Ben Update

Just have a sec - arrived safely at our meeting place. Ben's fever continued (up at 104 for 2 days!) so took him to doctor. Is bacterial infection, he is on antibiotics now so should get better soon. Thanks for praying!

Christmas Memories

We leave early tomorrow morning for some meetings north of Manila and won't get home until January 6. We won't have much internet access while we are there, but we will look forward to reading your messages and comments when we get home.

Before we left, I wanted to take a second to share some Christmas pics with you - particularly the grandparents, but the rest of you can take a peek too. :)

We had Christmas dinner at the Buford's house on Christmas Eve, and we enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship with their family and guests from the States. Terry told the Christmas story, and we opened some presents together.

In keeping with our tradition, we camped out by the Christmas tree that night - Megan joined us for the craziness.

As soon as the kids woke up, they dug into their bulging stockings. We got some help from Papa and Grandma Jackson as well as Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice in stuffing the stockings.

Then Steve told the Christmas story, and we had a time of family prayer together.

Next came the presents! It was fun having Megan join us for the day. It was her first Christmas away from home, but she seemed to have a nice day anyway.

With my help, the boys had each bought each other a pair of spider man flip flops. They both loved their brother's present and said, "Maybe he will share it with me sometimes..." They were tickled pink when they realized they had bought matching pairs for each other.

Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice Hansen (friends from Kansas) sent some fun presents for all of us, and this was Mikayla's smile when she opened the mini-Operation game. Priceless.
Ben's big present was a little garage with mini cars. We got it used from some friends (Thanks, Allens!), and he was thrilled with it. You can't tell in this pic since the fever meds are in effect, but Ben started running a fever again on Christmas day after several days of being healthy. His fever has been between 102 and 103.5 ever since. Please pray for him to get better soon, particularly as we travel tomorrow. Pray for wisdom in whether to take him in to a dr and where to do so if we do.

Zach's big present was a new wake-boarding life jacket. He got to try it out the day after Christmas (Ben and I stayed home since he was sick), and it was declared a success.

Mikayla's big present this year was a dance praise set - 2 pads that hook up to the computer and you move your feet onto the arrows dictated by the screen in front of you. It is great for timing and coordination, and we have all had a lot of fun trying it out. The praise music is great too. I love this pic of Zach - check out the tongue. :) Well, that is all for now. We hope your Christmas was a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth.

I am finished packing, but Steve is still not home from all day in the village. Once he gets home, we will need to make an appearance at the birthday party across the street. The music is blaring so loud that it keeps setting off the car alarms on the vehicles parked in front of our house! So after our appearance over there, we will all camp out in our bedroom with the windows closed up and air conditioner on to block as much of the noise as we can so we can get some sleep before our 5 am departure!

Thanks for your prayers as we travel, particularly for Ben to recover soon!

Merry Christmas!

A White Christmas...

Ok, so we know that a traditional white Christmas involves cold, snowy days. Since there is no chance of getting that here in the tropics - no matter how much we dream of it - we figured to go for a different kind of white Christmas - on a white sand beach!

We are going light on Christmas presents for each other this year; instead, our main gift to each other was a family vacation at the beach for a few days. Unfortunately, it poured rain the first couple of days there, and Ben was terribly sick with the stomach flu; but he started feeling better just as the sun came out - and we still had almost 2 days to enjoy the beach together.

We hired a boat to take us "island hopping" to see some of the beaches on the outlying islands. It was the highlight of our time. Check out these beautiful places, and you will see why!On the way back, we ran into someone from our resort who had rented some kayaks but needed a faster way back - so we traded with them. Worked out great for us since we got to take the boat to the further islands but then still got to try out the kayak the rest of the way back.

Megan (the volunteer who has been on our team since May) came with us, and the kids had a great time showing "Aunt Megan" some of the spectacular places in the Philippines.
Since it was just a few days before Christmas, we had to do some things to keep us in the holiday spirit - so we had a sand ball fight ("it was totally wicked!" declared Ben)...
...did sand angels...

...and even made a festive sand man!

Admittedly, our version of a "white Christmas" was a little different, but we sure had fun!

We decided that making and eating "sand cream" wouldn't be the same as snow cream so we skipped that one. :)

Mikayla wanted all 5 of us to climb up on this rock to get a family picture before we left. Our trip home was quite the adventure in an over-loaded boat through the rain. When we arrived at the "port", we discovered that we had to jump down INTO the chest-deep water to walk the rest of the way to shore. Thankfully, we had traveled in our swimming suits so getting wet was not a problem. Then we loaded into this little motorcycle with a side car to travel the last mile to our vehicle. We made quite the spectacle going through town! We arrived home earlier today and will celebrate Christmas in the village tomorrow morning then with some American and Australian friends tomorrow afternoon. Christmas day will be a quiet day with just Megan and our family here at the house.

So which do you dream of - a snowy white Christmas or a white sand Christmas?

Visitors

We picked up some new friends at the airport yesterday. Tom and Lisa and their four girls, Adrianna, Alexie, Alayna, and Annalise "met" us first through our blog before they moved here to the Philippines to serve in a remote area in the north. We have been in touch with them for about a year now, and they have been in the Philipppines for 6 months. They are realizing the importance of learning the language if they are going to minister effectively to the people, but they do not have any training for how to do that or any guidance as they do it. They asked if we had any ideas, and we said that we would be happy to help them get started. One thing led to another, and they decided to come down here to spend a couple days studying language-learning techniques, visit with our family, see what God is doing down here in the villages, and take a family vacation at the beach too. We are so happy to have them here, and the kids are all having such a blast playing with English-speaking playmates!

An update...

By way of update to yesterday's post - Steve spent several hours talking with Joseph's parents (Jason's inlaws), but they decided they just want to avoid their cousins until they cool off rather than trying to confront them about their plot or bringing a peace offering. To us it seems like this is a bad idea since they have been waiting for the guys to cool off for several months now, but instead of doing so, they have gathered 10 guys together to carry out the plan. Seems to be getting worse, not better, over time. However, since it is their lives being threatened, we need to do what they want in this. Please just pray for safety for each of the people involved and that God would use this bizarre situation to lead this extended family to Himself. Thank you to each of you who have been praying!

What a mess...

Ok, here is an unusual situation, and we need your prayer...

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A couple months ago, one of our new believers in one of the villages (we will call him Jason) found work for a couple days for 2 guys in town. He invited his cousin ("Romy") to go with him. Towards the end of the time, the boss sent Jason into the jungle to gather some bamboo; Romy stayed behind. When Jason got back, Romy was gone, and the boss told him that Romy had already left on the trail for home. Jason tried to catch up with him, but couldn't find him so Jason went on to his own house about 30 minutes away. A couple days later, Jason found work several towns away so he was out of the picture for a couple weeks. When he got back, he heard that Romy had never made it home that day. At first his family figured that he was staying with Jason's family or some friends (no phones to let people know what is going on), but it had become obvious by then that Romy was missing. The family started to search for him, and in the process, they discovered an odd story. A family in a nearby town had recently had a funeral for their son who was about Romy's age - but the neighbors all insisted that, at the viewing, it became obvious that the body was not that of their son at all - it was someone no one knew. Ok, REALLY long story a little shorter - the boss shot and killed Romy while Jason was out in the jungle. According to the boss, Romy tried to steal a chicken so he shot him. The police arrested the boss, then a family came in and claimed Romy's body as the body of their son. The reason they did this was to receive the settlement for the murder. So the boss paid the money (about $200) to the family as restitution, so he was released from jail and acquitted of any charges. Romy's actual family saw a picture of the body that was claimed, and it was their son, Romy. Now they were at an impasse - the boss could not be arrested since he had already made restitution, but the money had already been spent by the other family who claimed the body. That and the fact that Romy was now buried under someone else's name. Well, Romy's family was understandably very upset about this whole situation, but instead of directing that anger at the boss or the crooken legal system, they became angry with Jason, saying that if he had not brought Romy to work that day, Romy would still be alive. So one of Romy's brothers got very drunk and, armed with a large knife, came looking for Jason to kill him. One of the other new believers in that village and the main leader for that small church ("Joseph") is Jason's brother -in-law. Well, this drunk guy couldn't find Jason so he came instead to Joseph's house and tried to chop his way into the house (where Joseph and his family were hiding) to kill them to avenge the death of his brother. Well, Joseph's mother (also a new believer), as the drunk guys' aunt, was able to calm him down, take the knife away, and send him home. The next day, Steve went with the mother to go talk to the family and try to smooth things overs. Well, it seemed like time would heal that wound, so they have just steered clear for the last couple months.

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That is the history up until recently. Last week, Joseph told Steve that they really want to resolve this situation with their cousin (who is still buried under the name of the son of the family who stole his body) because his "spirit is not at rest". When asked how they know that, Joseph said because Romy keeps "showing himself" to them - appearing as a ghost in their house. Yikes. Believe what you want about this, but I do know that the spirit world is a very real thing, and it will not do any good to try to convince them that they are imagining it!

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This morning, Joseph was about an hour late coming in to work for us (he has been doing some work around the house lately). He apologized and then told Steve the reason that he was late. Well, his uncle stopped him in town to warn him. Apparently, Romy's drunk brother who tried to kill him and Jason before? Well, time has not healed that wound after all. Instead, he has gotten all the other brothers and several friends together - 10 men altogether, and they have made a pact to kill both Joseph and Jason and any of the other brothers that they can find. The uncle said that they are drinking heavily 24/7, getting themselves all worked up, and plotting how to kill their cousins to avenge the death of their brother. The uncle knew that Joseph comes in and out of town fairly often, so he has been waiting at the crossing the last couple days to warn Joseph when he saw him. Well, today when he was on his way into work for us, the uncle caught him and warned him. Joseph is understandably very shook up and scared for his life and the lives of his family. Steve asked him what should be done - go to the police? go talk to the cousins? But Joseph doesn't know of anything that will work to resolve this, and he is terrified. Steve asked if maybe it would work for him to go with Joseph's mother again to try to talk to the cousins, maybe bring a sack of rice as a peace offering, and see if we can work this out in a non-violent way. Joseph said he doesn't know that it would work, but it may be worth a try. So Steve is headed out this morning (hoping to get there before the men start drinking too heavily) to try to help Joseph's mother talk some sense into them.

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Ok, while I was typing the last paragraph, the situation developed a little more. I went down to get the kids' morning snack and noticed our front door was locked (always locked after dark, not normally during the day). I asked Steve why it was locked, and he told me that while Joseph was working in our front yard, his cousins came to our gate, all armed with large knives. They made some threatening gestures and hung around to watch him pretty closely, then wandered on down the street (their house is on the other side of town so they have no business here). Don't worry for us - they are not looking to hurt anyone besides Joseph and his brothers. Please do pray for their safety - these are all brand new believers and incredibly excited about sharing their faith with others. They are trying to rely on God through this, but they are understandably pretty nervous. Please pray for safety for Steve and the mom as they try to talk to the other family and pray that they can talk some sense into them (Jason and Joseph didn't do anything against them!). Please pray too for Joseph and these other new believers as they learn some lessons about trusting God in the midst of difficult times. Also, for all those grandparents and adopted grandparents out there, let me reassure you - we are not in any danger - their quarrel is only with Jason and Joseph and their brothers, not with us.

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Just to clarify something - why is the family not going after either the man who killed their brother or the family that stole his body? Because those people are all lowland Filipinos; they are not tribal people. If a tribal person kills a lowland Filipino, they will be persecuted to the fullest extent of the law and possibly beyond. However, if one tribal person kills another tribal person, the law normally looks the other way. So they want revenge and are lashing out at the people who will get them in the least amount of trouble for doing so.

Just another day...

Well, the chilly days were nice while they lasted - it is 88 today in the office. :)

The day started early when some tribal people showed up at our house at 6:30 asking for some help for their daughter's school expenses. It has been very rainy lately so those who just look for odd jobs have been out of work and consequently out of food and out of money for school expenses. After visiting with them for about an hour and figuring out how we could best help, Steve and I headed into town to buy Christmas gifts for all the people in our Bible studies. Christmas gifts are a big deal here and are expected, particularly from those who are seen as well off. Well, we have 8 Bible studies in different villages (maybe 150 adults?) so buying Christmas gifts for everyone can be an adventure. We went with candy for the kids, then spaghetti (a popular party food), coke, and cookies for everyone else to have a Christmas party together. As soon as we arrived home with our several large boxes of food (still need to divide it up into boxes for each village), Mikayla gave us a message that the chieftain from Tiwi (the village we are working in that is 3 hours away) had called and was in town. So Steve turned around to go meet her to see how he could help (we are helping coordinate a mass wedding in her village - weddings are so expensive that many of the tribal people are not officially married). He called me at 11:57 and asked what I was planning for lunch. I told him I didn't have plans yet - (was thinking probably just peanut butter and jelly since the morning had been so crazy). His answer? "Can the cheiftain join us?" Well, those of you who know anything about Filipino culture know that you cannot feed a Filipino sandwiches for a meal - it has to rice with some kind of vegies or other "rice companion" to be considered a meal. So I said, "Okay..." and hustled down to the kitchen to see what I could throw together in 5 mins. The kids ran around cleaning up our Christmas decoration mess, Ben set the table, and I threw together some stir fried carrots with onions (all I had on hand!) while our helper made rice and chopped up pineapple. Then I called Steve to tell him to pick up a roasted chicken from a road-side stand on the way home. And that is how we put together a meal in less than 10 minutes so the cheiftain could join us for lunch. :) She stayed for quite a while visiting, then Steve helped her with some more of the wedding legal preparations (just the paperwork is so expensive!) and sent her on her way. Thankfully, I have the kids' school work set up so that they can work on their daily reading and seatwork without me, so they were pretty much done with their work by the time I came up to FINALLY teach them their math and language lessons. Now Steve and I are going to sit down with Megan to brainstorm options for how to get viable employment and livelihood skills training for the tribal people who so desperately need it. Thought you might like a glimpse of what a day is often like for us - a ministry of interruptions!

Brrrrr

We are enjoying some chilly weather - it is 79 degrees in the bedroom as I type this. It hasn't been this cold in Bicol since we arrived almost 2 years ago. We are bundled up in sweat pants and jackets and drinking hot cocoa. Actually, for most of the day, I haven't even turned on the fan - that's a first for sure as we ALWAYS have at least one fan blowing on us, night and day. Sounds funny to say we are chilly at 80 degrees when so many of you are dealing with below-freezing temps, but I guess it is all a matter of what you are used to. I do know that we are in for a shock when we are in the States next winter!

Deck the Halls

Early Christmas!

We arrived home to THREE packages from friends in the States! One was from a church in Wisconsin, another from a church in St. Jo, Missouri, and another from our dear friends Adam and Julie Martin. It was hard for the kids to say goodbye to their friends in Bacolod, so the timing for these treats could not have been better! THANK YOU SO MUCH for your generosity and thoughtfulness with these packages!!! There was yummy candy, fun games, great books and even some new movies! The boys especially loved the new cars and pop ups, and Mikayla loved the "create a story book" kit. We will all enjoy the candy treats. The things propped around the kids' heads are the "hugs" cards that some of kids in St. Jo sent to our kids. Precious. THANK YOU ALL!!!!

IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT YET, YOU SHOULD REALLY CHECK OUT THE "GUNSHOT!" POST BELOW FOR A WILD STORY!!!

Gunshot!

We arrived home yesterday from our wonderful visit with the Allens in Bacolod over Thanksgiving. The kids had a BLAST playing with their friends, and Steve and I had fun catching up with the adults too. Since I am SWAMPED with "catch up" and first-of-the-month reports, I don't have time to post pics from our time, but Joanna did a couple great posts on her blog with pics about our visit at their house, so I am just going to link you to their blog if you want to see some pics of our time there. http://allenupdate.blogspot.com/ Hopefully I will eventually get around to doing a post myself, but things are pretty crazy right now, so I may just have to rely on her posts. :)

We are happy to say that our house was fine when we returned home, but our helper told us an unbelievable story that happened while we were gone. One night last week, she got up in the night to use the bathroom and saw a man sneaking around inside our fence, peeking in the windows. This has happened several times, and we have lost many things to this unwelcome intruder as he slices screens and reaches inside windows or breaks into out buildings in our yard. At least we are assuming it is the same guy, but I guess we don't know this for sure... Anyway, one time, Steve leapt out at him waving a kendo stick and hollering at him to scare him away. He figured the guy wouldn't be back after he FLEW across the yard and across the 6 foot wall like it was merely a stair. Anyway, he (0r someone else) came back. Now, our helper had told Steve when that happened to him that he shouldn't do that - he should just holler from INSIDE or call the police in case the guy was dangerous (I agreed!). However, when she was faced with the same situation, instead of following her own previous advice to Steve, she went and got the GUN that her brother had loaned her (unbeknownst to us!). Then she jumped out and hollered at the guy - and FIRED IN HIS DIRECTION!!! O my word. Thankfully, she didn't hit him, and the guy split in a hurry. The shot woke the dogs (quite the guard dogs, huh?), and they chased the guy as he fled the yard. Chari insists that he really won't be back this time. Hmm. Let's just say that I am not going to leave any valuables within reach of the windows!