Advanced Operations Training & Tribal Bible College

There are some exciting new things going on with Tribals Reaching Tribals. One of them is called Advanced Operations Training, in partnership with a group called Nehemiah Teams. It is a 3-month, in-depth discipleship and training for young people in ministry. It is being held up in the Bugkalot tribal area, and they have 7 people attending. At the end of the classroom training, these young people will lead teams on short term trips to share the Good News & plant churches.

The other exciting development is the start of the first semester of the Tribal Bible College on the new land. It was supposed to have started this week, but there was a death in the family of one of the students as well as several other factors that has delayed the start. Pray with us that it will start next week!

This sign was created by one of our Bugkalot partners for the property down there. So exciting to be a part of this partnership. BBCF is Bugkalot Bible Christian Fellowship. BTCA is Bicol Tribal Church Association. MTCA is Mangyan, IMB is us with International Mission Board, and then my dad's organization, Global Empowerment.

Here are some pics of the campus with classroom building, teacher houses and student dorms. 

Also pray for Pastor Isaias and his wife Leni. Isaias is the principal and one of the teachers for the Bible College. They were understandably discouraged when only 1 person showed up for the start of the new semester. Pray with us that the others will be able to come next week so that we can just start a week late.

Lastly, please continue praying with us for the Manide tribe. They were identified as a UUPG - Unengaged, Unreached People Group. We had a Bugkalot team up there, and they learned the language, but then they were kicked out with Covid and now have lost their homes & partners for the ministry there. Pray as the Bugkalot figure out how to get another team up with the Manide. Pray for more laborers in the harvest.

Family Update

The boys are doing well at William Carey University in Mississippi. We sure miss them, but we are so incredibly thankful that they seem to be thriving. I don't have many pictures from them, but here is one my mom took this summer when the 3 kids were together.

Steve & I celebrated our 24th anniversary while we were on another island for some meetings. We took a couple days at the beach and had a wonderful time.

Something pretty cool has been going on the last couple weeks - Mikayla came to the Philippines for a visit! We spent a couple days at the beach with her and had a wonderful time catching up.

The main reason Mikayla is here this month (other than obviously seeing us!) is for a vision trip. She is praying about the possibility of coming to the Philippines long-term to help start and work in a rescue home for girls ages 4-12 rescued from trafficking. She has been meeting with many different entities who are involved in various aspects of this kind of ministry so that she can make an informed decision. Allison, a friend of hers from where she worked before, is with her on this trip as she prays about being a part of this ministry as well. I know both Mikayla & Allison would appreciate your prayers as they think and pray through this opportunity and the many things it would entail. If they decide to come to the Philippines long-term, they will be raising support when they return to the States next week, in hopes of moving to the Philippines in January. 

Thanks for standing behind our family in prayer!

Other Hats

Steve & I have ended up wearing several new ministry "hats" lately. One of them is Steve is a consultant for One Sending Body as they work towards sending Filipinos to join IMB teams in the harvest field. Recently, we attended a meeting on another island where OSB hosted a conference to work through what it looks like to send workers internationally. This past year, they sent one lady out to central Asia, and later this year or beginning of 2023, they are working on sending 5 people to Indonesia. At the end of the conference, 14 (!!) came forward to indicate they are feeling called to GO. Such an exciting time and such a privilege to be a part of this and partner with the Filipino church in this way.

On the land for the Tribal Bible College, we are also planning to establish a livelihood/skills training center in conjunction with church planting training. We currently have 3 guys training for this on another island, and another couple and single from our Bugkalot tribal team will join them for a shortened version the next couple weeks. We were able to visit with the 3 guys while we were down for the OSB conference, and we are excited to see what God does through this.

Jen has been serving as the Language & Culture Supervisor for new personnel who are studying Tagalog and Filipino culture. When we first agreed for Jen to do this last year, there were only 4 students - in the next couple weeks, that number will be up to 22! It's been a stretching time for sure, but so exciting to see the number of workers here in the Philippines grow. This is a pic of the most recent orientation/training for new personnel.

 

July Team

In late spring, it started looking like it might work to start having volunteer teams come visit again after a looong covid hiatus. So we hastily put a team together from our home church. We had hoped to do a construction team, but not many construction guys were able to come, so the team shifted to meet the need. They shared testimonies in Agta villages, and helped with a little construction at the Tribal Bible College. Here are a few pics from their time with us.  

We are thankful for the way our team of supporting churches in the States is willing to come join us on the ground in the work here.