Giving Thanks For Our Son!

It is high time to get Dad and Mum’s brag book out and give you a look at some of the highlights of our son’s last year. We have less than two weeks left before we enter Jubab’s teenage years – can you believe it? Our son is turning 13!  Where did all those years fly by and how come our baby son is now suddenly a man-child as his Mum likes to call him?

This past year has been sort of a quiet year for Jubab. It has been his first year of high school and in his mid-year report card he got 8 A’s and 1 B and just this month he received a certificate from his Year Advisor for ‘Great Work In ALL Subjects’.  Needless to say we are VERY, VERY proud of his achievements and very thankful for his great teachers – Ben and Leonie!!!!!!

Just so you know, some of the things Jubab enjoys are:

                Foot spas in a bucket

                Playing basketball

                Sketching and drawing

                Conquering huge pythons with Dad

                Doing homework with his dog, Sparky

                Work-outs (cool ‘tough’ look) 

Amongst some of Jubab’s achievements this year is the development of quite a few cooking skills – he has made cheesecake and teriyaki chicken amongst other things, and one day last week while his Dad was out preaching and his Mum was sick, Jubab even cooked a whole meal for his Dad’s lunch meeting with the elders and they said it was delicious!

He has read numerous books as he has a real eagerness for reading, he is one of the best care givers you can imagine if you are sick and need caring for (he stayed by his Dad’s side day and night when his Mum was away at a Ladies’ camp and his Dad got sick and had very high fevers), and he frequently gives us the treat of listening to his fine voice, which is developing in depth and in volume and which we are trying to encourage him to share with others - which he is thinking about maybe doing.

Jubab is quiet, loves ‘alone’ time, avoids too much conversation if he can, and his friends here in Lapoc describe him as a gentle and calm friend. Wrestling matches though can bring out the tough side of Jubab so watch out if you ever challenge him to a wrestling match! This toughness was really evidenced when he gritted his teeth earlier this year and had surgery on his ear drum without anaesthetic. Ouch!!!

He is very tenacious when trying to solve a problem and this has helped him work through things in school and solve technical problems with his different devices. It also helps him with his sketching – until he gets his sketch just the way he wants it, he will re-do it over and over and over again.

If you want to know about Jubab’s idiosyncrasies, well, he does have a few. One of them is his huge love of sleeping in front of a whirling fan, even when its cold. Another is his love for tea – green tea, oolong tea, white tea, jasmine tea – just about any sort of tea. He loves to take his pot of tea and his Japanese tea-cup down to his room at night. Another is his favourite question, “How long do you think it will take.......?” He loves to know time schedules!

So dear ones.......for those of you who haven’t seen Jubab for awhile......this 13^th birthday tribute will re-introduce you to our delightful son who is the apple of our eye.

How did these baby days slip away so fast?

Teenage years........here we come!!

What FUN!!

Cancer and funerals........

Ronnie and Aling.......
they really need our prayers at the moment
as they battle Aling’s bowel cancer.

Today is the third day of Aling’s chemo treatment,
they are away from their family,
out in the city,
facing the pain and the strangeness of the hospital
amongst mostly strangers.

Life feels so foreign and so uncertain to them at the moment.
They are sorely missed here in Lapoc. They play a huge role in the church in
pastoral care and leadership.

Paul went out to the city today, to visit them and to make sure they are doing okay.

And funerals.......

This is the scene we visited 12 evenings ago, as we went to grieve

with a family from the church here whose young adult son had just been brutally murdered

along with his friend.

Sadly, this scene has been repeated just yesterday - another two men were murdered

early yesterday morning during a gathering to bury a family member who had died

of old age. They had been drinking, old hostilities were stirred up, knives

and guns were brought out and now there are two more to bury.

These deaths directly affect families here in the church who are relatives and family

of those who have been killed, so there is much grieving here  

and there are funerals and loss and grim finality to deal with,

which is especially hard considering the violence of these deaths.

So please pray for our church family here.

Pray that these tragedies will spur us on in even more fervour in

the spreading of the Gospel.

Baptisms.......new brothers and sisters!!!

This is Jesus’ little flock at Pawagaon.......a small group of believers,

very familiar to being in need,

isolated in many ways,

newly freed from a life full of many fears......

.......and here we are gathered with them on the banks of a small river,

as they prepare to testify to their salvation through the Lord Jesus

through the waters of baptism. 

There were nine baptized that day at Pawagaon,

and last month there were fifteen baptized at Kapisahan

which is an outreach over in the Dulangan Higaunon where we

first were. For years we wanted to teach over in Kapisahan but the people’s

hearts there were closed. Only recently were the people there open to being taught.

God keeps opening doors where doors were not open before!!!!!!