WHAT COMES DOWN?
We have a lot to share with you, but I’ll try to digest it all in a few paragraphs as I don’t want to take up too much of your time. Last September, we tried to raise support for our ministry vehicle. We are so thankful by the amount of support we received from our church in Winona Lake (Empty Hands Bible Church), our family and friends. We didn’t reach our goal to purchase a vehicle because we are 65% short of our goal. We are so grateful for your support. We decided to put all your support to our ministry fund.
I have been so busy these past months and have suffered insomnia because of my current workload. It has affected my eyes but I’m thankful that I can still manage not to use my eyeglasses (since it bothers me and gives me a headache). I’ll share more of the details on our next newsletter.
Our website was down for over a month. My VPN hosting lost and as a result, I had recover my website files but didn’t fully recover my database. I have to manually move my sites to my other hosting to get it back up. Thankful that I finally was able to have time to do it myself and put all my sites back up.
WHAT’S UP?
I’m currently developing an online homeschool magazine in the Philippines. This will be for Philippine readers which I hope to create into an app for easy download on Kindle and tablet. I have over 10 Filipino volunteer contributors right now who are also homeschoolers. My goal for this homeschool magazine is to make homeschooling resources easily accessible to new and established homeschoolers here in the Philippines. Having no co-op network where we live right now, with the magazine, it will also help us have access to these resources and connect with other moms and dads like us.
Aside from homeschooling magazine, my work is keeping me busy trying to do more marketing to reach more clients. I also have been recently appointed as new staff with True Love Waits Philippines. Currently, I’m helping with the development of the Devotional Journal. My responsibility is to help with the graphic design jobs, website administration and overall web support for the organization, so Oda (their Technical Coordinator) can focus on training and equipping trainers. I’ve been assisting TLW with both of their websites wagmuna.com (reaches thousands of Filipino youth) and bridgingthegap-asia.org even during the time I was in the US.
Tim’s mentorship with Pastor Jo of Calvary Chapel of Dumaguete continues. It will end next year probably around August. We are now praying to either plant a church somewhere outside and south of Metro Manila. Please be praying for provision, connection and guidance as the time approaches next year. In the meantime, we hope to start a children’s ministry outside our neighborhood. Tim hopes to make the connection with another local ministry worker who can speak the local language. We are praying for God’s direction on this, because we don’t want to start a ministry then leave it if we are planning to move next year. Please include in your prayers that God will give us clear direction and wisdom.
We also would like to ask you to lift in prayers Tim’s current status, we hope to file for his permanent residency this coming month when provision comes to change his status from “Balikbayan 1 year Visa” and apply for Permanent Status. It will cost us about $400 to file this. We will have to go to Cebu and probably have to stay there for several days for the interview. If he gets this visa, he won’t have to deal with visa renewals every year and he can actually obtain a job as well in the Philippines.
Our dear friends Evan and Riza O’Hara came here a few weeks ago and spent a blessed 10-day time with us. It was a blessing to see our friends from Indiana whom we’ve regularly hanged-out with in South Bend. They came here in Dumaguete a week after they arrive from the US, so their family is still adjusting with the weather, the environment and the food. Despite that, they have survived the time difference quickly and have been an encouragement to us. Please pray for them as they continue to adjust to life in Cavite, where they are based right now.
The kids homeschooling is going pretty well, G received a free violin from another missionary kid in Manila and we hope to enroll her soon in a violin school. C is enjoying Math with homeschooling, but he’d rather be building things with legos.
Here’s a video the kids prepared for you. Please partner with us here in the Philippines. Click Partner with Us link on top to get involved.
WHAT LIES BENEATH?
FINALLY, what lies beneath? Well, it may be beneath my belly. We haven’t confirmed with a doctor yet but another “he” or “she” may be joining our ministry next year.
