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!

Oops!!

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

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

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

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

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

We love you all!

March and April

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Lord Will Be Your Everlasting Light

Dear Friends and Family,

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessings on each one of you!

Poverty

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

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blessing to you all!