Tribe to Tribe

While the older kids and I were in Thailand (see post below), Ben stayed with friends in Manila, and Steve traveled about 20 hours north to the village where I (Jen) grew up. 7 of the Agta tribal guys went up there with him (all crammed in our little vehicle!) to help him with a training he did up there and to see a thriving tribal church in action. It was a GREAT experience for all our guys that went, and they grew leaps and bounds in their faith as a result. THANKS FOR PRAYING!!! Unfortunately, I accidentally brought the travel camera with me to Thailand so Steve didn't get any pics of his trip up north. Sorry! :( However, 3 of the Ilongot tribal guys from up north returned to Bicol with Steve and the Agta guys to spend some time encouraging the baby churches in the Agta villages. Seklab, Danny and Mr. "T" (no idea how to spell his name - any help, Dad?) had a great time down here and were a huge blessing to the Agta people they ministered to while they were here.

The 3 men spent 2 days each in 3 different villages, sleeping and eating with the people and taking every opportunity to teach and disciple.
The final day of the week they spent with us. They had a debrief session with Steve where he asked for their insights into how the Agta churches are doing and for suggestions on what they still need from us. During this time, they also said they are interested in continuing to partner with us to reach the Agta!!! They are planning another trip down here in the fall while we are in the States, and they hope to bring more people next time.

THANKS FOR PRAYING FOR THIS PARTNERSHIP!!!
Another cool thing they got to do on that last day is talk via Skype to my parents - their mentors for many years. They talked with them for almost an hour, and they were able to ask my dad many questions they have had on their hearts. They were so blessed by this opportunity to talk to my parents, and it blessed our hearts to see them connect over the miles by way of the computer.
We praise God for all that He is doing amongst the Agta people and now how He is using the Ilongot tribal people to build His church down here.

Oh - one funny story before I sign off on this post - just as Steve and the guys were getting ready to leave the village 20 hours north to drive ALL THE WAY home, my best friend's husband came to give Steve a cherished gift. Aglen had killed a deer just before Steve arrived up there, and it had a nice rack of antlers. Aglen decided that he wanted to honor Steve by giving the antlers to him. Well, when they cut the antlers off, they also keep most of the skin attached to it, and it had only been about 10 days (in the tropical heat) since it had been skinned. So not long enough to completely dry up, but PLENTY long enough to WREAK. Steve graciously accepted the gift (no way to turn it down and maintain relationships up there!) and headed back to the car for the trip, wondering what ON EARTH he was going to do with this rack since he was nearly retching just carrying it, not to mention riding 20 hours next to it in a cramped car over winding roads! As he arrived at the car, all the tribal guys started exclaiming over the stench and saying there is no way that thing can be in the car with them- which Steve was glad that he was not the only one that felt that way. Still, there was no way to return the gift either... Couldn't attach it to the top of the vehicle because it is probably illegal for him to even HAVE this rack since those animals are probably protected... His solution? He wrapped it in plastic and attached it to the undercarriage of the car! Then drove all the way to Bicol with it riding under the car. While we were in Manila, we were stopped before going into a mall parking lot (routinely done) to check our car for bombs. The guard used his mirror to check under the car for any bombs - I was wondering what on earth was going to happen when he saw the antlers wrapped in plastic attached to the underside of the car. Thankfully, the guard was just as thorough as they always are with these checks and never saw the large set of antlers wrapped in plastic under the car. O - Steve has been home 1 week now. On the way home from Mikayla's bday party yesterday he said, "You know, I really need to get those antlers out from under the car at some point." My response, "THEN what will we do with them?"

Thailand Trip

The first week in February, Jen, Mikayla, Zach, and Megan (our long-term volunteer) traveled to Thailand for our annual home-school conference. It was the first time for us to attend the one held in Thailand so it was a new group of kids and moms. We all had a great time making new friends as well as reconnecting with a few old friends. We also had a blast with the volunteer group from Green Valley BC again as they came to do the kids' program and love on all of us.

Zach with his new friend, Andrew.
Mikayla and Emma became best buds too.

Mikayla and Zach got an opportunity to present the Bible verses they have learned this year to the whole group - great chance to practice speaking in public!

Along with the other 3rd-12th graders, Mikayla prepared a "float" on one of the States. You had to choose a state other than your home state, and by the time I emailed to "claim" a state, the only 2 left were Nevada and Maryland! Mikayla chose Maryland, and she and Megan worked hard on the research project and creating a float to show what she had learned. Then all the kids presented their floats in a parade around the big room.

It was a long trip, but we had a ball!

The volunteers brought LOTS of goodies from the States for us to enjoy - including SMORES for the bonfire on our last evening together!
We had a lot of fun, and we were very encouraged because both Mikayla and Zach tested very well in their IOWA basic skills tests. It is good to know that we are on the right track, and that they are keeping on par with their classmates in the USA. Thanks for your prayers - we had a GREAT trip!

On the Road Again

Well, we leave for the airport in a couple hours to fly to Thailand. Steve will leave tomorrow for his LONG drive to northern Luzon. Steve will be home on the 7th or 8th; the kids and I will be home on the 12th. Please pray for safe travels, good health and for these trips to bring glory to God. Here is some excerpts from our last update so you remember where it is we are going and how you can pray specifically. Thanks!

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We recently sent a letter to a remote mountain village 20 hours north of our house, the village where my (Jen’s) parents worked when I was a small child. There is now a thriving church up there, and we asked for their help. We challenged them to send a few men down to the Agta villages where we are working to teach some discipleship truths to the new Agta believers. Who better to teach them these truths than other tribal believers? Please pray that God would give clear guidance to the Ilongot believers to help them know if they should partner with us by sending some men down to encourage the new believers here. If He leads them that way, pray that they would be faithful to obey. It is our prayer that the Ilongot church would send 3-5 men down here for 2 weeks in February to encourage the Agta church. Please also pray for the many details – logistics and finances – that would need to be worked out to make this a reality.

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Steve is planning to travel up to the Ilongot villages 20 hours north of here to do a church planting training February 3 -- 8 in the tribal church there. He will bring several new Agta believers with him from down here to help with the training and so that they can see a vibrant tribal church and realize the potential when God is at the center – even if they are “just tribal” as they have been told all their lives. Please pray that the 7-8 Agta believers who go with Steve would be blessed beyond measure and grow leaps and bounds in their faith during the trip.

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While Steve travels up into the mountains to do this training, Jen, Mikayla, Zach and Megan (our long-term volunteer) will be traveling to Thailand for our annual home school conference. At the conference, the kids will take their IOWA tests, get reacquainted with old friends, and get the opportunity to sit in a “real” classroom with a “real” teacher. Please pray for safe travel, good health, and that the kids would stay focused and do their best on their tests. Please pray for Ben too as he will be staying with friends in Manila for the week while his family travels all over the place.

God is at work!

FYI - I posted 2 different posts today - this one and the one below it so make sure you check out both of them!

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Just wanted to share a few stories with you of how God is at work amongst the Agta this week...

While we were in the village yesterday, I was translating prenatal checkups for Tami and Bea (see post below), and Steve got talking with a guy from the village who has always been friendly but who has never attended any of the Bible studies. His testimony was such an encouragement to us...

"Many different groups come here every week to teach religious things. But when you come, everyone is happy to see you and greets you - even those who are not in your group. Everyone is happy to see you because we have noticed that you are different than the others. When the other groups come, we are not happy to see them because we have seen what they do to the people in their groups. The other groups that come are trying to make money off people. They don't really care about people, but your group is different. Also, we have seen a difference in the lives of the people who are studying the Bible with you. They are no longer involved in the vices that were destroying them before. They have changed, and it makes us all happy to see you come."

What a testimony from an unbeliever! It was such an encouragement to us, and it reminded us of the story in Acts 5:13 and 2:46-47.

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Yesterday while the ladies and I were doing the women's health seminar, Steve got talking with one of the new believers. Jose told him how just last night, his son was being "troubled by an evil spirit". Since Jose did not know what to do, he took his son to someone who has power to treat that - basically a witch doctor. But the witch doctors here say that their power to heal comes from God so often even believers will go to them and think it is ok, even though their power is really coming from evil spirits. Anyway, Jose took his son to one of these witch doctors and was telling Steve about it. Steve listened quietly and asked some questions then just prayed and asked God for wisdom in how to address this issue. We have wanted to be very careful about playing the role of the Holy Spirt in their lives by telling them the "to do's" and "not to do's". Steve felt that he should just wait for God to reveal the right time to address it. Well, it didn't look like the Bible study would happen that day because of the women's health clinic. However, at the last minute, they ended up doing the Bible study, and the story for the day was about Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8) who claimed his power was from God, and the people honored him and listened to him. However, in the course of the story, it was revealed where his power actually came from and how he needed to repent for being involved in this. What a tough concept for people who have gone to witch doctors their whole lives and relied heavily on their power, thinking it was from God! However, in the discussion time, the men really got personal and discussed specifics and how that is wrong to be involved in that anymore. Steve did not have to say anything at all - the men drew the truth out of the Word themselves and applied to their lives as the Holy Spirit guided them. We didn't have to say a word! Later, Jose told Steve how much he had learned in the story and how there is so much that is new for him now. Steve explained that before we KNOW the truth about something, we do things we shouldn't. But once we KNOW the truth, then we have the opportunity to obey it. Jose said this story was a real "turning point" for him. Pray as he tries to apply these truths in his every day life. It is one thing to say this is true - quite another to live by it when your child is ill and you know the witch doctor can make him better - but you shouldn't go to him because of where his power comes from. They need to trust God and God alone in these situations, but it is hard when your child's health is at stake! Pray for them.

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One more cool story - a couple weeks ago, we had some visitors staying with us who live and work in a very secure location where being a Christian is against the law and the believers face much persecution. They came with us to our Bible studies, and they shared just a little about persecution and how people are being imprisoned and even killed for their faith. When we arrived in the one village, Jose started out the time by having someone read from Matthew 5 - the passage about loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you! He had been studying this passage the previous week (he can't read so his wife reads to him or he listens to the Bible on tape). Jose had NO IDEA that we even had visitors coming that week or what they would share about, but the Holy Spirit was preparing the way by leading him to study this particular passage and share it with the group. When I heard what he shared, it gave me goose bumps to realize what God had done. I had the privilege of translating for our friend (Steve was home sick that day) as he shared about the persecution in his area and how the believers here could pray for the believers there. Jose and the others were very touched by his testimony, and our friend even videoed a message from Jose to the believers in that area to press on in the work despite the hardships they face because "what God says to do is more important than what the men tell you".

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We were touched by these stories and greatly encouraged to see how God is working amongst the Agta. I hope they were also a blessing to you. Please continue to pray for these new brothers and sisters in Christ as they continue to grow in their faith. Pray for them next week in particular as 7 of them go with Steve about 20 hours north to help with a church planting training in a tribal village up there (the village where I - Jen - grew up!). Pray that Steve and the guys would have many hours of valuable discussion and learning Bible Stories as they travel and that this week would prove to really ground these men in the Truth. Keep praying - God is using your prayers!

Having Fun

My cousin Tami has been living in the southern part of the Philippines for 5 months now taking a midwifery course. Her schedule has been so crazy that we weren't sure that it would work for her to come for a visit. But last week she emailed to say that she unexpectedly had a week off and may be able to come up for a visit if we were going to be around. We were THRILLED when this worked perfectly with our schedules! So Tami and her friend Bea arrived on Monday, and we have been running them all over the place ever since. On Monday we went to the hot springs and wakeboarding. On Tuesday we drove 3 hours to the other side of the peninsula to do a women's health seminar and prenatal checks for the pregnant women. Then we came home the long way by way of Legaspi where we got to visit Mt. Mayon and even try out a new zipline! Then Wednesday morning we traveled to the village of Ipil to do another clinic and our regular Bible Studies. We also stopped by Charry's house (our helper who had the stroke 3 weeks ago) to check her blood pressure and talk with her about how she is doing. They arrived Monday morning, but it was Wednesday evening before they saw our house in the light of day (at sunset) because we had been leaving every morning light and arriving home after dark! They have been busy days, but it has been WONDERFUL to catch up with my cousin, and she and her friend have been a HUGE help in the work here as they have taught some women's health classes and done pre-natal checks. Actually, as a result of their visit, the wife of one of our main leaders in Ipil attended the Bible Study for the 1st time yesterday! She has previously been too shy but after she had a prenatal check, she stayed around for the meeting! Please pray with us that she continues to come. Also, we have 3 more clinics scheduled in villages tomorrow - pray that these go well and that more people begin attending the Bible studies as a result.

Tami's friend Bea took the picture below of Mt. Mayon while we were there - isn't it amazing?!?!
Here is the group of us who have been traveling all over in the car together - our family plus my cousin Tami on the right, her friend Bea next to her and Megan (our long-term volunteer) next to me.

Ok, this one is for Uncle A & Aunt B and Uncle D & Aunt B - they bought these great costumes for the boys for Christmas. We have enjoyed having Batman and Spiderman running all over the place around here!

Also this week, Mikayla and Zach decided that they for sure want to compete in the world wakeboarding competition that will be held at the wakeboarding park near us in March. Last year there were over 250 competitors from around the world, and they are expecting even more this year! Zach will compete in the "boys 9 and under" division and Mikayla will compete in the "girls 13 and under" division. The competition is March 25 - 29, and the kids will be working hard to prepare their "run" for it in the coming weeks. Please pray for them as they work towards this goal, that they would lessons about perseverance and hard work and that they would have lots of opportunities to be lights in the wakeboarding community as a result of their involvement.

Also, Steve and I did not realize how expensive it would be for them to compete in this competition, so I am in the midst of looking into the possibility of getting them a sponsor for the competition. This would be such a great opportunity for them to compete in a sport - they don't get many chances like this where we live! Pray with us that it works out.

Makeshift See Saw

Who needs fancy playground equipment anyway? Hope you enjoy this video of the boys playing on the swing in our front yard.

Just Being Ben

Ben brought this piece of paper to his daddy last night and said, "I wrote this song. It is called, 'Jesus Died on the Cross'."

Daddy: "It's beautiful, Ben! Can you sing it for me?"

Ben: "No, silly, I can't read!"

Charry and the Offended Rats

Charry has been a huge help in our home since March of 2007. She helps with the laundry (no dryer), cleaning (things get much dirtier here much faster), trash (making compost, burning the rest), and many other things that take a LOT more time to do here. She is only 29 years old, but on Thursday while she was working in our kitchen, she collapsed. It seems that she suffered a mild stroke, and she has entirely lost the use of her right arm. Please pray that the feeling and mobility would return. If it is not God's will for this to happen, please pray that she would remain encouraged as she learns to live without the use of her arm. We are controlling her blood pressure with medication and have taught her some basic physical therapy, but she has a long road ahead of her. Unless things change, she will not be able to work from here on out. Thank you for praying for her family as they adjust to this. We will continue to pay her salary for the next month just to help out, but we are also in the process of looking for someone else at least on a temporary basis while she is gone. Please pray that we are able to find someone soon as I can't keep up with everything without some help!

On a lighter note, we thought you might enjoy this story. Just before we left for our meetings, we caught a rat in the closet on a glue board trap. I had Charry kill it and dispose of it. Then while we were gone at the meetings, the rats did a lot of damage in the house. When we arrived home, we did not have any electricity. It seemed like the rats might have chewed through an electric line. When we mentioned this possibility to Charry, she gasped and said, "That is because you had me kill that rat before you left! I should have just thrown it over the fence!" I replied that I didn't want her to do that because then it would just come back. She said, "But now we have offended the rats! Now the rest of them will rise up against you and destroy all your things. This happened once to us when we killed a rat - the rest were offended and began to destroying everything - even our clothes! You must ask forgiveness from the rats and leave some food out for them to show your change of heart." Steve's response when I told him this? "Well, I am planning on "offending" any more rats that get caught in our traps so looks like we are in for a rat war!" I am happy to report that we have "offended" 4 rats since we arrived home, and it looks like we are winning the war as we haven't had any damage the last couple nights. So do you think we should keep "offending" them or should we ask forgiveness from the rats and start feeding them?

Christmas in January

We have been feeling very loved lately - we have gotten several packages from friends and family back in the States. One of them was from our home church in Missouri. It had lots of great games for our family to enjoy together, some great food items, a new hair clipper set (yeah!), an ice shaver for making shakes in the HOT weather, some new tupperware storage containers (trust me, very valuable here in the world of humidity and bugs!), as well as some other treats. We also got a package from a family we haven't even met yet - the Rausch family in Kansas. They have 2 precious daughters whom we can't wait to meet (amazing blue eyes!), and they blessed us by sending some toys, books, a DVD, some treats and some more storage containers (yes, we can DEFINITELY make use of them all!).

Thank you all SO MUCH for your thoughtfulness and generosity. It was such a special way to start out the new year, being reminded that we are NOT alone out here, there are many people standing behind us and praying for us even though they are so far away. Thank you for the encouragement to press on - we couldn't be here without YOU!!!

PTL!

Thank you so much for your prayers and notes of support! After many hours of soaking in hot salt water, and praying often, look how great his hand looks tonight! Thanks for praying!

keep praying

Thanks for continuing to pray for Zach's hand. After soaking it most of the day yesterday, we were able to get much of the infection out last night. Little guy is such a trooper with it, but it is hurting him pretty badly.

Poor Zach

We arrived home safely today - and we have visitors again! It is a family with 3 little kids who have come to see us and what God is doing here amongst the Agta. We also arrived home to a package for our home church! Thanks so much!!! (Pictures to come :) )

Well, Ben finished his antibiotics, and he is well now, but last Friday Zach's hand started bothering him. At first it looked like he had gotten an insect bite, but then his whole hand swelled up down to the wrist, and he was starting to have shooting pains up his arm. He also started running a fairly high fever so we took him into the ER nearby our meetings (2nd time there, 2 different sons). They put Zach on antibiotics for cellulitis. He has finished 3 full days of the antibiotics now, but he is STILL running a temp and feeling miserable. The swelling has come down quite a bit now, but his fingers are still very puffy. Also, it is starting to come to a head, and we are wondering if it is just a terrible boil. It is just in a terrible place between his finger joints so is incredibly painful. We are continuing with the antibiotics as well as soaking it several times a day. Please pray that the infection goes away soon and for wisdom for us to know how to take care of him. Please also pray that he (and us!) are able to sleep tonight - he has been very restless with the pain.

Ben Update

Just have a sec - arrived safely at our meeting place. Ben's fever continued (up at 104 for 2 days!) so took him to doctor. Is bacterial infection, he is on antibiotics now so should get better soon. Thanks for praying!

Christmas Memories

We leave early tomorrow morning for some meetings north of Manila and won't get home until January 6. We won't have much internet access while we are there, but we will look forward to reading your messages and comments when we get home.

Before we left, I wanted to take a second to share some Christmas pics with you - particularly the grandparents, but the rest of you can take a peek too. :)

We had Christmas dinner at the Buford's house on Christmas Eve, and we enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship with their family and guests from the States. Terry told the Christmas story, and we opened some presents together.

In keeping with our tradition, we camped out by the Christmas tree that night - Megan joined us for the craziness.

As soon as the kids woke up, they dug into their bulging stockings. We got some help from Papa and Grandma Jackson as well as Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice in stuffing the stockings.

Then Steve told the Christmas story, and we had a time of family prayer together.

Next came the presents! It was fun having Megan join us for the day. It was her first Christmas away from home, but she seemed to have a nice day anyway.

With my help, the boys had each bought each other a pair of spider man flip flops. They both loved their brother's present and said, "Maybe he will share it with me sometimes..." They were tickled pink when they realized they had bought matching pairs for each other.

Mr. Warren and Mrs. Janice Hansen (friends from Kansas) sent some fun presents for all of us, and this was Mikayla's smile when she opened the mini-Operation game. Priceless.
Ben's big present was a little garage with mini cars. We got it used from some friends (Thanks, Allens!), and he was thrilled with it. You can't tell in this pic since the fever meds are in effect, but Ben started running a fever again on Christmas day after several days of being healthy. His fever has been between 102 and 103.5 ever since. Please pray for him to get better soon, particularly as we travel tomorrow. Pray for wisdom in whether to take him in to a dr and where to do so if we do.

Zach's big present was a new wake-boarding life jacket. He got to try it out the day after Christmas (Ben and I stayed home since he was sick), and it was declared a success.

Mikayla's big present this year was a dance praise set - 2 pads that hook up to the computer and you move your feet onto the arrows dictated by the screen in front of you. It is great for timing and coordination, and we have all had a lot of fun trying it out. The praise music is great too. I love this pic of Zach - check out the tongue. :) Well, that is all for now. We hope your Christmas was a wonderful celebration of Christ's birth.

I am finished packing, but Steve is still not home from all day in the village. Once he gets home, we will need to make an appearance at the birthday party across the street. The music is blaring so loud that it keeps setting off the car alarms on the vehicles parked in front of our house! So after our appearance over there, we will all camp out in our bedroom with the windows closed up and air conditioner on to block as much of the noise as we can so we can get some sleep before our 5 am departure!

Thanks for your prayers as we travel, particularly for Ben to recover soon!

Merry Christmas!

A White Christmas...

Ok, so we know that a traditional white Christmas involves cold, snowy days. Since there is no chance of getting that here in the tropics - no matter how much we dream of it - we figured to go for a different kind of white Christmas - on a white sand beach!

We are going light on Christmas presents for each other this year; instead, our main gift to each other was a family vacation at the beach for a few days. Unfortunately, it poured rain the first couple of days there, and Ben was terribly sick with the stomach flu; but he started feeling better just as the sun came out - and we still had almost 2 days to enjoy the beach together.

We hired a boat to take us "island hopping" to see some of the beaches on the outlying islands. It was the highlight of our time. Check out these beautiful places, and you will see why!On the way back, we ran into someone from our resort who had rented some kayaks but needed a faster way back - so we traded with them. Worked out great for us since we got to take the boat to the further islands but then still got to try out the kayak the rest of the way back.

Megan (the volunteer who has been on our team since May) came with us, and the kids had a great time showing "Aunt Megan" some of the spectacular places in the Philippines.
Since it was just a few days before Christmas, we had to do some things to keep us in the holiday spirit - so we had a sand ball fight ("it was totally wicked!" declared Ben)...
...did sand angels...

...and even made a festive sand man!

Admittedly, our version of a "white Christmas" was a little different, but we sure had fun!

We decided that making and eating "sand cream" wouldn't be the same as snow cream so we skipped that one. :)

Mikayla wanted all 5 of us to climb up on this rock to get a family picture before we left. Our trip home was quite the adventure in an over-loaded boat through the rain. When we arrived at the "port", we discovered that we had to jump down INTO the chest-deep water to walk the rest of the way to shore. Thankfully, we had traveled in our swimming suits so getting wet was not a problem. Then we loaded into this little motorcycle with a side car to travel the last mile to our vehicle. We made quite the spectacle going through town! We arrived home earlier today and will celebrate Christmas in the village tomorrow morning then with some American and Australian friends tomorrow afternoon. Christmas day will be a quiet day with just Megan and our family here at the house.

So which do you dream of - a snowy white Christmas or a white sand Christmas?

Visitors

We picked up some new friends at the airport yesterday. Tom and Lisa and their four girls, Adrianna, Alexie, Alayna, and Annalise "met" us first through our blog before they moved here to the Philippines to serve in a remote area in the north. We have been in touch with them for about a year now, and they have been in the Philipppines for 6 months. They are realizing the importance of learning the language if they are going to minister effectively to the people, but they do not have any training for how to do that or any guidance as they do it. They asked if we had any ideas, and we said that we would be happy to help them get started. One thing led to another, and they decided to come down here to spend a couple days studying language-learning techniques, visit with our family, see what God is doing down here in the villages, and take a family vacation at the beach too. We are so happy to have them here, and the kids are all having such a blast playing with English-speaking playmates!

An update...

By way of update to yesterday's post - Steve spent several hours talking with Joseph's parents (Jason's inlaws), but they decided they just want to avoid their cousins until they cool off rather than trying to confront them about their plot or bringing a peace offering. To us it seems like this is a bad idea since they have been waiting for the guys to cool off for several months now, but instead of doing so, they have gathered 10 guys together to carry out the plan. Seems to be getting worse, not better, over time. However, since it is their lives being threatened, we need to do what they want in this. Please just pray for safety for each of the people involved and that God would use this bizarre situation to lead this extended family to Himself. Thank you to each of you who have been praying!