Summer Sojourns Pt 1

We ended up with some meetings in Europe that our boys were invited to attend! When we said goodbye at Christmas, we didn't know when we'd see each other again (those are the hardest goodbyes!), so we were so incredibly thankful to see these young men again.

After our meetings, we flew to Rome ($34 tickets!) to meet up with my parents & Claire's parents (Claire's our teammate, & her parents are close friends & ministry partners) because our home church was doing a church launch in Rome with a Filipino congregation. So blessed to be able to be a part of it!

After the church launch, we spent a couple of days touring Rome together and had a wonderful time!

The Coliseum with a friend of Mikayla's

One of the cells where Paul was imprisoned.

The Roman Forum

The Spanish Steps

The Vatican - a highlight was a tour under the vatican in the catacombs, but no pics allowed there.

A train then ferry to Sorrento on the Amalfi coast - gorgeous!

Then a stop at Pompeii on the way back to Rome - exhausting day but wow.

We stayed in an airbnb together (fun but also cheaper :) ) and of course ate a ton of amazing food and enjoyed laughing over so many new experiences together - the 5 of us even rode scooters around Rome together! Can't say enough how thankful we are for this unexpected opportunity!

Summer Update

A lot has happened since we last wrote, but I don't have a lot of pics to share from ministry. The end of June/beginning of July, Steve took a quick trip to attend a board meeting with the tribal leadership from another island (no pics) and we also were blessed to lead a conflict resolution training with the staff at the home where Mikayla works, plus staff from 2 other homes. 

After that, we left SE Asia for a week of meetings and then some vacation time with family. While we were gone, some exciting things happened at the BOOST project. (BOOST is our livelihood/community development training combined with church planting training.) They had their second group graduate, and this time instead of only 3 students, there were 13! Even more exciting, several of them became believers in the course of the semester, and 9 were baptized. So thankful for the way that God is at work with our tribal partners, and can't wait to see how He continues to work in AND through these graduates!

Camping Adventure

Our team just spent the last couple of weeks camping on our property in Bicol. We pulled our whole tribal team together for a cross-cultural church planting strategy training (refresher for the "old" ones since it's been 12 years since they did it before! and then we have a couple of brand new families too). 
It was a wonderful time of connecting and learning together again. My dad joined us for a couple days of the time to teach some classes. And while it was crazy muddy, the camping actually went pretty too. 

Our teammates from Taiwan & another island in the Philippines led a program for the kids. It was such fun to watch these MKs connect for the first time. While they look different from one another and can't communicate well yet, they are actually very much alike as they have all left their home cultures and are being raised in a new culture as their families bring the Good News to those who have never heard.

One of the current projects going on down on the land is clearing space & making a road to where we can *hopefully* build a place where we can all stay on the land (tents are an adventure but not a great long-term solution...camping and teaching all day is a tough combo!). This pic is taken from that clearing - check out that sunset view!
Pls pray with us for wisdom & God's provision as we consider how best to make this a reality.

One of our teammates created this map of the BOOST property after taking a drone shot. So cool to see how everything is developing!

We are so thankful for the many ways God is at work with Tribals Reaching Tribals, and we are especially thankful for all our amazing teammates.

Another Graduate!

We are so proud of Zach for graduating with highest honors from William Carey University with a Bachelor of Science.

We weren't able to go back for his graduation, but his brother was there for him, and we watched online in the middle of the night.

Besides Ben, my parents also made the long trek to celebrate Zach, and they helped him move back to Missouri. So thankful for the many ways my folks have stood behind our kids, especially when we're so far away!

Mikayla is in the midst of summer break with her girls, and they've had a couple birthdays to celebrate. We got to join them for one this past week that involved a party game with flour. Thanks for continuing to pray for these precious young ladies and for Mikayla and the others as they serve.

Ben is on his way back from SE Asia where he just spent the last couple of months leading a Nehemiah team into very remote areas. I can't post many pics for security reasons, but here are a few (and I'll try to add some of his team once I get permission from him for that).

 Truly such a joy to see our kids serving Him. Thankful.

Other Hats

So this is a new challenge for us - I (Jen) am wearing these leg braces for 6 months as we try to avoid surgery on torn meniscus in both knees. Pls pray with us that the treatment works (braces plus couple different kinds of injections) and for endurance for us as the braces are hot/uncomfortable & limit my mobility, which means Steve is having to pick up extra slack at the house.

In May, we were privileged to take two trips as part of other ministry hats we wear. The first one was to the island of Palawan here in the Philippines to visit some dear friends. We have the joy of being their mentors, and we had a blast hanging out and catching up with them. Discovered a "bunny cafe" with the kids, visited the beach (though I just watched from the shade because of my leg braces), and enjoyed a fun beach-side buffet and some wonderful time of fellowship. 

We also got to be a part of a "goer's training" for Filipinos who are feeling called to GO to the nations. Held in the mountain city of Baguio, and it was an initial training to help them process through their calling and consider next steps as they step out in faith.

We have so enjoyed working with our teammate, Claire. She joined us for this training, and God is using her in big ways for sure!

While there, we also got to catch up with some old friends - I've known this dear couple since I was itty bitty here in the Philippines!

So thankful for the many opportunities God brings our way. Makes for busy days/weeks/months, but it's such a joy to have a front row seat to see all that HE is doing here.

Partner Pics

Since our primary role is now training/consulting, we don't get as much time in Bible Studies & outreach groups as we used to. But we have some great partners who are deep in the heart of it, and it's a blessing to look through the pics that they post.

This month, we had a group of American young people who worked with our partners for a couple of weeks, and it was fun to see them showing up in the pics as well. If you know of any young people who are looking for an organization to go with on a short term trip, we highly recommend Nehemiah Teams. Both our boys have done NT, and we have always been blessed by the teams they send to partner with us. They are well-trained, and we love the philosophy they implement. I'd love to give you more info - just ask!

Our teammate Claire did a great job supervising this team; she's been such an incredible blessing to us and our team!

We welcomed two new families as tribal partners this month! One Bugkalot family & one Mangyan family. We are so excited to see how God uses them. One of the things we are happiest about is that this means we can now re-open the work with the Manide tribe. Please pray for these sweet couples & their kiddos as they move to this new area and begin church planting in the Manide tribe!

This last one is just for fun - Steve saw it on a friend's FB page. An adorable little Bugkalot guy in traditional dress - except maybe the crocs :)