Life

Hi dear friends,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turn to Page "x"

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

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

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

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

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

Listen...He is there! Praise God!

How should we pray?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gone are the Days :)

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

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

Christmas and New Years in the Philippines

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year!!!!

A Few Stories

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



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


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