The Eye

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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