Survey Trip

Ok, so those of you who follow the blog or our updates know how excited we are that the Bogkalot tribe (where my parents worked) is in the process of sending out some of their very own to partner with us to reach the Agta tribe. The team is planning to move here the end of April (where we live is about 20 hrs by jeepney/bus south of where the Bogkalot live) so the men came down to do a survey of the area, find where to locate, and check out the schooling options for their kids. The time went really well, and we are very encouraged with how they connected with the people. In addition, we were able to determine who will be on the 2 teams, who the team leaders will be, and where exactly they will locate. So thankful for the wisdom and unity God granted during their time here!

We loaned them a camera for their time here so they could take pics to show their families and churches, and here are some of the ones they took:

This is Abel. He is 31 years old but not yet married. A solid guy with a great heart. He will be serving on the team focused on reaching the Agta who speak Buhinon. Their team will be locating on the other side of this lake. The team leaders for this team will be Jun and his wife. Sadly, Jun's mother passed away during his time down here on the survey trip so Jun had to return early. However, he was able to stay for the day of prayer and fasting when they determined teams and locations. You can see a picture of Jun at the end of this post.

This is Gary. He and his wife will be the team leaders for the team focusing on the Agta who speak In-Agta. Their family (with 3 kids) will be locating at the foot of Mt. Asog, a dormant volcano. Gary has a heart of gold and a gentle way about him that connects with the Agta very quickly.

On the right is Taong Pakdal ("Uncle" Pakdal). He is a widower twice over; his college-age daughter will move down here as well to continue school closer to her dad. Pakdal will serve with Gary on the team focusing on the Agta who speak In-Agta. After spending a couple days with Jose's family (pictured below), he said, "After just a few minutes with Jose, our hearts connected right away. It is like I have always known him. That has never happened to me before. And as soon as we walked into San Ramon (where they will locate), I knew right away that THIS is where God is leading me to be."

Before the guys came down, Steve and I spent a lot of time in prayer about which of the 4 languages to put teams in first and who would comprise/lead the teams. Based on the personalities and gifts of the guys coming, we felt we knew where they would fit best, but we did not want to just dictate to them what to do. After the initial part of the survey time, the guys came to our place for a day of prayer and fasting to make some decisions. (Jun is the man wearing black. He had just found out an hour before this that his mom had passed away. At his insistence, we continued with the meetings, then he left that evening to head home.)

After some discussion and corporate prayer and worship, the guys split off for some time of individual prayer. After that, Steve met with each of them individually to see how God was leading them. While they all expressed willingness to serve on either team in either location, all four of them expressed that they felt more called to one language group than the other - and with all four, it was exactly where Steve and I had thought would be the best fit for them! Praising God for clear direction and unity on the teams!

So they left last night to head back up north to prepare to move back with their families next month. There is a "Believer's Conference" where all the Bogkalot villages will gather April 21-22. They will be commissioned and sent out during this conference, and will travel down here on April 23-24. Please be praying for them as they make necessary preparations and say goodbyes this next month!

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Here is another key prayer request for you - One of the couples who had committed to moving down here didn't end up coming on this survey trip. We don't know what is going on, if they no longer feel called, if there is some barrier they are now facing, or if they are still planning to come but could not make it for the survey trip for some reason. His name is Gerome, and he is married with a couple small children.

There is also another family that really wants to come, but they might need to wait a year before it works for their family. Their names are Emilyano and Nason, and they have 9 kids that would be accompanying them (12 kids altogether). Every one of the family members are on board, but their church has asked them to wait a year to help them resolve some church issues. Anyway, can you please be praying for these 2 families? Pray for clear direction for them and that they would be faithful to follow however God leads them.

Steve left last night to travel up north with the guys so that he could talk to both of them. It will be a whirlwind trip as it is a total of about 40 hrs travel, and he only plans to stay for about a day up there. Pray for safety and strength for Steve and clear communication with everyone involved.

Birthday Blasts

We've had a couple birthdays around our house the last couple weeks, but before I tell you about those, I wanted to show you this pic. In October, we attended an event that offered henna tattoos to the kids. They REALLY wanted one, so I gave my approval to choose from the page of small tatoos. Mikayla choose a butterfly, the boys choose spiders (not a whole lot of choices on that page). Ben really wanted to put his on his cheek, but I insisted on putting them on legs or feet. SOOO thankful I insisted on that because Ben had some kind of allergic reaction to the henna ink. Henna tattoos are just drawn on the surface of the skin and are only supposed to last a couple weeks. However, Ben had some kind of reaction so he now has a permanent scar on his leg in the shape of a spider. I did some research on it, and this means that he also now is allergic to chemical hair dyes, etc. It also means they used an illegal type of "henna" ink (not henna at all but a chemical mix). So BEWARE of "henna" tatoos, especially in 3rd world countries where the use of the illegal dye is prevalent.

Ok, on to other things. Our Mikayla turned 11 years old a couple weeks ago. ELEVEN! O my. The kids and I were actually in Thailand for her actual birthday, so we celebrated with Dad and Papa (my dad was in Manila that wkend!) at a waterpark in Manila before we left.
Our beautiful daughter

Fun family time after some wonderful but stressful/exhausting months camping in the village.

Beautiful - but also more than a little silly :)

After the water park, we went to Chili's to celebrate at her request. Beautiful, silly, with excellent taste! :)

They brought her out some ice cream and sang to her. One happy girl.

Ben's bday is only 2 wks after Mikayla's. He turned 7 this year. Time goes by so fast!

Ben asked to go to a local diner - Biggs - for dinner. Aunt Megan joined us, and we opened his presents. He got a couple new movies, a science experiment kit, and...

2 hermit crabs!

He loves his new little buddies. Except he is more careful with them now that one of them latched on to Zach's thumb until he was able to fling it off (crab landed safely on a cushion across the room, Zach only bled for about an hour. No joke - who knew those little guys could pinch that badly???)

We ordered a couple little cakes there at Biggs, and Ben deemed it the "best birthday cake ever".

Then this past weekend, we went with our neighbors to celebrate their birthdays since they had not been able to join us on the actual days. They had just discovered this amazing place called Stonehouse. Beautiful and peaceful.

They have a brick oven, and they make the BEST pizza I have EVER tasted. Literally. It was absolutely amazing. If only our budget would allow frequent trips there.... but it is probably just as well for our waistlines that it won't!

Fun day with friends and pizza and chocolate cake and swimming. What could be better?

We did another cake for each of them since neither one had gotten a "real" one at the first celebration. This is the birthday party that just kept going and going and... :)

Happy Birthday to my 2 precious blessings from God!