|
|
|
|
Dear Praying Friend,
We our now finishing out our three months away in Palawan. Our setting here is completely different from our life in Manila. Here are just a few of the differences:
“You know you’ve traded Manila for the province (the country) when…"
|
|
|
- You bike to a rural area miles away from town and a child you've never seen before walks up to ask you if you’re Jeremy’s daddy.
|
|
- The price of fish in the market has a direct correlation to the weather that day.
- People you’ve never met in your life know how many kids you have, where you live, and what you’re doing in town.
|
|
|
- You can let your kids walk down the middle of the road without worrying about traffic. (This alone makes it a world different from Manila.)
- Before riding your bike you have to decide if you’ll go to the beach or the mountains.
|
|
- The Sunday morning church parking lot is full of motorcycles and tricycles but no cars.
- A primary factor in your daily plans is whether or not the power is working that day.
|
|
But there's also another, much more important list. It's the list of opportunities we've had to minister while there:
Preaching: I've been able to preach at least eighteen times, meaning lots of practice for Tagalog. By God's grace we've both made good progress in what we can do, even though we still get stuck a lot!
Planning: One of Pastor Jethro Malacao's burdens is to have a Bible college for training more qualified church leaders. We have been able to plan the first stages together and look forward to planning the rest of this project.
|
|
Building a Website: Another project that we've been able to help with is their church website, which you can see here.
Radio Ministry: One thing I'm still working on is sharing the gospel on a broadcast reaching into five towns. Pastor Malacao ministers weekly on the broadcast and graciously extended the opportunity to me. Somehow I'm just self-conscious about recording my bad Tagalog! Hopefully I can be prepared in the next few weeks.
Our time in the province has been a tremendous blessing and a huge boost to our Tagalog. We will miss these dear believers here! Transitioning back to Manila we look forward to a bit more language study, along with greatly increased ministry opportunities. We're excited about the months ahead!
|
|
|
|
Several times I've been able to bike up to a mountain outreach of Brooke's Point Bible Church, now pastored by a BJMBC graduate. Click above to see a 3D view of the church setting.
|
|
|
This month is the due date of our little baby in heaven. We are both thankful that He can care for our child better than we can and that we have the promise of meeting our child in heaven some day. You can read Sarah's letter to our child here.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
