Our Team

Mikayla, Zach & Ben have successfully completed their first week of school at Faith Academy.  So far they are doing great with the transition (thanks for praying!).  They are in grades 9, 7 & 5 this year.  Mikayla made the varsity soccer team (a big deal for a freshman; we are really proud of her hard work!), and Zach and Ben are looking forward to participating in soccer and swim clubs.

 Recently I was asked to write an article and record an interview about how we involve our kids in ministry.  Our kids are key members of our ministry team, and God uses them mightily in many ways.  They realize what an amazing privilege it is to have the opportunity to be used by God to make His name known amongst the tribal people of the Philippines, and they usually make the most of that opportunity. :) While I already put up a post about the volunteer team that came to help us build a training center in July (click here), I thought I would post a few more pics of the kids' involvement with that team.

We spent 2 weeks traveling around the Philippines with this great group.  We experienced many different kinds of transportation, including the 3 pictured below - jeepney, overnight bus, & boat - as well as several not pictured here - 4-wheel drive, tricycle, & airplane.

 

 We visited 2 different tribal groups with the team, and we got to worship God together with both groups.  The pic below shows one of the most confusing translation sessions I have ever seen.  The man on the left is sharing a testimony in a tribal language.  Steve understands that language fairly well, but not as well as Tagalog.  So Jun (our partner in the middle) translated to Tagalog, then Steve translated to English for the team.  Then when my dad shared a testimony in another tribal language, Jun translated to the other tribal language while I translated to English.  It was mentally exhausting but such a blessing to be a part of that precious time of worship! 

(And I love Ben's expression here. :) )

 Giving the all-important coconut tree climbing lesson to the visitors.

 One of the main reasons the team came was to help us build a training center for our Bugkalot tribal partners.  The purpose is for them to have a place where they can gather to be trained to be more effective in reaching the Agta tribal people.  We were so blessed to have this team from the States to help with this project, but this mama's heart was also blessed to see our crew jump right in to help too.

 

 We worked long, hard days, and these kiddos worked their tushes off right alongside everyone else.  I was so proud of them!

 Here Ben is taking a little reading break before getting back at it.

 The guys carried these bags of rocks on their shoulders, but they were too heavy for Zach to hoist up there.  That didn't stop him though!

 We had one lady on the team, and she helped keep everyone fed and hydrated.  When Mikayla wasn't out there working construction, she was helping Mrs. Janice with food prep.

 A picture simply can't do the level of filthiness justice, but we definitely looked like we had worked hard in the dirt and grime by the end of the day!

 Ben's shoe had a fatal blow out from working so hard.  Or maybe because they were cheap shoes that he has abused for almost 2 years now...

 Just so you know, I wasn't just playing photographer the whole time, and I have proof; I broke both these hammers!  Mikayla and I spent a lot of time pulling nails from lumber and bamboo, and apparently I have enough strength but needed some work on my technique. :)

 This was the great team who came together to build this training center for HIS glory.  And those 3 kiddos in there are key members of that team!

 Lastly, here is a pic of our ministry team (minus my mom who wasn't able to come on this last trip).  My parents and Joseph & Lorraine are focused on the "livelihood" side of the project (establishing economy so that the Bugkalot churches can fully support the ones they send out).  Our family - all 5 of us - are focused on the "life" side of the project (helping the Bugkalot churches to effectively train the ones they send out).

Anyone who has worked with us knows that our kids are key members of our team, and we praise God for the way He is using them to shine His light into the darkness.

Summer Trek

This summer has been a whirlwind of travel for our family.  Since we moved to Manila in May, we have only been at home for a few days at a stretch, just long enough to do laundry and re-pack.  While it has been an absolutely crazy couple of months, we are so thankful for all the things that God has done this summer.

Our most recent trip was to the northern area of the Bugkalot tribal churches, about 12 hours north of Manila.  Once you get up into the mountains, the roads get more and more exciting, but the views get more and more spectacular.

 We were sure thankful for our 4-wheel drive vehicle on this trip!

 We traveled to 8 different villages, and not all of them were accessible by road so we did quite a bit of mountain trekking.

 The kids did great, and we were so proud of them!  Zach even gave his dad a break from time to time with the big bag.

 Some of the trails were pretty muddy so we were thankful that we brought our rubber boots!

Some places were so incredibly slippery that you just kind of "surfed"/slid down the steep incline.  The kids all agreed that their wakeboarding skills were helpful on these parts. :)

 In addition to 4-wheeling and hiking, we also traveled by boat a couple times.

 I only pulled the camera out on the peaceful parts of the river because I didn't want it to be ruined if the boat flipped.  And there were several times that seemed like a distinct possibility as we shot down rapids in this itty-bitty boat.

Ben enjoyed a turn at the helm during one of the calm stretches.

 On this one, we hiked to the river and needed to cross it, but there wasn't a boatman around.  The boat was on the opposite side of the river, but that's not a problem for Steve, who grew up on a lake.  He just swam across and brought the boat back for us.  It's funny because I think the tribal people are more used to foreigners from the city because they are always so shocked when Steve can do something like that.

 We stayed in a different village every night.  We slept wherever they had room for us (usually on a bed like this with just a woven mat or blanket for padding).

 We used whatever facilities were available - this one at least had walls around it!

 And we ate whatever they had to share with us (which meant rice 3 meals a day).  The Bugkalot are incredibly hospitable, and we so appreciated how they took such great care of us.  And while stewed fish with rice is a little different than our normal bowl-of-cereal breakfast, how could we be anything but thankful when these dear people have sacrificed so much to provide for us?

 The purpose of this trip was to meet with 8 different tribal churches who have partnered with us to send out some of their very own to reach the Agta tribe in Bicol.  This partnership has been going on for more than 2 years, and we wanted to hear from them what they think has gone well and what needs to be changed.  We want to make sure that we are doing all we can to empower these tribal churches to effectively send workers out to reach other tribal groups, and we believe that listening to them and hearing their hearts is a big part of that process.  So often, people from the "outside" come in with all the know-how and all of the answers, when often they don't even really understand the questions/problems.  It is important to us to take the time to hear from them in order to see how we can partner with them most effectively. 

 While they did have some questions for us that we were able to answer, we spent a lot of time sitting around just listening. 

 And the kids did what they do best - showing Christ's love to the tribal kids.  Ie: playing. :)

 I love this pic of Ben with these little old ladies. He is the same size that they are!  It meant so much to the people that our whole family came on this trip and took the time to visit with them.

 The trip was very productive.  We were able to clear up some misunderstandings and get a better feel for the challenges the churches up there are facing.  We are so thankful for the things that GOD did!

On that note, I will leave you with a few of the spectacular views that we enjoyed as we trekked from village to village...