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.