March 21-23 - Monkeys and Sleep

Well, I am down to a few of the last lingering symptoms of my health ordeal. I feel semi-normal again and am back to doing laundry and house work, etc. But the one thing that I just can't shake is the insomnia. It is crazy. I have been keeping a sleep diary and I only slept 6 hours last week. I just ache all day and feel dizzy. The bottoms of my feet tingle and I just need to sleep! Well, since we live right behind the church, Ferd decided that we needed to totally remove ourselves from ministry for 2 whole days. He felt that if I could be somewhere quiet and peaceful and AWAY from the work, I wouldnt obsess about it so much. I am trying hard to make changes , but it is a daily process of totally reprogramming my mind and body. I have always been a person who has to constantly be "doing"... and through much time with the Lord, He is showing me how wrong this is. Those quiet times are needed in our life.

Anyway, after all the church work on Sunday, we packed up and headed south for Subic Bay. Oh, it was wonderful. The first night, I slept for 4 whole hours straight! And the next night, I slept about the same! A BIG difference. During the day, we just walked around the forest and swam in the ocean. It was wonderful. We even had wild monkeys running up and down the hall way of the hotel we stayed at. They were everywhere. We could hear them on the roof and they were sitting out in the lawn chairs..it was so fun!

March 20, 2010- " The Band"

Well, I am improving ALOT since my horrible illness. I am seeing big changes each and every day. I was having bad tremors and the Lord has removed that. All the chest pain, stomach aches, etc are now gone and I give the LORD all the glory because I just cried out to Him and He delievered me from the pit I had dug myself into. It is a long climb out, but each step He is holding my hand. I am not completely out but I can see the light at the top now. I have learned so much and am making ALOT of lifestyle changes so that next time I get sick ( which is inevitable here) I will not be run down to the point that I can't fight it off. I have learned to delegate more and use the talents of the people more.

Ferd is focusing now full time in the new church plants and outreaches. I help very little there now since my illness, and instead am resting here at our first church plant, LBC. I need some stability and close church family right now and can't really do the strenuous work of the new villages right yet. It is extremely hard and primitive and I need to build my immune system up more before I can expose myself to that area full time. So, the members of LBC are helping Ferd more since I can't.

One of the ways I am finding therapy is through music. I really LOVE to play the piano and the guitar. Having my dad here last month really brought back my love for playing the guitar. I have played a special number twice now in church and I play constantly here in the house.

Dad worked with some of our young men and started a "band". That sounds funny calling it that, but WOW , they are such a blessing. We named them the "Light Beams" since our first church plant is Lighthouse Baptist.

My hands were shaking too bad to play the piano for a few weeks, so I decided to work with the boys and help them with their chords and timing, etc so that they could play during the congregation. It is AMAZING and the church folks LOVE it! They clapped during the hymns and it just added so much life to our congregational singing.

March 17, 2010 - Patch Club Awards

Tonight was the highlight of the Wed night Patch Club kids group. It was their award night where we recognize all their hard work and tally up all their points to see who has the top honor. They work hard memorizing tons of Scripture, they learned all the Books of the Bible, responsible to soul win and lead others to the Lord, help the elderly in the church and many many more responsibilities. I have enjoyd teaching in this class for 2 years now and the kids LOVE it. It has doubled in size since I started it and it is an excellent way to disciple kids for service. I am not into the " Bible story telling" style teaching. I like practical lessons that change us and teach us how to serve. So, there's no Noah and the Ark type lessons in this class, but challenging discipleship. Kids are ALOT smarter and ALOT braver than you think and they can do so much for the Lord!

March 14, 2010- Handbells

One of the neat things that Mom taught us while she was here was Handbells. We started off with the adults and young people and now we are continuing on with the kids. I enjoyed working with a young lady here who has committed to take over the ministry and keep it going. It is so awesome to see new areas of ministry and talents being opened and used. The only problem is that ALL the kids want to do it and there are only enough handbells for the chords needed in the song. So, we started a schedule to rotate the kids each week.

March 5, 2010- Goodbye

Mom and Dad were able to extend their tickets due to my illness, but today they had to leave. It was VERY HARD. I cried all day. We took them to Manila the night before their flight and we stayed in a hotel. Here is a picture from our hotel room..

I cried the whole drive back home, the whole night...it's very hard..

Jan. 24- Feb. 24, 2010- Sickness

The past month has been the biggest trial of my personal life. I have had MANY hardships with Sean here as well as numerous tragedies, catastrophes,etc. But this past month was an attack on me personally. I have been sick here before...I have had the joy of having Dengue Fever, Malaria, the Mumps, and a ton of viral infections, etc. But this past month, I was so sick. I honestly thought I wasnt going to make it. It was also hard as I did not get to enjoy my parents visit here since I laid in a hospital bed for a whole month. Yet, I am thankful that they were here. Mom and Dad assisted our members in all the work we normally do here. They also took care of Sean, which was a huge burden off my shoulders.

The doctors found that I had E.coli and a bacterial infection, but the worse part was that I was so run down physically, mentally and emotionally that I did not have the reserve to fight off the infections and was in fact making myself worse. The doctors said my body was so broke down and stressed that I need to take a rest and make a major lifestyle change.

January 24, 2010 Sunday AM

I have enjoyed playing guitar with Dad, something I have not done since I was in high school. Ferd bought me a new guitar for Christmas and it was nice to play with Dad again. We sang a special number today in church and then Mom Dad and I all played instruments for the hymnals.

A few days of Fun

We took a few days and took Dad on a historical tour of Corregidor as well as Taal Valcano, American Cemetery and a few other places... It was a wonderful get away for all of us.

Village Outreach with Mom and dad

Mom and Dad are getting over their jetlag really well. They were able to help with our new work in the village of Lanas. I led the singing but Mom and Dad provided the accompaniment through guitar and accordian. Usually we just sing by ourselves, so it was nice to have some music to sing along with. Dad handed out Filipino Bibles that he and Mom printed on their printing press.

January 19, 2010 - HOORAY!

My parents are HERE!!!! YAY!!! We picked them up from the airport around midnight and enjoyed a nice fish breakfast the next morning there in Manila. They are here for a few weeks to help in our ministry, as well as enjoy some family time with us. We plan to have some down time first and do some sight seeing. Dad turns 60 while he's here and we hope to take him in a historical tour of WW2 places. It should be fun!

New Village Outreaches growing!

The new Bible Studies are growing and doing well. It is ALOT of hard work and we have had more obstacles and adversities to overcome in these new outreaches. The villages of Lanas and Maasim are so saturated with superstitions and demonic powers that we are really seeing slow progress compared to our first work in Bolosan. We are so thankful for Precy, who allows us to use her house. We also meet outside in the middle of the village of Lanas were everyone can hear as Ferd speaks.

Christmas 2009

Just a few snapshots of our work and crazy busy-ness during Christmas. It was fun though and the Gospel was presented many times through our efforts!

The Whole Month of November in a nutshell

I’ve been sick. Sean is too and Ferd is coming down with something. The flood recovery has drained us. Satan knows when we are at our weakest and I'm sure he strategicly picks that time to attack.
We have had a rough weekend. One of our members who is only 30 something like me just lost her husband suddenly 2 months ago. She has 2 kids and was expecting her 3rd. She called me Thursday to come when she was heavily bleeding at 5 months pregnant. She miscarried the baby and the baby came out with no legs, just a torso. It was very strange. So, I am dealing with this horrible incident with her...
But, Ferd is the one Im worried about. He had to take a stand on somethings and I fear for his safety. He says I worry too much, but would you just pray for him specifically. There is a withdoctor here and he has convinced some of our new attendees in the new villages to stop coming to the Bible Study. The whole superstition thing that he has them believing is soooo wild, you would have to see it to believe it. but, these demonic superstitions are very dangerous.
Especially today, it is Undas which is the Day of the Dead. Looking out my window right now I see thousands of candles lit up to keep the dead spirits from entering the house. I spent the whole morning after church counseling with a lady who is struggling with these strong beliefs..it takes A LONG TIME to work with these people. Sure, they get saved, but you have to reprogram them. They have to re-learn everything..
Anyway, Ferd had to take a stand against this witchdoctor...and he has power around here. He does weird things and has demonic power. I know his black magic can't harm us..Greater is HE that is within me!!! but, he can influence people to possibly attack Ferd. I do have a wild imagination, ...but it stems from MANY horrible things that I have seen here and I know what these people are capable of...

Nov. 1- 3, 2010 - Family Getaway

We took a few days and headed south to Subic Bay and it was so nice to breathe a bit before getting back to more flood clean up and ministry work.

October 31, 2009 - Caroling

Ok, so when you hear the word "caroling" you automatically think December. Well, Christmas season starts here in September, so our kids wanted to go out caroling, and though it didnt feel like Christmas to us, we decided to go out and have some fun.

Here in the Philippines, when children carol, their audience gives them candies or money. So, our kids were thrilled to fill their bags with lots of goodies from all our members' homes.

We started off the night with me teaching them and lots of singing..then we caroled till late! It was really fun!