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

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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...

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

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!!!