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!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Celia

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???

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...

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!