Ecclesiastes 3:1-8speaks of different seasons we have in our
lives and this particular season of our lives right now is a season of building.
Building better infrastructure for people to meet in. Here you see the hive of
activity as the church building in Tagbak is taking shape even right now as you
read this.
Building up the workers here who are involved in spreading the Gospel. This
takes place in many ways like fellowship over meals and coffees, time together
in the Word, discipleship, passing on of information, working together for a
common goal, loving each other in spite of personal differences, encouraging
one another.......
Building up the confidence and abilities of the church leaders through
workshop-seminars and by availing them of helpful technology like
computers. Here you see Ann-ann preparing the first of the computers
which are for church leaders in the various churches. They will be having a
workshop to learn how to operate and use these computers early next month. This
computer workshop will be fully conducted by ladies from the church here in Lapoc,
who have become adept in the use of computers through their years of helping us
on the translation and through their own hard work and study.
So.....all
sorts of building is going on during this season of our lives. Please pray for
us that we will be skilled workers and that we have wisdom to keep our hands
inside of our Lord’s so that the building we do lasts.
Psalm 127:1 Except the LORD build the
house, they labour in vain that build......
Jen and Udi are proud
parents of their fourth baby and second son!!!
Baby Lloyd arrived safely
on April 5th at around 8:30 pm!!!
He weighed 6.6 lbs. and is
quite a tiny little man but very strong and very alert. He arrived 15 days
early but we praise the Lord that he is healthy and doing well.
Lloyd is the only one of
our four grandchildren to be born in a hospital but it was God’s leading as
Jen’s blood pressure shot up during the delivery and she had to be given
anti-convulsent meds intravenously. Baby Lloyd was in distress and inhaled
meconium during the delivery so both he had his Mummy are on antibiotics.
Udi, Jen and bubs arrived
here Monday the 8th, and the family stayed here until this last Tuesday and then went home
for a short time to Cauyunan. Jen and the children will be coming back on the
first of next month to stay with us for a further 2 weeks. Jen’s blood pressure is still high and she is still on the meds that she was discharged with
from the hospital.
While we were waiting for
baby Lloyd’s arrival, the other three grandchildren were staying with us and the
youngest - 22 month old Jhamaica - was busy clowning it up around here. She is
just a doll and is constantly inventing funny things to say and to do!
The arrival of her Mummy, Daddy and little brother however rocked baby Jhamaica’s
little world for awhile. Her first reaction was excitement and joy at seeing
her Mummy and Daddy but as the evening went on she was just devastated to see
her Mummy holding another baby and she cried like she was broken-hearted. There
were a lot of tears during the first 24 hours or so.
But being the joyful little
person that she is, she bounced back pretty quickly, is getting pretty
proud of herself for being a ‘big sister’ now and likes giving her baby brother cuddles!
So this is our big, BIG
news and joy – another baby added to our family!
This is a
picture of our Lapoc missionary team last week. From the left there are the Ben
and Leonie and their bubs, then there is James and JingJing and their two boys,
then there is Rodil and Annie and their two children and at the end Wingwing
and Hazel and their three children and you would have recognized the three of
us.
This team the
dynamics have changed because James and JingJing are now back in their home
church of Tumpagon and a new family have come for missionary experience and
exposure who we don’t have a picture of yet.
The
transition between the two families went smoothly which is a praise point and
our new team members seem to be settling in well.
Please Pray This Week For........
Hazel
and Wingwing who are in the midst of a family heartbreak because of the
death of Hazel’s oldest brother who died of dengue fever last week. The
funeral was last week and it was very difficult for all of them as the
brothers and sisters were all very close to each other. Also, Hazel
and their daughter Gwen both have health concerns they need to see a
doctor about soon.
Roldan
and Inday and their children Jelo, Jannie and Faith, newly arrived on the
team, that they will feel at home and that they will be strong in the Lord
and shine as lights during their sojourn here.
Annie
had a scare with some high blood pressure last week but this week she is
doing better. It must have been because of the hugely busy week they had
and the stress. She and Rodil are praising the Lord today for their
daughter Ching’s 8th birthday. They need much wisdom as they
are on the leadership team of the church here in Lapoc and also in San
Aquino.
Leonie
just had a bad bought of flu but is getting better today. Pray for a full
recovery and for them to feel a freshness even though it has been a hard
slog of recent times.
Us, that we can enjoy our brimming household and have special
family time with our three grandies - Charly, Clint and Jhamaica - and
with inay Bungguy (the mother who took Paul under her wing when we first
arrived in Cauyunan 24 years ago), even though Jhamaica is teething and a
bit out of sorts and even though we have had an additional 23 people this past week for a seminar.
Jenita, who is a tiny 12 year old girl we have taken into our
hearts and also into our home for awhile. She comes from a very difficult
home life and she became a part of our hearts over the past few years as
we helped her to get surgery to correct a twisted foot she had from
cerebral palsy.
Here we sit on a beautiful Lapoc afternoon a few days
ago......crisp air, gorgeous pine trees, work over for the day, out having fun
with our Lapoc missionary team and the camera.
So what have the past days held for us?
Well, Paul pulled off his first ever surprise party
last night! The occasion was to say goodbye to James and JingJing and their two
boys after a year here in Lapoc having exposure to missions. They return
tomorrow to their home in Tumpagon and another young family will replace them –
also from the Tumpagon Church - to have exposure to missions for a year.
Despite the party involving 47 people (mostly all the
bible teachers and their families who James and JingJing have grown very close
to as well as our team), they all got into our home and the food (including a
whole pig that had been roasted on a spit) was all on the table without James
or JingJing having a clue as to what was going on. And when Paul brought them
in through our front door you should have seen their faces!
The huge yell of “SURPRISE” made Ben and Leonie’s baby
Grace scream in fright but everyone else laughed in joy at the genuine surprise
in James and JingJing’s faces and at the tears of joy in James’ eyes.
Apparently after the party was over, they could hardly
get to sleep and talked late into the night about the party they had been
surprised with. James said that no one has ever done anything like that for him
before and it was a special ending to what has been a great year for them.
So that was one of the BIG things that this last few
days has held but apart from this and apart from a big change in our team
dynamics with one family going and another one arriving, well.......there have
been other happenings too. Jubab has been working hard at school and is nearly
finished Term 1. He’s looking forward to a week’s break from school real soon
(and I think Ben is as well!)
Paul is hugely overworked – overseeing a lot of
building projects, coordinating a lot of supply buying for all the building projects,
for the two training seminars per month, for all of our own personal needs and
for the office work – as well as studying and teaching the book of Ephesians in
the church here in Lapoc and our work translating the New Testament. We are
currently working on the book of Colossians as Philippians has been checked and
finalized!!!!
I am having fun planning for the arrival of 3
grandchildren the end of next week - including one still in diapers - who will
be living with us maybe a month while Jen and Udi await the birth of baby #4!!
Jen is giving birth in hospital this time instead of here at home because of
blood pressure problems. I continue to help with discipleship and am also
heavily involved in the translation project. Last week I had a whole day of
training with the scripture teachers and it was a hugely encouraging day with
the ladies.
Health wise, Paul and I have some really good days and
other days when we have trouble with various things that are bothering us but
basically none of our health ‘woes’ are causing trouble enough to slow us down.
We praise the Lord for the amazing way He has kept us well!
My Dad continues on a tablet form of chemo and we are
comforted knowing that there is a perfect plan in this suffering as our God
uses everything in our lives for good.
We are enjoying serving the Lord and enjoying our
adventures as a family and we are so thankful for all that the Lord Jesus has
brought about in our lives.
The scripture that has encouraged us this week is
about His love.....
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall
tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger,
or sword…..no, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us.”
