Pajama Party

Eleven of "my girls" from my small group spent the night at our house for a "pajama/pineapple juice" party. When you say p.j.'s here it is short for pineapple juice. Therefore, we put the two terms together and that is what we got. The girls thought the name was perfect. We had a wonderful time. I fixed them a dinner of chicken and rice. Nothing new, but they liked how I fixed it. We also drank the pineapple juice.Then they wanted to take their showers and put their pajamas on. They were giddy with excitement. In my mind I was thinking, 11 girls even at 10 minutes each, was going to take a long while. They didn't take too long. They really enjoyed having a shower with warm water. That is something they're not used to. When they came downstairs we made some banana cookies. They had never baked anything before, so this was quite an experience for them. We ate the cookies while watching a movie. After the movie, I had them share their dreams. I loved hearing what they want to do with their lives. They went upstairs to go to bed at around 1am. But, of course, that isn't when they actually went to sleep. I finally went to sleep at 1:30 and woke up to them chatting (loudly) at 6:30. A nap later on would help revive me. We fed them breakfast and took them all home. It was definitely a fun experience for all of us.

Visiting with the Widows

Linda, the lady on the far right, and I visit the widows of our church every Tuesday. Linda picks 4 ladies to visit who live in close proximity to each other. We visit, encourage and pray for them. The 2 ladies pictured with Linda are her sisters. The gal on the far left recently gave her life to Jesus after many years of prayers from her sisters.

This woman and her children lost her husband/father right before Easter. Linda is her sister-in-law. Linda brought me to the house with hopes that they would listen to the Gospel. I shared with them the Gospel and they said "yes" to Jesus! Linda was so excited as we left their home. She will be meeting with them for a Bible study weekly. Once again, there have been many years of prayers leading up to their decision.

Unplugged Worship

We had an acoustic worship service this morning, not because it's a cool thing to do but because there was a "brown out". It turned out to be a sweet time of worship.

Ptr. Sonny, his wife Jing, and their son Isaac are here from Thailand. They are missionaries sent out from the F.R.E.E. Mission. Pastor Paul and I visited them last year. They are doing great things for God among the Muslims in southern Thailand where they live. He preached today about how we are all called to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The "Evening Teens"

This is a group of young people from Purok Sais who are called the "Evening Teens". They are a group of kids who have decided to refrain from drugs & alcohol. Ptr. Tony and Ptr. Jay had visited them previously and at that time, they requested having a Bible study. This past week Ptr. Tony invited them to come and learn guitar, key board or the "hands ministry". First they listened to Ptr. Jay give the Gospel message where they all made Jesus, Lord of their lives.

After the alter call, they broke up into different groups depending on their interests.

Jay counted 32 youth but thought there were more that he couldn't see to count. Praise God!

Unwelcome Backyard Visitor

He's in the process of "expiring". Jay did the duty of spraying last night and this morning the results were visible. He's about 1 1/2" long. I've been reading up on the critters. This particular breed generally likes the outside but when doors get open, they get caught in the house. That's not good! So Jay comes to the rescue with the bug spray... and gone are the roaches. I'm getting
quite an education on so many things here.

Johann's Birthday

Aunt (Tita) Portia preparing the Spaghetti for Johann's 2nd Birthday Party

Johann had daddy re-light the candle 3 times. He enjoyed blowing it out. Such a cutie.

Jayson is enjoying his hotdog kabob which included marshmallows and something else that we were unable to identify. The kids put them together and seemed to like them.

Grandma (Lola) Lourdes and Aunt (Tita) Portia

Aunt (Tita) Pressy enjoying her cake.

Amazing Sunday

walking into Purok Sais

Pastor Tony, who pastors the area of Purok Sais, was talking to his congregation on Sunday when a woman came running into the church. This lady who Jay and Tony have invited to church countless times had been listening to her radio when all of a sudden the program changed to Pastor Tony talking about Purok Sais. That's when she left her house running to the church. She
ended up making Jesus, Lord of her life. She brought the radio into the church later and whenever Ptr. Tony talked into the mic, her radio would pick it up. Just an amazing story.

Our Trip to the Embassy

On the way to pick up our passports, the vehicle started acting like it had a flat tire. We were on a very busy freeway. We knew we needed to get off to find a gas station. We saw a familiar exit and took it. As we were coming down the offramp, the vehicle acted like we had a tire blow out. It was a scary situation, with Jay using all of his super-human strength to keep the vehicle going straight.

After stopping the vehicle and noticing that all tires were perfectly fine, we realized that the tortion bar to the rear axle had severed. Wow! God had us covered though. As we were standing there evaluating the situation, the head of security for the university that we were parked in front of, stopped and asked if our vehicle was broken. Jay showed him the situation and asked if he knew of a welder.

We just happened to be parked in front of the maintenance part of the school and they had a welder there. Praise God! This really was an amazing situation. It's hard to put into words just how blessed we were to be stopped where we were and to have the right people at hand to help us.

The welder made the bar extra strong until we can replace it permanently.

After many hours we made it to the U.S. Embassy. This horse drawn carriage was parked across the street. Jayson and I want to ride one. On another trip. Our whole trip took us 7 hours. Traffic is amazing here!