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.