Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Update March 25, 2009

Up date 3-25-09


Greetings to you all in the precious name of our wonderful Savior.

I just finished over three hours of translating my next message for the saints at Baguio Gold from Tagalog into Ilokano. So my brain is just a bit fried right now, but I did want to get an update to you all because we can use your prayers.

I am in the midst of teaching the last ten hours of Evening Bible School to the saints at Navy Base this week. We are attempting to finish chapters 10-13 of Hebrews during the course of the week. It is the fourth and final session of this segment of the Evening Bible school. At the end of this week the saint would have received forty hours of lessons in this wonderful book which so exalts our Savior. Currently we are in the practical application part of our study and I am very much enjoying teaching it. Please pray for these next two nights. We have a lot to cover and we want to be careful to keep a good balance and not, in our haste to make sure we cover the material, leave out that which the Lord would have the saints to learn concerning Himself.

On Saturday we leave in the early morning for Manila. Some of you have been praying for Laarni, one of the women from the assembly at Navy Base, who is in need of surgery on her vocal cords. This Saturday she and her husband Bong will travel with us to Manila once again for a final check up and blood work, so that we can schedule her surgery hopefully for sometime in mid April. Continue to keep this in your prayers.

As many of you also know Joyce has been dealing once again with a host of medical problems. After much testing, X rays, ultra sounds etc she has been diagnosed with Hypothyroidism, GERD, and she has deterioration of the bones in her neck, which is the cause of her many headaches. So she is now on meds for her hypothyroidism, which has been the cause of many of her other problems, and she is on meds for the GERD problem. She has been on these meds for a couple of weeks now and we are already seeing some positive results for which we thank the Lord. She is going weekly, three to four times a week for Physical Therapy and traction for her neck, and the results there have been mixed, so please continue to keep her in your prayers.

Our daughter Rachel arrives from the States for a brief two week visit next week. We are so very looking forward to having her with us. It has been 14 long years since she was here last. She is looking forward to seeing all her old stompin’ grounds. Pray for a safe trip for her. She leaves on Sunday and will arrive here late Monday night.

Again, thank you all for your interest in the Lord’s work here among us, and for your prayers. May the Lord richly bless you.

Monday, March 02, 2009

Update March 2, 2009

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our wonderful Savior. Things here are going quite well, for which we thank our Lord.

The week of Special Studies down in Mololos Bulucan was fun to teach and the students were enthusiastic. There were about 28 who came out for this week of special teaching. They are all those students who in the past have completed the three year bible school at the camp, so are well versed in the scripture which made it a very enjoyable time. We taught eight hours on Servant Leadership. It seemed to be well received.

Also, during that week in the Manila area we had the next series of tests and doctors visits for Joyce and are happy to report that currently she is cancer free. We thank you all for your prayers for her.

Last Lord’s day I spoke at the assembly at Navy Base, this Sunday I was down in Baguio Gold both in the morning and afternoon. This Sunday morning I actually used three different languages in my morning message. That was a new experience. I am attempting, as the Lord allows, to use more Ilokano in my message preparation, for when I speak especially down in Baguio Gold. I prepare my message, then do some translation work, our tutor corrects it, and goes over my pronunciations, then I try to integrate it into my speaking. It is the process I used when learning Tagalog so many years ago. Thanks for praying. We, Joyce and I, were also able to greet the folks down there in both Kankanaey and Ilokano. So we actually used four different languages to communicate with the saints yesterday. My mind is tired just thinking about it.

In the afternoon we began our third session of bible school with the saints in Baguio Gold. This session we are studying chapters 7-9 of Hebrews. Yesterday we were “considering how great” the man Melchizedek was. It was fun to once again consider the wonderful types and antitypes we see in these most enlightening chapters. We had two hours of study yesterday and have another 8 needed to complete this session.

The regular weekly studies are going well. Last Thursday night we looked at the second prayer of Paul in Ephesians chapter 3, as we work our way through that wonderful book.

We are planning to schedule surgery for Larnni in April. Thank you for praying for her. We are praying the upcoming surgery will restore her voice.

Thank you all again for your prayers.