A Birthday, A Funeral, and Our Boy

Last Sunday, the 12th, was my birthday. I didn't think it would be a very good one, since I had plans to attend a funeral. However, God, and His people, surprised me! That morning at 4 a.m. I heard my doorbell ring and singing. "It can't be Christmas carolers!" I thought. Then I heard remembered--"It's my birthday! They're singing for me!" How sweet! I went down and was blessed by the love of my Filipino friends. They did everything to make me feel special (even notice the little house on the coffee table made from cardboard by the 10-year-old Donabel! How creative and resourceful!). Praise the Lord!
That afternoon was my first time to a Filipino funeral. It was interesting how everyone piled in these vehicles. There was a Catholic mass and then everyone just followed the coffin to the tomb.
This is the tomb that was built on Tuesday. Why not on Monday? Because Lin-Lin didn't have the money to pay for it on Monday. The body will sit in your house until you find the money to pay for the making of this tomb. Then it needs to dry before you can bury your dead.
This is a very sad picture, but I must put it here so you can remember to PRAY for Lin-Lin and her five children. I will never forget her little daugher crying and wailing, "Papa! Papa!" as they put him in the tomb. Very sad. That is her oldest boy peering into the coffin there as they look at him one last time.

To end on a good note, I will post a few pictures from last week of Elijah. He loves that baby in the mirror! "Who is that handsome guy?"
PRECIOUS moments with Papa! We must teach him the Bible stories even from infancy. May our boy always be hungry to learn God's Word.
Elijah is learning to sit by himself--well with a lot of pillows too.
Here is the fam! Maybe I can put this up as our new profile pic with Elijah in the middle now. Thank you for your prayers for us!

Elijah Eats and Shares

What a special boy! Elijah is growing fast. This Wednesday he will be 5 months! I had to hurry up and get the clothes out of the 3-6 month pile before he outgrew them! Continue to pray for us as parents and for Elijah, that one day he will let people know that "Yahweh is God".
Finally I got out some rice cereal for Elijah to try. This was his first day to try "real food."
Papa's first time to feed Elijah: "Papa! What is this strange thing you are doing? I'm not so sure about this...."
"Hmmm, this tastes so plain and flaky! Yikes!"
While Elijah was still in the womb, the Kindergarteners gave these beautiful butterflies to him. Now we are giving them to the little children who just lost their daddy. The verse is in Cebuano, which translated says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; theh old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5.17)

Our Visitors from the U.S.--Mr. and Mrs. S!

We were so blessed this month to have some very special visitors come to stay with us from the U.S.--I fondly call them Mr. and Mrs. S! I have known their family my whole life and am very good friends also with their daughter (Trisha was our FIRST visitor to the Philippines in April of 2007). What a wonderful gift to have them come stay with us and to be able to share with them our ministry, our life, our friends and this beautiful country--the Philippines! Saturday we took them to sea on a boat trip. Since the boat held 40 people we invited some very special Filipino friends with us. For most of them it was their first time on a boat and even their first time ever off the island! They were very excited indeed!
Aw! Look at these three! Lord, you are so gracious and loving toward us!
This is also Elijah's first time to sea. It is fun to have visitors because it gives us a chance to do fun things too! I tried to keep Elijah out of the sun all day--that thing can burn even me pretty badly. Thankfully he stayed puti--white.

I had to have a little photo shoot, of course. Here we are--the three Beckers at sea!
And here is my friend, Emi. We are like sisters now and our boys are destined to be friends! How fun to share in the sea together.
Tah-dah! We love having fun together in God's creation. . This was the first vacation Emi's family ever got to take all together (besides the adventure we took them on last year to the waterfall).
Mr. S enjoying some coconut milk--well, not really. He decided he is not a "fan" of that drink, but he looks tropical, doesn't he? I said he kind of looks like a banana in that hammock! What a fun guy! As my dad said when he was visiting, "AH, this is the life!"

Visitors to the Mountain and Market

Sunday we went to a rural church to see a B.T. project. It was a first-time experience for them and for the Filipino friends we brought from the city. Praise the Lord we were able to get a car and a driver to take us so we didn't have to ride the bus!
Look at that view of the Philippines! Isn't that lovely! This is what we were able to drive through and around on our way to the mountain.
Here are the wonderful "Ma-Sa" people! We brought James in the front there so he could get a vision for God's work in the mountain.
Elijah and I took Mrs. S to the market so she could experience the many sights and smells of the Philippines. Elijah was just loving all the new experiences there. It was also his first time to the market.

Here is the daily food of the Filipino people--Rice! There is one word for cooked rice, one word for uncooked rice and one word for rice in the field. I'm sure there are other words too, but I don't know them yet.
Look at all that tropical fruit! Yum! We tried to buy lots so they could taste the unforgettable flavors of the delicious fresh fruit found here in the Philippines.
Here is a typical street scene. Me and Elijah kind of stand out when we go around. Elijah helps me make lots of friends. (We have to keep the hot sun off his little white head!)
What a blessing Mr. and Mrs. S were able to bring this seat over for us from the U.S. This will come in very handy as I can cook or type emails while Elijah jumps! Also they brought a little bike helmet so I can ride around with Elijah (we look very unusual doing that here!).

We were so sad to see Mr. and Mrs. S leave. The room was empty when they left, but we were SO glad they came to bless us with their presence! What a wonderful gift to have visitors such as them to the Philippines and to our home! Thank you, Lord, and thank you Mr. and Mrs. S for visiting us!! We love you!

Elijah is 4 Months!

New Building and Little Missionary

Praise the Lord for providing for the building of a new performing arts center! We are so excited to see how much the music program has grown these last few years. Soon the auditorium will be finished (Lord-willing) and we will have our first performance in there!
When we left for furlough this was just grass. The principal and builders worked hard to surprise Mr. Becker when we returned! Here's the band room all finished and brand new. Lovely! (A student walks to put his trombone away before school).
You can see it is half finished. The other side has a vocal and drama room--a major improvement from the kitchen I used to teach in!
Here is Mr. Becker, the chapel coordinator, and his son, the new little missionary! Nate is using Elijah as an example to teach about the Father's love for us! "Lessons learned from the life of Elijah Samuel." The students loved to meet the little Becker Baby that they prayed so much for.
Last week Elijah was baby Jesus and Nate was Jesus on the cross. Look at these two! What a pair of actors!

I was Mary in New Testament class--guess who was baby Jesus! He even let out a cry at the perfect time--what a dramatic family.
Jesus, Emmanuel--God with us! What a message to declare!
Thank you, God for your Son, Jesus, (and for our son, Elijah!).
My husband acts as my son, Jesus dying on the cross. "He was still her little boy" plays on the CD as I cry over my son's death.
Ohhh!! A kiss from Mommy! "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." Isaiah 49.15-16

Cebuano Ladies

Now that I am home more, I have the chance to get to know the Cebuano ladies in my neighborhood better. I'm still getting better at the language "hinay-hinay" (little-by-little). Here is Elijah's friend--they were both born May 8th! Maybe they will have to celebrate their 1st birthdays together!
Elijah was trying to shake hands with his new friend, but the ladies laughed and said he was trying to do a boxing move for fun like the national Filipino sports boxer Manny Pakaw (sp??--sorry people I'm not a boxing fan).
On Wednesday afternoons it is fun to have the ladies over for Bible study. My friend and helper, Emi, is the leader so we prepare the study together. It is funny to learn more cultural differences. For example, in the U.S. most people offer a drink when you first come in. I did that same thing by serving the ladies some juice, but later I found out they thought it was "bag-o" (new) to have the drink before. So the following week I served the drink after.

Also, I thought I would try to provide a snack they liked, so I had a Filipina lady make something Filipino that they are used to. Later I found out that they were curious what kind of food they would eat at the "Americana's" house. The next week I made banana muffins and they loved them! The bowl was empty after that meeting. Lots to learn about hospitality and cultures!
It is great to see the ladies study the Bible in their own language. They say when they hear it in their language it is like a "bull's eye--right to the heart."

Back to School

Another school year has begun. This year is full of changes for us. One great change is that while we were gone the school built a new band room for Nate! We were really surprised that when we left it was grass but when we got back it was like this! Wow! Praise the Lord that work continues on the new performing arts building, so we won't have to have concerts on the covered court anymore.
I LOVE to visit beginning band class the day they play their first note. I wonder how long it would take to load a video of the note that I took. Well, just imagine middle school students making their own sound all at once. Elijah was startled to hear the loud sounds! We know from experience that soon they will be playing as a band together.
Elijah was excited to visit his daddy at band class. He wanted to play a new instrument, too, so we chose the Suzaphone. What do you think? A great first instrument, I'd say!
We always wondered if the suzaphone was so big you could fit a student in it. Now it has been done. Does he even know what we do to him?
Yesterday, Nate was teaching in the middle school chapel. He is responsible to oversee all the chapels this year in the elementary, middle and high schools. Here he is teaching students strategies to memorize God's Word. Pray for him this year as he has this important role in teaching students about the Lord.