Back to Work

We’ve been back to the Philippines for almost a week. I think I’m finally thawed out from the record low temperatures that had me shivering through multi-layered clothes and coats. What a relief to step out of the plane in Manila and feel the warm tropical winds. I wonder if there is any way Christmas could be moved to July?

But overall, we had a great vacation. Spent lots of money and ate lots of food. On our New Years Day trip to Oklahoma, we had a dilemma: how to fit all six of us in a five passenger car. No problem, Jonathan offered to ride in the trunk with Hannah’s MP3 player. A pull down trap door in the back seat allowed us to poke him occasionally to be sure he was still breathing.

On the way home, we stopped to eat lunch at Meers Restaurant in Meers, Oklahoma. Population 6 - the store owner’s family. Nationally acclaimed to have one of the best hamburgers in the U.S., they grind their lean, grass-fed, longhorn beef fresh each morning to meet the demands of the restaurant/store which was built in 1901 just outside what is now the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. Good home-style eating!

Equally as satisfying and more well-known within our family is Grandma Judy’s cooking, which we enjoyed while celebrating Christmas in Virginia. Food that couldn’t fit into the refrigerator was kept fresh by near freezing temperatures outside in the garage. Hannah took us snow skiing near her college at Liberty Mountain in Lynchburg. We even had a family picture taken at Sears.

Now it’s back to work modifying our CPM strategy to best communicate the gospel to the Ilonggo culture. My faithful team of church planters gave good reports of God at work in our house churches and in our church leaders. For 2010, my goal is to simplify our existing materials in order to make it easier to start new churches. We will also experiment with using solar-powered audio players for illiterate, oral learners.

As we begin a new year, would you purpose to pray for our work among the Ilonggo people. Pray that myself and my leaders would continue to grow in our relationship with God, to know Him better and to show His love to those He brings into our lives. Pray for an outpouring of His Spirit upon those whom we are working with, that they, too, would begin house churches among their own family and friends. His Kingdom come, Thy will be done.