Vacation Bible School

Something I hated as a child: VBS. Sorry to all of the ladies at church who worked so hard to make it fun for the children (including my own mother). I was that wierd child that never liked going to sunday school, awana, or vbs, probably because I was very shy. But here I am prepping to lead my own class of 4th graders for the next week, number of students, unkown (though I could safely venture a guess of 35+ in each room). We had our orientation today which basically consisted of 'here is a stack of the materials you will need. Cut this stuff, color this stuff and read this stuff.' We also learned 8 songs, some with actions. I'm completely and totally freaked out. I'm not a very good teacher and when put in front of a large group, the issue is only compounded! But 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me'.... I'm clinging to that promise! I did get a chance to briefly meet some of my students, probably about 20 of them, the other day. They seemed pretty excited for next week. Also, I thought this was funny: I told them my name and where I was from and asked them to guess how old I am. The guesses started at 35 and went up. Hmm... perhaps because they thought I am so wise... Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Anywhoo... pray for me as we have a SUPER busy weekend followed by a full week of vbs followed by another SUPER busy weekend. We are busy, but it's good! Being busy means that God is giving us opportunities minister to others! But it's important to remember that being busy for God doesn't replace time with God! It's important to continue to be in the word and spending time just in fellowship with the Lord.



My stack of materials for next week.



We had a good week this last week. For 3 days we helped out with another vbs. Actually, the boys helped while us ladies sat outside. :) A lot of the mothers stick around outside instead of just dropping the kids off, so pastor Erick asked the two of us to just hang out with the mothers and get to know them so as to possibly have a chance to share the gospel with them. Well... Brittany and I quickly saw most of the mothers flee when we sat down. One of the other ladies told us that most of the women didn't want to hang out becuase they were embarrassed of their English. Too bad, we could have used some brushing up on our Tagalog! Well, regardless, there was one mom (grandma actually) who stayed behind and talked with us. We got to know her a little better as she actually tried to witness to us! Ate Marilyn... she is a Jehovah's Witness. She saw Britt's bible and it was all history from there. :) Actually, we discussed a little on the first day, and Ate Marilyn told us she would bring her bible the next time we came and we could talk more. It gave us a chance to get to know what JW's believe a little bit more and learn how to point out the differences in our bibles, verses that teach us that we cannot get to heaven by works, and verses to support the trinity. It was very interesting... a little like prepping for battle. So we armed ourselves with the armor of God including the belt of truth, and the sword of the spirit. It was exciting to be able to share a little more in depth with someone just exactly what we believe, and definately challenged me to study up on the word. We had some very good conversations and ended by agreeing to look into what each other believes and  meet again this next week (over some home-made peanut butter, YUM!) hopefully able to better answer some more questions. Hmm... I'd love to muse a little more about this but it's time for worship team practice. The team is leading this week at church. But I'll leave you with this:

We get the best sunsets here! :)

Well, best be going...

Until next time...

Weekend Update... this one's a good one! :)

Wow! Sooo much has happened this week! We've been going around the neighborhood doing community bible surveys. It's a good way to get a feel for interest in the gospel in the area. It's pretty simple actually. You knock on the door '*knock, knock* Tao po!' and repeat until they answer. Then you just simply explain that we are from a chuch just up the street and we are doing a short survey throughout the community. Then you ask if they have a bible, if they want one and if they would like us to come back and lead a bible study in their home. We've walked up and down all kinds of hills, up and down very steep, unequal stairs, some of them made of mud and old tires. We've seen a lot of the area and the wealth of some people on this street, and poverty of others. Anyway... back to the surveys. I wasn't sure what to expect, and as we were doing this, I wondered what kind of effect this would have in North America. Honestly... I can't even tell you how many times I've just ignored the knocking at the door if I didn't recognize the person knocking. Even if I did answer the door, I would probably just try and get whoever it was to leave as soon as possible. But anyway, back to the surveys...

So we had several homes express intrest, and have been doing some follow up the last couple days. Yesterday I went with Moses and Pastor Sam to do a follow up to the initial survey. The owner of the home is a believer along with her family, but she has two young women living there with her, I believe they also work for her, but they were not belivers, they were loosely Roman Catholic. Well, we sat down with them and Moses shared his testimony (in Tagalog to boot! He did great!) and pastor Sam was able to witness to them and walk them through some passages in the bible. From learning how we are all sinners and that that sin separates us from God, to showing them how Jesus is the free gift that God sent to free us and redeem us  to bring us back into communion with God and spending eternity in Heaven with the Lord. Well! Praise the Lord! They both accepted and are now my our new sisters in Christ! It was so exciting to be sitting there praying for Pastor Sam while he shared and these two women while they listened! God is so good! We invited them to church this morning, though they didn't come. But they asked us to come back next saturday for another bible study, which I will lead. I'm excited for this, but not sure really where to start with a new believer!

We did another follow up today with a young lady, probably about my age named Maritess. This time it was Chris and I, along with a friend of ours, Vok, who translated for us. I'll be totally honest- We had just gotten home from our church service at the second church (We have church here at the house, Balacbac, and then we go to the other church in Ambiong after... it makes for a long day), we were all pretty tired, I had a headache, and I've been fighting a cold for the last few days. The last thing I wanted to do was hike down to interior B to lead a bible study where I wasn't really sure what to say, and last minute it was decided that I would lead it because we were sure that this lady would be more comfortable talking to another female. So, down we hiked, praying all the way that she would even be home, that she would still be interested in talking with us, that she would be open to what we said, and that the words we shared would be of the Spirit and not ourselves. Well... We arrived and Maritess was there and still willing to meet with us. So... I began the study and was feeling a little frazzled, but continued on sharing with her while Chris silently interceded for us and Vok translated. Well... guess what?! Maritess seemed to actually be interested in what we had to share... and even more than that... you know what?! SHE ACCEPTED THE LORD TODAY!!! I'm sooo stoked I can't even express it!! We invited her to come to church next sunday and are really hoping that she can make it! Sunday is her only day off. It was so exciting to be involved in what the Lord was doing this weekend! 3 new sisters in 2 days! Please continue to pray for these new sisters, that they would sincerely continue on in our studies and seek out the Lord and really building relationships with Him. But also! I'm so thankful for the guys that were there with me, for Chris' interceding but also especially for Vok. Obviously, the story would have ended differently if she hadn't understood what we were saying, but also, did I mention that Vok is a new believer also?! Yeah! He only accepted the Lord 3 weeks ago!! God is doing such awesome things in Vok! He was able to share a little bit of advise to Maritess about starting a new life as a believer! Soooo cool! Wow. I'm seriously so excited! Are you?! I hope that whoever reads this silly blog of mine feels encouraged today. Encouraged in their walk, knowing that they serve an incredible God, but also encouraged to share the gospel with unbelievers! It seems so scary to have those conversations with friends and family, but man, the sacrifice that Jesus made for us NEEDS to be shared!!

*Sigh*

Wow... I'm tired! What an interesting week. Looking forward to tomorrow and my day of rest, but also looking forward to more follow up visits and bible studies with new believers! Keep on praying for us!



The team plus some of the Arcano's!



Until next time....

Hurricane Season

Actually, It's almost typhoon season here. I didn't know what to title this blog because my brain is such a mess at the moment, so I swiped the title of the featured article of the day from wikipedia. But the more I think about it, the more appropriate it seems. My brain feels scattered, and after laying our our schedule today, I believe we are certainly entering hurricane season. We will be incredibly busy in the next couple months. We have 4 (count them, FOUR) VBS that we will be doing, training people on personal evangelism, teaching music seminars (ha, I was tapped to teach vocals. This could be interesting.), and honestly, my brain doesn't feel like recalling the other things that we will be doing right now. 

SO! What have we been up to these last couple days since arriving?! Lots! Thankfully, the pastor with whom we are living and serving with realizes that we are pretty jetlagged and adjusting to the culture, so he has let this first week be fairly restful. We did go to 2 church services on saturday. One of the churches meets at the home of the pastor (where we are staying, along with about 12 other people, who knew that leaving the Mark Centre we would move in with even MORE people?! That's okay, It's nice to have the family aspect and have a chance to get to know the Arcano's a little better!). We were also able to go to the downtown area of Baguio and enjoy the flower festival that was going on. We also had a chance to visit the Philippine Military Academy because our new family had a nephew who was graduating. We visited the botanical gardens yesterday and also got to see the SM mall. It's huge. Um... well... how about some pictures?! Unfortunately, all of my pictures prior to yesterday were deleted somehow. My heart is still quite sad about that... alas... a new day has come and I've taken more pictures. So here goes:



Us at the mall



Baguio City... try navagating through that!

A house we saw while out walking

Praying over the city

The market... what a busy place!

Well, my friends, I should get off of here... we are watching Les Miserables. :)

Until next time...

Last minute.

In some ways I thought that this phase of Trek would never end, but now that it is, I'm wishing it wouldn't! Maybe I'm just on a high because the last few days have been so great! Training has definitely had it's challenges though. I didn't really know what to expect, but I knew coming in that I had some festering wounds, and wow, did they get poked and exposed! With the good comes the bad. It's been stretching, but my goodness, I'm 1000% sure that the stretching has only just begun! 

I head out in just a few short days with my team... so exciting yet so scary! Pray for us! Some quick prayer requests:

-Ears that are open to hearing where the Holy Spirit is directing. And boldness to follow.
-Safety- Last years team's house was broken into twice. The first time was the first night they were there, and then again later.
-The church in Baguio had a keyboard that was broken, they are looking for a new one. We are praying that the Lord will provide a new one.
-And also, one of my team members, Brittany, is about $3000 short on finances. We are praying that God will provide that in His perfect timing! :)

Well, we had some free time the last couple days, here are some pictures for you:

'Chai' at East to East in Vancouver

I actually had a Calcutta Monsoon. Yum.

In Stanley Park, view of the city and beach.

Afgan food. YUM!

Banquet in our honor!

Trek leadership!

Well... I don't know if I'll blog again before I again before I leave, we have a super busy schedule this week. But keep us in your prayers and I'll try by best to keep you updated. Not sure what kind of internet connection we will have, but here's hoping!

Until next time...