Bible College Land

 In a recent post, I told you all about the exciting development of a Tribal Bible School for the Agta, led by the Bugkalot and Mangyan tribes (click the link to read the post). As I mentioned there, it's exciting, but we have outgrown our current property so we've been checking into possible options. Steve recently traveled to Bicol with a team to check out a piece of land that seemed promising. 

The team was comprised of our Global Empowerment partners, Bugkalot tribal partners, Mangyan tribal partner, as well as several Agta tribal church leaders.

In evaluating the land, they felt like was an ideal fit. A fraction of the cost of other pieces we had looked at (because it's zoned for agricultural), it is big enough to allow for the Bible School as well as the Livelihood, Community Development (agricultural), & Church Planting training program that we have been dreaming about for years.

It is 21.5 acres and only 8 miles from our current property. It has a coconut plantation that could be further developed as well as several flat areas for building.

It even has two fresh water sources, one of which provides potable water year-round.

After seeing the land, Steve traveled to another island to meet with the Mangyan tribal church leadership as they are the ones with experience running a Bible School (theirs has been functioning for over 50 years!). They have committed to partnering with us in this by sending and supporting 4 full-time Bible School teachers!

We are so incredibly excited about this development and can't wait to see what God is doing. We don't have the funds for the land yet, but we are confident that God will provide if this Tribal Bible School is His will. Please pray with us that He would continue to guide.

Bible Seminar

 In October, Steve was able to travel to the northern group of Bugkalot churches to teach a seminar on God's heart for the nations as it's interwoven through Scripture. It was supposed to just be the Bible School students there, but all the local pastors joined so they ended up with 63 attendees!

They did a combination of lecture and small group study to work through the material

One of my (Jen's) language students joined Steve on the trip in order to practice his Tagalog, and he did a great job.

So thankful for Bugkalot tribal church and their heart for the Word of God and desire to keep learning and growing, especially as it relates to sending out their very own to reach other tribal groups.

Beach Getaway

We were so blessed by being able to go camping a couple nights at the beach as a family. We joined a couple other families, and we enjoyed a boat trip to do some snorkeling. While getting travel paperwork was a challenge, it was so good to have a couple days away and out in nature and fellowshipping with friends. And we enjoyed some spectacular sunsets!

Family Update

Ben has been accepted at William Carey University in Mississippi, and will join Zach there next year. These pics were taken last year when we visited the campus with Zach. 

As for an update from Zach, we don't hear much from him, much less receive any pictures of him at school, but he's doing well there. He's majoring in Christian Ministry, currently with a sports ministry focus, and he's enjoying his classes in his major. He went home to my parents' for Thanksgiving, so we got a couple pics of him from my mom. He was on French Silk Pie duty for the feast, so he and my niece made the pies together. Mikayla and her roommate are in the pics too.

Ben is doing as well as can be expected in this locked-down world where we live. It's been incredibly hard watching him (and his friends) suffer through this time, but he has grown so strong during this time, and we're so proud of him. Please continue to pray for him, especially that face to face classes could start next semester - there is real hope for this, but prayers needed for sure! 

He and a friend recently got to go visit a good friend in another area. It was so good to see them together, and we came across this pic of the 3 of them 5 years ago. So glad they can maintain this friendship in spite of everything they've been through.

Things have actually started loosening up a little in recent weeks here, and kids can actually go into malls again if accompanied by a vaccinated parent. It was crazy how it felt so weird to get them in, felt like we had just accomplished a massive feat. Another BIG thing here is that the use of face shields is no longer mandated! We have had to use both a mask AND shield every time we leave our house, so this is HUGE to be down to just a mask. Sadly, it looks like this freedom could be fleeting as they're talking about making shields mandatory again with this new variant, and we expect tightening lockdowns again. But we're enjoying it while it lasts!

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family as well as some friends who have become like family here for sure. So thankful for these people in our lives. And we even found a turkey to help celebrate! Often Thanksgiving is just chickens because turkeys are hard to find and expensive (this year it was about $50 for a 14 pound bird), so we were extra thankful for the treat this year. :)

Mikayla is doing well at her adventure therapy job, and God is using her in mighty ways there. She has been dealing with some issues though, and we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and strength as she navigates difficult issues.

We are so thankful for you, our team, who stand behind us in prayer and also in concrete ways as you encourage and support us AND our kids. We couldn't press on without you!

Tribal Bible College

I just posted about one exciting development in Bicol where the tribals there have organized themselves to work together for the sake of the Kingdom - unheard of cooperation and leadership because of their cultural barriers. Another truly exciting step forward is the Bible school that has just started in the training center. It is actually a partnership with another group of tribal churches from another island many hours and a ferry ride away - the Mangyan tribes. The Mangyan have a Bible school in their area that has been functioning for many years. In partnership with the our other tribal partners, they sent 2 Bible school teachers down to Bicol where they completed their first semester of studying the Word together. They studied every morning, then foraged for leaves and dived for river clams in the afternoon to feed the group. There were 18 graduates for the first semester! There was a great shot of of all of them with their official certificates; but, while they had permission from local authorities, I am not showing faces here because there are many that would not feel comfortable with this happening at all so I want to be careful what I post.

To celebrate the graduation, the group did an excursion to a local waterfall and enjoyed a picnic of grilled fish.

So very thankful for the ways that God is at work in Bicol! The Bible school will convene again in January for the next semester (provided they can again get approval). Please pray with us that they are able to continue as planned and that God would work mightily in hearts as they dive into the Word together. 

Bicol Tribal Christian Association

Those of you more familiar with our work with the tribals in Bicol know that one of the unique challenges has been leadership development within the churches. This is due to a cultural barrier; in their culture, it is a cultural sin to try to influence other people in any way. Even just inviting someone to an event or activity can be seen as offensive because you are trying to influence them. When you think about the implications of this in a leadership context, you can see the challenges. So that makes this all the more exciting. Recently, the tribal church leaders gathered together of their own initiative to form a leadership team for their churches as a group. Our partners in Bicol stayed to the edges to advise if there were questions, but the meeting was led entirely by the Bicol tribals. They appointed a chairman and made plans for ongoing discipleship and outreach. Praise God for what He has done!
Please pray with us for wisdom and courage for them as they move forward together. 

Steve has had the joy of traveling to Bicol quite a bit in recent months. The typhoon relief projects we are doing down there has granted him access again; he just has to test first, observe protocols, and have all the right paperwork in place. Here are a couple pics from a recent trip he took there.

Thankful

Over Ben's recent school break, we were able to go two places. First, our organization was able to get permission for our personnel to gather for a small group time of training and retreat. It was supposed to be held near us, but at the last minute, that was not possible because of the lockdown status, so they got permission for us all to be tested and travel to another island to meet, provided we had all the right paperwork. It was a blessed time of fellowship and encouragement. We were so proud of how Ben helped with all the younger kids, and how he set such a great tone for the time as families (as the oldest, all the kids were looking to his example). He even helped lead worship one of the nights on his ukulele (he's taught himself to play during online classes). 

The day after getting back from those meetings, we headed to a campsite about an hour from home with some friends. The lockdown means that kids still aren't allowed in most establishments (like beach resorts or hotels), but we found a local campsite that allows them. And since we were traveling "door to door" from private residence to private campsite, within our same province (kids weren't out in public places), we were able to get through checkpoints. I'm avoiding posting too many pics of faces since there are definitely some who do not agree with allowing kids out at all whatsoever, so we try to be sensitive to those who feel differently about how to interpret the current restrictions.

While we weren't able to go to a beach like we hoped, we were very thankful to be able to get out and get some fresh air and enjoy some time with friends. We're praying that things will loosen up again soon and allow the kids to once again enjoy "exercise slots" up on campus together. But in the meantime, we will be thankful for what we do have.