Outreach At the Fishing Village

Our Squad is ready for the outreach at the local fishing village.

We walked at sunset past the boats. Beautiful, Lord!

You can see they are nervous and excited.

Our students presented the gospel in a wordless drama. D.J. wears red and black gloves to symbolize sin.

After the drama, Nate explains the gospel message about Jesus as the local evangelist translates into Tagalog. All the kids and village people listen.

When it started to rain all the little girls huddled under my sarong blanket. They sat on my lap as I kept them dry. I decided to give them the necklaces and bracelets I was wearing and shared with them that Jesus loves them.

A little Filipino boy holds Nate's hand as he walks us back to our beach camp. He called Nate "Daddy" and me "Mommy" when he and the kids found out we were married.

Pray that these kids will know Jesus!

Beach Fun

Wednesday we took a bus two hours to reach beach camp. We had fun in the sun and sand!

Our girls are making their way to the boat.
Grace, our obedient child =)
Don't these boats look fun?! We never did this when I was in middle school.
Our adventurous son, David, having fun on the bamboo outrigging. Look at the view. What a beautiful place in God's creation.
Looking back you can see Luzon island and the beach camp.Fun with our kids.

A Date With Nate

Since our morning was spent apart leading different groups (our boats got split up), Nate and I finally got to spend some time together on one of the hikes of Corregidor. I was so glad I didn't miss out on all the fun black and white photo opportunities.
Some battery ruins.
Us grieving at the ruined theater. Wouldn't this be a cool place for wedding photos?
Nate posing there in the sunlight. Don't worry, the students were with the guides while we timed some photos (a short ten minute date!)
Up the stairs of the theater, two Beckers in love! Thank you, Lord for quick moments alone in the middle of leadership!

Corregidor Island

Tuesday we took a boat over to Corregidor Island. It was a very strategic island during WWII to protect Manila Bay from Japanese invasion. The island was preserved from its WWII days, and we learned all kinds of history as we hiked and toured.

Here are my students and I on the boat to Corregidor. The black and white is supposed to make it look historical.

Here is the nasty trash that was filling the port where we docked. I hope no one goes swimming here!

The island was filled with cool ruins and army barracks like this one.

They also had lots of weapons and canons for us to climb on (or in!)

Isn't the Philippines a beautiful place?!

Our group on the big one. (I'm in orange and yellow up there)

Can you see how far it is to where you live from here?

Looking over Corregidor and the ruins you can see the American and Filipino flags flying together. You can also see Luzon island in the distance. Beautiful!

First Day of Camp

Monday night we all slept at base camp. Our squad marched onto stage while Captian Becker called out orders. We all followed and saluted him to introduce ourselves--"We're the Samat Centurions!"

The girls actually wanted their leader on top of them for the group pyramid.

Here is the cabin where we slept. It was our nicest accomodations of the week. I had a fan blowing on me and even a mattress! Later we would sleep under the stars and in the rain.

On Mt. Samat

We stopped to visit Mt. Samat, the place where the Filipinos held out in WWII to delay the Japanese invasion. We climbed the steps up to the cross on the top and then took the elevator to see the view.

Here is Mr. BEcker and his guys sticking their heads out the cross window to get a view. Notice Nate took off his glasses before sticking his head out.

This is one of the beautiful views of the valley out the window. You can see the South China Sea in the distance!

Here is a depiction of the infamous "Death March"when the Japanese forced the Filipinos to walk 84 (?) kilometers in the heat for days and months without water.

Traveling and Leading

Here are your squad leaders. Parents, don't worry, we will take good care of your kids.

We spent a lot of time together traveling and waiting.

Nate's Birthday

Nate receiving his surprise cake. Sparkler candles sent by his mom for my birthday.

I think Nate was overly surprised to receive this attention in the middle of our group meeting Friday night.

Later we invited friends over and made our own "Settlers of Catan" hats for a game of the expanded version.

We are so fun and crazy! Thankfully Nate won on his birthday!

Happy Birthday, Nate!

Happy Birthday, Nate!! My precious husband turns 27 today! I gave him a sunny yellow shirt, which he is wearing right now. There are balloons in his office and soon the kids will be coming in to sing him happy birthday!

Today will be a busy day, but tonight we will play, for the first time, the settlers of Catan expansion version. I will be making the classic birthday hats, so watch out folks!

Leave your birthday wishes for Nate by clicking "Comments" below. Praise the Lord for this wonderful man, Nathan Daniel!

God's Surprises

Today was a struggle getting out of bed. We stayed up late finishing a project for seminary, and when the alarm rang I was feeling it! I prayed, "Jesus, I really need you today because without you I can't do anything."

I was going through my day like normal, only feeling behind and tired. Then I came to my office to prepare for Bible class and suddenly I got inspired by God to write a song! Their memory verse is James 1.22 "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says." I sat down to the piano and wrote a song straight from the Bible and I was so excited to share it with the students. Thank you, Lord, for surprising me with a song!

Right after that my vocal music class came in, so I said, "I just got a song from God like 15 minutes ago, so I want you to listen and tell me what you think." Of course they all clapped for me and encouraged me because they are great! But even more than that I asked them if they had any ideas. The ideas started flowing! There with my 10 students we were all arranging the song together. They gave me ideas for a descant, for a three-part round addition and they helped me edit some words to make it sound better. We put it all together and it was even better than the one I first wrote!

Surprises from God are so wonderful! On a day when I was exhausted and just asking God to bring me through, he gave me a song and gave me those students to join with me in loving God and His Word. The last reward came when I was walking around the school. Wherever I walked I could hear my students singing my song and singing God's Word. How wonderful! Jesus, you truly lifted me up today!

Christmas in January

We finally got all our Christmas packages and cards in the mail! We were checking our box and waiting in anticipation, but for weeks we saw nothing but flyers from the office.

Finally, last week the shipment came pouring in! We received three packages and countless Christmas cards. I picked them up at lunch, but Nate and I did not have time to open them together until after dinner. It was hard for me not to sneak a peek!

After dinner we opened all the presents from our family and read all the Christmas cards to each other. We were so thankful to have a small taste of "home" and to have something in our hands that our family and friends had in their hands (though it was sent back in December!).

We like to laugh at our new traditions: Thanksgiving in December and Christmas in January! I guess we are just a month behind in the holidays! We thank God for His many blessings especially for mail and for our families!

Prompt Students

I've been working on teaching my 7th grade students promptness. Since we got back from Christmas I have had to give out two detentions (which is not my favorite). However, it seems to be working. Either that or my students are really excited for class, as today was an example of.

I was in the classroom playing CD music 15 minutes before school even started. The usual early students were in the room helping me with the set-up and preparations. Then more of the non-usual students came and started working on homework. More of my students came in and started singing the songs along with my CD. Practically 5 minutes before class everyone was in their seats ready to learn! It was wonderful, I just had to smile.

Nate and I had to laugh together later in the day when he (Mr. Becker) was setting up for band class. Again, an unusual early bunch of eager students came to class early and said, "Can we come in?" Of course! They got their instruments and books out, and started warming up much before class. Then one natural leader started playing one of the band songs, some others joined in, and soon the whole room was filled with students playing band songs in unison before Mr. Becker even started class! Nate and I just laughed as we listened to them playing together as a band without direction. Certainly we have some prompt and eager learners! Praise the Lord!

What's Up

Hello out there! This has been one of our longest lulls in blogging! Sorry about that. We thought we would give you a chance to check out our seven posts on Indonesia, and then the events that followed seemed insignificant in comparison! It's time we get back on and just share with you the ins and outs of daily life here in the Philippines.

We brought in the new year by watching the book of Acts on VCR, sleeping and reading the book of John. It was a wonderful way to set a focus for the year.

The first week of 2007 we took an intensive one-week modular at the seminary on "Organizational Leadership and Development." It is part of our program requirements, so it was nice to get three credits done in one week. We worked hard and pretty much that is all we did for the week.

This week was our first week back to school. It was so great seeing the students again and being back inside the classroom. God is already at work in their lives giving them hunger for His Word and for prayer. We have witnessed God at work in many different situations and it is fun to be a part of that! It's really hard to summarize this week since so much happened really.

Well, there are no pictures for today. I got kind of worn out taking pictures over our vacation so nothing really stands out to me to capture. I just wanted to check in for all of you who are checking in with us! We'd love to hear from you!

P.S. Remember Nate's Birthday is coming up Feb. 2 so get those things in the mail soon so they will make it in time! =)

Day #7--Fields, Wood and Market

On our last day we had to get everything in that we had on our list. The day before Nate started his morning before 6 a.m. because the local guys invited him for a morning basketball game. Day #7 Nate got up again before 5 a.m. to go on a 19 kilometer bike ride with Lloyd. He was really getting in his exercise. Then we all went on a hike through the rice paddies and up the hill to spend some time with God in solitude.

It was so beautiful to be in God's creation and meditate on him. We even brought recorders up to the top and I was able to play a few songs of praise. I reflected on all God had done in us and through us during our time in Indonesia. What a blessing to be able to do so much in such a short time. Truly I was thankful and I prayed, "I will give you thanks, for you answered me; you have become my salvation" (Ps. 118.21).

We visited a local wood-carver's shop and saw all that he had made out of local ebony and coffee woods.

We stopped in the market and watched all the people selling fresh Durian. We walked home and then later caught a ride on a "Bendi" which is a horse-drawn cart. That is a normal way of getting around there!

Finally, we visited our "Kulingtang" friends again and this time they gave us a concert. Nate had a great time joining in the Indonesian men's Kulingtang band. He even measured all the wood so he could reproduce the idea for his music classes. After saying goodnight, we went to bed one last time in Indonesia.

When I woke up God gave me the gift I had been waiting for--I got to see the "Southern Cross" in the sky for the first time in my life just before 5 a.m.! I was amazed that the clouds cleared just before I got there and then it was the only constellation visible for just five minutes. God fulfilled all my dreams and sent us back to Davao refreshed and thankful. Praise You, Lord!

Day #6--More Indonesian Culture

The day after Christmas is also a holiday for visiting friends and relatives in Indonesia. We decided to visit a village that speaks another one of the languages in that region. First we stopped to climb several hundred stairs up a mountain to overlook the whole valley below. God cleared up the whole sky so we could see every mountain and village below. What a view! This is where we bought corn on the cob (for all my Nebraskans out there!). The crazy thing about this corn is that it was cooked over a burning sulfur vent!

I took this picture for my brother, Micah, especially. I thought it was cool how all the people used bamboo for scaffolding when they were building things. It is really strong and gives without breaking. I heard they even use it in Singapore for tall buildings and it is better than steel.

We got to the other village by car, and visited even more people. The hot item was the fresh Durian that everyone devoured for dessert. This is a famous fruit in the Philippines, but I had never tasted it because of the funny smell. Since everyone was eating it I decided to finally try it. It is a bit slimy and creamy but tastes much better than it smells. The outside is sharp and thorny because God made that natural protection from creatures that might try and eat the fruit. God also packaged it perfectly in this hard shell with sections.

I loved seeing the local housing and the local people. There was an announcer speaking the local language over an intercom. We found out that he was preaching and calling all the people to come help him dig a grave. His mother, an older woman, just died that day and he needed people to help him dig the grave but he was rebuking them for not coming out to help. We asked if we could help, but they said the best thing would be to go visit the mourners and shake all their hands.

We went in the drizzling rain to the home of the mourners. It was actually really sad and a huge culture shock for me the way it happened. Right when we got there they carried out the body and laid it on a bed in a room draped with white cloth. Of course I cannot show you a picture, but the woman had gloves on and was dressed in her best. The mourners were wearing black and stood around her bed while we came in to shake all their hands. I thought it was really strange and I felt really wierd shaking people's hands like I was happy to see them. It wasn't long before we left and said good-bye to the people of that village, but I am sure I will remember that experience for the rest of my life.

Day #5--Christmas "Selamat Hari Natal"

This is us on Christmas Day! What a tropical place. We went to church yet again. The place was even more packed out. The most interesting part about church here was the offering. Everyone got up and marched in rows to the front. There were big wooden boxes with three slots in them, and another miniature church with slots in it. You are expected to put bills in each of the slots while everyone watches. Then once you sit down they pass another offering basket! Wow, they make sure to get the offering. They also announced publically the offerings some rich people had given. That was a very different thing for me to observe.

Christmas day is very different in Indonesia. First of all they shoot of fireworks all day, which reminds me of 4th of July. Second, the little kids come to your house in shifts just like on Halloween in America. The kids want you to give them cookies like trick-or-treating, so the people have to be at their houses ready for the kids to come. Finally, the whole day is filled with visiting each others houses. We ate this pictured meal at a friend's house. People came to visit and we shook everyone's hand and said "Selamat Hari Natal" (Merry Christmas).

Since I got really worn out and my brain was fried from the culture immersion, I decided to go up on the balcony and sit alone reading and meditating. It was very peaceful up there (if I ignored the loud music blaring). I could see the volcano that we had hiked, I could feel a cool breeze, and I could rest and renew my spirit while I reflected on all the new experiences I was having. I praise God for His Word that never changes.