Visiting Trustees

 Just before we flew back to the States, we hosted a group from the Board of Trustees from our organization. They were a great group, and we were blessed to be able to show them all that God is doing with tribals here in the Philippines. One couple was in their mid-70's, so we were unsure how it would go getting them in and out of the villages, but we chose where we went carefully, enlisted help for them, and they had great attitudes so it was a success!
We thought you might enjoy a couple pics from their visit - maybe you can come visit next! 

First Semester on New Campus

We are so excited to announce that the first semester of the Tribal Bible College on the new campus has begun. We have 11 students attending (additional 2 are part time), and that means we will have 29 students eligible for the next semester, which starts in January 2023. The way the Bible College works is the first semester is an introduction and covers the foundations of our faith; it is required before attending any of the following 6 semesters required to graduate. The 6 semesters can be completed in any order; but everyone must start with the introductory seminar. 18 students completed the first of these introductions, and now we have 11 taking it now.

They have also started planting the gardens. The long-term goal is for the campus to be self-sustaining.

Rejoice with us, and thanks to so many of you who have partnered with us and the tribals to make this possible!

Advanced Operations Training & Tribal Bible College

There are some exciting new things going on with Tribals Reaching Tribals. One of them is called Advanced Operations Training, in partnership with a group called Nehemiah Teams. It is a 3-month, in-depth discipleship and training for young people in ministry. It is being held up in the Bugkalot tribal area, and they have 7 people attending. At the end of the classroom training, these young people will lead teams on short term trips to share the Good News & plant churches.

The other exciting development is the start of the first semester of the Tribal Bible College on the new land. It was supposed to have started this week, but there was a death in the family of one of the students as well as several other factors that has delayed the start. Pray with us that it will start next week!

This sign was created by one of our Bugkalot partners for the property down there. So exciting to be a part of this partnership. BBCF is Bugkalot Bible Christian Fellowship. BTCA is Bicol Tribal Church Association. MTCA is Mangyan, IMB is us with International Mission Board, and then my dad's organization, Global Empowerment.

Here are some pics of the campus with classroom building, teacher houses and student dorms. 

Also pray for Pastor Isaias and his wife Leni. Isaias is the principal and one of the teachers for the Bible College. They were understandably discouraged when only 1 person showed up for the start of the new semester. Pray with us that the others will be able to come next week so that we can just start a week late.

Lastly, please continue praying with us for the Manide tribe. They were identified as a UUPG - Unengaged, Unreached People Group. We had a Bugkalot team up there, and they learned the language, but then they were kicked out with Covid and now have lost their homes & partners for the ministry there. Pray as the Bugkalot figure out how to get another team up with the Manide. Pray for more laborers in the harvest.

Family Update

The boys are doing well at William Carey University in Mississippi. We sure miss them, but we are so incredibly thankful that they seem to be thriving. I don't have many pictures from them, but here is one my mom took this summer when the 3 kids were together.

Steve & I celebrated our 24th anniversary while we were on another island for some meetings. We took a couple days at the beach and had a wonderful time.

Something pretty cool has been going on the last couple weeks - Mikayla came to the Philippines for a visit! We spent a couple days at the beach with her and had a wonderful time catching up.

The main reason Mikayla is here this month (other than obviously seeing us!) is for a vision trip. She is praying about the possibility of coming to the Philippines long-term to help start and work in a rescue home for girls ages 4-12 rescued from trafficking. She has been meeting with many different entities who are involved in various aspects of this kind of ministry so that she can make an informed decision. Allison, a friend of hers from where she worked before, is with her on this trip as she prays about being a part of this ministry as well. I know both Mikayla & Allison would appreciate your prayers as they think and pray through this opportunity and the many things it would entail. If they decide to come to the Philippines long-term, they will be raising support when they return to the States next week, in hopes of moving to the Philippines in January. 

Thanks for standing behind our family in prayer!

Other Hats

Steve & I have ended up wearing several new ministry "hats" lately. One of them is Steve is a consultant for One Sending Body as they work towards sending Filipinos to join IMB teams in the harvest field. Recently, we attended a meeting on another island where OSB hosted a conference to work through what it looks like to send workers internationally. This past year, they sent one lady out to central Asia, and later this year or beginning of 2023, they are working on sending 5 people to Indonesia. At the end of the conference, 14 (!!) came forward to indicate they are feeling called to GO. Such an exciting time and such a privilege to be a part of this and partner with the Filipino church in this way.

On the land for the Tribal Bible College, we are also planning to establish a livelihood/skills training center in conjunction with church planting training. We currently have 3 guys training for this on another island, and another couple and single from our Bugkalot tribal team will join them for a shortened version the next couple weeks. We were able to visit with the 3 guys while we were down for the OSB conference, and we are excited to see what God does through this.

Jen has been serving as the Language & Culture Supervisor for new personnel who are studying Tagalog and Filipino culture. When we first agreed for Jen to do this last year, there were only 4 students - in the next couple weeks, that number will be up to 22! It's been a stretching time for sure, but so exciting to see the number of workers here in the Philippines grow. This is a pic of the most recent orientation/training for new personnel.

 

July Team

In late spring, it started looking like it might work to start having volunteer teams come visit again after a looong covid hiatus. So we hastily put a team together from our home church. We had hoped to do a construction team, but not many construction guys were able to come, so the team shifted to meet the need. They shared testimonies in Agta villages, and helped with a little construction at the Tribal Bible College. Here are a few pics from their time with us.  

We are thankful for the way our team of supporting churches in the States is willing to come join us on the ground in the work here.

Tribal Bible College Update

I was just down at the land a couple weeks ago, and it is amazing to see the progress since we broke ground in May. The water source had been piped up to the campus, the classroom building was nearly finished, and the housing for the teachers and dorms for the students had been started. They are even further along now (one pic at the bottom), and I'll send more pics after our trip down there in a couple weeks.

 

The hired Agta tribal workers are working alongside our Bugkalot & Mangyan tribal partners, and they are doing a great job. The ladies are working on keeping the guys fed, and they meet for devotions (each of the 3 tribal groups take turns leading) at the start and end of each work day.

Everyone has been living in temporary housing while they are working on construction. The Mangyan teachers have been staying in these shelters with their families (2 of them were just able to move into their new homes this week! Pics to follow next time). The workers and our Bugkalot partners have been staying in these during the week, then going home to their families over the weekend.

The 3 tribal groups, and occasionally a few Americans :) , have been working shoulder to shoulder to get the job done, and it has been a joy to watch it all come together. 

This week, Steve is down there again, and they are holding the first seminar in the new classroom building! It is a joint time for the Agta church leaders and our Bugkalot & Mangyan tribal partners as they work through Ephesians and talk about discipleship.

*******

So the big news is that we have had 16 students pre-register for this next semester that starts the end of August. Note these are NEW students who will do the introductory semester; it doesn't include the 18 who have been a part of previous semesters (these will sit this introductory course out but will be invited back in January). This is very exciting, but it is way more than we were expecting with this initial phase so, unless we have more budget come in, we will need to cap the number of students and turn some away until we have the budget to build another dorm building. Additionally, the cost of materials increased since the start of the project (war in Europe & gas prices affect everything, even construction materials in the Philippines), so we are over budget. Because of this, we will also need to wait to run electricity to the dorms or teacher apartments. So if you've considered getting involved but were waiting for the right time, partner with us now to establish the Tribal Bible College. We would love to build another student dorm so that we don't need to turn students away AND be able to run electricity for lights to study at night. 
Thanks for your continued prayers for this project! Exciting days, but very busy for sure. Another team is arriving from the States next week to help; we are so thankful for all members of our team, from many different people groups, as we work together to empower tribals to reach tribals in the Philippines.