This past month has been an interesting month with testing how much our bodies and minds can go through! God created strong bodies and minds and for that we are thankful!!! Adam and I both had a flu/cold that made us slow down for one week. Then we went on a trip with Pastor Fred and Barb to a resort 7 hours drive away for a mission meeting. The roads here are very rough, winding and with no limit so just starting this trip was a great adventure. It was nice to get away from Davao city and just have a different scenrery. We were able to be by water for 3 days and just be surrounding by God's beauty. It was also very renewing of our minds and spirit to hear other missionaries in the Philippines; hearing what God is doing in their ministry. God is moving and is encouraging to hear. On sunday we starting our trek back to davao but only drove 2 hours and had to stay in Butuan City where Fred and Barb had to meet the missionary director. So we stayed there over night and at that time Adam was starting to feel sick to his stomach and was having lots of pain. Monday we started our trek home 5 hour drive and Adam was very pale and sick. We had to stop the truck at one put for him to vomitt! So that started our adventure with a parasite Adam recieved in his bowel. It is mostly caught from dirty water. That has been a 3 week adventure. Thankful he is doing alot better. I have never seen him so sick before. He was so weak for 2 weeks and was not eating due to the pain and it not staying in his system even if he did try to eat. God has done great things though, helped guide us in getting the right medication and also helped keep adams mind strong and focused on God and his healing. This week has been alot better, adam is back eating and coming out with me on our normal daily adventures. So praise God and thanks for the prayers! During this time it was good timing for me because I was starting to rely alot on just Adam, for my confidence, for helping with every task that i used to be able to do on my own such as grocery shopping, getting gas or even search for medications! Since being here and continually being looked at, admired at and getting watched with every move you make I started to lose alot of confidence. But because Adam was not able to do anything I had to step out and start doing things I started being uncomfortable doing. This has been a great break through! Im loving being here more, I have the confidence back. And it was showed me that we need to continue to step out of our comfort zones so we can reach the unreachable. We have started to write our proposal for the clinic but now we are seeing it more as a community ministry centre. With this development we are going to have to continue to step out, develop relationship we have not done yet or have not been able to really establish yet due to barriers. We have to start ignoring the barriers and just keep stepping. So this month has been alot of learning experiences, empowerment and some falls. Those falls though are not failures (can't believe Im saying this when failing is my worst fear!!!! ) they are just stepping stones to the next stage in developing our project that we are starting from scratch! When we have developed the proposal more we will update everyone on that as well!
In a week Fred and Barb are going back to the states for 3 months. We are going to be taking care of their dog which I am very excited about. This dog is very special, she is the only dog Adam likes and actually cuddles with!!!
I believe that is all for now! will update soon again!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Pics
Forgot to put pics on the last blog so here are some pics of the mountain adventure and the 2 vbs' we were involved in!
Update
First off would like to say sorry for not posting sooner. We have been quite busy and due to the fact we have done so much lately we didn't know how to organize our thoughts. So the moral to the story is that we will try to get back to writing more often.
Last month we went up to the mountains with Pastor Fred and Pastor Johnny and some of his leaders. They have a hostile there with 35 ICCM Children. I can not remember if we have explained ICCM but it is a children's organization that gets sponsers from US and Canada to help children in developing countries. The sponsership that is collected for these children goes into housing them, feeding them, tutoring them, and doing special programs such as camps. The OLM church has been reaching out to these people in the rural areas for many years. They had built up 20 pastors with many congregations but over the past year many had walked away because the pastor from OLM who had these people has a project walked away from them. So we had gone up for Pastor Johnny and Pastor Fred to rebuild the relationships of these pastors and congregation. As well monthly for the iccm children there needs to be a health assessment so myself and Che completed those. The whole did crafts, games and singing with the children as well. Wednesday there was a huge celebration with 14 pastors and many from there congregations from all over the mountain area gathered to praise God for what He has done to restore the relationships and their lives. One Pastor walked for 7 hours to get the gathering. It was a great celebration. While up there we had to watch out for Cobras.. many have been killed just walkinng in the fields. So when we treked up to the area where we were staying we were with men with a machete just in case. Up in the mountains they have had to be very resourceful because there isn't much up there. It was so peaceful being surrounded by mountains and trees. Everyone up there love to sing, Pastor Johnny brought a new guitar for them and the 2 days we were there it was never put down. That was so awesome. Pastor Johnny also brought up sacks of rice and they had not had rice for a long time cuz it is hard to bring it up to the mountains so you should had seen the plate fulls of rice being served and none went to waste.
Being here we are seeing God's love being shown through people. It is so overwhelming. God's love shows forgiveness, shows acceptance, and guidance. There has been many times that through this ministry we are actually seeing it being done for people. I have never seen it before and with seeing the love from God it builds my faith and my trust with God. I have seen people forgive others but here when God is their only source for them to rely on you can see His love come forth to them through this ministry and it is breathtaking.
We have been involved in two VBS over the past month. That has been great to be involved in it here because we have done it many times back at home. It was great to work with the team in Bucana and just last week work with the team from the professional church of Pastor Freds. It was neat to bring forth our knowledge and also listen to their ideas and combine them together. Learning more and more how to work as a team and not focus so much on the project as a task but as a relationship building project. That is a bit hard for us western task orientated people but it is very enjoyable. Stretching our characters and our reliance on God. We have also been involved in skills training for the children in Bucana because they are right now out of school for summer. Adam has been teaching computer and I have been helping with cooking/baking.
Our new project right now is to set up a clinic. Working on how seeing the community needs and working on building up networks and getting the community involved so they own this so it continues when we leave. We are learning to be facilitators not doers. Just really to have God lead which has been hard. Another stretch and refiining in us. Just looking forward to see what He has in plan and excited to see how this clinic can reach many and change thousands of lives.
Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated more freguently!
Last month we went up to the mountains with Pastor Fred and Pastor Johnny and some of his leaders. They have a hostile there with 35 ICCM Children. I can not remember if we have explained ICCM but it is a children's organization that gets sponsers from US and Canada to help children in developing countries. The sponsership that is collected for these children goes into housing them, feeding them, tutoring them, and doing special programs such as camps. The OLM church has been reaching out to these people in the rural areas for many years. They had built up 20 pastors with many congregations but over the past year many had walked away because the pastor from OLM who had these people has a project walked away from them. So we had gone up for Pastor Johnny and Pastor Fred to rebuild the relationships of these pastors and congregation. As well monthly for the iccm children there needs to be a health assessment so myself and Che completed those. The whole did crafts, games and singing with the children as well. Wednesday there was a huge celebration with 14 pastors and many from there congregations from all over the mountain area gathered to praise God for what He has done to restore the relationships and their lives. One Pastor walked for 7 hours to get the gathering. It was a great celebration. While up there we had to watch out for Cobras.. many have been killed just walkinng in the fields. So when we treked up to the area where we were staying we were with men with a machete just in case. Up in the mountains they have had to be very resourceful because there isn't much up there. It was so peaceful being surrounded by mountains and trees. Everyone up there love to sing, Pastor Johnny brought a new guitar for them and the 2 days we were there it was never put down. That was so awesome. Pastor Johnny also brought up sacks of rice and they had not had rice for a long time cuz it is hard to bring it up to the mountains so you should had seen the plate fulls of rice being served and none went to waste.
Being here we are seeing God's love being shown through people. It is so overwhelming. God's love shows forgiveness, shows acceptance, and guidance. There has been many times that through this ministry we are actually seeing it being done for people. I have never seen it before and with seeing the love from God it builds my faith and my trust with God. I have seen people forgive others but here when God is their only source for them to rely on you can see His love come forth to them through this ministry and it is breathtaking.
We have been involved in two VBS over the past month. That has been great to be involved in it here because we have done it many times back at home. It was great to work with the team in Bucana and just last week work with the team from the professional church of Pastor Freds. It was neat to bring forth our knowledge and also listen to their ideas and combine them together. Learning more and more how to work as a team and not focus so much on the project as a task but as a relationship building project. That is a bit hard for us western task orientated people but it is very enjoyable. Stretching our characters and our reliance on God. We have also been involved in skills training for the children in Bucana because they are right now out of school for summer. Adam has been teaching computer and I have been helping with cooking/baking.
Our new project right now is to set up a clinic. Working on how seeing the community needs and working on building up networks and getting the community involved so they own this so it continues when we leave. We are learning to be facilitators not doers. Just really to have God lead which has been hard. Another stretch and refiining in us. Just looking forward to see what He has in plan and excited to see how this clinic can reach many and change thousands of lives.
Thank you again for all your thoughts and prayers. We will keep you updated more freguently!
Saturday, April 9, 2011
Miracle
God has been protecting us on this trip!!! Thursday night Adam and I went to a couple's house for dinner and it was pouring rain. The street is very narrow and when we got out of the vehicle to enter there house we noticed there was no door bell and we were getting soaked so we ran back into the truck and i texted to let them know we are there and to open the gate so we ran out of the truck to enter. Friday after being at Bucana working with the children Adam dropped me off at Barb and Fred's house to help set up for the couple's cell group we are now leading and he had to go to the dentist. After two hours Adam had not yet came back so i looked for my cell phone in my purse to text him to see if he was ok and I couldn't find my phone. So i was praying I left it at home but couldn't remember if I took it out of my purse at home. So the couples meeting started and I asked Adam when he returned if he remembered where i put my phone and couldn't but a little later on Barb's cell phone rang and it said Ashley. So my heart dropped my cell phone was in someone's hands. At that point we didn't know if it was stolen or if I dropped it. But the only place i was friday was at Bucana so we were afraid one of the kids took it. Anyway we involved Pastor Johnny and Tata so they started calling my cell phone to talk to the lady who called barb's cell. They were in their house while we were still recieving calls on Adam's cell or barb's from the lady. She started to ask for me by name she wanted to nagotiate so we all thought it really had to be at Bucana. Well Tata and Pastor Johnny came to Barbs house so that they could talk with the Lady who had my cell and so I could talk with her as well. We found out after she asked alot of questions us that when we were saying Bucana she didn't think it was my phone because she never was near Bucana. She was trying to get the real story on my phone before she would give it back because she thought i thought she stole it and she didn't want to get into trouble. The true story came out and realized that I dropped my cell phone without knowing and her brother who is a tricycle driver found it at the couple's house Thursday night. He really liked my blackberry so he took his cell phone to a pawn shop and sold it so he could have mine. He was using my post paid sim card and everything. When his sister found out what he did she got convicted and that is why she started to call my contacts to find the owner and talk with that person. She asked for me to give them the amount money his brother got from the pawn shop for his cell phone(that he already spent) so that he could get his cell phone back now that she is giving my cell phone back to me. It was so amazing. So Pastory johnny took us to meet this lady and we only gave 1100 peso which is $25 and got my cell phone back.. Normally when your cell phone is stolen or you lose it you never get it back and it would have cost me alot more money to replace it. God did an amazing miracle that night. It really strengthens my faith and Trust in Him! We first thought it was stolen cuz that is very common here but ended up i dropped it! Silly me!
Just thought it would be great for you to hear a great God story to demonstrate that God is still God and in control of all circumstances.
As well Adam had to go to the dentist this week because on Thursday he woke up with a big chunk out of his bottom left side back molar. The dentist had to reconstruct his tooth. It only cost us $85 in total. Amazing. He had a filling on that tooth before and another cavity was growing and decayed the tooth which caused part of old filling to break off hence the chunk missing. The dentist had to dig deeper to get rid of the new cavity as well. It took over 2 1/2 hours to finish and ended up going back on saturday to have it filed down a little more. But all is good now!! So that has been our adventures this week!!
many blessings!
Just thought it would be great for you to hear a great God story to demonstrate that God is still God and in control of all circumstances.
As well Adam had to go to the dentist this week because on Thursday he woke up with a big chunk out of his bottom left side back molar. The dentist had to reconstruct his tooth. It only cost us $85 in total. Amazing. He had a filling on that tooth before and another cavity was growing and decayed the tooth which caused part of old filling to break off hence the chunk missing. The dentist had to dig deeper to get rid of the new cavity as well. It took over 2 1/2 hours to finish and ended up going back on saturday to have it filed down a little more. But all is good now!! So that has been our adventures this week!!
many blessings!
Saturday, April 2, 2011
The Past Week
This past week has been great. We have been doing Language and Culture training. The filippinos who we will be working with the most is doing the training so that is been good cuz while they are doing the training we are getting to know them. This week we have been good but overwhelming in observing all the activities that go on in Bucana. Which is the street ministry. We went with Che and Cha who are a nurse and a teacher who are doing the feeding programs and tutorials for the children. They took us to this community and they feed 20-25 kids. Many of them are extremely malnurished, the one little boy that i have posted a picture was bed ridden for months due to not eating and his mom died of TB. he is now walking and gaining some weight. The children are very precious. They go and feed them once a day. We have gone twice with them this week. Right now with the training we do not know what our roles will be but are seeing everything that goes on day to day. the kids are out of school for summer now so they are planning skills training programs daily for the kids to learn how to play instruments, cooking, dancing, preaching, drama and art. to keep them off the streets during the summer. So we will be helping with that for the month. the pictures below are the children from the community they do the feedings and Che does health teaching twice a month which she did when the pictures were taken.
Devotion Sharing
It has been amazing how over the past 3 and 1/2 weeks God keeps bringing His word to give comfort and peace. These past couple of weeks we have been just living each day at a time. We really don't know what we are going to be doing so we have been learning to just take each day at a time and know it is a gift from God. Being here getting in the culture has been overwhelming and continues to open our eyes but it also brings on doubt and fear. We have been going through spiritual warfare the past couple of weeks and Fred said it is very critical to keep drawing to the Lord cuz Satan is going to work his hardest to defeat us while we are here. When I first came I was getting to busy and never gave time to God and after a night of being very overwhelmed and going through emotions i opened my devotion book and it read:
Refresh yourself in the Peace of My presence. This Peace can be your portion at all times and in all circumstances. Learn to hid in the secret of My Presence,, even as you carry out your duties in the world. I am both with you and within you. I go before you to open up the way, and I also walk alongside you. there could never be another companion as devoted as I am.
Because I am your constant Companion, there should be a lightness to your step that is observable to others. Do not be weighed down with problems and unresolved issues, for i am your burden-bearer. In the world you have trials and distress, but don't let them get you down. I have conquered the world and deprived it of power to harm you. In Me you may have confident Peace. Psalm 31:19-20, John 16:33
I want you to learn a new habit. Try saying, "I trust you, Jesus" in response to whatever happens to you. If there is time, think about who I am in all My Power and Glory; ponder also the depth and breadth of My Love for you.
This simple practice will help you see Me in every situation, acknowledging My sovereign control over the universe. When you view events from this perspective-through the Light of My universal Presence-fear loses its grip on you. Adverse circumstances become growth opportunities when you affirm your trust in me no matter what. You recieve blessings gratefully, realizing they flow directly from My hand of grace. Your continual assertion of trusting Me will strengthen our relationship and keep you close to Me. Psalm 63:2; Isaiah 40:10-11; Psalm 139:7-10
It is very easy to keep going on our own strength but for God to be God he wants us to let Him be in control. That is very hard to do but it is amazing when you can surrender and let your guards down and say Lord im weak be my strength. Then we empower God and He shows us through Actions, People and through His Holy Spirit. It can be very hard especially when in our human nature we believe that we are not believing in God if we are getting overwhelmed but that isn't ture it just means we have to go to God and show Him our emotions and lay it at the cross and then God can come in and Be God in our Lives!
We have been doing the 5 levels of Fasting. the church has been doing it the past couple of years once a year. 5 levels of fasting is 3 days of no food just drink then 5 days off the 7 days of partial (one meal a day) then 5 days off; 14 days of partial 5 days off; 21 days of partial 5 days off; 40 days partial and then it is completed. fasting here just allows people to keep getting closer to God. spending more time in prayer and showing God that we will scrafice everything for Him to move in particular issues in our lives. I was afraid to fast due to my past stomach issues cuz even though i haven't had much issues i need to eat and if I don't eat i can get into alot of pain. So i didn't know if i should and i knew i wasn't trusting God in His power. I started the partial on monday but i only missed lunch thats all i thought i could do well by wednesday i was in alot of pain and i cried out to God and said if you want me to fast you need to take the pain away and show me I can trust you with my physical body. Since then I have only done the one full meal in the evenings and i have no pain. God is showing me trust and power and it is great. I am sure to go back to old habbit of just trusting myself but by God's grace I will brought back to Him and his power and i am thankful.
I just felt I needed to share this to encourage each one of us to know God and to trust Him and give up our control. and to know that we are not alone when we are struggling to know what we are doing and what our purpose is.
Refresh yourself in the Peace of My presence. This Peace can be your portion at all times and in all circumstances. Learn to hid in the secret of My Presence,, even as you carry out your duties in the world. I am both with you and within you. I go before you to open up the way, and I also walk alongside you. there could never be another companion as devoted as I am.
Because I am your constant Companion, there should be a lightness to your step that is observable to others. Do not be weighed down with problems and unresolved issues, for i am your burden-bearer. In the world you have trials and distress, but don't let them get you down. I have conquered the world and deprived it of power to harm you. In Me you may have confident Peace. Psalm 31:19-20, John 16:33
I want you to learn a new habit. Try saying, "I trust you, Jesus" in response to whatever happens to you. If there is time, think about who I am in all My Power and Glory; ponder also the depth and breadth of My Love for you.
This simple practice will help you see Me in every situation, acknowledging My sovereign control over the universe. When you view events from this perspective-through the Light of My universal Presence-fear loses its grip on you. Adverse circumstances become growth opportunities when you affirm your trust in me no matter what. You recieve blessings gratefully, realizing they flow directly from My hand of grace. Your continual assertion of trusting Me will strengthen our relationship and keep you close to Me. Psalm 63:2; Isaiah 40:10-11; Psalm 139:7-10
It is very easy to keep going on our own strength but for God to be God he wants us to let Him be in control. That is very hard to do but it is amazing when you can surrender and let your guards down and say Lord im weak be my strength. Then we empower God and He shows us through Actions, People and through His Holy Spirit. It can be very hard especially when in our human nature we believe that we are not believing in God if we are getting overwhelmed but that isn't ture it just means we have to go to God and show Him our emotions and lay it at the cross and then God can come in and Be God in our Lives!
We have been doing the 5 levels of Fasting. the church has been doing it the past couple of years once a year. 5 levels of fasting is 3 days of no food just drink then 5 days off the 7 days of partial (one meal a day) then 5 days off; 14 days of partial 5 days off; 21 days of partial 5 days off; 40 days partial and then it is completed. fasting here just allows people to keep getting closer to God. spending more time in prayer and showing God that we will scrafice everything for Him to move in particular issues in our lives. I was afraid to fast due to my past stomach issues cuz even though i haven't had much issues i need to eat and if I don't eat i can get into alot of pain. So i didn't know if i should and i knew i wasn't trusting God in His power. I started the partial on monday but i only missed lunch thats all i thought i could do well by wednesday i was in alot of pain and i cried out to God and said if you want me to fast you need to take the pain away and show me I can trust you with my physical body. Since then I have only done the one full meal in the evenings and i have no pain. God is showing me trust and power and it is great. I am sure to go back to old habbit of just trusting myself but by God's grace I will brought back to Him and his power and i am thankful.
I just felt I needed to share this to encourage each one of us to know God and to trust Him and give up our control. and to know that we are not alone when we are struggling to know what we are doing and what our purpose is.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The First 2 Weeks
Wow these past 2 weeks have gone by so quickly. We believe we have finally caught up in our sleep boy were we tired, we would go to bed around 9 wake up around 8 and then start the day and not stop until night. The first week we were going around buying everything for our apartment. We needed air conditioners, hot water heater for the shower, a stove, and a bed. We also set up cable and internet to get our vonage phone set up so we can call people in canada.
In the midst of setting up the apartment we have been included in pastor meetings, a couples cell group led by Fred and Barb and the 1st tier leaders meeting. The way the church is set up here is that Pastor Fred and Barb both discipled 12 people into leaders and then they branched off and gathered their 12 leaders and so on. So Fred and Barb gather their 12 leaders each saturday to continue to minister to them to keep them on fire for God. Last Saturday during the meeting they had a welcoming party for us, they gathered into groups and acted out different cultures of the Philippines for us to guess and then they had to make up a jingle of welcome. It was so fun. It is so amazing how God created flippinos to be so welcoming and will sacrifice everything to make others feel so special.
Adam has been practicing driving with Fred's old mazda standard truck just around the neighbourhood. He has been doing very well with me giving directions. We have been learning quickly that the North American courtesy is not applicable, we have been honked at a few times when we were waiting for a way to be clear. They don't do that here they just force themselves through the traffic, but we don't want an accident.
It has been a great priveledge to be able to sit in the pastors meeting every thursday. We are hearing many testimonies and just continue to see what OLM's (oceans of life ministries) vision is. We have to be honest that we have struggled to not feel inadequate in their ministry and knowing our role in their ministry. This has been a huge step of faith but now that we are here, we can lose the fact that we still need to maintain faith to keep building our ministry role and it is God the Almighty that will guide, give wisdom and knowledge. When hearing the testimonies from Pastor Johnny and Pastor Bill (Youth Pastor) in what God is doing in the Children and Youth from their street ministry church continues to inspire us that we are not ministering to people for our sake but to show them the Glory of God so that He recieves the credit. We should not be reaching out for others to notice us but for them to notice God. These Children who are only ages 7-12 are on Fire for God that one of the 12 yr olds have gone out on the streets and have preached the word of God which crowds have gathered to hear. Another 14 year old boy was a prominent gang leader in the area that has been lead to the Lord and is now bringing some of his former gang leader members to church with him. His is an amazing testimony that you need to check out. Its on the http://www.olmfmc.com/ website please read his and a fe of the other testimonies as they will break your hearts.
Today we had the opportunity to meet these street children. Oh they are so precious!! They had a huge welcoming party for us with songs and games. It was sooo much fun and seeing their little faces smiling and laughing was just amazing. Its these kids who have been ministering to their parents to get them to come to church. They even go so far as knocking on doors!! Its just so amazing that these little kids are doing the work that we as adults should be doing.
In the midst of setting up the apartment we have been included in pastor meetings, a couples cell group led by Fred and Barb and the 1st tier leaders meeting. The way the church is set up here is that Pastor Fred and Barb both discipled 12 people into leaders and then they branched off and gathered their 12 leaders and so on. So Fred and Barb gather their 12 leaders each saturday to continue to minister to them to keep them on fire for God. Last Saturday during the meeting they had a welcoming party for us, they gathered into groups and acted out different cultures of the Philippines for us to guess and then they had to make up a jingle of welcome. It was so fun. It is so amazing how God created flippinos to be so welcoming and will sacrifice everything to make others feel so special.
Adam has been practicing driving with Fred's old mazda standard truck just around the neighbourhood. He has been doing very well with me giving directions. We have been learning quickly that the North American courtesy is not applicable, we have been honked at a few times when we were waiting for a way to be clear. They don't do that here they just force themselves through the traffic, but we don't want an accident.
It has been a great priveledge to be able to sit in the pastors meeting every thursday. We are hearing many testimonies and just continue to see what OLM's (oceans of life ministries) vision is. We have to be honest that we have struggled to not feel inadequate in their ministry and knowing our role in their ministry. This has been a huge step of faith but now that we are here, we can lose the fact that we still need to maintain faith to keep building our ministry role and it is God the Almighty that will guide, give wisdom and knowledge. When hearing the testimonies from Pastor Johnny and Pastor Bill (Youth Pastor) in what God is doing in the Children and Youth from their street ministry church continues to inspire us that we are not ministering to people for our sake but to show them the Glory of God so that He recieves the credit. We should not be reaching out for others to notice us but for them to notice God. These Children who are only ages 7-12 are on Fire for God that one of the 12 yr olds have gone out on the streets and have preached the word of God which crowds have gathered to hear. Another 14 year old boy was a prominent gang leader in the area that has been lead to the Lord and is now bringing some of his former gang leader members to church with him. His is an amazing testimony that you need to check out. Its on the http://www.olmfmc.com/ website please read his and a fe of the other testimonies as they will break your hearts.
Today we had the opportunity to meet these street children. Oh they are so precious!! They had a huge welcoming party for us with songs and games. It was sooo much fun and seeing their little faces smiling and laughing was just amazing. Its these kids who have been ministering to their parents to get them to come to church. They even go so far as knocking on doors!! Its just so amazing that these little kids are doing the work that we as adults should be doing.
Here is the ministry team that we will be mainly working with, left to right: Tata, Pastor Johnny,Che Che,Pastor Bill and Cha Cha
Here is a picture of the clinic/office that they surprised us with this morning. They built it in preparation for our ministry.
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