October 13-15 - Relief at Last

After a whole week of trying to find enough food for everyone...funds have arrived from the states!! The waters are down enough to travel on the roads, and we were able to buy ALOT of food and personal items. We spent the last 2 days diving and packaging up rice and groceries. We were able to buy and distribute enough food for ONE WHOLE WEEK to every single Believer here in our ministry..That is nearly 200 people! There was sooo much food..it filled 3 rooms in the church. We also bought over 1,000 pounds of rice. The people were overwhelmed with thanksgiving when we delivered it today!!!

October 8-13, 2009 - TOTAL Disaster Here

Parma, the typhoon that exited last week...whipped around and came back and nailed us..
The past 5 days have been rough...for lack of better words. I can not even explain the events that have unfolded and the suffering we have seen and been through. This one about broke me and I am still emotionally trying to deal with it...we were hit with 3 back to back typhoons, the latest one on Thursday did us in. I just can't even put it into words yet.. I'm trying to heal from all the tramatic things that we have just went through, and are still dealing with..
6 feet of water submerged our whole village within 2 hours after the main dam broke here. Everyone that does not have an upstairs was swept away. We live up on stilts ( the equililent of a 2nd story building..) so people began to swim here. We had 150 evacuees stranded in our home and church. We have had no running water or power for FIVE days. No way to go to the bathroom other than in cups and throw it outside.. ( that is nearly 200 people all doing this right here)... the smells, the sounds. I am just still coping through this. I am usually a strong person, but this one has broken me.
Everything is ruined in the church, the mess and filth is undescribable. this is my 2nd MAJOR natural disaster in one year's time...Im tired and sick and distraught. Please pray for me.
I'm posting some pictures now and will talk more about this when I am emotionally ready.
Just pray right now for this... 1. many church members have lost everything, 2. there is no food, no gas and no roads open for supplies to get in 3. the mess that we have to deal with now is unreal
ok, well...I'm gonna try to post some pictures.

October 16, 2009 - All Roads Open

It feels good to get out to the city!

The water is down enough to travel out and get supplies in from Manila..YAY! We went out and loaded up, though everything is picked over and people are in a state of panic. Also prices have tripled. We paid nearly 4 dollars for a head of cabbage!! It is crazy! It feels like the end times!

October 6- WHAT a WEEK!

Ok, so the weather is NOT good over here. I have not done laundry in FOREVER! We have had like 3 back to back typhoons..thankfully, this last one changed course and did not hit us as hard as we thought it would. But it has rained, and rained and RAINED for weeks now and I am forgetting what sunlight even looked like. On top of that, I got the flu this week..well, I think it was the flu. I also think it may have been my body's way of just shutting down after all the stress and work of preparing for the storms. After losing nearly everything last year, I tend to get a little excited about typhoons, so I tense up a little more than I should. Anyway, after losing power ALOT and going through a rough week, I think we are finally getting back to normal. I am feeling better some...and hope to get back to blogging..

Sept.28, 2009 - time to PRAY

Tonight we met at one of the home Bible Studies to pray for the families that were affected by the floods..one of our member even has a sister in Manila that she hasnt heard from and they can't contact her! This tragedy has affected us all here in the Philippines and we just met together and prayed for the Lord's healing. Also for His protection as we have 3 back to back typhoons headed our way. We know that the Lord is in control..but yeah, it is still definitely scary. I have been running around trying to get all that we need, though I cant find D Batteries ANYWHERE! AHHH!! Ferd has all the windows boarded up and we are as ready as we can be..

Sept. 27, 2009- Manila Floods

Last night, the typhoon shook our house, nearly rattled the windows off and blew our roof intensely. I thought for sure that we would lose it again, but by the grace of God, our roof is still on. The waters that poured from Heaven were undescribeable. It was so much water. Much is flooded here, However, it is much worse in Manila. More than 200 people were killed overnight and into this morning with news of 80% of Manila under water.

Sept. 26, 2009 - Ladies Fellowship

Forcast called for a major typhoon to hit us , but our ladies were determined to go ahead and have our scheduled fellowship on Lingayen Beach. It was HORRIBLE! The winds nearly blew me off my feet..and the rains were terrible. The storm is supposed to hit ful force tonight but it started this morning at our fellowship..My goodness! It was WINDY! We had to finally leave early and come back and finish our meeting at the church where we had ihaw ihaw ( grilled bangus fish) and lots of side dishes..It was a good day all in all..

Sept. 18, 2009 - Sean's Cultural Dance

Sept. 10 - afternoon fun

We have had a nasty monsoon all week. It started on Sunday and literally never stopped raining till today ( Friday). Everything is flooded and a nightmare to say the least. However, ministry does not stop even thought the floods are here. A dear friend and member of our church, Loming, had her mother pass away and so we had to help her through this difficult time. Her mother was lost and VERY heavily into superstitions and spirit stuff...all the other kids are converted Jehovah's Witnesses so Loming is the only Christian in the middle of all that, so she needed our support. Since it is flooded everywhere, being the good WV girl that I am, I slapped on some boots and headed out to the funeral on foot!

Sept 10, 2009 - Monsoon =Floods

Floods everywhere. Today I picked Sean up from school and it was a bit too much for me. I was so scared that I cried. I dont do that very often over here as I have literally been through the mill and it takes ALOT for me to cry. But the waters and rains for sooo bad, that I was scared. I was all alone trying to drive through it and it broke me down. I finally cried out to the Lord and He got me through it safely..

But the waters are everywhere which means so are the mosquitoes...Dengue Fever is hitting hard again... that scares the willies out of me!!!

Sept. 9, 2009, Wed PM

One of the things I still enjoy doing is leading the Patch Club at our first church plant. Since it is on Wed nights, I can help out alot since we do not have anything else going on in the new village outreaches we are consumed in the rest of the week. We had our Awards night last Wed and so tonight starts a clean slate for all the students. Since it is at night, there are only about 15 kids that attend with their parents ( for the prayer meeting) So, it is small enough that I can control it by myself, which I like..the Bible clubs and Sunday school classes which run TONS of kids are way too much for me and I gladly allow the other members to handle those.

Sept. 9, 2009 09/09/09

The big thing here is that all the Chinese population are declaring this a Lucky Day. There are alot of Chinese here in our community so it's a big hooplah here. I don't believe in Luck, but I do agree that this was a good day! We welcomed a new neice into the world. Ferd's sister Marilyn gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Avery. We visited the happy new family and had a cake made for the special occasion.

August 28, 2009 - night time fellowship

It was nice to meet up with some fellow-missionaries that we havent seen since February tonight. We ate and laughed and talked in ENGLISH..yeah BABY! That is always fun!!

August 28, 2009 - Buwan Ng Wika hoop-lah

Today was the big day for Sean. He submitted his hand made basket and honestly, I think his basket was the best of his 17 classmates!

The whole school was decorated to honor the culture of the Philippines and they made a little museum that the kids took a tour of and also had a little theater set up where they learned about Jose Rizal, one of the country's heroes.

August 27, 2009 - Buwan ng Wika

Tomorrow is Sean's Buwan ng Wika Celebration at school. It's a time where they have to remember the indigenous people and their tribal ancestors by dressing in native costumes and making native items. Tomorrow they have to submit a handmade bamboo basket and will be graded on their decorations. Since mangoes are one of the most plentiful fruits, we decided to make a fruit basket with mangoes inside. Here is the finished product that Sean assembled all by himself..he will be graded tomorrow and it will be entered into competition.

August 26 , 2009 Family Prayer Night

We lost power for nearly 2 days, which was FUN! ( that was sarcastic).. It is way too hot down here in the provence to be without power. I sweated like a rotisserie chicken and it was not pretty, let me tell you.

So, today was much better when the power came back on and we were able to get back to normal life. I put together a new song book for the church since the flood waters destroyed most of them. Its a hard job to type all those songs..now to print them out, xerox them and assemble.

Tonight was the highlight of the day. We had our monthly family prayer cell group. Each last Wed of the month, we rotate homes to hold the meetings. We had a great time at Bro P's house, even though there was a killer thunder and lightening storm. Probably one of the worse I have ever been in. It shook the house but miraculously, power is still on!

Ferd gave an awesome lesson on Temptation and incorporated the Gospel message into it as we had some unBelievers there. Bro P's wife is not saved and we all prayed for her right there and for witnessed to her one on one after the service. She still has not accepted the Lord.

August 24, 2009 Avocados = Yummy

We are blessed to have many of our own fruit trees. We have coconut, banana, atis and kalamansi right here on our property. we also have avocado and mango trees up on Ferd's piece of land in the jungles. Each child gets a small portion from Ferd's parents so since we are so far away, they take care of the trees and we enjoy the fruits of it. Ferd's mom brought us some avocados from our trees and they are beyond good. We eat them up..though they are loaded in fat, it's a healthy fat ( at least that is what Im telling myself as I wolf them down)

August 23, 2009 - This is the Day...

that the Lord has made! I love going to church and couldn't imagine not going. I feel refreshed, uplifted and closer to my Father. Today we enjoyed Pastor Ronald's preaching ( the young man who is in training at LBC) and he taught on Having a Spiritual Check up. I have been to the doctor many times in the past year or so and it was a challenge that I need to check my spiritual health too!

Sean sang with the children's choir who opened the service...

August 22, 2009 - oh rats!

At night, it sounds like little children playing in our ceiling...that is how big the rats are over here. I hate those guys and wish they could all be banished to an island of death and dispair. I can not find one positive reason for their existance and plan to ask the Lord why He created them when I get to Heaven.

Here they are not only a disturbance, but a danger. A father of one of our teenagers in the church was killed 2 years ago becuase of contaminated rat pee. So, I do not want those things near me or my family. Ferd crawled up in the wall and set 5 rat traps...within minutes we could hear those things going off like crazy up in the ceiling. As soon as he sets them..smack! another one bites the dust. We have been on a rat killing spree which is awesome as it protects us better and our pets who could be bitten and infected with heaven knows what!

August 20, 2009 - PT Conference

Today was the BIG day..Parent Teacher Conference and Report Card Day!!! We were so nervous, but Sean did AWESOME!!!! He got all A's and B's with a total average of 94% The teacher said he is doing well and that he just needed to quit drawing so much in class. Yep, he's my son..everyone knows how that's ALL I ever did when I was a kid. (-: We are so proud of him and he was able to get the beanie buddy he wanted ( my mom sent it and we hid it until Grade Card Day)..so he was thrilled!!!

August 18 , 2009 - Lingayen Date

Ferd and I had to go investigate a location for the next Ladies Fellowship so we took a drive to Lingayen. We had a nice day together and found a beautiful picnic area for the ladies to go to in September. We are also inviting all the ladies from the new villages to go with us. They will enjoy meeting new Christians and making new friends.
Then Ferd and I enjoyed a nice lunch together before picking Sean up. It's been forever since Ferd and I have been alone like that especially with all the church projects and new outreaches. It was nice to get away..

August 16, 2009 - Teens

Our teen group is so much fun. They are really the core of our church as the young people do 90% of the ministry. They clean, they teach, they soul win, they are just such an asset to us. We love them dearly and enjoy leading them. We have teen fellowship every Sunday afternoon at 4pm, which makes our Sundays VERY full ...We run about 30 teens and even Sean likes to participate. He loves the teens and today he showed them how he is learning to play the piano. He played Jesus Loves Me and a VBS song which they all sang along to.

August 13, 2009 - Exams

Due to my health, we have prayerfully decided to allow Sean to return to school, which he hs been begging us to do. Since Sean is Filipino, he is unlike other American missionary children. He blends in and is not treated differently. He goes to a private, non-religious school in the city which is very small and his teacher is a born again Christian!!! Talk about a huge blessing!~

Anyway, this week is Exam week and we have been stressed. Since Sean goes to a private-prep school they do not allow anything less than an 80...so we have been studying like crazy! He has lots of classes - English, Math, Tagalog, Sibika ( Filipino History), Computer, Science, MAPE ( PE), Reading & Spelling, etc.. and has exams in every one of them. Poor Sean, he is so

nervous and the stuff they are studying is soooo hard and so advanced compared to what we are used to. PRAYERS ARE GOING UP!!!

August 12, 2009 Ladies Bible Study

I have been enjoying the ladies Bible study we have been holding. I have been teaching it each meeting, holding topics like " Becoming Titus 2 Women" and a series on Gossiping. Tonight I taught on Holiness. I have learned so much just from the study preparation and the ladies are so relaxed and asked so many questions. It is such a tool to teach as they feel comfortable with only other ladies. I'm also blessed that the ladies are also volunteering to teach too. For the next month, we have 2 ladies signed up to teach, which will be a treat for me. I always get such a high from watching my converts grow into leaders!!

August 12, 2009 - Still at work

Ferd and the men at our first church plant, LBC , have been working so hard to repair the wall around the church. It was so badly distroyed and was a real eye sore..totally embarrassing. I can't wait to post pictures of the finished project. I also cant wait for all the construction mess to be over!!!

August 11, 2009 - Yay! Real Food!!!

We got a big surprise today when some boxes arrived from some sweet friends of ours (-: Sean nearly wet his pants from excitement as we dug through all the "real food" ( as he calls it) and all the goodies that they put together for us. We are so thankful for friends who not only pray for us but remind us how much they loves us!

August 10, 2009 - Bad storm..yet again

Well, due to a big , bad typhoon that swept through here...I am way behind in everything. It rained for one whole week straight. Day and night. It was horrible! Everything was flooded, everywhere. I am so glad that we live up on stilts and that our house is safe and dry for the most part. Our roof still leaks and the whole church got flooded from the roof. We went to pick up Sean and it was so scary as the water was up past my car door. I am thankful that we made it through safely, but am so glad that the typhoon has passed. It left alot of homeless people and many were killed through landslides and flooding.. Here's the news footage

August 2, 2009 - I couldnt imagine..

This is me and Precy... a young 30 something mother in our church. She has 2 small kids and her husband just dropped dead this past week. He was 37 years old and we are still trying to figure out why. He did not attend our church so we are not very familiar with him other than just seeing him from time to time at Precy's house. She is taking it very rough, as she is a single mother with no means to support herself and her kids now. It is tough, and I honestly don't know what to tell her. "Trust the Lord" ...it sounds good, but if I were in her shoes, that would be much easier said than done. Whoever is reading this, I just ask you to pray for Precy and for me as I try to comfort and encourage her.

One word of praise...Ferd led Precy's elderly father to the Lord through this tragedy. He accepted the Lord and PRecy is so thankful, as he has rejected her tries in the past. The Lord has blessed those seeds she planted and Ferd was able to use the tragedy to harvest this man for the Lord.

July 28, 2009 - Comfort Foods..a MUST today

Well, Ive been down for 2 days with my health probs...feeling really bad and wanting to self medicate through food. Ferd has been out all day, and Im stuck here in the house. He is out trying to figure out what to do with the van we need..still bargaining, and trying to get the guy to lower the price. I havent been able to see the van in person, only pictures, since Im stuck here in the house, unable to leave.
Ferd came in for lunch and brought me some comfort foods, some of my favorites. The Lord really gave me a heart for the food here and I LOVE IT!!! Today, he brought me some of my favorite fruits ...like, langka...pictured below

...............and lychees

and my favorite dessert ...halo-halo, where they put fruits, vegetables and beans over ice with condensed milk..Man, I love that stuff