Jubab arrived in Hungary!

Jubab has arrived safely in Hungary!!! We were so thankful yesterday for the news that his team arrived in Budapest and everything was well.

But leading up to his departure, Jubab had 10 days of boot camp at the Teen Mission camp in Tewantin so he has been gone since Dec. 13^th.

On Christmas Eve, we travelled up to Tewantin for Jubab’s commissioning service along with the rest of his team and all the other teams leaving from Teen Missions for various mission fields overseas.

We hadn’t seen Jubab for 10 days so we were really anxious to see him.

It happened to be my 49^th birthday and some dear friends had invited us to stop by their place for lunch on our way up. They surprised me with a birthday cake so it started to feel like a birthday while we were at their place. 

Continuing on our journey after lunch we arrived at the Teen Missions’ gate about 5 min before we could go in. We were fifth car in the line of anxious parents waiting for the gate to open at exactly 4:00 pm. Right on the dot we saw a van coming and someone got out and swung the gate open wide.

We could hardly wait to see our son and when we drove in, we immediately saw him on car park duty with the rest of his team and we were just itching to grab him and hug and kiss him! It was the best birthday gift for me that day to get a hug from my son!!

Here he is with his team (in the light blue shirts) just before the commissioning service began.

He looked very happy and said that their time in boot camp had been wonderful and they were all looking forward to heading off the next morning for Hungary.

The commissioning service was moving and I think many of us were in tears by the end when the parents gathered around their teens out on the oval, who were grouped in their teams and holding the candles that they had lit as a sign that they were ready to go and serve the Lord and shine the Light of their life – which is Jesus - in the places where they were going.

Soon after, we had to say our goodbyes and this was heart-wrenching for the three of us to hug goodbye and then to step away and drive off knowing that half a world is going to separating us for the next month. I think my tears kept flowing for almost all the whole 4 hour drive home. We have never experienced feelings like this before.

But in spite of missing Jubab so much and him missing us, we are so, so glad that God planned this time for him and that God is working in his life and heart using people who we’ve never met. That is the amazing thing about the Body of Christ! We praise God for the leaders on his team and the missionaries they are with in Hungary who God is using to reveal more about Himself to Jubab.

They arrived safely in Hungary the evening of Dec 26, after traveling 15 951 km on 3 different planes, over a 2 day journey. Right now it is -2° in Budapest and hopefully Jubab is keeping warm and sleeping well as it is the early hours of Sunday morning over there. Meanwhile, we pray and pray and keep trusting everything to our Lord Jesus! January the 24^th is the day that Jubab is due to come home.  Please keep praying for him and for his team and for wisdom for their 3 leaders. Pray that they will have unity as a team, really grow together in the Lord and that they will be a big blessing to the missionary family they have gone to help and that they will keep shining as Jesus is reflected in their lives.

Have A Beautiful Christmas!

Praise God this Christmas for providing us with a perfect Lamb who died for us so that He could take away our sin!

This year is almost finished and we have seen God’s grace overflow in every way as we adjusted to a new home (with beaches around us – not mountains) and a new season in the ministry.

Jubab finished Yr 10 last week with honours and he is now off on a six week missions trip to Hungary and we await the new year of 2015 with anticipation of all that the Lord has planned for us:  welcoming our son back home from Hungary on Jan 24^th(!!!!!!!!!!), growing spiritually and in His Word, a trip back to the Philippines in April, huge progress (we pray for) on the translation of the Tala-Andig New Testament, Jubab doing Year 11…….and many other adventures in the faith and in life that God has in store for us!

We are thankful this year for the opportunity to share Jesus with our new friend Olivier from France and to see him trust Jesus……and we are thankful for the many times God has refreshed us in His Word and allowed us to sit under teaching rather than be the teachers. We have loved this and it has refreshed our souls!

We are also thankful that we have gotten to be with our families and have seen almost all of our family – even extended family. It is so precious to sit and talk with parents, brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces……

It has also been a blessing to cover a lot of miles here in Australia and catch up with friends and partners in the work of the Gospel who are so dear, many who have been part of our missionary journey since the very first step we took. We can’t describe how special the times have been as we’ve sat at meal tables, around coffees, in meetings, in prayer……..God has blessed us far beyond what we could even have imagined.

So now we are going into 2015!!!!!!! May God be near to us, may we walk with Him and hope in Him and always be THANKFUL…especially for JESUS!

Memories of Dizon

Just recently, we got a letter from a young lady named Flor who loves serving the Lord and it brought back memories of her Dad:  a guy called Dizon. 

Twenty-six years ago, as Paul was surveying where we would locate, Dizon, a datu (chief) of Tumpagon, stuck the muzzle of his M16 assault rifle into Paul’s chest intending to kill him. God intervened and Paul wasn’t harmed and in the years to come, Dizon became a brother in the Lord and a friend to Paul.  

God took Dizon home to heaven some years ago and his widow and five children have continued on for the Lord. One of his daughters, Flor (not even born when we first moved in) wrote to us this month and sent us the photo below of the group of children she teaches about Jesus every Saturday morning. 

She said in her letter, “I’m continually thankful to our Lord for all He is doing here. There are always going to be the dry times and the times of discouragement but the Lord is constantly here, encouraging me and giving me joy….I love serving Him and I love going from village to village spreading the gospel and I love teaching children…. I miss you both and thank you so much for being my spiritual father and mother…..”   Love Flor

Dizon had no idea that the outsider he wanted to rid his village of was God’s messenger. He had no idea that in a few short years from then, they would be part of the same family – God’s family.

Today Dizon is with Jesus and his family continue in the work of the Gospel. The next missionary sent out from the Tumpagon church may even be his daughter Flor.