Bible College Project

 Those of you who have been following this blog know about the exciting developments with a potential Bible College for the Agta in Bicol. It will be a partnership between the Mangyan tribe (who have had their own thriving Bible College for 50+ years) and the Bugkalot tribe (our key partners since 2011). We found a piece of land that can accommodate both the Bible College and the combined livelihood training + church-planting training that we have been dreaming about for many years. Here are two posts with more information about this project (1 & 2). 

HOT OFF THE PRESS:
We created a short video about the Bible College project; CLICK HERE to see a little of the backstory & our dream for the future. 

By God's grace through some generous donations, we made a down payment on the land, with the balance due in 6 months. We took possession of the land, & we have some tents to get us started. However, we don't have the funds yet to build any actual structures, & tents definitely aren't a long-term solution in "typhoon alley"! 

In order to make this dream of a Bible College for the Agta a reality, we are trusting that God will burden hearts to partner with us in standing shoulder to shoulder with the Bugkalot and Mangyan tribes as they start this Bible College for the Agta tribes. This is ultimately also a partnership with the Agta church, because as these believers are rooted in His Word through the Bible College, they will be better equipped to be used by God to reach the rest of their own tribe.

It's still Tribals Reaching Tribals here in the Philippines, but this is a strategic way to partner with these dear brothers and sisters as they lay it all on the line to reach the Agta. 
CLICK HERE if God is prompting you to partner
with Tribals Reaching Tribals in this project. 

River Village

On the same island where we went to the beach, we had the opportunity to visit a tribal village. We were very thankful for our new 4WD because there were 26 (!!) river crossings to get to the village. The real name of the village is Safa, but River Village seemed to fit. 
(I posted a video from this trip on our FB group page that you may be interested in!)

Such a beautiful little village tucked up in the mountains. It was wonderful to meet so many brothers and sisters in the Lord. There have been believers in this village for many, many years, and they have a thriving church there. 

They also have a heart for the many villages, both near and far, who still live in darkness.

We stayed in their guest house and enjoyed their hospitality.

The reason we went is that this tiny village is getting ready to send out some of their very own to partner with us to reach the Agta in Bicol. While we were there, they ordained and commissioned 3 Bible teachers and their families to go serve full time in Bicol.

These 3 men and their families will, Lord willing, move to Bicol in February. They are tasked with starting a Bible College for the Agta in Bicol. They have been teachers (and even President) of the Bible college on this island for a different tribe, so they are well-equipped for the job. And they have hearts ready to go and serve in this way. Will you join us in praying for these sweet families as they prepare to move about 18 hours travel away from their homes? Also pray as they get the necessary medical check ups and get other details in order before that time.

We are so incredibly blessed to be able to partner with such sweet tribal people as we work together to bring His Word to those who have never heard.

Beach & Back Online

 We were incredibly blessed to be able to get out of the city again just before covid case number started to skyrocket. We got away to our favorite beach, and got to bring some friends with us. We actually had a ministry trip on that same island (see next/above post - "River Village"), so we took advantage of being there anyway to enjoy some beach days first.

Ben used some of his Christmas money from grandparents to go out on a jet ski with some friends.

Lots of time spent in the pool and just hanging out.  With so many days spent locked down in our homes in the last two years, especially the kids, it has made us cherish these chances to get out and be together so much more than we used to!

Every beautiful beach day comes to an end, but wow what beautiful endings.

While we were at the beach, cases truly skyrocketed - actually increased 3,600+% in just a couple weeks. Because of that, our much-anticipated "blended learning" at school where the kids would be back in the classroom a couple days a week for the first time in almost 2 years, that start was delayed. This means that Ben started his final semester of high school the way he has been doing school since sophomore year - online. Disappointing to say the least, especially since our hopes had been so high. However, since we now have all the right permissions, we should be able to get right into the classroom as soon as case numbers decline and we are reduced to "Alert Level 2" (currently at 3). Please pray with us that case numbers will go down quickly so these guys can get in the classroom at least a little for their senior year.

Baguio Christmas

There is an area in the northern part of the Philippines that is high in the mountains (cool weather!) where people like to go around Christmas time. Since we couldn't go back to the States to be with our older two, and they couldn't come here (travel restrictions in and out of the Philippines), we decided to go up to Baguio for Christmas with some close friends.

We shared a little cabin with one other family, and we had a great time together.

So very thankful for friends who have become family, especially when we are so far from most of ours!

One of the fun things about Baguio, especially this time of year is that it is cool enough to enjoy a fireplace. We hung Ben's stocking with our friends' kids' stockings.

It's a tradition to take a pic of the kids in front of the tree - well one thing about Christmas in Baguio is we didn't bring our tree with us...so the kids decorated some potted plants. Fun memories!

While it was hard to be separated from the rest of our family, we are thankful for the memories we made just the 3 of us and enjoyed our last Christmas with kids living at home.

We also got to talk with the older two and my parents on Christmas day and open presents together. We even got this family picture of all of us together - look closely at the computer, that's the 3 of us. :)

Tribe Adventure

 It has become a tradition that during senior year, the kids get to invite their closest friends (with their families) to come on an adventure up into the tribe with us. Now it's Ben's turn, and he was excited to get to show his friends some of his favorite places. Sadly, the "house in the clouds" is no more, and the place we tried to stay instead didn't go so great (loooong story), but we still had a great time with some great people. Our group was 4 families, and included my sister and her family.

Part of the tradition of going at Christmas time is creating the "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. This tribal area is one of the few in the country that has pine trees, so the kids found a pine branch, then decorated it with random things they found around.

Lots of pretty views up there!

The adults had fun too. Great group of people!

Lots of time spent at the river. Cooking hotdogs, swimming and yes even jumping off the bridge! 

The kids enjoy riding in the pick up truck bed and on the roof rack when we're not on "real" roads.

Watching Eli try to rock climb the opposite side. He didn't make it and ended up wet.

And of course Ben always wants to make it more of an adventure...he smacked his head on a low-hanging tin roof. Lost lot of blood (head wounds!) and there was so much nasty dirt up under the skin that it took a LOT of digging to try to get it clean. He didn't flinch, but ultimately ended up too much for his body, and he passed out, couldn't see, and had this seizure kind of thing. Thankfully his body recovered pretty quickly from going into shock, and we glued the cut back together once we were sure it was cleaned out. When we got down out of the mountains, we called and spoke with a neurologist friend; the seizure was a "neurological event" caused by the trauma. He was on concussion protocols for a week but healed up fine. And thankfully no infection in the cut, and getting a tetanus shot in the little provincial hospital ER was a piece of cake, and only cost us about $2.50 total. Just like the States, right? :) 

So it ended up more of an adventure than we expected, but Ben healed up just fine (complete with cool zigzag scar!), and we all had a great time in the mountains with family & friends who have become family.

Bible College Land

 In a recent post, I told you all about the exciting development of a Tribal Bible School for the Agta, led by the Bugkalot and Mangyan tribes (click the link to read the post). As I mentioned there, it's exciting, but we have outgrown our current property so we've been checking into possible options. Steve recently traveled to Bicol with a team to check out a piece of land that seemed promising. 

The team was comprised of our Global Empowerment partners, Bugkalot tribal partners, Mangyan tribal partner, as well as several Agta tribal church leaders.

In evaluating the land, they felt like was an ideal fit. A fraction of the cost of other pieces we had looked at (because it's zoned for agricultural), it is big enough to allow for the Bible School as well as the Livelihood, Community Development (agricultural), & Church Planting training program that we have been dreaming about for years.

It is 21.5 acres and only 8 miles from our current property. It has a coconut plantation that could be further developed as well as several flat areas for building.

It even has two fresh water sources, one of which provides potable water year-round.

After seeing the land, Steve traveled to another island to meet with the Mangyan tribal church leadership as they are the ones with experience running a Bible School (theirs has been functioning for over 50 years!). They have committed to partnering with us in this by sending and supporting 4 full-time Bible School teachers!

We are so incredibly excited about this development and can't wait to see what God is doing. We don't have the funds for the land yet, but we are confident that God will provide if this Tribal Bible School is His will. Please pray with us that He would continue to guide.

Bible Seminar

 In October, Steve was able to travel to the northern group of Bugkalot churches to teach a seminar on God's heart for the nations as it's interwoven through Scripture. It was supposed to just be the Bible School students there, but all the local pastors joined so they ended up with 63 attendees!

They did a combination of lecture and small group study to work through the material

One of my (Jen's) language students joined Steve on the trip in order to practice his Tagalog, and he did a great job.

So thankful for Bugkalot tribal church and their heart for the Word of God and desire to keep learning and growing, especially as it relates to sending out their very own to reach other tribal groups.

Beach Getaway

We were so blessed by being able to go camping a couple nights at the beach as a family. We joined a couple other families, and we enjoyed a boat trip to do some snorkeling. While getting travel paperwork was a challenge, it was so good to have a couple days away and out in nature and fellowshipping with friends. And we enjoyed some spectacular sunsets!

Family Update

Ben has been accepted at William Carey University in Mississippi, and will join Zach there next year. These pics were taken last year when we visited the campus with Zach. 

As for an update from Zach, we don't hear much from him, much less receive any pictures of him at school, but he's doing well there. He's majoring in Christian Ministry, currently with a sports ministry focus, and he's enjoying his classes in his major. He went home to my parents' for Thanksgiving, so we got a couple pics of him from my mom. He was on French Silk Pie duty for the feast, so he and my niece made the pies together. Mikayla and her roommate are in the pics too.

Ben is doing as well as can be expected in this locked-down world where we live. It's been incredibly hard watching him (and his friends) suffer through this time, but he has grown so strong during this time, and we're so proud of him. Please continue to pray for him, especially that face to face classes could start next semester - there is real hope for this, but prayers needed for sure! 

He and a friend recently got to go visit a good friend in another area. It was so good to see them together, and we came across this pic of the 3 of them 5 years ago. So glad they can maintain this friendship in spite of everything they've been through.

Things have actually started loosening up a little in recent weeks here, and kids can actually go into malls again if accompanied by a vaccinated parent. It was crazy how it felt so weird to get them in, felt like we had just accomplished a massive feat. Another BIG thing here is that the use of face shields is no longer mandated! We have had to use both a mask AND shield every time we leave our house, so this is HUGE to be down to just a mask. Sadly, it looks like this freedom could be fleeting as they're talking about making shields mandatory again with this new variant, and we expect tightening lockdowns again. But we're enjoying it while it lasts!

We were blessed to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her family as well as some friends who have become like family here for sure. So thankful for these people in our lives. And we even found a turkey to help celebrate! Often Thanksgiving is just chickens because turkeys are hard to find and expensive (this year it was about $50 for a 14 pound bird), so we were extra thankful for the treat this year. :)

Mikayla is doing well at her adventure therapy job, and God is using her in mighty ways there. She has been dealing with some issues though, and we would appreciate your prayers for wisdom and strength as she navigates difficult issues.

We are so thankful for you, our team, who stand behind us in prayer and also in concrete ways as you encourage and support us AND our kids. We couldn't press on without you!