A Busy Week!

Last week was pretty crazy (thanks to all who prayed us through it!). We hosted a curriculum revision workshop for our Tribal Bible School, and we had folks that traveled in from many places across the Philippines for it (total of 8 different traveling groups, all with different logistics!). Thankful that everyone arrived and got home safely and for the progress that was able to be made in the course of the week. 

At the same time, we hosted a group of 8 seminary students from mainland east Asia on a vision/exposure trip. They worked with our church planting partners and went from village to village, sharing testimonies. We can't show pics of many faces due to security concerns.

Thankful for what God did with both of these groups and excited to see how He continues to use this time in the future. And now trying to take a little time to recover! :)

Trainings & Meetings

Something that is part of our regular life is hosting various trainings for different groups. 
Over New Years, we had a tribal team training - as well as some fun fellowship too.

The leaders of the tribal churches here in Bicol initiated a monthly leaders training about a year ago, and it's still going strong. Here are a few pics from the most recent one.

We have long since seen the need for some training for lowland Filipinos (non-tribals) who have a desire to (or who already) minister to tribal groups here. We recently had the first one of these, and we had a great group come together for it. We talked about what our core task actually is (entry, EV, discipleship, church planting, leadership development, and exit to partnership) and how to best implement that in the tribal context, taking worldview into account (and specifics like animism) as well as how Chronological Bible Storying can be very effective. 

Thankful for Filipinos who have a desire to reach tribal groups!

We also had a strategy meeting with some key convention leaders as well as a report from leaders of Philippine Challenge, who keep track of stats of Gospel presence and churches here in the Philippines.

We're thankful for opportunities to be involved in many different ways as the light continues to shine into the darkness. Thanks for the way many ways you partner to make all this possible!

Fun with Visitors

At the start of the year, we were blessed to welcome some visitors. They really came more to see Mikayla (it was her prior teammate, Allison, with some of her family), but we all had a great time at the beach & and down in Bicol. Even got in some wakeboarding & hot springs time!

While we were in Bicol, we were able to see Mt Mayon erupting at night again! Such an amazing experience. 

Can't beat the sunsets around here!

My (Jen's) dad also got to come for a visit, and we enjoyed going to see a musical together. It's not all mountains & beaches. :)

Christmas & Congratulations!

We were so thankful that both Zach & Mikayla were here in the Philippines this year to celebrate Christmas with us. We love going to Baguio over Christmas because of the cooler weather - there are even fire places!

We had a wonderful time as the 4 of us, and there were other families (some of our teammates too), so we enjoyed a candlelight service together on Christmas eve and a potluck Christmas dinner. 

Over Christmas, we also got the exciting news that Ben and Katye got engaged! Katye is absolute gem, and we are so thankful that we go to serve alongside her all this past summer. We are thrilled to welcome her into our family and are confident that God is going to use this couple in mighty ways for His glory!