Devotional by Mikayla

Thanks for all of you who wrote and encouraged me and said you are praying for Steve and the on-going training in the mountains right now (see post below). The weather cleared (PTL!), and I will post more of an update when Steve gets home tonight. Thanks for continuing to pray!

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Mikayla was recently asked to write a devotional for a booklet to be passed out and used during the World Wakeboarding Championships held here last week. Here was what God laid on her heart to write and photos that were printed in the booklet with her devotional.

It blessed our hearts, hope it will bless yours as well.

-Jen-

A Fresh Start
Hi! I am Mikayla Hagen. I am 9 years old.
My family lives in the Philippines as missionaries.
I want to tell you how God can use anybody in His work, like the story of Saul (Acts 7:54-60, 8:2-4, & 9:1-31).
Saul started out persecuting believers, and he
Even helped kill some of them. But he came
to know God on the road to Damascus. After
that, he suffered many whippings and even a boat sunk under his feet, but he still trusted God. He became known as Paul the Apostle instead of Saul the Persecutor, and God used him mightily in His work throughout the world. Paul had been persecuting Christians, but God changed him and used him to bring the Gospel to many people. This teaches me that God can use anyone, no matter how shy, how sinful or how mean to Christians they are at first, God can change them and use them for His glory.
Mikayla Hagen
‘Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for believers in speech, life, in love, in faith and in purity.’
1 Tim 4: 12

URGENT PRAYER!!!

Ok, guys, we need you to start PRAYING! Steve left early this morning for the mountains to do a leadership training with our tribal church leaders. He will be up in the mountains until tomorrow evening (2 days and 1 night). We are praying this will be a powerful time for the Agta church as they are challenged from the Word to be faithful followers of Christ and to plant churches in surrounding areas. Here are some specific prayer requests over the next 2 days:

• Even though it is HOT season right now, it started RAINING this morning!!! Not usually a problem, but the location for the training is inaccessible when muddy! PRAY WITH US FOR THE RAIN TO STOP SO THE TRAINING CAN CONTINUE.
• There is a flu going around, and several of those who had planned to attend have been sick. PRAY FOR HEALTH FOR ALL THOSE WHO COME.
• It is a long story, but suffice to say that we really need your prayers for safety for everyone involved in the training. PRAY FOR SAFETY FOR THE GROUP AS THEY STAY OVERNIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS. PRAY ESPECIALLY ON TUESDAY DURING THE DAY USA TIME AS THAT WILL BE THE NIGHT HOURS HERE.
• This will be one of the final times that Steve is able to spend time with these men and women before our furlough. PRAY FOR SOFT HEARTS AND OPEN MINDS TO HEAR WHAT GOD HAS FOR THEM IN THE DAYS AHEAD AND WILLINGNESS TO BE FAITHFUL TO DO WHAT GOD HAS CALLED THEM TO DO.

family fun

Remember how I mentioned in our latest updated that our family "starred" in some videos this past month? One of them was for a couple commercials for the wakeboarding place where we go on our day off - they wanted to show it as a fun family destination. We have really seen where the wakeboarding park has been a huge help to the province, so we were eager to help them out with this project. Well, here are a few of the pics they took during that time, thought you may enjoy them. :)

A Link for Pics

Well, we have been crazy busy again so I haven't had time to post about our many adventures, but a friend of mine just put up some pics on their blog of their recent visit here with us. Their blog is http://lifeaccordingtojaminandjesse.blogspot.com/ . There are actually 2 posts about their visit here with lots of pictures. Both of the posts are under March and are called Hagen Visit 1 and Hagen Visit 2. Hope you enjoy the pics of our family and theirs!

Birthday Boy

Our baby turned 5 years old on March 1! It was so "awesome" (as Ben would say) that an amazing water playground opened at the wakeboarding park on March 1. The kids (and even some of the adults) had a blast climbing all over the floating playground. Some close friends from Cebu (another island in the Philippines) were here for the week, and the Buchanan family from the wakeboard park joined us as well as Bufords and Megan.

The slide was a favorite for everyone. Ben loved it, and he also enjoyed the giant floating trampoline.

Ben wasn't so into climbing onto the iceberg and jumping off, but the older kids enjoyed it immensely. This pic is of Mikayla and one of the boys visiting from Cebu (the family has 2 boys ages 10 and 11).Go, Ben!
This giant see saw intimidated Ben a little too, but the older kids had fun rocking back and forth (or being catapulted when one of the adults joined in).

We also got some wakeboarding in - Ben did great!
Time for presents! Here are the kids that helped us celebrate - from the left: Jamin and Jesse from Cebu, Mikayla, Takiah and Zeph from the wakeboard park, and Zach and Ben.
He is growing up! He picked out this cake himself and was very proud of it. He added Spiderman and Batman himself. Grandma Jackson sent some "Cars" birthday decorations to help us celebrate - Ben loved the tablecloth.
We had been teasing him all week that he would be getting onions for his birthday present. Well, Mikayla made sure that his first present was exactly that. Thankfully, Ben enjoyed the joke.

It helped I think that he knew there were lots of other presents there as well - and he LOVED everything else. He got some transformers from us and my parents, a helicopter and small rubix cube from Steve's parents, a water gun from Bufords, a Clifford cartoon from Megan, a build-your-own car from Murphys, and lots of fun little gifts from Takiah.

Thought I would leave you with this great shot that my friend Connie took. Ben has a hard time keeping his pants up (which seems to fit right in with the wakeboarding culture!), and we even have to put sunscreen on his little tush! It's cute now, but we are going to have to figure out how to keep his pants up before he gets much older! :)