Summer whirled by

Sorry for the late post. Jay has been gone more than he’s been home. He just left for Mindanao so I’m going to update you all as much as I can. Jay has been traveling with Pastor Paul for the past 6 weeks. They were the main speakers at a youth camp in the Northern Provinces where they ministered to a group of youth who have committed to being worship leaders. Our worship team accompanied them there and taught individual workshops. During their stay they endured record temperatures. The day after coming home, my mother and sister arrived from the NW. We had a wonderful week showing them the beauty of the Philippines. We played the tourist, which was fun. The day that they flew out of Manila, Jay and Paul flew to Thailand. One of Paul’s missionaries is in Thailand. Paul had not been there, so it was good for them to see exactly what was happening there. I’ll let Jay elaborate more when he returns. After arriving back in Manila, Paul and him spoke at a Four Square Church youth camp. They were there almost a week. Before they arrived, the leaders of the camp ministered to the local kids and led them all to the Lord. The camp had around 180 kids from all over the area and then approximately 35 that were led to the Lord who would come to the evening sessions. Jay said it was like he remembered youth camp back home except it was much hotter and there were a lot more bugs here! This past week he once again left to go to the Northern Provinces. This time to teach at one of the Free Mission Pastor’s church anniversary. Then, they stayed the week to teach at a Pastor’s Leadership Conference. The conference was held for pastors who wanted to get involved in the G-12 ministry. The concept of G-12 is to have 12 people who are mentored by the church leadership and in turn those 12 people mentor 12 more people and so on and so on. In effect, building relationships with people they already know and then leading them to Christ in time. It is working very well here. We’ve been very impressed how the church is growing through this concept. Jay returned home just in time for us to welcome our friends from back home, Howard and Leslie. They are here to lead a music and healing ‘festival’ in two cities in Mindanao. We are very excited to hear the praise reports from them. God is so Good! Well, that was the whirlwind adventure that Jay’s been on. Jayson and I have been at home. We’re trying to tie up his kindergarten workbooks in time for his grade 1 start date. I’m hoping to give him 2 weeks off before school starts. We enrolled him in the school at our church here. We felt like it was a good way for him to learn about the culture here and to help him learn the language. We took our big break in December and January so it is a little odd that he’s going from one grade to another without much of a break. In a few weeks we will celebrate his 6th birthday. The guest that we are most excited about coming to his birthday party is his big brother Greg. I can’t wait to give him a big hug. When Jay gets back, he should have some time to elaborate on this summary and to post some pictures. God bless you as you are a blessing to others.