Merry Christmas!

So we just got back from an adventure in the mountains, but since we only have a 48 hr turn-around time before our next trip (and only 40 hr turn-around before the NEXT trip after that), the blog post with pics will have to wait until January.

But I did want to get on and tell you all Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Our partners

I noticed that a few of our tribal partners recently got FaceBook, and they had some great pics on their accounts, so I thought you might enjoy seeing a few shots of their everyday life.  Since only a few of them have FB, these pics don't include all our tribal partners, but it still gives you a glimpse of their world...

In one of the areas, we have been able to work it out for them to have some land where they can plant a garden.  Everyone works together to grow the crops they have, and the vegetables lessen their food expenses.  This pic is the youngest daughter of one of our partners working in their garden.

 Lots of coconut trees in Bicol!  And some gorgeous views as you hike through the mountains.

 Love this one taken of one of the couples leading a Bible study.

 Great smiles!

 Bible studies are held wherever you can find a place.  The tribal huts down in this area are usually too small, so gatherings are often held outside or in a little open hut.

 Our tribal partners do a LOT of walking/hiking to get to the villages to do Bible studies.  Since they are targeting a fairly large geographically area (the tribal people down in Bicol are very spread out, so you have to travel quite a ways if you are going to reach very many people), they are on the go a lot.

 The one with the guitar is one of our single guy partners.  He is amazing with a guitar, and he has been instrumental (no pun intended! :) ) in writing and translating many songs into the heart language of the tribal people here. 

 It's a beautiful area!

 And so many people who so desperately need to hear the Truth.

We absolutely love our tribal partners and are so privileged to work with such great men and women of God who make such huge sacrifice to bring His message of salvation to those who have never heard!

Faith Academy

This fall, the kids made a huge transition; we stopped home-schooling, and they started attending "real" school in Manila.  It has been so much fun to watch them settle in to life at Faith Academy, especially since it is the school where I (Jen) graduated.

 All 3 of the kids have transitioned amazingly well into this new world, and we are so proud of them.  They have adjusted very well, are doing great in academics, and are loving the opportunity to get involved in many activities on this sprawling campus in the hills outside of Manila.

 Mikayla made the varsity soccer team (as a freshman!), and it was great to watch her grow in her skills and enjoy connecting with some wonderful young ladies.

 Their team had the opportunity to travel to Thailand to compete in a tournament with other Christian schools, and they won first place!  Mikayla scored a key goal in the championship game.

 This has been a semester of firsts for Mikayla as she also attended her first banquet.  The young man (also a soccer player) who asked her to go with him was a perfect gentleman, and she had a great time with a group of friends bowling after the banquet.

 A highlight of the last couple months has been a visit from Grandpa Hagen!  He was here for almost 4 weeks, and while he traveled with Steve for a lot of that time, he was able to see the kids compete in their sports and spend some good time together over the weekends.

 Zach has jumped right in to life at Faith, and he has been involved in swim club, robotics, youth group, a basketball team, and a soccer league.  His soccer team has done very well, and he is anchoring their defense.  I love this shot of him that a friend took during the game last week.

 Ben has also been enjoying the many opportunities at a school this size.  A few of his favorite activities so far have been puppets club, swim club, soccer team, and playing percussion in the band.

 After soccer season ended, Mikayla decided to try out for touch rugby.  She had absolutely no idea how to play on the 1st day of tryouts (had never even watch the sport!), but she went for it anyway; and she ended up making the varsity team! (I think the fact that she was in excellent shape from soccer was a big factor in this.)

 She has had a great time learning this new sport, and she has even been a starter for several of the games.

 It's a fun group of young ladies, and they have a blast at practice.  This pic was from practice on "Neon Friday".

 We are so thankful for how well this transition has gone for the kids (thanks for praying!).

As we head into this Christmas season, I hope that each of you will cherish the moments with family - even the crazy ones. :)

Over the river and through the cave...

Ok, so maybe going through the cave wasn't absolutely necessary, but they sure seemed to enjoy it!  Steve's dad came for a visit this month, and last week the two of them had quite the adventure up in the mountains.  They trekked up to a couple villages where some small churches have been asking us to come.  

 It was several hours of hiking, first through the river bed...

 ...then you headed up into the mountains.

 After a couple hours of hiking, they arrived at the village, but since they had some extra daylight, they decided to go with a few of the villagers to visit a waterfall and cave.

 Beautiful!

 But of course, where is the fun in observing the waterfall from the bottom?  So they rock climbed their way up to the top and enjoyed the view through the falls as well.

 But why stop there?  There was a cave at the top of the falls, so they climbed through the cave (at times crawling on their bellies in order to fit!)...

...and were rewarded with this spectacular view when they came out the other side!

 Ok, back to business and the REAL reason they hiked to this village in the middle of the Sierra Madre mountain range.  In September, Steve taught several seminars about how to teach effectively by using the stories in God's Word. (See this post for more info.)  One of his goals during those seminars was to train this man so that he could lead future seminars.  

 Felipe has continued on and taught several seminars since that time, and it was such an encouragement to see him doing so well with the material in this new church.

In addition, another young man went with the group so that he could be trained how to lead the seminars.  It is such a joy to be able to pass off training to these men and watch them train others!

 We are also so thankful that Steve's dad gets to be with us for almost a month.  He and Steve will take 3 trips together during this time; 1 down, and they are on their 2nd one now!

Family Trip

Last week was the kids' fall break from school, so we headed down to Bicol.  First, we enjoyed a couple days vacation with some friends at the wake board park.  It was so fun to watch the kids riding again - and admittedly a lot of fun to watch our friends make some spectacular wipe-outs!  (To be fair, by the end of the time, several of them were riding quite well too. :) )

 Zach was especially fun to watch as he was going crazy hitting the big obstacles and doing huge tricks.

 After a couple much-needed days relaxing as a family, we headed out to the mountains for a training with our tribal partners.  The guys have finished the training center, and it looks great!

 It was such a blessing to be back with our tribal teammates.  Before we started into the training time (going through 1st Timothy), we spent the morning sharing reports about what God has been doing in each of the areas where the teams are working.

 After each report, we broke into groups to thank God for the things He is doing and to pray about the challenges that each team is facing. Such a wonderful time of fellowship and joining our hearts before the throne!

 Meanwhile, the kids enjoyed hanging out with their friends again.  For the first time, Mikayla brought a friend with us to the training.  Miriam is new to the Philippines, and village life is just a little different than Manila life, so we weren't sure how she would handle it all, but she did great!

 The kids played a lot of games together.  Some were games the tribal kids taught to our kids, others were ones our kids taught them.  Was fun to watch them laugh together when I slipped away from the training to get a couple pics.

 And, as usual, the girls helped wash the dishes after we ate together.

 We actually brought tents and had planned to set them up in front of the training center.  However, after it rained all day, this is what that nice flat area looked like.  We decided to crash on the floor instead.  :)

 The next morning, we finished up the training time, then we gathered for a time of worship together.

 This sweet girl read the Bible passage for us.  Such a great reader!

 Then her dad shared a message with us from Galatians about how we as believers should treat one another.

 Then another of the men led us as we shared communion together.

After we finished the training and worship time, we said goodbye to our tribal partners to start the looong 12 hour drive back to Manila.  Before we hit the road though, we dropped in on some friends in the village.

Very thankful for this safe and productive trip as a family!