NTM - New Tribes Mission | Planting Tribal Churches

As I sit in our living room on Thanksgiving night, some of you are just beginning to stir on Thanksgiving morning. Funny to think that I have already lived a day that you have yet to live. As we approach the 5-month mark of living in the Philippines, I still find myself wondering if we are really here. Do you ever experience those surreal moments where you almost forget who or where you are and is this really real?

Usually on Thanksgiving, we are bustling from house to house, endlessly eating all the delicious foods, playing games and spending time with our families. This year has been quite different. With turkey costing an arm and a leg, pumpkins being practically unheard of, and my stuffing being Stovetop that my mom sent (which is actually my favorite), I have actually had some time to think about what I am thankful for.

There are always things that we can think of off the top of my head that we are thankful for. A house, food, money, family, friends, and all those things are good and true. But for some reason I tend to forget that all of these things don’t really belong to me anyway. Everything I have is basically on loan. The Lord entrusted it to me to use for Him and if we take that into account concerning everything we “have”, it puts a whole new twist on things.  My house is to be used for Him. My food is to be used for Him. My money is to be used for Him. My family is to be used for Him. My friendships are to be used for Him. For each of us that will probably look a little different. What does it look like for you?

And then to compare these little things to what Christ did for us??? It is overwhelming! A new favorite song of mine explains it well. “I Am Just A Beggar Who Gives Alms.”

So, as you celebrate today, willingly and thankfully give your alms to the One who gave it to you. We are very thankful for each of you and the huge part you play in our lives and in the goal of seeing every tribe, tongue, and nation reached with the Gospel.

The butcher handed me my meat purchase and I simply said “Salamat Po”(Thank you Sir). That is all it took to convince him that I knew Tagalog and he was off. It felt good to realize that I could understand and respond to his first several questions, but it took only a minute or two for me to feel like a fish out of water. Once he got past the simple “How long have you lived here?”, “Where do you live?”, “Are you studying Tagalog?” and “For how    long?”, I was totally lost.

Our days are very busy with language, culture, our children and just the time it takes to live here. Candy spends 5-6 hours per day five days a week acquiring language and culture, while I spend 6-8 hours a day. Our language time is split between class, time with a language helper, time out with people and time just reviewing the vocabulary and grammar that we have been learning. We are thoroughly enjoying our Tagalog study, but it is definitely a challenging language. It really is requiring us to retrain our brains with a whole new way of thinking about communication. There are words and grammar structures that we use in almost every sentence in English that simply do not exist in Tagalog.

While we are learning to love the Philippines and all of our friends here, Thanksgiving and Christmas just will not be the same without our families and all of the people we are used to being able to spend time with this time of year. We are more grateful than ever for all of you and even more aware of the impact so many of you have had on our lives now that we are so far away. It is humbling to think where we would be, first without our Savior, and second without all of you. We truly can say with Paul: “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy…”

Please pray for us that the Lord will enable us to build more relationships with Filipinos  outside of our language helpers. Most of our neighbors work long hours and are rarely home, and the church we are attending is about a thirty minute taxi-ride away. Our heart and desire is to make a difference in peoples’ lives here in Manila even while we are in language school, but this is proving more difficult than we expected just because of our location. Pray also for wisdom concerning church. We are very blessed at the church we are attending, but we are praying about looking for a smaller church closer to where we live so that we can be more involved in peoples lives.

“Tatlo Pa! Tatlo Pa!” There are already 11 people on the jeepney, but the driver is convinced that he can fit three more. Reluctantly we  pull our bags and our children farther into our laps. I move forward on my seat a little as a lady I’ve never seen before sits down nearly in my lap. There simply isn’t room for all of our hips to fit side by side on the bench, so some move forward and others back as people continue to pile in. Finally the driver is satisfied that he has a full load. We hang on as best we can as the driver lets the clutch out and the jeepney lurches out onto on of the busiest streets of Manila. The street is as filled with jeepneys, taxi’s and cars as our jeepney is with people and we weave in and out through diesel exhaust, pedestrians and traffic. As we near our apartment, the driver moves over to the left lane and picks up speed. Quickly I try to get his attention, worried that he will pass our stop. “Para po” I say, then again a little louder as I realize that he can’t hear me over the horns and engine noise surrounding us. Finally he gets the message and I grab for bar above my head as he slams on the brake, honking his horn (a crazy laughing sound, not the normal “beeeep” that I expect to hear) and changing lanes all at the same time. Amazingly, he has managed to stop right across from the entrance to our apartment complex and we hurry toward the back, trying not to step on peoples feet or hit them with our bags. We stumble out of the back of the Jeepney and take advantage of the small traffic jam our stop has made to hurry across the first two lanes of traffic. We wait on the yellow line as traffic whizzes past on either side. Finally there is a break in the traffic – not enough to get across, but enough that the oncoming traffic has time to stop. I hold out my hand as we step into the traffic lane and the oncoming traffic slows to a stop. I step past a truck that has stopped for us, then jump back quickly as a motorcycle cruises past the stopped traffic on the right hand side. A little more cautiously  this time, I check for oncoming motorcycles, then lead my family through the gate to our apartment complex. “Magandang umaga po” calls a guard from the guard shack. We reply “Magangang umaga rin po” as we continue to the elevator that will take us back to our cozy ninth floor apartment.

People People People!!!  For us, the greatest culture shock has not been Filipino culture as much as big city culture. We moved from a ranch where the nearest town had only 1,000 people, to Metro Manila, Population 11,000,000! We dream of trees, green grass and clean, smog free air, but it is so wonderful to be where God wants us. We are five weeks into language school and (in theory) should be able to recognize close to 600 words now. We start grammar classes next week, and our schedule will get very busy. I will be spending eight hours a day learning language and Candy will be spending at least six hours. Pray that we will be able to retain and use the vocabulary that we are learning, and that God will bring more opportunities to build relationships with Filipinos.

As we stepped off the plane, my feet stepped upon the soil of my new home. I closed my eyes, breathed a big sigh, and took the first steps of what will be an exciting and challenging journey. It still seems surreal that we are here. Yesterday on a jeepney, I looked at Josh and said, “Am I dreaming?” But, no. I’m not dreaming. We are here.

There have been a lot of new things. Beautiful things, disgusting things, sad things, happy things.

Beautiful things: Other white people, good friends, rain, the guest home, nice malls, palm trees, & Chilis! Disgusting things: Human waste at the end of the driveway, trash everywhere, going through three shirts a day because of the sweat. Sad things: Kids playing in the filthy water in the streets, lots & lots of lost people, squatter villages. Happy things: That we have the opportunity to be here & knowing that one day, by God’s grace, there won’t be as many lost people!

We are currently still living in the guesthouse while our apartment is being remodeled and painted. We are hoping to be able to move in sometime this weekend or at the beginning of next week. The Lord blessed us to be able to find an apartment in the same complex as some of our friends. It’s amazing how much work and money it is taking as we start completely from scratch again. One challenging thing is that there are no closets, cabinets, or storage in our apartment. None! We’re still working on what we’re going to do about that.

We have all adjusted really well. The kids love riding on the jeepneys & in taxis. We will be able to get our own car in 6 months, but until then, this is how we get around. The food here at the guesthouse has been excellent. No complaints there. We have eaten out a few times. Check out the picture in our July album of Little Josh eating his rice ball! I really love the food here.

On a more serious note- since we’ve been here, God has really impressed a song upon my heart. “Before The Throne of God Above.” It has really helped me to keep my focus & remember that whether I am in Texas or the Philippines, I am before His throne. And when I’m tempted to despair, I remember He who made an end to all my sin & that that is why I am here. Because of what He did for me, I want to bring Him glory by pointing others to my Perfect Spotless Righteousness- Jesus. When I am afraid, I remember that one with Him, I cannot die. My life is hid with Christ on high! Hallelujah!!! May you be encouraged to keep pressing on for Him in whatever you may be doing! Thank you for your prayers. May all glory be to Him who has brought us this far!

We arrived in our temporary home at the NTM guest house in Manila tired but happy. It has been wonderful to reunite with so many close friends that we have not seen for so long. One family met us in Texas and we made the entire trip together, then two more families were waiting for us when we got here and took us to the guest house where another family was waiting! The children have adjusted very well to the time difference and being in a new place. We were able to get Philippine cell phones and bank accounts set up this week, and next week we will start looking for apartments and learning our way around the city a little better.