celebrated Luke turning 13! We are so blessed to have the opportunity to love and be loved by Luke. He is such a joy in our lives. He took some of his buddies and played paint ball at a place called "Gotcha." They had a really great time. Imagine playing paint ball in the jungle! That's what they did. They only came home with a few welts too. I am fairly confident in saying that the highlight in the whole experience for Luke was getting his father in the mouth.

April Days

2008-05-05T15:31:00.008+08:00

Hi friends,

I seem to be slowing down on my writing...could it possibly be because we have a busy toddler in the house? Or is that just an excuse :) Whatever the case, here I am, sitting at my computer.

April has brought yet another birthday for me (Linda). The fun thing about this time was that my neighbor Merly has her birthday a week after mine. We figured this out in the beginning of April, so we made plans to celebrate together. Merly and I had planned on having a Bible study on the afternoon of my birthday. I didn't know she had some plans up her sleeve. She showed up with a plate of "pancit" which I just love. It is a noodle dish with vegetables and meat. Also, along with her came another neighbor, Mia. We had a great time eating noodles and drinking soda together in our house. I had my helper, Celia, take a break and celebrate with us. After we finished with our feast, we sat down and looked in the Word together. Mia has been a mystery to me. Now I know that she really knows scripture. She told me that she grew up as a Catholic, and has been schooled in Catholicism. It was a real treat to get to know Mia a little better. Please add Mia to your prayers, along with Merly, as we share with Mia the love of Jesus. Please specifically pray that she will learn and understand that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (In the picture, left to right, Merly, Bitoy, Mia, Celia, AM, Jon and myself).

On Merly's birthday, I made her a big birthday chocolate chip cookie and went to her house. We ate spaghetti together and cookies. The fun about her house was that her family all trickled in and out. Unfortunately I didn't think to take all of their pictures in time. I could have gotten most of them, but was a bit slow on the draw. Merly is a joy to have as a friend. She has a whole household of people who need Jesus.

Luke and Eric and I have had the wonderful pleasure of getting scuba certified. One of the teachers at Faith offers training, and equipment for the people in the class to use. Andy was supposed to take the class, but because he ruptured his eardrum back in February, he cannot go diving until next February (provided it has all healed up fine). We went this weekend to the beach to finish up our training. It was beautiful! We are now in our second country where there are incredible coral reefs available to view, and we have been blessed with the opportunity to learn to scuba dive. Eric and Luke both seem to be part fish. It has been a bit more difficult for me to gain that fish mentality, but I think the more beautiful things we get to see, the more fish-like I might become.
We got to do this dive with a bunch of jelly fish. They were about 6 inches in diameter and a pretty pink in color. Eric found a large piece, about 18 inches square, of a squid on the ocean bottom. The whole squid must have been really big. We saw beautiful coral, beautiful starfish, and beautiful fish. We played with sea cucumbers and just had a great time...aside from having to purposely fill our masks with water and then clear them (fill them back with air) underwater everytime we went down :)

I had the opportunity of talking to two of the 7th grade Bible classes on the subject of Situational Ethics, specifically in regards to Down Syndrome and the argument that children with Down Syndrome should be aborted. It was a wonderful experience. The kids were all ears, and they even had lots of questions. It was a pleasure to help them understand that Down Syndrome and other disabilities are truly a gift to our world. I got rather specific with them in regards to dna and the way that chromosomes are formed. It was a great gift to me because, as usual, I am sure I learned more than I was able to teach to the kids. With all the detail the Lord puts into pairing up our base pairs, which make our dna, I think there was a definite plan for repeating the sequence (Down Syndrome) once in every 800 births. It was really a fun experience.

Eric had his first opportunity to preach since we've been here. He reminded us that God has called all of us to be strong and courageous and do the work that God has called us to. For some that is going overseas. For others that is staying where they are. However, we are all called to do one thing...that is to pray for souls to be won for Christ.

God did his part two days before Eric's sermon. One month ago Eric had asked our home prayer group to pray "that spiritually hungry people would seek him out." They had been praying. On Friday Eric was standing on the sidewalk waiting for a jeepney. All of a sudden a policeman strides right up to Eric and says, "Sir, are you a missionary." Eric said yes thinking he was in trouble. Then the man said, "Sir, will you help me get a Bible." Eric was awestruck, but managed to ask the man if he wanted an English or Tagalog language Bible. It was the perfect example for the sermon and for us to realize God wants us to pray and He wants to answer those prayers to increase worship of Himself. On the following Monday Eric found the policeman again and gave Him his Bible. Just today Eric and the Policeman, name Levy, stood on the sidewalk and talked about the Bible and how Levy is enjoying reading it. Levy is asking for wisdom so he will know what the Bible means. Please pray God will reveal Himself through His Word to Levy.

APRC has started burning the midnight oil again. For any of you who sponsor children through Nazarene Compassionate Ministries, be anticipating a phone call from our crew. They are heading into the call center at 3:30am and using the internet to phone all 10,000 plus people in the USA who sponsor children. The call campaign is called "One to One". The goal is for each child sponsor to take the challenge of finding another sponsor. Two of the call-center agents were sponsored children. Now they are wonderfully strong young Christian disciples.

We thank God for the safety He provides for us all the time, and we don't even know it. There is a very busy intersection just outside the seminary gate, where 5 roads come together. Last Sunday while we were in church there was a horrible accident in that intersection. Two of the roads go up a very steep hill where there is cement factory (they go up different sides of the hill). There are a lot of big semi-trucks that go up and down that hill with loads of cement, and loads of large rocks. Unfortunately, sometimes they don't pay strict attention to the maintenance of the trucks, and the trucks end up going down the hill out of control. Since we came here last June, there have been three serious accidents in that intersection. This most recent has been the worst. Three people were killed, and 13 reported injured. One of the fatalities was the cousin of Eric's co-worker Danny. Please be praying for Danny and his family as they grieve the loss of this young life. One of the miracles of this story deals with four of the summer school Seminary students. Four of them had just stepped off their jeepney and as the jeepney pulled back into the road, the runaway truck passed between them and the jeepney. We are praising God for his protection on those four students, and for the continued protection he covers us with everytime we are in that intersection. Please know that we appreciate your prayers for safety, and are convinced that there are many times we just have no idea God has intervened for our safety.

March

2008-03-31T11:11:00.000+08:00

March has been a great month! I always love March at home. Everything is turning green. The flowers are waking up. The days are warming up. March here is proving to be very similar, just in a slightly different perspective :) The flowers are getting more plentiful. The birds seem to be waking up. And yes, the days are indeed getting warmer. Each day is a little warmer than the one before. The good side of this is that no matter how grumpy I might be feeling inside due to the "warmer" weather, my face is ALWAYS sparkling :)

We had a real fun evening of bonding with our team from APRC. We went out bowling and then shared a meal together. It is so great to be together in a celebratory occasion. It is too easy to just "work" together and not really share life. We are striving to share life with our team, and we are honored and privileged to do so with them. They are a gift to us!

We had the wonderful opportunity this month to have family come visit us. Eric's parents and one niece and one nephew came and spent 10 wonderful days with us.
We initiated them into life in Manila. We didn't make it a sightseeing visit, or a "vacation." They wanted to experience life like we experience it day in and day out. So, that's what we did. It was really fun showing them our places of work, the kids school, the places we drive to for groceries, our church, and our neighborhood. It was just a wonderful time. Eric and his dad worked on some projects around the house that was begging for some attention. Eric's Dad, Glenn, made our house his focus for his mini Work and Witness project. It was awesome to have his help. Trying to get the appropriate parts and pieces to fix the leaky sink fixtures was a cultural experience in and of itself. It actually took longer finding the parts than it did to fix the leak. In the end they heated up a pipe to make the final connection. It worked and still is. NO MORE LEAK!

We also took them to a youth function for a new church plant. They got to be with the young people, and then we took them to the home that some of the church planters are living in. We were able to have a time of prayer there in their home, where they are currently having a Sunday night service. What a blessing it was to be with them and for the family to meet some of the people they have been praying for.

We also experienced "Alay Lakad", which means "walk offering", together for the first time with them. Wow! What an event that was. If you didn't read my last post, I directed you to a co-workers site to read his blog and see his pictures...I can't compete :) Here is the link http://www.sendusout.com/god/alay-lakad-the-gift-walk/

It was great to have Eric's family here. We had a wonderful time of reunion with them, and our kids had so much fun with their cousins. What a fabulous blessing they all are to us. Of course, it was difficult when we had to say "goodbye."

Our sweet little Mari turned three on the 18th. It is really an amazing thing looking at her and realizing that we have had her that long! In some ways, it has been a long three years, but in other ways, it seems like just yesterday when I felt that initial labor pang. She has really bloomed in the last 9 months since we have been here. She is such a little girl...no longer a baby. We are truly blessed to have her as part of our family. She is a blessing to everyone she meets :) Unless they ask to hold her and she says "NO!"

Mari got a special gift for her birthday from her dear Aunt Elaina and Uncle Ric. Mari got a cute little puppy named Casanova. He is the perfect dog for her. He is just the right size for her to walk, and she is just the perfect size for him to walk. It is really cute the way she walks him around the house and talks to him.

We were able to attend the Seminary Graduation. There were only 17 graduates this year out of 100 students. Our General Superintendent Dr. Jesse Middendorf addressed the graduates and it was a wonderful challenge to do what God calls you to, with passion. It was powerful not only to the graduates, but to the rest of us in attendance.

God is good to us! We are blessed to be serving here. Thank you for partnering with us! We cherish your involvement! May God bless you today!

If you don't go to the actual blog site and you want to see more pictures, you can click on this link and you will see our photo albums! http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections

Alay Lakad

2008-03-25T20:09:00.000+08:00

We have had the priveledge of observing the Maunday Thursday tradition here in Manila. I am going to point you to one of our co-workers site to read his write-up about it. Click here to go to his site http://www.sendusout.com/god/alay-lakad-the-gift-walk/

I hope you'll go see these pictures and the story behind it :)

Life

2008-02-22T08:06:00.005+08:00

Hi dear friends,

I have been just about everywhere except at the computer...

Today it is drizzly outside, and it feels a bit like winter, just a bit :) It is very pleasant.

I had asked you to pray for my neighbor, Merly. She and I started a Bible study together. She has been very willing to come and study together. We are reading through John in both English and Tagalog. We are using the time together to study God's word, and to help each other with our language learning. God is doing wonderful things in her life, in the midst of some very difficult things. Merly recently re-committed her life to serving God. She lives in a house with no other evangelical Christians, and meets some resistance from the other family members. However, she has found a wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ, and is pursuing that. Merly was 6 1/2 months pregnant, and went into labor, delivered a beautiful little girl, who only survived for 30 minutes. Please pray for Merly as she mourns the death of her daughter. She has had some very difficult questions, ones that I couldn't even begin to address in Tagalog, so I was able to get our Pastor, who is a widow, to come and pray with her, and talk with her. I know that God will continue to work in her life. Filipino people are amazingly resilient, and seem to always put a smile on their face. Please continue to pray for Merly as she journeys with God. Please pray for me as I try to walk along with her, and encourage her.

There is an annual event at Faith Academy for the Middle School, called Outdoor Ed. It is an opportunity for all of the Middle School to go out and experience some Science and life learning first hand. Eric and Luke both got to go. Eric went as a squad leader or 12 boys, including Luke. There were three schools combined for the experience, and it totaled approximately 300 kids. WHEW! They spent the week at the Taal Volcano area. The first night, all of the kids were together, then each night, they divided up into three different locations, and all rotated through those spots. One night they slept on the volcano, after a hike and a swim in a sulphur lake. They went for a discovery dive in the ocean (shallow scuba dive), and slept on the beach. They cooked for themselves, chicken, potatoes and biscuits in a fire. Did I mention, that the chicken's were live to begin with. They had an outreach project for some of the kids in the area. Our boys designed their own tattoo, that had a gospel presentation involved with it, and got to draw tattoos on the kids in the area (just with gel pens). They had a wonderful time, and many of the kids had some wonderful growth experiences.

I was able to go with 69 other women to a Ladies Retreat up in the mountains last weekend. It was put on by a group of ladies from the Chicago area. They came over here with the sole purpose of doing two separate Ladies Retreats for missionaries. The first one was in our area, and the second one was down south. It was a great time of fellowship, worship, and pampering :) They brought supplies for all of us to have pedicures, manicures, facials, and neck/head massages. Imagine 69 ladies with goop on their faces!!! Hilarious! God's presence was with us! It was a wonderful break.

Our backyard was the venue for an Outreach Valentine party. It is the beginnings of a new church plant, a "baby" from another church that began in our backyard, before we were here. It was really fun to be a part of their outreach. They are targeting an area between our home and the kids school. Please pray for this group as they follow God's leading.

These past six weeks have been full of appointments of several types. We've had Dentist appointments, for cleanings, two cavities, another broken tooth, and Mari got her first experience sitting in the dentist chair. She was hardly cooperative, but she got to ride up and down in the chair :) We have also experienced our first ruptured eardrum. Andy had a slight collision in basketball, and popped his eardrum just like a rose petal in your hand. That has taken us back and forth to town a couple times(and one more to come). Mari has also had standard appointments for her thyroid checks, but that is two different trips downtown, which can be a two hour drive one way. However, we are so thankful that we have found wonderful medical care here, and feel very confident in it.

Eric and the crew have been very busy with training for a new piece of software. They will be supporting this as it will be used in all six regions of the world. God provided two new people with the perfect skill set and disposition and Eric was able to bring both of them onto the team. We are praising God for his perfect timing, and his faithfulness at seeing things to completion. Please pray for the crew as they are taking on this new task, and learning new things.

We have had a lot of visitors on the Seminary Campus this last six weeks. It has been very wonderful to meet these people, and have them in our home for fellowship. There have been people here from Texas, Florida, Maryland, Korea, Australia, and I'm sure I've missed someone. One of the visitors is a developmental therapist and I was able to spend some time with her brainstorming on new things to do with Mari. It is really great the way God puts people in our path.

We had a Work and Witness Team here from the Washington DC area for two weeks. They worked on the new Library , and we had a wonderful time with them. We each had meals with them at the Seminary campus, and we also had them out in our homes for meals. They were here over Superbowl Sunday, and so we had a Superbowl party with them. They had a great trip, and God was definitely with them as they worked together and got to go out ministering with some of the outreaches in our area. Upon arrival back in the states, one of the couples were in a tragic car accident, and the wife was taken home to be with her Savior. Please pray for Paul, her husband who is in critical condition still and will be grieving his wife. Please pray for the other team members who are also grieving.

There are exciting things going on at the Seminary campus. There is a renovation taking place on the cafeteria, and that will make it a much more useable space. The Volunteer Missions Center is underway, with walls continuing to go up and progress continuing on. It will be a great building to have available to the many of volunteers we see come in and out of this area. It is exciting.

We are so blessed to be here, involved with these wonderful people. Thank you so much for allowing us to be here :)

Turn to Page "x"

2008-01-22T15:19:00.000+08:00

I remember reading a certain type of book as a kid, and now my kids read these same books. I don't know what they are called, but it sets the stage of the story for you, and then puts you in a place where you have to make a decision. Then, you turn to page "x" for decision "a" or turn to page "y" for decision "b." I always thought it was cool to be able to know either way, what would happen. There have been many times in my life when I wished I could know which page to turn to so I could read the consequences of my choices.

A lot of times God asks me to do something and I find myself discussing with him what my options are. I turn to the Bible, hoping to find "turn to page 'x'." God simply waits for me to come around and make a decision. I always know which way I am supposed to go, but I don't always go or do the things I am supposed to do.

Then sometimes I am reminded of the grave consequences of my choosing to either obey or to disobey. This morning, I received this email...

" I wanted to let you know of the tragic death of 6-year-old Nicole who lives near the front of our seminary. Nicole is one of our kids who has regularly been attending our Sunday School/Children’s worship on the seminary campus. Her two brothers also regularly attend. Nicole was hit by a motorcyclist and most likely died instantly. Today her body was brought to her home where it rests in a casket. Nicole loved to help in our Sunday School. Lot Hallig said that yesterday at church she did not want to leave but instead she stayed to help clean up. The kids have been learning about Moses. Lot felt led to share about Jesus and ask the kids if they would like to ask Jesus into their hearts. Nicole was one of the kids that morning who chose to ask Jesus into her heart. That afternoon at 4pm, about 12 feet from our Seminary entrance, Nicole went home to be with Jesus. Please pray with us for Nicole’s 2 brothers, mother, family, and many friends. "

Yesterday I wrote to you about praying for the workers for the harvest. This is what I am talking about. We need to be praying for each other to be diligent, hard working, eager listening, and best of all, eager to obey and do what God asks of us. Praise God for his workers!!!

Listen...He is there! Praise God!

How should we pray?

2008-01-21T14:06:00.000+08:00

So many of you ask us how to pray. So many of you want to be involved on the front-line of praying for us. So many of you tell us you are praying for us. We have said and continue to say that if it weren't for you all backing us with your prayer, we would pack up and go home. We would be useless without the hand of God directing us.

Matthew 9:36-38 "When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

Adam Clarke's commentary says 'Jesus wishes for laborers, not gentlemen, who are either idle drones, or slaves to pleasure and sin, and nati consumere fruges. "Born to consume the produce of the soil." '

I have recently learned that there are 26,000 un-churched barangay (suburbs/neighborhoods/communities) in Manila. I'm not talking just Nazarene churches, there are NO evangelical christian churches in these areas. The research is saying that Christian evangelical population in Manila is only 2% or less. The percentage is higher in the surrounding provinces, and islands. It is said that CMA has one church in each barangay in Mindinau. In the past, people have come to Manila and learned the language and then went out into the province to do their church planting.

This huge, most densely populated city in the entire world has a very ripe harvest! We don't need to be comsuming all the produce of the soil! Ouch...good thing I'm not eating a carrot right now :)

Just this morning in our devotions at the office, one of the ladies requested prayer for their church because they are planning on doing a church plant quite near our home. They are in the beginning stages of presenting this to their congregation. The church needs to catch the vision! Please pray for Ate Judy and her church as they take on the wonderful task of church planting!

I am really challenged! I don't only want you to pray that way for us, but I want you to pray that way for you! For your family! For your church! For your city! For your state! For your country! That really needs to be all of our hearts desire!

Please forgive my previous prayer requests that were so "me" centered. Truly, my first and most important prayer request is that God will rise up workers for this field!!! Please pray with us in that vein. I want God to infuse me with an unquenchable thirst for people to be hearing the word of God!

I think of Jesus seeing the crowds and what comes into my mind are the throngs of people I see here, specifically, the throngs of people living in poverty. I see them and am overwhelmed by their helplessness...they are like a sheep without a shepherd. The little kids come tapping on my window of the car, while I'm stopped at the light, asking for money. The blind man comes along ushered by a family member. There is also the crippled man who I can't even see out the window of my car because he is walking with his hands and dragging his paralyzed legs behind him. I am overwhelmed by the needs! Not so much the need for food and money, but the need to be taught how to get out of the mess they are in. The need for basic education. The need to learn how to hold down a job. The need to learn how to love themselves because Christ loves them and died for them.

Pray for the workers, the laborers! Pray for the incredible students at the Seminary. Many of them intend to stay right here, harvesting. Many of them are already involved heavily in their churches. Their passion is to share the love of Christ. Pray for these un-churched areas to be connected with a "worker" so that they can receive the wonderful love of Jesus. Pray! Pray! Pray!

"Mamadaddy,Oooookie, an An-ee an Noj"

2008-01-15T16:25:00.000+08:00

Last night, we sat down to dinner and said, "OK, let's pray." Eric asked Mari if she wanted to pray and she nodded an eager "yes!" We all bowed our heads and heard in the sweetest little voice, "Mamadaddy, Oooookie, an An-ee an Noj." It is a blessing to hear our little girl calling us by name, but mostly, lifting us up to our Father!

Gone are the Days :)

2008-01-06T17:06:00.000+08:00

Remember when we were struggling with Mari's weight. There was a significant time in her little life when she wouldn't put anything in her mouth. Every time we attempted to feed her, she would turn her head away and clamp her lips together and not even a grain of salt would enter her lips.

Times have changed. I just thought you might get a little kick out of Mari eating grilled calamari. She really enjoyed it and unfortunately, we didn't think soon enough about taking her picture. However, we did get her eating a little of it. We had to pull her hands away from her face, because she was eating it so fast. Remember...it is calamari, not snakes or lizards :)

Christmas and New Years in the Philippines

2007-12-31T16:46:00.000+08:00

Ahhh, the "ber" months. In the Philippines we celebrate Christmas during the "ber" months. The "ber" months are about to come to an end here in just a few hours. Please don't get confused with the "brrrrrrr" you might be thinking of, as you are snuggled up in your cozy sweater, adding another log to your fire, and sipping hot chocolate. No, the "ber" I am talking about has to do with the names of the months...September, October, November, and December. Christmas music and decorations begin the first day of September, and continue through the end of December. Today as I was in the grocery store, listening to Christmas music, I thought to myself, "hmmm, the next time I'm here, there probably won't be Christmas music any more." Considering the fact that we've been in the Philippines now for six months, two-thirds of that time has been blanketed with Christmas music. Interesting. It just might seem like a different place :)

As I am writing this, there is already a kacauphany of booms and pops going off in the surrounding neighborhood. The main street outside of our subdivision has been lined with fire-work stands and the traffic has come to an almost standstill due to the throngs of people purchasing fire works. Those of us who are accustomed to fire-works being illegal are really enjoying the opportunity arrising tonight. Actually, since about the 20th of December, there have been numerous fire-crackers sounding in the distance. At first, it is a little unsettling, and then you just get used to the continuous booming. If you are lucky, and look up at just the right time, you will actually get to enjoy the experience. Usually, we are too late...the smoke is there, but the twinkle of the lights is finished.

Tonight we will go up to the school, which overlooks the city, and enjoy the sights and sounds of so many people welcoming in the new year. We too will accompany the multitude of people in decorating the sky with twinkling explosives :) There are certain guidelines and rules that the school has imposed, and we are grateful for those guidelines. The school has opened up the soccer field for use as a platform to let off fire-works. We are looking forward to this fun show!

We spent our Christmas time with as many people as we could be around, so that the sting of being so far away from our loved ones would be a bit neutralized. However, no matter what we tried, there is a hole that simply cannot be filled. However, we did have many wonderful times of celebration, and boy do these people love to celebrate the holidays! We spent the three days leading up to Christmas with one of the gals from the school staying with us. She was spending her first Christmas away from family, and we thought she might like the crazy Zane household, since our family is the same size as hers. Then on Christmas Day, we enjoyed our morning together as our little nucleus family, and in the afternoon, another family who were spending their first Christmas away from home came to join us for Christmas Dinner.

The day after Christmas, we left the city with another family, the Taylors, and headed up into the mountains to excape the heat. The weather was wonderful and we actually got to build a fire in the fire-place. Wow! It was fun. We did some sight seeing in the town, and just enjoyed the time together. The two highlights for me was when we visited the Easter Weaving Company. This is a place where women continue to weave cloth in the old traditional fassion. It was fascinating to see how complicated, yet how simple it was to them. The other highlight to me was when we let the kids go horseback riding. I am certain that the picture you have in your mind of our kids going horse back riding is completely different than it actually was. However, they had a really great time doing this, and we have fun stories to tell about it.

Here are two links to some slide shows of the Easter Weaving and the horses....

http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/EasterWeavingBaguio

http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/HorsebackRidingInBaguio

As the new year is closing in on us, I can't help but wonder what the Lord has in store for us this coming year. This past year has taken us to so many different places, with so many different adventures. Please be praying for us as we really try to dive into individual relationships with the people here. I have approached one woman about doing a bible study with me, and really want the Lord to either open that door, or close it. She has very limited English, and of course my Tagalog is even more limited. I have an audio Bible in Tagalog, and we can just use the scripture and invite the Holy Spirit to interceede and to do his wonderful works.

Thank you once again for all you have done to make it possible for us to be here. I have been so appreciative of the way our Church organization has made it possible for missionaries to be out on the field. Sometimes I hear the struggle of people who are raising their support individually, and I am just so thankful for our Nazarene Churches who love and support their missionaries.

We pray that you have had a very blessed Christmas Season, and will enjoy the closing of the year 2007, and welcome all that the Lord has in store for the new year, 2008. May God bless you in ways you have never experienced. May his presence become more real to you, and may you fall deeper and deeper in love with the Savior who came to the earth as a babe so many years ago.

Happy New Year!!!!

A Few Stories

2007-12-16T18:01:00.000+08:00

We have been privileged to hear some wonderful stories recently and I want you to have the pleasure of hearing them...

Winston was a school mate of Sam. After Sam's father was in a fatal accident that put Sam in a coma for a short time and seriously wounded, Sam recommitted his life to serving Jesus Christ. Winston saw the new life that Sam had been given and committed his life to serving Jesus Christ. Winston's family were not believers and Winston began diligently praying for his family. This was 1999. After a time, Winston got the pleasure of leading three of his cousins to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. Those three cousins also began praying for the unsaved members of their family. After a time, all three of those cousins got to experience the joy of watching their mothers (three separate ladies) accept Jesus Christ as their saviour. One of these three girls started running a "cell group" or small group Bible study at her college. That group is now running approximately 60 college students. Most recently, one of the girls mothers watched as her alcoholic husband requested, on his birthday, to not have any party, but to have the Pastor over to help invite Jesus Christ to be Lord and Master. Please pray for these wonderful people. they love the Lord with all their heart, and they are truly contagious Christians.

The Band that plays for Taytay First Church recently participated in a National Band Competition. They competed with people from all over the Philippines, from all walks of life and all sorts of religious beliefs. The band decided it was a perfect opportunity to witness and performed a song with an evangelical message. When the competition was at it's final moment, the judges awarded our band with the national title and stated that they were not only a great band, but that they were the only group that had lyrics that had a message. In March, the band will travel outside of the Philippines to compete in another competition seeking the title covering all of Asia. What an incredible testimony each one of these guys have.

Interesting Needless Information

2007-12-12T16:25:00.001+08:00

I just thought you might enjoy some trivia. Along the roads/streets, there are numerous "billboards" as in the States. However, these billboards are much larger, and they are actually tarpaulins. Here is the trivia, when a typhoon threatens, they take them all down. I thought it was quite interesting. Here are two pictures...one with the tarpaulins up and one with them down :)

Whew...City life is CRAZY!!!

2007-12-10T16:13:00.000+08:00

The last time I wrote was before thanksgiving. We've done quite a bit in the last couple weeks!

Jon had a very fun Thanksgiving feast at school with both 1st and 2nd grade together. They all dressed up as either Indians or pilgrims. The kids all put on a brief skit (1st grade) and Jon's class recited a poem. Then, Jon got the privilege of reading scripture to all of us. Then each child had prepared previously, something they were thankful for, and one by one, each child went up to the microphone and told us what they were thankful for. Jon said, "I am thankful that we came to Manila because I have such great friends."

We celebrated Thanksgiving with several other families associated with Faith Academy on Thanksgiving Day. We had a really nice time...turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, pumpkin pie, apple pie... :) We missed the Green Bean Casserole though :) Then on Saturday afternoon, we celebrated with all the Nazarene Missionaries. It was a wonderful time! More of all that wonderful food...including Green Bean Casserole :) We met at one of our homes and it was decorated so nice...twinkle lights, lots of harvest vegetables for decoration...great fellowship and such a pleasant night, gathering together in thanksgiving.

Saturday morning, we took Andy to his first rugby tournament. The weather was a little "iffy." We were being teased by a typhoon that was just sitting off the shore, twirling away, gaining strength. However, it sat there long enough to change it's course, and it headed north and didn't interrupt the rugby! The boys were all quite happy. Andy's team played four games that morning. They were nice and dirty, and a bit on the tired side when it was finished. They did well, and learned a lot!

Luke was involved in the middle school Band and Choir Concert. Luke is not in either of those, but he is in beginning guitar, and the guitar classes also performed in this special occasion. They all did really wonderful!

We took an afternoon and headed down town to get fingerprinted for part of our visa process. This was a rather long event, mostly because of traffic. We left our house at 11:30 in order to get downtown for our 2:30 appointment. We grabbed some lunch on the way, and got there just before 3:00. They took us in and we were completed by 4:30. Fortunately we went through the process with someone directing us because it would have been completely overwhelming without her! We came home a different direction because the we were going to get caught in rush-hour traffic. We did not escape it, but we did go via several areas we had never been before. We finally made it home by 9:00 pm. It was a really long, slow drive home.

One of the areas we went by was the "Smokey Mountain Project" Area. These people used to live in the area of Manila's largest dump site, rummaging, and doing what ever necessary to live, day to day. The government, along with Asian Development Bank came in and built places for these people to live, rather than the squatter homes they build on their own. We drove by both the dump and the housing project. The people have been living there for several years now, and they have added on and made their "apartments" even larger by building on to the sides. Take a look. If you are interested in more info on this, just put in "Smokey Mountain Remediation Project" into your search engine. It is an amazing thing. Jon's class is collecting items to give to (just a fraction) of these kids for Christmas. There are an estimated 50,000 people currently living in this area.

Jon's class put on a "Christmas Chapel" and we got to go to that. It is so fun how many opportunities our kids have here at this school.

This weekend we went to another set of games for Andy. It is really amazing the schools we have gone to so far. They are way beyond any high school I have ever set foot on. The only two schools we have been at so far have been international schools. They will also play a military school down south. There are a couple other schools, but I don't know much about them...yet :) This particular field is an AstroTurf field. Andy's cleats actually came home clean instead of muddy!

We've also successfully decorated our house for Christmas! I had to get the fan in the room and get the sweat off my brow as I was putting up the fake Christmas tree. It was pretty funny. I decided it was very similar to putting up the tree with too much wood in the fire place. Anyway, we are enjoying all the festivities that the season has to offer. It seems like we've already had plenty of Christmas celebrations, but there are several more yet to come :)

We love you!!! Thanks for visiting our site!!

Crisis Care Kits

2007-11-30T11:58:00.000+08:00

There were some very helpful folks in Redding who gave money for Crisis Care Kits (CCK) to be shipped to Manila in our container. We unloaded them and put them in a storage room. A few days later, the District Superintendent from the Bicol area came and loaded up several of the kits to take home. Just this past week, the Bicol area was hit by two different typhoons. They were not near as devastating as the typhoon that devastated the area last December, but it is good to know that thanks to many of you from Redding, and all of you who donate CCKs, they have the resources available to pass out.

If you are reading this in an email, you can (hopefully) click on this link and you can watch the slide show. Otherwise, the slide show can be watched right on this blog page :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/zaneyconnections/20070928CrisisCareKits

Thanks to everyone who has ever participated in CCK!!!

Mari in the Mirror

2007-11-19T21:51:00.000+08:00

Mari found a friend in my room the other day :) She came in and climbed up the little step ladder that was sitting right in front of the mirror. She was pleasantly surprised to find a beautiful little girl staring right back at her. I wanted to share the moment with you...and show you her cute new hair doo.

Foot Spa!

2007-11-17T14:50:00.000+08:00

Isaiah 52:7 "How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news of peace and salvation, the news that the God of Israel reigns!"

Thanks for allowing us to be here! Thanks for letting us be the ones to come here and experience God at work! Even amongst the homesickness and culture shock, it is such a privilege to be here as missionaries, doing that which God has called us to. It really amazes me that God has brought us to this place, for such a time as this!

We recently got the privilege of going on missionary retreat with all of the team here. Some of the kids we hadn't even met yet. We went to a resort on the beach for three days. We got to have meals together, swim together, snorkel together, laugh together, cry together, pray together and have communion together. This was the first time the team here has joined all together for such an event. Saturday night we had a blessed time together, praying for one another, lifting up the work here, and praying for the souls of those who have not yet met Jesus.

The work of APRC has just been bustling! The first contracted project has just about been completed. Our first project was to call all the Nazarene Mission International (NMI) presidents stateside, using voice-over-internet-phones to heighten awareness of Nazarene Compassionate Ministries (NMC)...sorry, that's a lot of acronyms in one paragraph :) There were five employees calling from Manila to all 4900+ NMI presidents in the states. All five of the employees took opportunities to pray with each president, and after just a few phone calls, all of them were reporting how exciting it was to pray for these individuals in their work involving missions. Wow! There are some other projects in the beginning stages that will all be internationally done. It is really exciting days for APRC. Please pray for continued guidance as we look to find the right people to be doing the contracted work. Growth is always challenging, and the team that has been involved from the ground up are really feeling the stretching. It is exciting to see God at work, orchestrating the work coming together with the correct people to put into these places.

Andy tried out for the Rugby team last week, and was selected to be on the team. I think one of the coolest things that happened is that the week he had try-outs, the rest of us were home sick with the flue. God protected him from getting it, allowing him to be at every try-out practice. He is learning about balancing a crazy schedule with added practice and games. His first game will be on the 24th of November. We are looking forward to going and being the fan section :)

Today we went to the feeding program that was supposed to be at our church, and when we rolled in, noticing the lack of people there, we were told that it was at another site today. We quickly conferenced about changing our plans and headed to the other church with the group. The village we headed to is know as a "relocation" village. The residents are all people who used to be "squatters" (one who just claims some land and begins to live there, despite true ownership) and the government established specific locations where these individuals could buy land for a very minimal cost. It is a great thing for the high number of squatters here. The road in was rather muddy. The pastor joked before we headed in that if we got stuck, the kids could all push us out of the mud.

As we arrived, the sound of children's voices reciting scripture in Tagalog, erupted out of the windows of the church building residing behind the fence. There was a big banner across the front that said "Church of the Nazarene." As we came up to the door, 200 plus little pairs of shoes sat outside the door, their inhabitants inside the church. We proceeded into the church and there, 240 little faces looked up at us from their places on the floor. They sit there every Saturday, getting fed scripture and then getting fed rice and some sort of vegetable dish. You might be thinking...rice Christians...I don't know. What I do know is that these precious little children are getting fed the bread of life! They are there getting their precious "feet" cared for, so that they can go out and spread the good news to those back in their little houses. The children meet the Lord, and become little missionaries in their own place. They come to the church for a little "foot spa" so they can march out and continue the work into the places we can't go.

For one particular little girl, Mary Grace, she no longer needs to come get a foot spa. She used to come regularly. She used to get her "feet" cared for and she would go out and about, sharing what she learned. About one month ago, she went out for her last time, to the wrong place, and was killed. Mary Grace is with Jesus now, and I'm sure her feet are truly beautiful!

I want my feet to be beautiful. I want to share the Good News! How are your feet today? Maybe it's time for a spiritual "foot spa."

Miracle!!!

2007-11-16T10:10:00.000+08:00

We want to thank you for your prayers regarding our visas!!! On Wednesday, we were granted our visas to stay in country for 2 years. WOW!!! For those of you who don't know, we were being told that we weren't going to get them because they were not convinced we were here to do missions work. We don't fit the normal mold with Eric having a Business Degree and myself being an RN. Nonetheless, God intervened, we got some extra paperwork, and now we are no longer "visitors." The great thing is that it only took 5 months. There are many people who didn't receive their visas for 1-2 years. We are praising God that this particular hurdle has been accomplished. Thanks for your prayers!

Trick or Treat Outreach

2007-11-01T13:35:00.000+08:00

We pooled our resources and whipped up a quick little "harvest" party for the kids whose parents worked for the Seminary, and or on the campus. There were several houses on campus who were willing to be target homes for trick-or-treating, and then we set up a fun little "carnival" in our dining hall. It was really fun! The kids were all told to dress up, not scary, and come at 4pm. Then we gave them maps to the houses that were involved in the trick-or-treating, and they went around and filled up their shopping bags with goodies. When they returned back to the dining hall, we fed them hot-dogs, chips and drinks, then turned them loose on the few games we had scattered about.

It was so fun to see the MK's and the local kids intermingling and having so much fun together. We were in charge of the "fishing booth." Luke did the decorating of the outside of the booth. Andy helped the kids with their fishing skills. Most of these kids had never been fishing, and didn't know what it meant when the line was being tugged on :) However, Andy was there to guide the...he was a faithful fishing guide. Then, Luke took over the fishing guide job, and Jon came inside and clipped on toys to the end of the pole.

Some of the other games the kids played were "pin the nose on the pumpkin," "pumpkin toss," and we had a "cookie walk" rather than a "cake walk." The children really enjoyed themselves and it was a pleasure to interact with the whole family, not just the parents.

I've put in a brief slide show, of course, it's mostly of our kids, but you can get the general idea this way. Enjoy!

Childrens Outreach

2007-10-17T07:35:00.000+08:00

The church has started a local outreach to the children who live in the local squatter areas. This was the second Saturday the program ran in Taytay. The church has been doing this in other communities, but this is the beginning of the outreach in this area. The boys went to help both the first Saturday, and then this second Saturday. The program is similar to a Bible School program, with Bible stories and singing, and then there is a meal provided.

The youth in the church go out to the local squatter areas and pass out tickets to the children and then the children have to present the tickets on Saturday to get in. The first Saturday there were about 50 kids. The second Saturday there were approximately 90.

It is a blessing to be a part of an outreach to these precious little people. Please pray for the continued blessing on the children's lives, that they will come to meet their Savior and then share Him with their families.

Green means GO!

2007-10-15T14:24:00.000+08:00

Today, October 15, we dedicated the new Asia-Pacific Resource Center (APRC) office space!

Let me back up a little and give you some missing details :)

Shortly after we arrived here, a Work and Witness team from New Mexico got redirected here. They were supposed to go to another country, but the project fell through, so they were sent here...to us! They worked on the up and coming new library on campus part of the time, and the other time, they stripped and rebuilt the new office space for APRC. Half of the office is for the server room and the other half is for personnel. It was a wonderful surprise and a great experience! When the team left, they were able to finish most of it, but there were still details and finish work to be completed.

In the few months since the team has been gone, Eric's co-worker Danny has been diligently assigning tasks and hiring the necessary people to complete the office space. There were power issues that had to be corrected. There were new lines that had to be placed. There were air-con units that needed to be put in to ensure the server rooms stayed cool enough. There were security issues for safety. The list went on and on.

Remember the computer racks the guys carried up the stairs from our container? Well, Danny and Eric got to put all the goodies inside those and were constantly blessed and amazed at how God purposely placed inside the boxes all the equipment they needed to run the servers. A very special thanks to the gang from Redding who donated such incredible stuff!!! It's going to be great to see what God does with all this equipment.

This weekend, Danny got to plug it all together and this morning we had a wonderful time of dedication to the Lord's work inside this beautiful new office space. We enjoyed a time of singing together, devotions and a wonderful time of prayer offering the work that will be done in this new office to the Lord.

She's Really Walking!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-07T21:33:00.000+08:00

We have met a great milestone with Mari! I will officially say now that she is walking! She has been increasing her steps day by day...or maybe more like month by month, but she has just recently really taken off. Tonight Eric and Mari and myself were playing "catch" with a ball, and all the sudden she threw the ball aside and started walking to each one of us...playing catch with herself. She is choosing to walk more than crawl now, unless she really needs to get somewhere in a hurry :) Her record steps (as counted by Andy) were 48 steps! We are pretty certain she has walked more than that, but none of us are counting anymore. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!!!

Valleys (con't) and Manna and Gifts

2007-10-07T20:54:00.000+08:00

Exodus 16:4 "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day."

I'm still processing the idea of living in the valley and being thankful and blessed to have mountaintop experiences. I picked up a book that our dear friend Esther gave us several years ago, "God's Best for My Life," by Lloyd John Ogilvie. Of course, the Lord had more stuff to say to me..."We can learn how God has revealed Himself to us or others in previous concerns, but we cannot hold over spiritual strength from one event to the other. God gives us a new portion of His power and wisdom for each crisis so that we may discover the unique thing that He seeks to do in each situation, and with each person with whom we come in contact or for whom we are responsible." He related God's grace to the provision of daily manna to the Israelites. God told them to daily take only what they needed. If they hoarded more than they needed, it rotted and got sick and yucky. I was thinking that my wanting to be on the mountaintop and not in the valley is no different than hoarding the manna. Do I not trust God to give me the grace I need to make it through each and every day. What's wrong with being in the valley...in the ho-hum...in the reality that life isn't always giddy and exciting...in the tears, and the laughter. I need to trust God in the daily portion of grace that He has just waiting for me to partake of...all I need to do is to gather it.

As I'm thinking about daily gathering the "manna" in my life, those gifts that God has given me that remind me and show me of His grace for my life, I've seen a few really fun things. I was sitting at the kitchen table and looking out the window toward the cement wall with spikes and razor wire that surround my home. Unfortunately, I wasn't really finding any joy in that at the moment. Then, the Lord brought to my attention a beautiful pink blossom that I hadn't seen. It was on a plant outside the window that I had been curious about...it's first bloom since our arrival. It was gorgeous. I jumped up and took out my camera, and not only was there that one bloom, but down below, there were several more. It was a special gift for me to enjoy to remember that God is just waiting there, wanting to give me grace and "manna," if I will just take it.

Then I decided to go on a little journey around the house and take note of some of the special plants and flowers that God gave me. All around the house are beautiful pink amaryllis...I really don't know how to spell that. They are special to me because I always remember my mom getting one at Christmas. Then, when we were in PNG, our house helper brought several of them and planted them around our house there. There is also a beautiful bougainvillea plant that has been blooming constantly since we arrived. That also reminds me of my mother. She always grew one at home, and would have to bring it inside in the winter so it wouldn't freeze. There are gardenia bushes out front, and I have always loved them. All around our house, there are special gifts that God has planted and watered (which to me is really important because I'm not good at watering). This morning, the birds were right outside our window singing a beautiful worship medley to their creator, and invited me to listen to the chorus. Then the roosters chimed in and so did the dogs :) Those dogs must sing in the bass section!!!!!

To carry the "manna" analogy a little bit further, I have one more thought. Today is Sunday here...God told the Israelites to double up the amount of manna they collected on Saturday so that they wouldn't have to go out fetching manna on Sunday. This would allow them to spend the day in rest. I'm not really sure how I would double up on receiving God's grace on Saturday so that I can rest on Sunday...but I do know that today, God gave me a wonderful gift...one that I knew I would receive, but not sure in what form. Today I can honestly say that our precious girl is walking! You'll have to read the next post to get the rest of the story :)

To quote Lloyd Ogilvie, are you living on "stale grace?" Go out and get your collection of grace for today...it's just waiting for you to pick it up :) PTL!

Winepresses and Valleys

2007-10-03T11:28:00.000+08:00

Have you ever been in the Napa Valley in California? It is truly beautiful place, especially in the fall! There are beautiful grape vines and rolling hills and rugged hills, and neat old historic buildings, and SO much character. I'm guessing right about now would be a wonderful time for a trip there. Maybe I'm missing the beginnings of fall. Maybe I'm simply homesick.

God has ever so gently been reminding me of a few things. If you like to read Oswald Chambers, then maybe you are on this journey with me, in your own way.

Here are a few of his quotes this week... "Grapes become wine only when they have been squeezed."

"I wonder what finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you? Have you been as hard as a marble and escaped? If you are not ripe yet, and if God had squeezed you anyway, the wine produced would have been remarkably bitter. To be a holy person means that the elements of our natural life experience the very presence of God as they are providentially broken in His service."

"We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain."

"The height of the mountaintop is measured by the dismal drudgery of the valley, but it is in the valley that we have to live for the glory of God. We see His glory on the mountain, but we never live for His glory there. It is in the place of humiliation that we find our true worth to God— that is where our faithfulness is revealed. "

I do want to live my life up on the mountaintop. I don't want to come down into the valley to get squeezed. I don't like it. I don't like that my heart aches for people not here. I don't like that the enemy tries to distract me by making me long for places and people I can't be with right now.

The other day, as God so regularly does to me, pointed out a scripture in Isaiah 65:17 "...the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind." I am no theologian, but the way God comforted me with that verse this week was to help me understand that the homesickness I feel here in Manila will never be experienced in my eternal home, Heaven. When I finally get there, there will be no mourning for that which I have given up to be where God has called me.

I know that those things are experienced in a multitude of ways. Whatever the transition, there is always the euphoria of the mountain, and then the duldrum of the valley. Saying "yes" to God seems to put us up on the mountain. Living it out in the valley of Manila is where the reality begins. We are there. But God has promised to always be with us. As strange as this may sound, there is comfort in the fact that God doesn't expect me to live on the mountain. He does expect me to live in the valley. I have many times in my life felt frustration at not being on the mountain top, and I'm learning that not only is it ok, but Jesus didn't let his disciples build shelters on the mountain top. He made them go down into the valley.

How is God squeezing you? Are you on the mountain or in the valley?

Please keep us in your prayers as we march through the challenging times and tears of homesickness and culture shock.

We love you and miss you!

Container Arrival

2007-09-24T11:15:00.000+08:00

WOW!!! I wish you could have all been here to just observe the process of unloading the container! We got a phone call telling us that our container would be arriving on the seminary campus between 12 and 1pm. The crazy thing was that Eric had numerous appointments that day and he couldn't be involved in the process at all. Enter Linda :) I arrived at the campus and waited for the container to do the same. In the mean time, the sky is getting darker and darker, and I'm thinking it looks a little bit like rain. At 3pm, they pulled in just a few minutes after the sky let loose of several gallons of water. The pastor who was the contact man didn't let the rain get in the way. The next thing I know is the truck is backing up to the office building, and the maintenance crew has all the necessary things to put a tarp up between the building and the container. It worked wonderfully. Then the moving team set to work, and in two hours, the container was empty and the truck was pulling out.

The most noteworthy thing that happened was when the five computer racks had to be carried up the stairs into the computer room. It took about ten guys to carry them. They certainly earned their pay that day.

We loaded all of our belongings into another truck and it was delivered to our house the following day. The maintenance crew had all of our stuff in our house in 30 minutes. They were great. Enjoy the pictures...

Many hands make light work.

Yes, all the way up those stairs, and up to the second floor of the building.

Even in the midst of grunts and groans, they could still smile.

Pastor Tommy and the maintenance crew that helped move our boxes in the house.

Mari was quite excited to find a box with her toys in it :)

Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!!!

2007-09-21T12:02:00.000+08:00

Dear friends and family,

We would like to give you all a very special "Thank-you!"

We were able purchase a car last week (that "we" includes ALL of you). Thank you so much for giving to our deputation fund so that we could have transportation. I am continually overwhelmed by the number of people who have joined with us in this journey. We have been told that we got a really great deal on our car, and that it is in great condition. It is a 2003 Mitsubishi Adventure, and it seats between six and 10, depending on the size of the passengers :) We are also thankful to Virgil, who located the car for us. We are grateful for your ministry Virgil!

We are truly blessed to be part of your team. Thank you so much for enabling us to be here, and thank you so much for your continued prayers!

God bless you today as you serve in your field.

Bunk Beds and Farewell Crib

2007-09-21T11:02:00.000+08:00

I have told some of you about the adventure of getting bunk beds, and thought it was about time I showed you the pictures. For those of you who haven't heard the story, there really isn't too much to it. We drove down the road and went to a furniture store along the side of the road, specialty...beds. Here is the picture...

We took a local pastor with us who could speak both English and Tagalog. We told them what we wanted, and they told us they would be done in three days. Great!!! On Saturday, they phoned us and said they were ready to deliver the beds (which we didn't know they would do, so we were quite pleased!) They brought them to the house, took them into the room and finished assembly. Here is the finished product with the contractors...

One of the requests we made on this particular bunk bed was to make the bottom safe for Mari to sleep in. They put side rails on all sides so she can't roll out. So, Mari has officially made the move from crib to bed. Ouch...milestones are great, except when they hit you :) It was probably good I had a little shove making the transition, because I might have drawn the inevetible out. She does love her big girl bed.

Thoughts

2007-09-09T17:31:00.000+08:00

Today is my dear brother's birthday! Happy Birthday Bryan!!! We love you! Give yourself a big birthday hug from us :)

Today is also Sunday...we had a wonderful morning in church. The church we have been attending is very focused on young people. It is alive with the Spirit and we have thoroughly enjoyed going there. Our third Sunday here, our neighbors asked to go with us, and they have been going with us ever since. It's really been fun! The Pastor, Pastora Luz is a woman who has been widowed for several years now. Her husband was the pastor, and a district superintendent. He was killed in a car accident and one of their three boys was severely injured and in a coma for a short period of time. After Luz's husbands death, she felt called to take over the pulpit. Their son who was in the coma was fully recovered and currently leads the music in the church. Their journey has been a tough one, but has deepened not only their lives, but also the church members. We have only experienced one other church since we've been here, but believe that until we have different direction with our neighbors, we will continue there.

We have gotten the word that our container has cleared customs, they have closed it all up and hopefully we will have access to it either Mon or Tues this week. We have been tossing around some interesting emotions knowing that it is soon to be here. One of them is excitement to have our things...things that just make us feel a little more like "home." The second thing we have been processing is that we feel ashamed for the things we will be unpacking. It seems like we have just handled life without it fine, even though the dishes etc., have been on loan to us. What does all our "stuff" communicate to others? The third thing that I have been dealing with is fear. I have just realized that it means I'm staying here. This isn't some short vacation that will be over in a few days. Ouch! Today that is a harder thing to process than other days. There is an overwhelming ache that is never really gone. Maybe it is like the thorn in Paul's side. Despite the crazy mix of emotions, we have peace in our heart that we are exactly where we are supposed to be.

Emotions are a strange thing...I'm glad for them though, because if I never experienced the sorrow, I wouldn't understand the blessing of the joy. May you find the joy of the Lord today as you walk your journey.

Let's go for a drive!

2007-09-06T16:44:00.000+08:00

I thought I would take you on a little drive with me. I went to the grocery store, and snapped pictures along the way...this way you can see the sights around me and get a feel for the traffic :) And don't worry, I didn't crash while taking pictures. Actually, I just held the camera on the top of the steering wheel. Unfortunately, I never took a picture of the grocery store once I got there. Once I did take a picture inside the grocery store and the security guard told me that I wasn't allowed to do that and made me delete the picture. Now I'm a little shy.

Here we go, out the driveway...

This is the main street through our subdivision. The bicycles with side cars are called pedicabs and are always taking people here and there.

Now we are pulling out onto the main street...not lights, just go. I just get right on the bumper of the car in front of me and go for it...people are very polite and that is the way it's done. I've heard it said...today it's your turn, tomorrow it will be my turn. As initially crazy as it seemed, the traffic really has a polite flow. Whew! Made it onto the main road...always a huge relief!

This is the next major intersection. It is actually a three way intersection with no light or stop signs. Occasionally there is a police officer directing traffic...once again...just get right on the bumper of the car in front of you and you'll be okay. The other saying here is...any space is free space.

These two pictures show the commonly found parking in the right lane.

A bakery that also sells donuts.

If you would like, you can purchase a door along the road. There are also stores like this to purchase beds (of which we did), mufflers, chairs and other furniture, and a sundry of other things.

Here is the last intersection....with a stop light. Notice the fellow is coming to my window to see if I want to purchase towels, steering wheel covers, or feather dusters.....not a good picture, but considering I was taking photos through my windshield, it's ok. :)

Well, the grocery store is just to my left and I need to procur some food.

Hope you had fun!

Container

2007-08-28T21:32:00.000+08:00

Well, we got word today that our container has arrived in country! Yahoo! It's a funny feeling knowing that our worldly possessions are now so close to us. It could well be equally as long to get our belongings to our door, as it was to get it across the ocean and around a super typhoon. We are so thankful that the typhoon didn't claim all those boxes :) God has been more than gracious in supplying what we have needed for the time being.

Funny, but I think one of the things that I am looking forward to are my covers for my bed. I am continuously shaking my head at myself regarding this. You see...there is a fine art in getting the temperature just right at night. It's either hot with a fan blowing on you, or it's cold with the air-conditioner going. Now, I have, after two months, begun to figure the precise location the two dials need to be set at in order to not wake up chilling at 3 am digging through the closet for a sweater. Don't think for a moment that I am not supremely grateful for that air conditioner. It has been something that has really helped with a large chunk of the culture shock that I have been dealing with. Also, because our precious little girl believes that there is no better place to be than in front of the cold, blowing, air, I have been able to maintain some sanity.

It will also be so nice to have my own pots and pans. It's quite surprising, but it does alter the level of comfort and simplicity in cooking when you are using equipment that you know and trust. Now, that doesn't mean that I will be doing a lot more cooking, because the temperature in the kitchen is still....you guessed it...hot.

The kids have been dreaming about their belongings that are so carefully tucked away in boxes. They really have been troupers here without their toys and books. The number of times I have been asked when the container will arrive have been increasing steadily. They keep commenting on the fact that when their stuff gets here they won't feel so cooped up in the city. Hmmm...we'll have to see.

I know all this sounds so terribly shallow. Simply put, it is. I am continuously amazed at how the enemy uses the simple things like temperature and convenience to get us off track. The trick is all in the attitude. I know that God cares about the little things like cooking utensils, and temperature, and He understands how the enemy blows them out of proportion. Fortunately He is beyond that, and has conquered the enemy already. I have thought many times how I would react if I never got my "stuff," and I know that it would be a bummer, but that God has supplied all of our needs thus far, and promises to always do so. It's just "stuff," and I've already forgotten a lot of what is packed away in those boxes :)

Please pray for the details of getting our shipment through customs and at our doorstep, for not only is our "stuff" in there, but several other people have miscellaneous items, along with the necessary equipment for our work.

Here is our "stuff" before it was loaded into the container (left) and our "stuff" during the loading process (right). Millions of thanks to those of you who offered your sweat and muscle to load up all those boxes!!!!

Language Study

2007-08-28T16:22:00.001+08:00

We have now had our first two language class. Our teacher has been teaching for 24 years and has had many, many students. There are not only new sounds and tones we have to learn to use, but there are also new parts of speech that we are not familiar with. It is a hoot listening to us trying to make the new sounds and form our mouths and lips in new ways. We spend quite a lot of time so far laughing. It is a really pleasant experience and I am very eager to learn the language. Most people have a grasp of English, but it's not their heart language. Please be praying with us that we can eagerly and quickly get a grasp on the language. We have to work extra hard on it because we are not immersed in the language...we can get by with English. However, none of us want to just get by. Our eldest son is also studying it in school, so we continually challenge one another to learn and study. It is fun.

Connecting

2007-08-24T15:08:00.000+08:00

It's great to be able to easily give you something to read from us. We have been dealing with trying to get newsletters out with no Internet connection, with only part of our computer programs, and with me as the operator :) I am quite happy to finally have a way to say HI and to tell you what's up.

This past week has been really quite a great week. We have been here now for over two months, and just last week, we opened our bank account, got cable (can you even believe that we have cable? It's actually the first time our life we have purchased it), and we got our Internet connection. It is a wireless connection, and I hear rumor that when there is a big storm, we'll lose it for several days, but it's better than not at all. It only took two months to get all those things finalized :) I felt like I really put down some roots last week. The other fun thing that happened is that we got mirrors for our bathrooms :) Silly I know, but our bathrooms were completely redone before we arrived and in an attempt to allow us to make this our home and not someone else's, they left the choosing of mirrors and towel hangers to us. So, we chose all those things, and our mirrors actually just came. We have already installed two of the three. Sometimes I think it's been a blessing not having mirrors. I suppose now we'll have to face the reality of what our hot sweaty faces really look like :)

Yesterday my friend "Liza" (I don't even know if that is really her name) came by to see me. She is what we call a "squatter." They are people who do not have any ownership of the land they live on, they just move in and take possession. She came with a golf-ball size abscess on the back of her leg, asking me for money to buy the antibiotics she held the prescription to. She frequently comes to see me asking for money (typically for medication) and food. Each time she comes I have an opportunity to pray with her and she is very open to that. I cannot communicate with her because she doesn't speak any English. Every time she comes I wrestle with the fact that she very well could be totally lying to me, and taking advantage of me, but at the same time, what if she isn't. We have dealt with this before in other places, so it's not terribly new to me, but it is very frustrating to me that I cannot communicate with her. She will even bring her friends to see me, and then tells them that they have to stay for prayer. It's really funny. One day she was asking for a large amount of money and I offered her to do some yard work outside our gate/fence, and much to my surprise, she came and worked very hard for a whole day. Please pray for "Liza." She is a divorced woman with four children and has no income. The whole "squatter" lifestyle really traps people into that road. One generation that comes to the city to find work and ends up a "squatter" begets children that do not know how to farm, and consequently can never go back to that lifestyle. It is quite a predicament. Please pray for us also as we try to direct these people to the proper ones who can help them, and pray for us to have very clear discernment as to what God needs us to do for them.

We sure do miss all of you, and love to hear from you. Thanks for your posts, those of you who have. It'll be fun seing how this works for us!

School and Rain

2007-08-23T15:48:00.000+08:00

The exciting news in our house is that we now have access to internet here at home. That means that now I can remain connected and not have to go all over town to get to a connection :) Are you appreciating your internet connection today? I sure am.

The boys started school last week and already had one day called off because of the rain. When I went to school, we looked forward to "snow days." Those were the days that you woke up and found that beautiful white powder dusting the trees, grass and driveway. Here, we have "rain days." That is when you look out your window and think you've suddenly gone swimming and are wondering where your goggles are. Really, there are some very impressive rivers that quickly come up out nowhere and just as quickly leave.

Just yesterday, Luke was taking the "activity van" home from school, after an activity, and one of those tremendous downpours happened. I knew they were going to let him off at the gate of the subdivision, so I headed there an hour early to pick him up because the rain was coming down so hard and fast that I was concerned I might get stuck on this side of the "river." As it was, I drove through 12" of water in one particular intersection, knowing that I had to get to my boy. It was pretty funny...the mama bear came out in me.

Here is a picture of our driveway after one such river rose...

Anyway, the boys are still settling into school and getting used to the routine here. The haven't complained too much about wearing uniforms, except that the shirts are hot. They sure do look handsome in their school duds.

We had "back to school afternoon" last week and were able to meet most of their teachers. Having one child in high school, middle school, and elementary, it was a little tricky being in three different places all at the same time. However, we did divide and mostly conquered :)

Up and Running

2007-08-23T14:58:00.000+08:00

August 23

We are hopefully now up and running :)

Stay tuned for more info!