Martha's Visit

The rainy season has commenced. A large typhoon passed north of the Philippines this week, dumping 4 days of heavy rains. Humidity will stay high through Christmas. Grass grows faster and it takes longer for my clothes to dry.

I was excited to see Martha at our annual mission meeting and catch up on news about her experiences in the 'undisclosed' country. I have asked her to write an update which I will post in my next blog. Her time there was extremely valuable as she learned much about the culture, and about her role as Christ’s servant in a place where Christianity is not welcomed. Still, God gave her opportunities to make Him known.

Following our mission meeting, David joined Martha and I in Singapore for 4 days of wonderful vacation. We visited the zoo, the botanical gardens, watched laser shows by the ocean, rode go-carts, toured the city streets, and enjoyed some meaningful family conversations. David was especially impressed with the clean, orderly, efficient administration of such a large Asian city.

Martha and I arrived back in the Philippines in time to travel to her birthplace, Roxas City, where she and I spoke to about 50 people in a nearby village whose homes had been repaired and rebuilt by the SBTC disaster relief teams from Texas. God continues to work there as our faithful workers in Roxas City minister to the new believers in that village.

On Thursday, one of my former missionary colleagues arrived from Ohio with a team of 10. They will be involved in various ministry activities for the coming week. Today we conducted a seminar training called Learn to Discern for 54 of our Filipino church members and leaders. All of us were challenged to exercise extreme caution with what we watch and hear from all sources of media, and to dedicate our hearts and minds to be His ‘light’ shiners in a dark world. Martha’s testimonies were especially powerful.

Martha has also shared in several of our smaller fellowships, explaining how she maintains her focus on the Lord in the midst of a busy college life and among fellow college students whose priorities do not always honor the Lord. It’s been a joy for me to hear Martha quote passage after passage of Scripture that she has memorized and applied to her life. She will return to Texas in about 10 days and spend some time with her siblings before returning to college. Until then, it’s really a treat for me to have one of my youngins with me for a while.