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."