Going Up!

“How is my car going to make it up that road to the school?”  “Look at all that loose gravel!”  “What engineer thought that building a road up this hill was a good idea?”  “Ah, maybe they forgot to consult an engineer; that’s why the road is here.”  “All this rain sure doesn’t help.”

Such thoughts clouded my mind as we pondered our odds of success in getting to the top.  Hannah and her husband, Daniel, along with Sara, were riding with me as we watched Pastor Ronald navigate the climb in his car.  “Hmmm,” I thought, “he does this every Friday morning.  I guess we can do it, too.”  So up we followed, without a single spin, grateful for the good tread on my tires.

Government schools are usually located on the cheapest land, which in this case was along a hillside.  Once we reached the top and found a place to leave our car, the kids swarmed around us.  Dozens of them, each one wanting a closer look at the Americans.  Once a week for two years, Pastor Ronald and his team have been coming to this rural elementary school to share the gospel in various ways.  The teachers are eager listeners, too.  After an hour of singing, sharing, snacks, and smiles, we say ‘goodbye’ to these happy kids.  (Also, our car manages to go down the hill without rolling!)

The next morning, Saturday, Pastor Ronald and his team took us to the seaside village of Agaho for more singing and sharing to the elementary school kids and their parents.  The previous afternoon Sara, Hannah, and Daniel spoke to about 50 students from a local high school. Sara shared about the deception of outward appearances, then Hannah and Daniel shared their love and courtship testimony and the need to follow biblical principles while listening to God’s voice when entering into a relationship with a person of the opposite gender.

On Saturday afternoon, Ronald treated us to a river ride on a bamboo raft that floated us past sandbars and reeds to the edge of the ocean.  Later, we drove by the hospital where Hannah was born, as well as visited the house where we lived in during most of our years in Roxas City.  The following week, Hannah and Daniel enjoyed 3 days of vacation at a tropical resort along the beautiful beaches of Guimaras Island.

A week after Sara, Hannah, and Daniel left, Martha and her husband, Philip, arrived in the Philippines from Israel, where they had been staying with Philip’s parents.  Martha and Philip are spending some vacation time on the island of Palawan.  I’ll meet up with them next week and they will stay with me until March 19.  So, it’s a big treat for me to have my daughters and son-in-laws to come visit Dad.

I hope the first couple of months of 2020 have been good to you.  Thank you for your prayers for the ministry here and for keeping up with the Moses clan.  You are a blessing to me.