Tribal Bible College Update

Thank you to those of you who have already been involved in either praying and giving towards the Tribal Bible College project. Here's a post to give you more info if you're not sure what we're talking about. There's even a video in that post that you won't want to miss! Last month, we were able to camp on the land and use a drone to take some aerial pics (see this post). 

This is the land for the Tribal Bible College! You can see the bridge on to the property bottom center, then a few tents and the tenant house. Our hope is to build the classroom building and bathrooms this summer (if the funds come in time). That will be located in the center left portion of the picture. Then the students and teachers would just stay in tents for the time being. The church planter and livelihood skills training facility will probably be in the top center of the pic, but that will come later. We need to get the Bible College up and running because we already have students attending classes at our temp facility!

Praying together with our team on the new land.

Semester 2 of the Bible College started last month. We're currently hosting them at our training center, but it is too small of a property to be a long-term solution.

Thank you for praying with us for this massive undertaking! If you'd like to be a part of what God is doing with the Tribal Bible College, you can give here. 

God's Heart for the Nations

Over the last couple months, Steve has been spending time in several different tribal areas, mobilizing their churches to be catch a better vision of God's heart for the nations. As part of this, he has done a 1-week seminar on this topic in 4 different areas that included leaders and students from 40 churches, with close to 200 people participating. It has been an exhausting stretch of time, with Steve traveling about 75% of the time, but it has been incredibly exciting to see these tribal churches re-ignite their passion to be more involved in the Great Commission and to see what role God would have them play - both as individuals and as churches. Pray with us that many more tribal partners will be sent out as a result of these seminars!

Trip to Bicol

While Steve has been able to go down to Bicol to visit our teams quite a bit this past year, Ben and I haven't gone because of constantly changing lockdowns and restrictions for minors traveling. Well, we finally were able to make a trip down to visit our tribal teams in Bicol. We even got to camp on the new land that has just been purchased for the Tribal Bible College!

It's an absolutely beautiful piece of property. So thankful and dreaming big dreams of what God will do here in this place.

It's a hike to the top of the property, but what a view!

Another family traveled with us, and they helped us take some aerial pics of the land using their drone (pics to come in another post). While we were there, we also visited one of the villages where we used to go all the time as a family when the kids were little. It was the last time Ben will be down there for a while.

We didn't embarrass them by re-enacting the picture (zoom in to see it), but it was fun to get a pic of these two again.

After camping on the land, visiting a village and spending time with our tribal partners, we took a couple days to wakeboard, visit the hot springs, and of course the beach! So thankful for friends to share both ministry and vacation days!

Ben

Our baby turned 18! I can't believe we are almost empty-nesters. Ben will graduate in May and head back to the States. We appreciate your prayers as he (and we!) prepare for this transition. 

On the day he turned 18, two friends joined us for a steak dinner at home, and french silk pie was his request.

Then the following weekend, he had some more friends over for baked potato bar, games, cake & ice cream. We have been so blessed by this group of friends!

We also had some senior photos taken recently. Here are a couple of my favorites.

Steve & I both teared up as we looked through the pictures of Ben in his rugby jersey - the one from his sophomore year, because that's the last time he was able to play. It has been so hard to see all he's lost through these pandemic lockdowns - two full years of sports and other activities. So hard to understand. But we are so thankful for this guy and the maturity and grace he has shown through it all. We know God is preparing him for big things in the future.

Thanks for joining us in praying for Ben as he graduates soon and heads back to the States. We will sure miss him here!

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.