My work in the Mountain

Ferd and I have been working up in Palapad, San Fabian, a mountain village way up in the boonies. I have overseen the children's ministry and Ferd started the adult study. Though I still teach the kids on Sundays, Ferd has handed the adults over to Melvin, one of our preacher boys. It has been exciting to see this little village work grow. It's very rugged and alot of hard work, but rewarding!

Easter Sunrise Service - March 31

Sean Turns 12 - March 29, 2013

Today our baby turns 12. I just can't believe it. I nkow it's cliche to say that time flies, but I can't believe we are at this point already. It seems like he was just a little baby. To

ay, as I see him so big and grown up, it reminds me that the baby days are over and due to my hysterectomy, they will never happen again for me. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to have Sean, as I couldn't bear life without him. He is so precious to me.

Birthday Vacay

Every year for as long as I can remember, we have taken Sean to Subic Bay for his birthday. He LOVES it there and we usually spend 2-3 days making it our family vacation as well. It's everythng tropical island there, including native bands, fire jugglers, and drinking mango shakes on the ocean shore. It's something we look forward to all year long..

Graduations!

Well, since we have four graduates that all attend different schools..We have been busy running around, trying to attend them all. These kids are truly like my own, and it is important that we are there. If we didn't show up, they would be scanning the audience looking for us and be so hurt to find us not there. Especially my little "son" Dave, whose mother and father both died last year. His mom was one of my best friends and his dad asked Ferd to take care of his kids on his death bed. It was hard to see Dave graduate without them there to see it, but I was honored when he asked me to stand with him as his "mom" on the stage as he received his Salutotorian award.

I missed Filipino food

While I had an aaaaamazing time eating country style cookin' in West Virginia, I have missed Filipino food terribly. Today I got to eat my favorite, palabok, again at my good friend Melba's birthday party. She is one of the best cooks I know here, so yeah, it was sooo good!

Wash, wash , wash!

Well, since our house was boarded up for a few months, the mildew and mold is crazy. We have had to wash everything! Every inch of our yard and porch is covered with laundry. All our clothes are happily flapping in the wind outside..

Ferd's mom

We arrived back to the Philippines to find Ferd's mom being deathly ill. We had to finally take her to the hospital and she ended up being in the ICU for about 1 week. She is on the mend now after the Dr advised that she needed daily dialysis and a feeding tube. Both have helped tremendously and she was able to go home. I am not sure what the future holds for Ferd's mom, but at least she is home now where she feels more comfortable.

Medical Trip to the USA

I feel like I barely blinked and so much time has passed. Well, after suffering for more than 7 years with extreme Endometriosis and PCOS and exhausting all treatments ( trust me, I have tried them all -hormonal, natural and surgical) .. My wonderful Gyno advised me to go ahead and get the inevitable over with - a total hysterectomy. I struggled months and months, agonizing over this decision, but finally decided to heed the advice of many and go for it. It was a rough ordeal and I am still adjusting to a whole slew of other symptoms now that I had the surgery, but I must admit..I am finally pain free. So, that is a huge plus. I am so thankful for the protection the Lord gave me through the surgery and traveling to the USA ( without Ferd) and bringing us back here safely to the Philippines!

December 2011 - Lolo Marcos

We had to say Goodbye to Ferd's grandpa, Lolo Marcos this past month. God blessed him with a long life, 109 years old! That is amazing, but what's more amazing was his testimony and love for Christ. Because of his strong commitment to the Lord, Ferd and much of his family are saved and serving the still Lord today.

2011 Catch Up

Ok, so I got way behind with my blog... 2011 slipped by right before my eyes, and now it's the new year and I really need to keep my blog going. I will try to highlight a few moments over the past 6 months before I move on to 2012.

Well, the main reason that I dropped off the face of the earth was because we started the Bible Institute that we have been dreaming about for many years.. It has literally zapped us physically and mentally , but well worth the investment to see these young men and women come to learn more about God's Word and preparation for His service. We began building in August....

After all the construction, blood sweat and tears, we started class in September.

I taught English while Ferd and the other Pastor taught Doctrines 1 , OTS, and Hermeneutics. We had 19 students the first block and it was exciting to see them grow like they did.

It was hard to say goodbye to my little buddy Greg this past October.. I have been discipling and ministering to him since March.. so it was VERY hard to let this part of my life go. He was very special to me.

May 20 -VBS Graduation

Today we had a huge ceremony to recognize all the hard work of the students...and with 300 kids who all worked hard, well..needless to say, our ceremony was LONG! but, we were so proud of the kids. All their Scripture memory and hard work, it was so rewarding to see them enjoy it so much. Each group ( we had 4 groups) were awarded with 3medals and 1trophy per group. And tons of certificates! Each kids got something.. it was so fun to see the pride in their eyes!

May 19, Gospel Presentations!

Today was a very important day! After their last lesson( all lessons presented the Gospel in a clear way).. we divided the kids up into groups of 10-15 and assigned a VBS worker to share the Gospel with them in a more personal approach. I am very comforable sharing God's plan of salvation in Tagalog, but today I was way out of my comfort zone!!! We have had a deaf girl named Danica attend each day and our Sign language group has tried our best to communicate with her. Well, the Lord laid her on my heart and I took her into her own personal circle with me and tried my best , with the Lord's help, to share Salvation through Signing. I have been doing the sign language class with the Singles, but I am still very new at it. So, it was a little scary. However, the Lord brought all the words to my memory and I was able to share with Danica. She signed back to me that she understood and believed and wanted to accept the Lord!!! YAHOO!!! YAY!!! Thank You Lord!

At the end of the day, we had 58 sincere professions of faith! It was worth the whole week of hard work to know that these preciuos souls know the truth!

May 17-18, VBS continues

Even more kids...there has to be 300 by now!!!All the kids want to hug me, hold my hand, sit on my lap and feel and play with my hair. I love these kids and want them to see just how much I love them too!!! I am holding up quite well, even though the heat is unbearable. I am covered in heat rash..huge whelping sweat bumps that are so painful. Sometimes, I have to step aside and just get a big drink of water and fight the feeling of fainting. It is extremely hot..words can't do it justice!! Plus, we have had some bumps along the way ( and not just my heat rash).. One girl just sprayed vomit all over the place during opening exercises. It was everywhere all over everything. That was an ordeal. .. then, we had a girl who came sick with diarrhea..and just pooped everywhere. All over her seat in the class room, all the way to the bathroom, all over the rug, the floor and toilet! It was horrible!!

Since I wasn't a teacher this year, I was able to spend time with the mothers that came with their kids while the teachers were teaching in the classrooms. I was able to sit and really share the Gospel with some of them. One lady pictured above beside me, named Nancy, REALLY listened and I shared the Gospel with her. She wants to come back to our church and promised me she would be there next Sunday!!

Really, the Lord is blessing our efforts. We are building up the message of salvation clearly each and every day so that by tomorrow, they will be ready for the Evangelistic Circles. We will be breaking the kids up into small groups and sharing the Gospel more intensely with them in small more intimate groups.

May 16, 2011 - First Day of VBS

WOW..we had 250 kids today! We got up at 5am, and the kids started rolling in around 6:30am! It took us a while to register them all and organize them into their groups. But, we had amazing control this year. The Lord just really gave us a great first day! The kids were behaved ( most were anyway) and we had more than 30 VBS workers, so we were prepared.

There are so many kids, so many faces..but each are individual souls..souls that will spend eternity somwhere. So, through the intense heat and noise, I just smile and hug them and try my best to show the Saviour's love. I want to be that person that they look back on in life and remember making an impact in their life..hopefully, an eternal impact!

VBS Visitation and Inviting!

We minister to 6 different villages here in our 2 church plants..so we have alot of inviting to do! We printed out invitations and went out on foot, inviting kids to the SEA QUEST! This may be the only time these children will hear the Word of God, so this is a HUGE opportunity!

Getting ready for VBS!!!

We have been working so hard getting ready for VBS all month. Pheww..it's hard to believe it starts this week! All the work..we have really worked our fingers and bodies to the bone! It will be worth it if one child accepts the LORD. I am not about " Repeat after me" salvations. To many people are given a false assurance through easy believe-ism. Even though it takes MORE TIME and energy, I make sure that I share the Gospel to folks over and over clearly..so that they understand. Then, as the Spirit leads, they are the one to pray from their heart and it's up to them to recieve or reject the message. I am not about lying to people and telling them they are saved because they repeated a prayer after me. I'd rather have 10 souls sincerely accept the Lord than 1,000 that just did a ritualistic prayer just so I can write a good prayer letter to my supports. Everything I do here, I do from a heart for souls. I want to see people come to know Christ, and I truly doing my best. I hope and pray that God blesses our efforts next week through souls that truly want to accept the Lord!!!

Bangus Festival

Each and every year, the streets of Dagupan are totally engulfed with people as we celebrate our beloved Bangus! Bangus is our livelihood here in Dagupan...it's a fish that we not only eat ALOT of..but it supports so many families here as many men are fishermen. If you don't like bangus, you should not live in Dagupan. Thankfully, I happen to love it. It is delish!

So, this week, we celebrate through parades, lots of grilling and activities, etc. It's fun and exciting till you want to get out and the streets are too crowded with dancing and parades.. Thankfully, it's only for a week!!!