Band Concert

A few weeks ago Nate directed the middle school band concert. It was a great success, praise the Lord! Someone made a comment, "That was the best performance I've heard!" Truly I think they get better each year. Nate is such a gifted band director. Here he is warming up the band and giving last minute encouragement.
Mr. Becker did a great job announcing the pieces and helping students to transition. There was one special portion of the program which included students from all three grades (6-8). It was a tight squeeze on stage, but parents really enjoyed it.
Here is one band watching the other one perform. This year we have an intermediate band (grades 6-7) and an 8th grade ensemble (it is their third year in band). We continue to praise God for all the wonderful instruments that were donated!
I had to laugh when I saw all the proud parents taking pictures like crazy! Each one is trying to get a picture of their precious son or daughter.
Take a bow! I am so proud of my husband and of his students! Thank you, Lord!

Happy American Thanksgiving

Hello my friends around the world! We are here in the Philippines not celebrating American Thanksgiving, but we are thinking of our family and friends who soon will be. I truly feel content and I am thankful that my homesickness is gone.

One great blessing was that yesterday, just in time for American Thanksgiving, we received a HUGE package from the U.S.!! It was from a class of precious 3rd graders in my hometown, who pray for us daily. How sweet! They included all the tastes of the U.S. that I miss:
--Life Cereal (cinnamon AND original)
--Wheat Thins (original)
--Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls
--Those little pumpkins you get at Halloween (sweet candy!)
--Many other great treats and nice school supplies we can use.

I was very excited for this package, and NAte and I continue to enjoy it and share it with others. When I first started eating I went a little crazy trying some tastes of everything, but now I am holding back and trying to make the gifts last!

We are thankful for that package and for the 3rd graders who sent it from Omaha! We are thankful for their prayers and for the prayers of many.

Tonight we will eat pizza and then Nate will go to a class while I grocery shop. The good news is that someone new in the community has invited us over on Saturday for traditional turkey and mashed potatoes! That was a surprise invitation, but I would not miss it! Yum!

We love you, Lord! And we love our family and friends!

Today's Thoughts

Hello everyone!

I will write briefly to give you an update for today.

The band concert on Monday went excellent--praise the Lord! I was so proud of Nate and all his hard work with the students. Truly he is becoming more professional and skilled at directing every year. People said things like, "This was the best performance I've heard!" I may post pictures later, but we'll see!

The Becker Baby is almost at 15 weeks. I am in the second trimester now, so I am getting excited to see my belly pop out (I'm still so skinny!). Some students like to comment, "Mrs. Becker, I think you have a little belly!" but I think they are just seeing my poofy clothes or something.

Now Nate is busy getting ready for the Christmas musical on December 7th. Be praying for that with us. Also my high school vocal class is preparing a Christmas cantata for Dec. 14th. We are going to make it an outreach hopefully so pray that people will come to Christ through the music and message.

I'm feeling a lot of homesickness today, but I hope that goes away. Usually that is common when holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas come around and we miss our families! We won't be celebrating Thanksgiving (American) this year, but we can be thankful for many things every day!

We got the bed treated so hopefully all the Buk-Buk are dead and will no longer eat our bamboo.

What else? We miss you lots, so it is always good hearing from you and seeing you update your blogs (if you have one).

Thank you for your prayers. God has given us much grace!

Love,
Jessica and Nate

Joseph and the Tsinelas

A while back I blogged about the day three boys came to our house asking for work. You may remember we set them to work, fed them and read them Bible stories. Well, one boy, Joseph, came to our church and remembered me. He came and sat by me and spoke to me in Cebuano.

I wish I had a picture of Nate riding Joseph to our house for lunch that day on the front of his bike. So precious! Off they went, and I met them at home. While I cooked some lunch, Nate gave Joseph his first trumpet lesson. He is really bright and loved his lesson! (Nate is such a great teacher!)

He also asked if he could borrow (hulam) my bike. It is a little big, but he thought it was pretty cool! He kept going back and forth on our street.
I really had one thing available for lunch--pasta. This seems like a plain and simple meal, but to Joseph, apparently, it was as though I had set out a plate of tofu or sushi or something totally foreign. He was very polite, but it was obvious he thought our food was strange.

I was trying to figure out what he likes! After all, he must be really hungry! I was sorry to say we had no rice (unheard of here) and I finally realized that all my fancy food was just too foreign to him. If all you ever eat is plain white rice and plain bread, everything else that seems simple to me like pasta, will seem too much for him.

In this photo you can see we found something he liked--plain rolls (with no jam or butter). He also drank some milk.

This week I was sure to buy a whole bag of white rice in case Joseph came back. Sure enough, he came to me asking for work. I had a job ready for him to do and he invited his friend Justin. They worked away, and then I gave them food, money and I sent Joseph home to his family with the bag of rice. I am really learning about the kids from those two boys and also from the Filipinos at our church. (We still have lots to learn!)

Joseph has 7 siblings and they are really poor. He has come to our house more than once asking for food or work. Some people in the area will send their kids out for those things, but it is so sad to me and I am still trying to understand it. Justin's parents both died when he was young, so his older brother is trying to support him and the others. I asked if they had money for their school and they said yes, but I think sometimes they miss school.

Maybe someday I will get to meet Joseph's mom and even maybe his dad (but that is another story). I just know that when Joseph works, he is a hard worker and he is so sweet and polite. I had some kids' music (scripture verses on tape) playing while he worked, so hopefully he learned some more truth about Jesus.

Our church is having an outreach to Joseph and the kids in his neighborhood (very close to our house). For Christmas our church is having "Operation Tsinelas" or "Operation Slippers". They call these flip-flops "slippers". Some kids go to school with no shoes or slippers even. Some kids have holes in theirs so their feet touch the ground. Some kids saw this pile of slippers and took another person's home, so they are without some. We are hoping to be a part of this outreach in December.
In the meantime can you pray that God will give us wisdom with how to respond to the kids that come begging at our gate. Pray for Joseph to know the Lord and love Him. Pray for Joseph's family to not depend on him but to depend on God and to provide for them. Pray that the kids will come to know Jesus this Christmas and for our local church as we reach out to them.

All Saint's Day

So sorry about the lull in blogging! Time is really flying by here! November 1 and 2 are holidays in the Philippines. Halloween is not that big of a deal because they have All Saints Day on Nov. 1. It is kind of like a mix between Memorial Day, American 4th of July and Ceremonial Worship. It is really interesting. Here are some sights I saw on my bike ride through the cemeteries. The people visit the graves of their relatives. They light candles for many reasons, depending on their beliefs. Maybe it is for honoring them or for worship or to show their prayers for getting them out of purgatory. I am still learning about the whole holiday.
There was a statue of Jesus I think...on top of someone's tomb. Lots of people were giving offerings to the statue of flowers and candles. I don't really understand it but I just observed this a lot.
This was at the Chinese-Filipino cemetery. They have whole houses for the dead there, and the families all gather inside and have a vigil and eat. They have different views in the Chinese culture I think--about ancestor worship and giving them offerings. You can see the offerings of food on this grave.
The families are all eating and hanging out, like on our American 4th of July, but they are here using the tomb as a table. Interesting. People were pretty friendly to me and no one really seemed too sad. They were all sort of celebratory because it was a time to gather with family.

Here are the children having a picnic by the graves.
In cemeteries where there are no houses for the dead, the living people set up tents and have sort of a camp-out/cook-out together all day. Here are some kids in the tent by their relative's grave.
This was a very common sight. Tons of candles and flowers for sale all lining the roads. They even had merchants from Donut shops and pizza places selling food making money at the cemeteries.
Also very common was to see people walking around with cans of paint. Every year on this holiday the family members paint a fresh coat on the graves of their beloved family members. It was the job of the men to paint and scrub and clean the tombs.
The kids all thought I was a famous person working for a magazine. They thought if they posed for a picture they could become famous too! So here they are being published world-wide on our blog!

Breaking the Fast of Ramadan

For the past 30 days, our Muslim friends have been observing the fast of Ramadan. On Friday, the fast ended, so we were invited to one of their celebration feasts for the holiday of Idul Fitr. Here is Mr. Becker filling his plate with the Malaysian specialty dishes.
This is the family who invited us to their lovely home. Mr. Becker teaches saxaphone to the student on the far left of the photo. The father is here in the Philippines because he is the Consulate General of Malaysia. Their son on the far right is a senior at the high school where I teach. What a kind family.
One of the ladies I met posed for a picture for me. They usually have their hands painted three days before the celebration just like the Indian "Henna" painting. She said you have to sit a really long time without doing anything. Very interesting and unique!
This was a plaque located by their front door. I asked what it said in Arabiac--"Allah our God".
Here's me (the American woman in red!). I love asking questions and learning about other people's beliefs and customs. The host was so gracious to explain everything to me. I also met these two other people who work for a local Muslim newspaper. They even asked me to email them my pictures for use in their publication. What a great experience it was!

28th Birthday!

"I will praise the Lord all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live."

Psalm 146.2

Thank you, Lord, for 28 wonderful years! You have blessed me with such a great life and great people in my life. Most of all, you have blessed me with faith in Jesus Christ for salvation!

This is me on my 28th birthday!! I have had a great day so far. I woke up early to call my mom and my sister. I got to wear a new green shirt! The sky was blue and the colors of the day were vibrant.

I share my birthday with twins from Colombia, Susi and Pablo. They are freshmen students and are very fun to celebrate with!

Their mom brought a chocolate cake, and they even let me help blow out the candles. How sweet!

Other students were also thoughtful in making my day extra special. One student hand-made a card and wrote very thoughtful comments. Another student surprised me with a present (a lovely necklace just perfece for me) and a thoughtful card (I love thoughtful cards) and a cake just for me! Yum! God is so good to me! How fun!

I praise God for all these wonderful people in my life and for this special day! I love birthdays!

After we had a half-day, the staff had pizza for lunch and they made a peanut-butter cheesecake! Yum! I loved it!

Then we had parent-teacher conferences for the end of first quarter. It was so fun to get to see lots of wonderful people all in one day--yet one at a time, just right for me. One parent even brought me a birthday present! How sweet!

Tonight, Nate and I have a special date planned. I'm very excited about it. I can't wait to see him! I will sign off now so I can get ready for our date and go see Nate! Bye bye!

Kindergarten Goldilocks

This morning Nate helped with the Kindergarten production of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, along with several other Kids' Praise songs. It was so precious to see the little ones doing the actions and acting out the stories. This girl played Goldilocks, and it also was her birthday today!
The boys were so funny putting on their little bear hats. The kindergarteners all wanted a turn being the bears, so they did the whole story twice!
The kids even made the props by hand. One big chair, one medium chair, and one small one for baby bear. Same with the beds!
When they came home to find their porridge had been eaten they were not happy. The little bear cried, "Wah!" and everyone in the audience laughed at how he acted sad.
It was especially fun to see all the proud parents taking pictures like crazy!! It reminds me of the musical, "Music Man" (I hope you've seen it). The moms stand up and shout, "That's my Davey! Play for Mommy, son!" Oh, it is fun to count how many cameras were there this morning to record the precious moments of the little children.

Bamboo Bed and Buk-Buk

Hello everyone! Lots has been happening, but for today I will share with you thoughts on our bamboo bed.

We thought we were getting a real deal having a bed made for us out of bamboo for only about $40 U.S. Most beds cost much more than that, and this one had character!

When we got it back in April before our company came, we realized that we accidently locked the padlock to our gate, and we didn't know where the key was! How were we going to get the bed through the little foot-passenger door??

When the men arrived with the bed strapped to the top of a Jeepney we eye-balled it and thought maybe we could get it in the gate sideways. Whew! It fit!

Getting the bamboo bed up the stairs took six men. Then we couldn't get it to turn the corner, so we had to lift it over the loft and move all the other furniture to get it in the bedroom.

Things were going well with our bamboo bed. However, after a while I started noticing little lines of wooden powder under the bed. What was that all about? "Maybe it is the nails adjusting with the new wood as our bodies turn in bed."

We would have the piles swept, but after a week we would see neat little piles of "sawdust" under the bed in a line. Plus we could see piles of dust in the end of the poles where there was no apparent friction.

Finally one day I saw a little black bug crawling on my white sheets. They have a saying, "Good-night, sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite." Well, the bed bugs were biting all night. They were munching on our bamboo bed!!

It turns out we have little black bugs called "buk-buk" (prounouced boo-k boo-k) living in our bed and eating us to the ground. Haven't you seen this in the cartoons? This is happening in real life! The bugs are eating our bamboo bed!

I am paranoid about the bed bugs, especially when I feel something biting my leg at night. I wake up startled, shine the flashlight under the sheets and sure enough, there is a little one in bed with us!!

So, how do we get rid of them? We have to paint this chemical on the bed. I don't like that idea. We have chemicals on the bed and then we sleep at night? That is why the bed was probably so cheap. They didn't treat the wood before they built! Ahh!!

Sooner or later we will have to paint the chemicals on the bed, but honestly I wish I could just throw it away and start with a new bed! Until then you can all wish us "good night, sleep tight, and don't let the bed bugs bite!"

Rockin' M Ranch

Saturday night the staff at our high school put on a banquet to serve our students. We had a rodeo/western theme, so we called it the "Rockin' m Ranch." It was really fun and I think it was a great success! Nate and I had fun sportin' our cowboy hats =)
I loved seeing the creativitiy of our students in the costumes they chose. I liked this theme because it was affordable and cute to dress for the occasion (unlike other fancier events we have had). I love these students!
One fun activity we planned for the students was to pass out "Most Wanted" posters of all the teachers. We gave them markers and divided the paper in half so students could mark them up for the most funny one. My picture won! Can you recognize me?
We also made the students work for their meal. We had a "Cornhusking" race. Yes, it was like being back in Nebraska! Most students had never done it before, so it was fun watching them try!
At the end of the evening we had fun teaching them all to line dance. I was having flash backs of my junior high days when we learned the line dances in gym class. Memories were made by all and we had a wonderful night!

Picture of the Month

As the title suggests, this is my photo of the month. I love these precious Filipino children! My heart keeps growing more for them as I visit the kids' club and as kids come to our door in the neighborhood.

It has been 12 days since our last post! Our apologies to those who are so good at keeping up with the Becker Blog! We've been busy, but more than that we have been sick. I was sick for five days last week and Nate was also sick. We were struggling just to get through the week!

We couldn't blog the day I was going to write because the electricity was out in the city. Now it is a lovely Saturday and I just want you to know that God is giving us rest and healing. We praise Him!

I cannot even begin to update you on all that has happened even in the last 12 days. I will just try to be more consistent this next month in posting pictures and blogs.

We miss you and love you! Thank you for continuing to pray for us. God truly does answer your prayers!

Malaysian Celebration

A week has flown by again! I wanted to show you pictures from the Malaysian 50th celebration we attended recently. We were invited by the consulate general because Nate teaches his son. How fun!
My favorite part of the evening was to see all the beautiful ladies present! I will never forget the last year we attended this celebration I went without my camera. I learned my lesson and was sure to bring it!
I wanted to get more candid shots, but it seemed too rude. Our student informed us that it is appropriate to ask a person before taking their picture in their culture.
I would like to get to know these ladies more! I have made one friend, and she invited me to coffee.
Here we are: teachers, students and parents all celebrating the 50th year of Malaysia's independence together!

Spanish Interviews

I just finished grading the Spanish I homework. It was really fun to read!

I assigned the Spanish I students to interview two different native Spanish-speakers. My goal was to get them speaking Spanish outside the classroom and to try to connect with the other Spanish-speaking students at our school.

The students wrote reflections with statements like:

"I dont know him that well but I thought it was a good chance to get to know him a little better."

"After the interview, I perceived that using the language with people out of class really helps you learn."

"I was ready to try out my Spanish in a real conversation."

"He complimented me on my Spanish and said that if I keep on practicing we can converse together."

It was so rewarding to me to read these comments from students. I know that four of the Spanish-speakers in our school are freshmen, and they haven't connected much with many of the grade 10-11 in my class. Assignments like this are the teacher's strategy to help people make new friends and reach out to the new people! Hahahaha!

I wanted the students from Costa Rica, Colombia and Panama to feel special as other students in the school are trying to learn their language and speak with them in Spanish. It also made learning fun for my Spanish students because they were able to put it to immediate use in new friendships!

Your Spanish-speaking connection in the Philippines,
Sra. Panadero

Case of the Missing Cell Phone

Wow, friends, nine days since I last wrote! Well, here's the latest story:

Nate's cell phone went missing a few days ago (that's how the Asians say things so that blame is not placed--ex. it is not: "Nate lost his phone"). He texted me at school and when he got home had no cell phone. It must be somewhere, but after a few days we were starting to think it was lost for good.

Last night at 10 p.m. a random co-worker called us and said, "A Filipino guy just called me on your phone! We talked for like 15 minutes and I'm not sure exactly what he said."

We were thinking "someone has the phone!" So we called Nate's number from my phone and a Filipino answered (yes we did try this before but it said the phone was disconnected).

Nate then had a very strange conversation with the man who basically spoke Tagalog, and Nate was trying to communicate with him in Cebuano. There were guys laughing in the background and it sounded strange. We think they were in "high spirits." However, Nate thought the guy agreed to meet him at the "lechon manok" stand near our house.

Nate went out at 10:30p.m in the dark (and soon the rain), to wait on the corner for this stranger to come with his cell phone. Nate made friends with the guys on the corner, but never did a guy show up with his phone.

Even more strange was that today Nate got another call at school from our worship pastor at church. The story began to unfold (I hope you can bear with these details!). It turns out two guys found the phone in the road. (You have to realize cell phones get stolen all the time here so they can sell them for money).

The two guys disagreed about the phone--one thought they should sell it and the other had a bad conscience. So the guy with the conscience took the SIM card out of the phone and put it in another phone, thus they were able to call Nate.

Why did the guy at church know this story? Because the two guys told their aunt what happened, and she happened to go to our church! It is quite a circle of people.

We are learning about the culture more and more. People can't go directly to someone to tell them they are returning the phone, but must go through a chain of people making contacts until at last the situation is resolved.

We're waiting to see if our pastor can meet with the lady at church who can then meet the two guys and then can find a way to get the phone back to us without us finding out who they were. We'll keep you updated!

My last comment is that as we told this story to our friend, Ryan, at lunch he told us he once lost his cell phone, the same thing happened with the in-direct confrontation, and of all places, the guys in his case wanted to meet at the "lechon manok" stand! There must be something about that corner--it is the happening place for returning (or not returning) cell phones!

Until next time, this is mystery news from the Philippines...signing off.

High School Beach Trip

I just got back from the high school beach trip. It's hard to capture in pictures, or even in words, but we PRAISE GOD for keeping everyone healthy and safe and for unity and spiritual growth!
We had a lot of fun games and bonding times as well as worship times and meetings with a spiritual emphasis.
Monday night I was excited to share a message about the greatness of God--"His greatness no one can fathom." I pray God will use it to cause students and staff alike to think more about how amazing God is--and to result in an even greater response of daily worship.
This morning we had the annual boat-building contest. Once teams made rafts out of random materials like bamboo, they needed to meet Miss Farlin and I down in the ocean and then head back to shore. Sadly, our boat tipped later and we got soaked--of course!
Here they are--racing out to us. It was funny to watch everyone come out to us like ants! Thank you, Lord, for a great trip!

Kadayawan Parade--Sunday

Sunday morning before church, Nate and I biked to the main street where the floral parade would pass by. They decorated vehicles with fruit and flowers to add to the festivities.
I found it most interesting because we could people-watch. It is so interesting to learn more about the culture and people during an event like this.
The people I noticed the most were the beggars. I saw little girls and kids walking around begging for whatever people would give. I was trying to learn more about them by watching them work their way through the crowd. It was also interesting to see how people responded to them.
The ladies who begged always looked the same. I could spot them in the crowd. They always carried a baby with them when they begged. It was interesting, though, from the high vantage-point I was standing on I was able to see them in the background and how they all met together and then sent one out at a time to beg.
A total contrast was to see the happy kids all dressed up in costume for the floats. Some kids even played in a band and were twirling batons.