A Privilege

Hello friends! I recently received a request from two sweet ladies, bluemountainmama and Beverly, to do a post about the Philippines trip we are about to embark on. The question was whether this was a mission trip and yes indeed it is. I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet! It's only been the most exciting and incredible thing I've been looking forward to for 3 years now!! We are three weeks away from leaving and will be gone for 3 months. My husband is in the school of ministry at our church and is required to complete a long term trip before graduation. We are going with another couple for the full term, and our pastor, his wife, and one other couple will join us for the first 3 weeks to help us get adjusted and do ministry with us. Our purpose is not only to reach the lost with the gospel and give disciples there the means to teach themselves, but mostly to learn from them! They have so much to teach us and we get the opportunity to grow in tremendous ways as a ministry couple. We see this as the highest privilege and an honor greater than my dreams have ever imagined. If you could have known me or perhaps read what I might have posted about some 4 years back in the B.C. days, you'd be just as astonished as I am that someone like me gets to do something this incredible. My husband and I are just a wee little part in this, as our church as a whole has made this all happen. The photos above show the mission center our little fellowship built on the top of a mountain! We get to live there! It's called Shofar, and in one of them you can see the little blue truck they built for us from scratch that will get us around. We are on Cebu island and way out in the out there. In the most beautiful and only-God-could-pull-this-off way, we have built a radio station on top of the mission center (4th photo is the radio room to be). We get to flip the switch in 3 weeks! We're talking a 200 ft. tower with a 1000 watt range!! We have a 100 watt station at our church here at home and a talented and dedicated radio staff of servants that have been busting their chops to get this thing ready to fly when we go. We all can't believe what God lets us do! Other stuff we get to be a part of while there: teaching regular discipleship classes, touring with a local band for a few weekends (this started out as a gig in a bandshell park and is now happening at their civic center!), handing out radios locked into our new station, teaching the Bible to children in mountain village schools (little to no english spoken), taking on a project to help locals in some way (last year the crew built sturdy walls around the little house of a family of 10 or so), and whatever else comes our way. It will be a challenge to all my comforts and normalities and much hard work, but no complaining here! I'm looking forward to that, stretching and growing and seeing what God has for us there. We by no means deserve any of this, but He is such a good Father and loves to give good gifts to His kids! The two joyfuls in the photo with the goat are our pastor and his wife. Aren't they so adorable with that little guy? Well, I suppose that's all as this is a once again record-breaking marathon post. Thanks for asking about the trip ladies! It's a real honor to share what God is doing in my life. So long for now..