Dreaming of a Sandy Christmas

While many of you were battling sub-zero temps last week by adding several layers, we were also adding layers - of sunscreen that is! You know how easy it is to get sunburned on a tropical beach after all. Sorry, I know that was mean, but there are definitely some advantages to living in the tropics. Jealous? Then come visit! :)

Last week we got to get away for a couple days of sun and fun at a local beach. Nothing fancy, but we had some precious family time and made some great memories. My dad was in the country on business, and we were thrilled when he was able to come join us for part of the time. Actually, my brother and sis-in-law came for a visit from their country, and we had a blast hanging with them too. But since they live in a secure place, I can't share any of the pics with them.

Here the kids are digging a very deep hole with Papa.

And daddy is getting ready for another adventure in the background.

Ok, so our family is a little nuts. Steve had the crazy idea to let the kids wakeboard in the ocean by pulling them behind the car along the beach.

Ben is ready to ride

It was a group effort to get up and going.

Zach went to town with it, jumping the waves like a pro.

There was an international kiteboarding competition held while we were there so it was fun to watch some great riding - and big wipeouts too.

The waves were perfect for kids - big enough to be fun but not so big as to be dangerous.

Papa got an upper-body workout throwing kids into the waves again and again and again...

Ben had a blast playing this game with Papa. Papa would try to write #s 1-10 in the sand, but Ben kept "erasing" it with the waves. So then Ben would assure Papa that he wouldn't erase it this time...but Papa always dawdled long enough for a wave to come in and erase it again. Glad my dad is patient cuz Ben kept wanting to play again and again and again... :)

Boogie Down!

We also rented a surf board, and we all had fun testing our balance.

A little family fun on the beach was precisely what we needed after the craziness that has been this past year.

SO very thankful for the chance to be refreshed in this beautiful corner of creation.

At War

The kids have been memorizing the verses in Ephesians about spiritual warfare and the armor of God, and it has prompted some great family discussions, especially because of some cool things that God is doing in the hearts of some of our Agta friends lately.

In the village where Jose (one of our leaders) has planted a church, they recently did a study on spiritual warfare. After the lesson, one lady approached Jose with a request for guidance. She told him that she was a medicine woman, but that she has no knowledge for how to heal people. She said that when people come to her for healing, an evil spirit possesses her, and it is the spirit who heals the people. She said that she has chosen to follow Jesus now, so she doesn't want this spirit to come to her anymore. She asked Jose how she could keep the spirit away now. This is a huge deal, because this healing power provided income and status for her family. It was so encouraging to hear her step forward in faith and turn her back on the old way and ask for help in knowing how to follow Christ alone.

In another village, Christopher (another of our leaders) has been sharing with his cousins. Christopher said that one of the young men had understood and believed a while ago, but that he recently got sick (stomach ulcer?). They prayed for healing, but the sickness continued, so he went to a spiritual healer. The sickness went away, but now he is having trouble sleeping and "his thinking is always confused, like it is far away". Steve and Christopher went to visit him, and they had a great conversation about where that healing came from (evil spirit) and why his thinking is now in such turmoil (can't serve two masters!). The young man began to cry when he realized what he had done, and asked, "Now that I have sinned, all is lost. What will I do?" He figured it was all over at this point. So Steve shared with him the story of the Prodigal Son and how God is yearning for him to come back to Him. He removed the little charm the shaman had used, crumpled it up, and threw it away. Wow, what a moment.

After talking about how we are at war and telling the kids these stories, Steve asked the kids if the spirits that are healing people are good spirits or evil spirits. They all agreed that they are evil spirits. So Steve asked why evil spirits would do good things like heal people of sickness. Zach answered, "Because if they only ever did bad stuff, then people wouldn't follow them. If they sometimes do good stuff, then people will think they are good and want to be on their side. They do it to trick them." So cool to see our kids begin to understand this spiritual war in which we are ALL engaged - whether or not we realize it.

Back in Bicol

Well, we arrived home in Bicol and hit the ground running - SO much to catch up on. We have been busy re-connecting with the Agta believers and catching up on their lives and ministries while we have been gone. We spent a day visiting all the villages as a family this week, and our new team member, Megan, took these pics. As you can tell, Ben is as crazy as ever. Our hearts go out to the church in Ipil as they are in the midst of a very difficult time. We have had a ton of rain down here, and so their village is flooded. In addition, the flooding stirred up a sulfur deposit from the nearby volcano which poisoned all the fish in the lake. They are all dependent on these fish for both their food and livelihood so this has been devastating for them.

See that arch in the background? The boy is sitting on the boat over the sidewalk that winds its way all the way to that arch which is normally about 4 ft above the water level - so i think the water is up about 7 ft? And this is after it has come down some.

The ones who live the closest to the water have had to move out until the water recedes - but it has been up for weeks already.
Since his house and "yard" are now under water, I guess the boat is now the logical place to play.

Please pray with us for the people in the village of Ipil as they try to put their lives back together. We are planning a Christmas party and church planting training in this village the end of December and are praying that it will be an encouragement to them.

Into the Mountains Again

After the long drive from Manila, we started climbing into the majestic mountains for another week in the village... ...amongst beautiful people...

...whom we have come to love dearly...

Our time there is always full of fun and adventure...

...the kids enjoy playing in the river...

...and on the big rock...

...building little play houses...

...cooking root crops in a tin can over a little fire...

...playing with their hand-made tops...
They also help out with family work - de-kerneling corn here...

We also hosted a couple of wonderful visitors this week. This is Shawy, and she is praying about how God may want her to get involved in what He is doing here.

And this is Megan. She served on our team as a volunteer for almost a year and has now returned as a member of our organization to serve for a couple years.

We also attended a clan reunion - the 1st of its kind. Members of that clan came from all over Bogkalot territory.

They asked Steve to share from the Good News from the Word since there were people there who were not believers.

And Ben thrilled the whole crowd when he attempted their traditional tribal dance with the other kids.

Steve also had some important meetings this week to set up the schedule for our return up there in January -- that's right, we will be going back up there in January, this time for 2 months. Steve will be teaching through the rest of the book of Acts, and he will travel to each of the 4 village churches 2x a week. M-Thursday, he will teach a day-long seminar in a different village everyday. Then he will also share two Challenge messages in each church on either Sunday am or pm - challenging them to change their thinking and send people out from their churches to serve long-term amongst the Agta, not just on short-term trips. We will also do a couple 2 day wkend seminars where we pull all the churches together. It will be a very busy time for all of us, but we are excited about it because they are excited about learning what God has for them during this time.

Please pray with us that God would burden their hearts during this time that we are gone, that they would feel a stirring to be involved in what He is doing outside the Bogkalot territory. Pray specifically that God would call several families to step out in faith and follow Him on this journey. There are several whom God is already working on; pray that they don't become distracted or discourged but would continue to listen to His voice. Pray that when we return north in January that they would be more passionate then ever to reach out beyond their boundaries and bring the Truth to another people group, the Agta people.

Manila Days

We made it home safely! Tnx for all your prayers for us these last 5 wks as we have been up in the village. More pics and update on that will follow soon, but first I wanted to share a couple pics from the days we had in Manila in between trips into the mountains.
We found a great little go-cart place. The kids were given a driving lesson and driver safety course, then they got to hit the track.

Ready to go!

(Gotta love the protective suit, helmet, and...flip flops!)

Zach was so stoked - right down his alley!

The proud racers

Zach won the heat, but they are all eager to give it another go one of these days.

On another one of our pit stops in Manila, the kids had a soccer tournament. Mikayla did so well out there with all the guys! She played almost the entire time, and she even scored a goal!

Mikayla kicked the ball, and her opponent kicked her ankle...hmmm, maybe we are going to need to look for shin guards that have ankle guards on them since BOTH Mikayla and Ben ended up with serious lumps/bruises on their ankle bones. :(

We didn't have a team for Zach's age to compete, but Zach got to play some as a sub for Mikayla when she needed a breather. He did great too, even though he was playing against kids 2 yrs older.

He even ALMOST scored - that defender made a great play after Zach beat the goalie.

We were so proud of all the kids! Ben's team got annihilated (sorry, forgot the cam that day), but he played amazingly well and had a great attitude. Mikayla and Zach's team ended up 2 and 2 - a lot better than we were expecting for a team from the province (who doesn't get to practice as a team) competing against organized Manila teams.

And then it was time to drive back up into the mountains. We spent MANY hours doing school IN the car this past month. Not fun, but when you are on the road that much, it is the only way to get it done.