the daily grind

Josh made this really neat looking chart of our 'schedule' to send in past newsletter as an answer to the common question "so what does a normal day our week look like for you?" I wanted to put that pretty chart on here, but I just don't seem to have enough computer skills to figure it out. But nonetheless, I'll try to fill you all in on what our daily life is like. It's a nearly impossible task since no one day really looks like another, but isn't that true for most people? And since we have a new Boren entering the picture in about 5 weeks, none of this will be accurate for a while :) Nonetheless, for those of you who wonder, here's what happens more often that not:

• Most mornings look the same. They include waking up, spending time in prayer and the Word together as husband and wife, eating breakfast, watering plants (if I remember), and personal time with the Lord. A few days a week we do some sort of exercise- jogging, walking, bike riding before I got preggo, workout dvds, stretching, etc. The exception is Tuesday morning when all of the pastors of the local outreaches come over for breakfast, fellowship, ministry updates, and prayer. Those morning meetings usually last until 11 or so. 
• SUNDAY: Worship service at 10am. FAT Group (see previous post for more info on FAT Group) from 4pm- 6:30ish. Once a month this group also eats dinner together. We spend the time between church and FAT Group resting and preparing. 
• MONDAY: Plans come and go on Mondays. But one consistent thing is that between 4 and 5pm the elementary kids in our neighborhood come home from school. We gather them for games, a Bible story, songs, and crafts. 
• TUESDAY: After the morning pastors' meeting we eat lunch. At 3pm we meet with some other leaders to prepare and pray for our ministry at Calabuanan High School. We leave for that school at 4pm and return home around 5:30. While there we facilitate small groups into discovering God's Word. Every other Tuesday night we skype Chris White for accountability and updates within Trek-X.
• WEDNESDAY: Wednesday is our Sabbath Day and we attend the prayer meeting at our church at 7pm.
• THURSDAY: Thursdays look basically the same as Mondays- randomness and afternoon with the kids. 
• FRIDAY: Our Fridays are currently pretty open. We try to use that time to catch up on things around the house, planning for ministry, etc. Friday afternoon/evening is designated as "Family Night" which might consist of a movie on our computer, a dinner date in Baler, a walk, etc.
• SATURDAY: I used to get tired just thinking about Saturdays. We had a kids' ministry at 9am, a family Bible study at 10 am, Bible study with a high school girl at 2pm, and another kids' ministry at 4pm. Whew. However, we've recently seen some leaders emerge and prayers answered and we've been able to hand off most of these. The two kids' ministries are now (as of this week actually) being led by girls in those communities. The high school girl moved. And the family is now (we pray) doing Discovery Bible Study on their own. This is great because it's the initial goal- Filipinos ministering to Filipinos. It also freed us up for this new baby. God's timing is good.

Just as in all of your lives, we also have unexpected events that take up much of our time. For example, an elderly lady comes over to ask for financial help and I end up having coffee and talking with her for over an hour. Or a colony of ants decides they want to move in our home and we spend a couple of hours chasing them out and cleaning up behind them. Sometimes (like this week) we're joined by a mission team from the States and most usual plans are put on hold as we join in with them. We also have a house to keep clean, family and friends to keep up with, and food to cook. The food thing takes a lot more time here than in America. We also spend a good deal of our time preparing for our ministry opportunities, reading/studying, visiting friends and neighbors, shopping at the market, going to prenatal check-ups, and exploring this beautiful island we live on!

This is one of the groups at Calabuanan National High School

Sweet kiddos 

Short-term mission team fun

One of many unexpected events

Cultivating relationships and enjoying the island 

Beautiful view on one of our walks

 

 I hope this gives you a better clue of what exactly our island life looks like. Hopefully it will also help you to pray for us more specifically. Thanks for reading!