He Loves this Stuff
This kind of reminds me of movie Ice Age where the little squirrel is in heaven with the world's biggest acorn. Yakult, Danny and the kids love this stuff. Chris and Danny saw this today while shopping at the Atrium.
Stay Home
Top Ten Reasons You Should NOT go on a Short Term Missions Trip:
10. It will make you uncomfortable. The other side of the world is a weird place, different languages, different smells (some of them really bad).
9. There will be sorrow. When you see true poverty and dire need with your own eyes, it can be radically depressing.
8. This will not be a vacation. You have precious few vacation days at your job. Why spend them going to some poor, third world country?
7. It's not your calling, when Jesus gave the Great Commission He was not talking about you.
6. The food is weird--and you are a meat and potatoes guy.
5. Two words, JET LAG.
4. You might be moved by what you see so much so that you will want to start giving to missions and missionaries, and with the current economy can you really afford that?
3. You will be used. No one likes to be used.
2. You will probably want to do it again, and if you keep making these kinds of trips, it might lead to full-time missions.
1. It will probably change your life--no need for that, you are perfect they way you are.
Stay home.
10. It will make you uncomfortable. The other side of the world is a weird place, different languages, different smells (some of them really bad).
9. There will be sorrow. When you see true poverty and dire need with your own eyes, it can be radically depressing.
8. This will not be a vacation. You have precious few vacation days at your job. Why spend them going to some poor, third world country?
7. It's not your calling, when Jesus gave the Great Commission He was not talking about you.
6. The food is weird--and you are a meat and potatoes guy.
5. Two words, JET LAG.
4. You might be moved by what you see so much so that you will want to start giving to missions and missionaries, and with the current economy can you really afford that?
3. You will be used. No one likes to be used.
2. You will probably want to do it again, and if you keep making these kinds of trips, it might lead to full-time missions.
1. It will probably change your life--no need for that, you are perfect they way you are.
Stay home.
Amazing Hong Kong
Over the weekend we took a family vacation to the amazing island city of Hong Kong. Hong Kong is just a two hour flight from Manila. It is hard to describe this incredible city without the use of superlatives. 
We stayed at the YMCA Salisbury hotel and we were blessed with a free room upgrade. Our room was huge, Danny enjoys the view from our Harbour Suite:
We also spent the day at Ocean Park, a great family destination with theme park rides, dolphin shows, and other great attractions.
There was a three story coral reef aquarium with amazing sea life. This guy looks familiar:
My favorite part of Ocean Park was the panda exhibit. They had red pandas and two giant pandas.
The trip paid for itself in that when we returned we all received a free one year visa. I mentioned earlier in this blog, we usually have to renew our visas every two months (and this is not cheap). When we returned to the Philippines the Lord gave us incredible favor and we were all blessed with what they call the Balikbayan Visa, which allows to stay for up to one year, with no renewal fees. Praise the Lord! It is hard to express how much a blessing this is.
More pictures of our amazing vacation.
We stayed at the YMCA Salisbury hotel and we were blessed with a free room upgrade. Our room was huge, Danny enjoys the view from our Harbour Suite:
We also spent the day at Ocean Park, a great family destination with theme park rides, dolphin shows, and other great attractions.
There was a three story coral reef aquarium with amazing sea life. This guy looks familiar:
My favorite part of Ocean Park was the panda exhibit. They had red pandas and two giant pandas.
The trip paid for itself in that when we returned we all received a free one year visa. I mentioned earlier in this blog, we usually have to renew our visas every two months (and this is not cheap). When we returned to the Philippines the Lord gave us incredible favor and we were all blessed with what they call the Balikbayan Visa, which allows to stay for up to one year, with no renewal fees. Praise the Lord! It is hard to express how much a blessing this is.More pictures of our amazing vacation.
Dare You to Move
I found some interesting statistics here on short term missions trips.
Who takes short term mission trips?
9% of American adults (only 3.5% of American adults went in the last 5 years)
11% of churchgoers
23% of evangelical Christians
12% of people ages 18-24
9% of people ages 25-43
7% of people ages 44-62
9% of people aged 63+
How do short-term mission trips affect those who go?
75% say the experience changed their life in some way
25% say it helped them become more aware of other people’s struggles
16% say it taught them more about poverty, justice, or the world
11% say it increased their compassion
9% say it enriched their faith
9% say it broadened their spiritual understanding
5% say it boosted their financial generosity
In Matthew chapter 14 we read that Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion on them. There is something to be said about seeing things with your own two eyes. A person can read about missions in a newsletter (or a blog like this), or you can view a visiting missionary's slideshow or video, but there is something powerful about actually going--smelling the smells, feeling the heat on your neck, getting your hands dirty as you minister to street children, making the leap from your seat at church to the other side of the world.
So far this year we have had visits from interns, mid term missionaries, and short term teams. We have another group coming next month, a team coming in the Fall and also a team that might be coming in December to do a Christmas blessing. If you have never gone on a short term missions trip, I challenge you--I DARE YOU. You will never be the same.
Christ is calling, how far will you go?
Who takes short term mission trips?
9% of American adults (only 3.5% of American adults went in the last 5 years)
11% of churchgoers
23% of evangelical Christians
12% of people ages 18-24
9% of people ages 25-43
7% of people ages 44-62
9% of people aged 63+
How do short-term mission trips affect those who go?
75% say the experience changed their life in some way
25% say it helped them become more aware of other people’s struggles
16% say it taught them more about poverty, justice, or the world
11% say it increased their compassion
9% say it enriched their faith
9% say it broadened their spiritual understanding
5% say it boosted their financial generosity
In Matthew chapter 14 we read that Jesus saw the crowd and had compassion on them. There is something to be said about seeing things with your own two eyes. A person can read about missions in a newsletter (or a blog like this), or you can view a visiting missionary's slideshow or video, but there is something powerful about actually going--smelling the smells, feeling the heat on your neck, getting your hands dirty as you minister to street children, making the leap from your seat at church to the other side of the world.
So far this year we have had visits from interns, mid term missionaries, and short term teams. We have another group coming next month, a team coming in the Fall and also a team that might be coming in December to do a Christmas blessing. If you have never gone on a short term missions trip, I challenge you--I DARE YOU. You will never be the same.
Christ is calling, how far will you go?
Father's Day in the Philippines
Father's Day is a relatively new holiday in the Philippines. We enjoyed church service at Victory Christian Fellowship, then we played games in the afternoon, and then we ate at my favorite pizza place, Dos Marias, home of their famous thirty-two inch pizza.
Even though there are just five of us in our family, we got the big one. We brought half of it home because as most of you will agree, cold pizza is a great midnight snack and even better for breakfast.
Even though there are just five of us in our family, we got the big one. We brought half of it home because as most of you will agree, cold pizza is a great midnight snack and even better for breakfast.
First Day of School
Here is Eric and Faith outside of their new school on a very windy first day of classes. The morning was a little rough for Faithy, she found it hard to adjust from home school to school outside the home, but the day got better for her. They both made friends, and Eric was even elected to be on of the class officers. It will be weird to have them out of the house during the week days. This new school looks promising.Today was also the first day of classes for the Sonshine Learning Center. It is hard to believe that we are starting our fifth year of preschool at the Sonshine Center.
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