Visa Update: We went to the Bureau of Immigration on Monday to find that they were closed for election day. We suspected that could happen, but there was no word of it on their website, so we gave it a shot. Nonetheless, we made our way back to the office on Tuesday morning to learn that we needed a few signatures and notaries from the province. So we asked all the questions we could think of to make sure we would be fully prepared when we came back and we hopped the 7 hour bus ride back to Maria Aurora. The trip always makes for a long day, but we were blessed with two air-conditioned buses which was a nice treat. We've gathered all the signatures and notaries and photocopies and we're preparing to make the trip back to the city. We are in a rush to get back because our current visas expire at the end of November. So...we'll head back on Monday and prayerfully submit everything. In return we're expecting them to give us a date for an interview (which means one more trip) and then finally be approved for extension. Please continue to pray for this process. Pray for swift action from the Immigration officers and for us to have attitudes towards them that are above reproach as they can often be hard to work with. And join us in praising the Lord for safe travel to, from, and while in Manila as well as the visa progress that has been made thus far!

We've been a little out of whack since we've been back in the Philippines. We went through a typhoon and it's aftermath, we helped get Monica off to Turkey, and now we're busy working on visa extensions. So, I haven't really kept the blog up to date. But here are some pictures of a few things we've enjoyed since being back.

 Story and art time with the kids in our neighborhood. We're getting close to the story of Jesus' crucifixion. PRAY as we're seeing transformation in a few of these kids' lives.

 Praying for Monica and two Filipinos who work abroad before they each left the country. 

 This is the construction on what will soon be dorms for the students who aretraining to be missionaries. A lot of progress has been made just since I took this picture! 

 We've enjoyed some yummy Filipino food. This is banana cue and pancit. 

 These are some of the girls at Monica's going away party.

 

Note Josh's form of discipline during story time. Interrupt and you get a frisbee to the head :) 

 Our church hosted an "Eat All You Can" fundraiser to help build a kitchen for the church members and missionary training students to use. 

 Lots of food and lots of people

 While we were in the States, many of you asked about our friend Mack who had dengue fever earlier in the year. He has fully recovered and is doing great! Thanks for praying for him. We've also seen some spiritual growth in his life recently. Praise the Lord for His goodness in Mack's life. 

 These boy scouts were ready for camp. I couldn't resist putting this picture up. Check out that uniform! This little boy's personality makes me laugh just writing this.

 We have puppies! Meet Rex and Yuppie Girl :) They're rabies and disease free...unlike most other dogs here. 

FAT (Fat, Available, Teachable) Group is still meeting every Sunday. We now have our Filipino friends leading the meetings which is really exciting. 

This is one of many reasons why I'd rather live in Maria Aurora than Manila. 'Packed like sardines' took on a whole new level while we waited for the train. 

One last picture of the three of us before Monica flew out for Turkey! 

PRAY for Monica as she adjusts to a new culture in Turkey. PRAY for her to be effective in every way. 

 

PRAY for Josh and me to be approved for visa extensions.

 

PRAY for Filipinos as they celebrate the biggest holiday in the Philippines today:  All Souls Day.  Family members gather from all over the country and visit their deceased family in the cemeteries. The families will decorate the tombs and pray on behalf of the dead who maybe did not die in grace. They will also commemorate the lives of beloved Roman Catholic saints. For Christians, this holiday has become not much more than a family reunion. They may visit the graveyard and commemorate the lives of their loved ones, but their is no worship or communicating with the dead. However, many people are still stuck in this cultural practice and are desperate for hope. Pray this holiday would be empty and confusing for them and that they may begin to ask questions and seek the Truth.

PRAY for Josh and me as we prepare to become a mommy and daddy. As this belly grows, reality is setting in :)

PRAY for 7 of our friends here who are currently fundraising and training for a 2 month mission trip in the Spring (it will be Summer break here). Pray God would provide the necessary funding and prepare their hearts for serving Him in another culture and context. We're VERY excited as these are the first Filipinos in Maria Aurora that we know of who are being sent out for the purpose of God's Kingdom. We're excited to see the movement that God is stirring in the hearts of believers all over the Philippines. Our friends will be visiting many spiritually closed Southeast Asian countries that Caucasians would face great challenges getting in to.  Pray for them, please. I'm sure I'll post more about them as their trip date grows near.

PRAY for 4 other Trek-Xers who recently moved to Turkey and Guatemala. Pray for them as they transition into their new lives and for the people they will come in contact with. 

 

PRAY for a group from my church in Corinth, Holly Baptist, that is coming for a visit in late November. We are honored to have them join us and can hardly wait for them to get here! Pray for us as we make plans and preparations for their time here. Our desire is for their trip to really further the work of the local Church here. 

How can we PRAY for you??

Typhoon Round 2

Well, I hope this isn't a recurring theme, but we survived our second typhoon! After only 5 days of being back in the Philippines, Typhoon Santi made landfall in our province. Welcome back, right? We got news that the eye of the storm was basically headed right for us at Category 4 speed. The news channel reports were actually broadcast in Baler (the coastal town about 15 miles away from us). Barry and Lilia, our Trek-X partners and neighbors were in another city visiting their son so we were on our own- and I was quite nervous. Barry had sent us the description of what to expect from a Cat 4 which included roofs flying off, old or weak houses destroyed, all trees down, no electricity and uninhabitable for weeks or even months. I repeat, uninhabitable. That's a scary word ha! I cried as I thought about what that could look like for us and our neighbors, many of whom have old and weak houses. I also couldn't help but think about the baby in my belly who could probably feel his/her mama's stress. Josh and I prayed together multiple times throughout the day for faith rather than fear and wisdom for decisions. We emailed our supporters asking for prayer as well. Thanks to so many of you for praying on our behalf. Before going in and bunkering down for the night, we tied up the tricycle and valuable things in the outdoor kitchen. And that was that. We just waited for it to come. We lost electricity around 9pm and the howling sound of wind and sheets of water hitting our house grew louder by 10. We could hear wind, trees snapping, and the like, but an hour or so later we were calmed to sleep by the sound of much lighter rain on our tin roof. God was faithful to hear the prayers of many for our safety. And the big thing I've been reminded of is that if our roof blew off and Aurora was uninhabitable for months, God would still be faithful. In this life of following Jesus, we just can't lose.
The next morning we went exploring to see the area. Many huge trees (acacia, chico, etc) were down as well as many of the banana trees and bamboo that had survived the first typhoon in August. Debris was everywhere and a few roofs were gone, but for the bigger picture- all our neighbors were well. The eye of the typhoon actually ended up moving a bit south of us and hit a town called Dingalan. This area was devastated by the storm and many people were affected. It's hard to think that that really could have been us. We are thankful to the Lord for protecting us, but we do hope that we'll remember to be in prayer for the people of Dingalan. Join us in praying that God will show Himself through the effects of the storm.

Again, THANK YOU for praying. We were blown away by the emails we received of everyone praying. And for the record, we went six long days without electricity. But we are completely habitable and back to normal now :)

 We couldn't leave our property without climbing through bamboo! 

I am writing this blog from a hotel in Manila. Tomorrow, we send off our close friend and fellow Trek-Xer Monica to Turkey where she will finish her last year of Trek-X. On Monday we will be making the dreaded journey back to the Bureau of Immigration. Our visas expire in November so we will begin the process of extending them. Please pray for this process. Our experience last year was long and hard. It took almost 10 trips to Manila, which is about a 6 hour bus ride through the mountains each time. We hope to have all the necessary requirements and if not we hope for grace! Pray for favor on us from the officers as well as wisdom as we have a few different options of how to renew (and adding a baby to the mix makes this hard to discern). Thanks everyone!

Back to life as normal..

Well we've been back in the province for 5 days now. Our month in America was wonderful. We enjoyed being with our family, seeing friends, taking hot showers, and eating yummy foods while sitting in the air conditioning. It was very refreshing for us. And we were so blessed by the generosity of so many people who fed us and housed us and gave us thoughtful gifts. God's provision is still so exciting to me; the ways He chooses to provide are so special.

Although things are very different here in Aurora, I can't explain how peaceful it felt to step off the bus at 4:20 in the morning on the side of the road near our home. The sights, the smells, the people and the familiarity- it all brought peace to my soul. Things are so different here than in America, but one thing I've learned is that different most certainly does not mean bad. Can I tell you how refreshing a cold shower is on a hot day? And how cool it is that geckos eat mosquitoes? And how much I love coconut milk? I've been praising God for how slow paced and relaxed life is here. I have to admit that this tropical life can sometimes blur the fact that we have a purpose and a mission during our time on earth (whatever country we're in), but I'm convinced that living toward that purpose and mission does not equate busyness. I've spent years struggling with the mentality that I have to get things marked of my to-do list for it to be a productive day. I'm so thankful for how God has used my time in the Philippines to teach me to slow down, enjoy Him, and enjoy people.

So...it's good to be back.
But I do want to share with all of you some of the recent happenings in our life and around here.

1. We were so proud to survive the 18 hour flight back to Asia. We're still fighting jet lag, but all in all the travel was good. I learned that Asiana Airlines has a heart for pregnant women...they moved us to a row with extra leg space!

2. While we were away, the capital of our province made leaps and bounds towards becoming a bigger tourism area. We've seen quite a bit of growth in our year of living here (a boardwalk on the beach, new homes, a store with lots of imported goods, etc.) but last month a new resort opened up and land was cleared for a...drumroll...mall! The mall is far from opening, but yay for the province of Aurora. And let me tell you, the resort is NICE. Like honeymoon spot or super nice vaca. And if that's not enough, they serve food such as burgers and pizza with imported beef and cheese. I can't tell you how big of a change that is since we arrived a year ago. The food is certainly too expensive for our lifestyle here, but it's the perfect place for celebrations. And speaking of celebrations....

3. We celebrated Josh's 26th birthday this week! I'm so thankful for his life and that I get to be a part of it. We celebrated by having friends over for dinner and games. And Josh and I went to the new resort restaurant for a lunch date the day after (it was still his birthday in America :)

4. We went to the doctor to check on Baby Boren yesterday. Dra. Hidalgo said everything looked healthy for both mama and baby. It took her quite a while to find the heartbeat because Baby wouldn't stop moving; she joked that we have a hyperactive child! During the month in the States, my belly grew quite a bit (there's no hiding that I'm pregnant now) and I began to feel his/her first movements. What sweet little flutters. I can't wait for them to be strong enough for Josh to experience the joy. I am incredibly thankful that God led us to a doctor that we trust and that speaks wonderful English. She was so kind to answer all my questions yesterday and assured me she will take good care of us and wants this delivery to be exactly the way I would have wanted. Thank you for those of you who have joined us in praying for this pregnancy and for the right doctor and hospital and for Baby Boren's life. We are blessed. Any predictions on gender? Any name suggestions??

5. Please pray for us as we begin to pick back up in different areas of ministry. We are asking God to direct us to which things the Filipinos should permanently lead as of now. In preparation for us being new parents and eventually moving away next July, we desire for the Filipinos to continue making disciples in Maria Aurora while not having dependence on us. Pray that the Holy Spirit would show us where He is working and that we could discern where to join Him.

6. For the final update, we have another typhoon moving in on us. (I wouldn't have minded to stay in America for this!) It should make landfall late tonight- around 1pm on Friday CT. God protected us through a typhoon in August. We are confident that He'll protect us again. Please pray for our safety and for our neighbors and their homes. Pray for our families as news of a typhoon can be just as scary for them as it is for us. Thanks everyone! We'll try to keep you updated as long as we have electricity and internet connection. You can track it at www.maybagyo.com.

We love you all and are so thankful for your partnership and prayers.

O America

Hey everyone,
As most of you know, we are currently in the U.S. of A. We arrived about 2 and a half weeks ago and have thoroughly enjoyed our visit thus far! We've traveled much of north Mississippi visiting our families and seeing nieces and nephews who have grown so much in the last year. We made a fun and relaxing trip out to Austin, TX to visit our sister and brother-in-law who moved there since we left. And we are currently in Nashville enjoying time with Trek-Xers and other friends from our time living here. It's a blessing to be back in the city where we have so many wonderful memories and friendships. Along the way we've enjoyed some of our favorite American meals. I've taken long, hot showers and we've frozen in the air conditioned homes. We've taken in the beautiful landscape of southern America and praised God for how diverse and magnificent His creation is. We've made a couple of baby purchases which were super fun and I'm quickly outgrowing my pants! We are grateful for the Lord's provision and the ability to make this trip.

For our remaining two and a half weeks, we'll be trekking back to good ole' Mississippi. With a much more open calendar we plan to rest and enjoy the people around us. We'll be sharing about our past year at a couple of churches and gathering a few items to take back with us to the province. We also have a couple of baby showers and a fish fry in store! Let us know if you'll be anywhere near Corinth or Batesville and would like to get together. We want to see as many people as we can! 

So to end this post, if I had to summarize the trip up to this point I would say it has been refreshing, reflective, and visionary. We've been refreshed by quality time with our family, quiet moments with the Lord, and familiar places. We've reflected on the many things we have learned living in Maria Aurora and the ways we have changed as a result. And due to the frequently asked question "What comes after the Philippines?" we have envisioned what is to come in August 2014. We've thought, talked, and prayed about our future as a family of three and we ask you to join us in praying for wisdom, guidance, and solid trust in the Lord as we prepare.


*Our camera is being repaired so we haven't been able to take any pictures during our time here, but I grabbed these off facebook to give you a small glimpse :) We all know blogs are way more fun with pictures.

Josh and his sister, Jeri

Mt. Bonnell in Austin

Catching up with friends in Nashville

We haven't killed a snake all year in Aurora, and found one in Corinth!

We got my brother his own 'bolo'

Breakfast and worship with Trek-X

It’s been a wild week as we’ve been busy preparing for our trip to the States (by the way, we leave the province tomorrow to catch a plane on Wednesday!). We’ve been packing our things for the trip as well as packing up most everything else in our house because….drum roll… we are SO blessed to be getting an expansion in our home while we are away. We're getting ready for Baby Boren! We’ve also been meeting with many of the students and friends we’ve been blessed to partner with and train in our time here. We’ve handed off some responsibilities to them and we’re thrilled to see how God will continue to develop confidence and leadership in them while we’re gone. And on top of all this, we’ve continued with our normal schedule. Let’s just say the need for a get-away has hit me hard!

I wanted to blog about a special day we had this week. Some of you may remember a previous blog about the children who live in our neighborhood. As the months have passed, we’ve developed very special relationships with many of these kids. We’ve been blessed to get with them twice a week to walk them through the Bible from creation to Christ. We're currently storying the ministry and life of Jesus. We tell stories, sing songs, play games, and laugh a lot. We also have been helping them memorize verses to go along with some of these key stories to help them really piece the ultimate story of the Bible together. To encourage them to keep up their hard work, a few months ago we told them we'd have a picnic when some of them memorized 10 verses. Picnics are a really special and exciting event here and a few girls really set their eyes on the prize. They’ve been diligently studying and even going to visit their friends to help them learn! The two final stragglers completed the last verse the day before the scheduled picnic. It was such an accomplishment for these 5 girls!

We planned to meet at 9am to walk to a nearby resort for the picnic.

 Here are the girls standing at our gate at 8:20, bags packed, and ready to go! 

 

We occupied them long enough for me to finish cooking the food and we were off!

 We took a million pictures. We played on the 'playground'. And after waiting for the pool to fill up, we ate, we swam, we ate, we swam and we ate some more. They loved it! 

 

I enjoyed the day so much as I played with these sweet girls. We got to see them tell an elderly woman about the reason we were having a picnic. It was so precious to hear one of them pray for our food. And we just loved loving on them. I'm thankful for the opportunity we have to invest in them and I'm anticipating God using them to reach their harder-to-reach families with the good news of Jesus. Please pray for them as we will reach the story of Jesus' death and resurrection shortly after we return from the U.S.   

We hope to see you all during our stay in the States! Stay tuned for more info about our time there. 

Meet Baby Boren

Ok, this is Baby Boren's big debut to the world!

Is this the cutest picture you've ever seen, or what?

Earlier this month we went for our second prenatal check-up. We tried out a new doctor and really enjoyed her. One of our friends works as a lab tech in the office next to a maternity clinic so she let us know that they were giving away free prenatal check-ups! (As if medical expenses aren't already a fraction of the price here compared to the States, what a blessing.) I decided to try the place out and if I didn't like it, I would just go back to the lady I saw previously. I had prepared myself for it to be like a zoo, since it was free, but our experience was far from that. Dra. Hidalgo spoke excellent English which really brought so much peace to my non-fluent Tagalog self. She asked me lots of questions, did the routine blood pressure and sent me for some blood work (which our friend actually got to do). She then asked me if I would like to see my baby instead of just hear the heartbeat. I couldn't say no! So Josh and I were able to 'meet' our child for the first time. I can't explain this experience. I'm certain that only parents can relate. I was speechless as we saw a little life inside of me. She pointed out his/her head, body, and limbs and assured us that everything was as it should be. We could even see the little heart thumping. Praise God. As a mama who feels like she has no idea what she's doing on the other side of the world, God used this doctor and this ultrasound to bring me to a place of rest in Him. And my sweet husband was there rejoicing with me as we looked in awe at the screen. What a precious moment.

I journaled shortly after the appointment about the simultaneous feelings of chaos and peace that I've been feeling. As we prepare to head to the States soon, we're busy planning our time there, gathering pasalubong (souvenirs), getting our home in order, and most importantly, handing off ministry responsibilities here. This can feel slightly chaotic. However, we've also celebrated birthdays with friends, enjoyed new fruits in season, 'met' our baby, and really enjoyed our life, ministry, and the people here. This has been peaceful. Spiritually and mentally I've been researching and praying for all things baby. Cloth diapers, vaccines, names, dual citizenship, and on and on. (I guess that's more of a having a baby overseas kind of list!) Learning about all of this kind of hurts my brain and feels like chaos. How will I ever make all of these decisions in only 5-6 more months? But my King is so gracious. When my thoughts consume me, the Lord reminds me of all that He's done in my life to bring me to this point. He's carried me through every scary or trying time. So even now, as I feel so ill-equipped for motherhood, I know my King will see me through. He'll give me wisdom for the important decisions like vaccinations. He'll give me self-control to eat well so the baby will benefit. He'll make me brave to stand in the convictions that He gives us for parenting. He'll bless me to be selfless as my time will be consumed with being a mommy. He'll bless me to be patient. He'll bless me to be loving. This is when I realized that the peace of God reigns in chaos. I feel so at peace about the season to come. Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Thanks for reading all my ramblings :)

We survived Typhoon Utor!

I'm sure many of you heard either from us or on the news about the typhoon that came through the southeast Pacific last week. I've been itching to blog about it since then, but we've just now gotten the internet to do so. Since we have lived in the Philippines, there have been many warnings of typhoons. A very strong storm actually hit the southern island last year, but none have actually made landfall in our province until now. Thankfully, our neighbor Barry keeps track of the weather system here and we knew the storm was coming a few days before it actually arrived. To prepare, we tied down the cabinet in our outdoor kitchen, the tricycle, and a few other valuable things. We closed our windows (which is a rarity here due to the heat) and made a game plan in case it began to flood. And that was that. We prayed for the Lord's protection and went to sleep. Around 1am the winds began to pick up and we could soon hear things snapping and cracking. But since we had closed our windows it didn't sound nearly as scary as I had anticipated. (I personally think the sound of jungle thunder is much more frightening!) However, reality set in the next morning when we came out to see the damage. All the plants were still bent toward the direction that the 70-100 mph winds had blown them. Most of our banana trees were ripped out of the ground. The welcome sign above our home was torn in half and everything was out of order. We spent half the day cleaning up what Utor had left behind. One of the most interesting parts of the aftermath of the typhoon was watching how the Filipinos responded. As soon as the kids were awake, the parents sent them out to gather anything and everything that had been blown down. First come, first served was most definitely the mentality. It was totally irrelevant who the fruits and lumber actually belonged to. It seemed as if all of our barangay (neighborhood) was in a race to gather their things before someone else did. Nonetheless, we are very thankful to the Lord for protecting us. After we were able to access the internet and learn about the damage in other areas, we learned that an area not very far north of us received the most destruction. Most of their town was destroyed. Praise the Lord only 2 deaths have been reported thus far. But please do continue to pray for many who were left homeless and some people (particularly fishermen) who are still missing. I've also noticed that the 'rally-up and help' mentality that we experienced in the southern US after Hurricane Katrina is just not as feasible for a poor provincial area. Pray for the body of Christ to serve those who need assistance.

Here are some pictures of the after-math: 

The herb garden was a mess

2 of the many banana trees- notice bananas that were growing

Kiddos gathering bananas..as big as they are!

Everything was a mess!

Yay for free coconuts!

And lumber for firewood. This is great for cooking over.

Our shortcut to the road was inaccessible for a few days

 Thanks to everyone for checking in on us and praying for us during the storm!