anascomissions.org

Took Faithy to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. She got a gift card for this place for Christmas. In honor of her new baby brother, she chose to make a baby bear.

Still enjoying Great Wolf Lodge. Today we took a side trip to Jamestown.

It's vacation time with our family here in Maryland. We are at Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, VA, a unique family hotel/resort that has it's own indoor water park.

There is nothing quite like this very rich and tasty treat. We enjoyed dinner with our long-time friends, Ben and Lisa Wible and their kids this night. Lisa remembered how much we loved her famous brownies--with York Peppermint Patties baked right in, so she made us a batch for us to enjoy for dessert after a wonderful dinner. She even gave us the uneaten rest to take home. So how about some peppermint patty brownies for breakfast? This is the best part of being back in Maryland--getting together with family and friends whom we miss so much.

Now three Anasco kids have used this high chair

PGG Someone synthesized the message I shared yesterday morning at Christ Community Worship Center as PGG, meaning PRAY GO GIVE. This was the challenge of my message yesterday morning concerning missions and the work of the world harvest, that all believers should do their part by either praying for missionaries, going on missions, and also making a financial investment into world missions. It was a true blessing to share on Sunday morning at CCWC. This is also the church of my good friend, brother, and fellow missionary Jimmy Capone . The senior pastor is a Dr. Jim Burck. He and his wife Pat are a huge blessing to me personally and to us as a family. I have always felt it necessary to maintain mentoring relationships with those who are more experienced in ministry. I am thankful to count Dr. Burck as one of my mentors. He has blessed me with his time, wisdom, and counsel. My message this Sunday can be summed up with the very wise and challenging words of J. Hudson Taylor : ...

It is still way too cold here in Maryland, but we are enjoying our time here nonetheless. Just me and my grandpa. This is fun. The finished product.

We have gone from the somewhat cold Florida to the now freezing Maryland. As detailed in this post , one of the things we miss the most is a public library. We arrived here in MD on late Tuesday night. First thing Wednesday we went to the Central Library here in Columbia, MD. It is amazing to have such a resource available. Free, public libraries--I am not sure if such things exist in the Philippines. We will probably go at least once week.

We spent the day after Thanksgiving at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World. This was Danny's first Disney visit. Thanks to my Mom, we go to Disney everytime we visit the States. The Rainforest Cafe, an amazing place to eat. Not sure if this was Chip or Dale. Long day.

Thanksgiving 2006

Proclamation Establishing Thanksgiving Day October 3, 1863 The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields...

We are being spoiled. We are currently in Ocala, FL, staying at my Mom's house. We are being spoiled. She cooks whatever we want, or she takes us out to eat. She even does our laundry and folds the clothes! We are truly being spoiled. This was a good place for us to get over jet lag. Not only because we are being so spoiled, but it is also a little warmer here than in Maryland, so we can become slowly accustomed to the much colder weather here in the States this time of the year. The kids are having a blast. My Mom has this routine, where she takes them to McDonald's with a huge playplace for lunch, then she takes them to the dollar store. She also takes them shopping for lunch stuff and treats, and she took them to see Happy Feet, some penguin cartoon movie. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving. My Mom has been cooking for almost two days. I know this will be quite a feast. Then after the holiday she is taking us to Walt Disney World for two days. Danny is also spoiling us in th...

On to the other side of the world. I can't seem to not blog our long haul trips. Plus I need something to do to while away the hours as we travel to the other side of the world. After spending a fun day in Manila, we got up at the ungodly hour of two in the morning and headed for the International Airport. When we got there, the check in counter was swamped with people. Then something amazing happened. This is the kind of thing that only happens in the Philippines. An airport worker saw that we had an infant with us, so he opened up another ticket counter just for us so we could check in and not have to wait in the lines. He said this was a special line just for us since we had a baby with us. Again, only in the Philippines. So here we sit waiting at our gate, saying goodbye to the Philippines for three months. I still can't believe we are actually leaving. The flight to Hong Kong is just under two hours, we will stopover there for about two hours, then it's the bi...

Leaving tomorrow . . . we have just arrived in Manila where we will be staying one night. Our flight to the States leaves on Sunday the 12th, and since we are going East, we arrive in Orlando the same calendar day. See you on the other side of the world.

I have always been impressed with the life and ministry of Pastor Ted Haggard. He graduated from ORU in the 70's, and he would return to the school to preach during chapel services and also to conduct the annual Men's Conference for the Students. I was always impressed with his straight talk and uncompromising attitude concerning personal integrity. With a very heavy heart I have been following the scandals that have been swirling around him over these passed few days. I now have heard that after voluntarily stepping down from the senior pastorate of New Life Church in Colorado Springs (a church he started in his living room), the church's oversight board has now dismissed him outright. The associate pastor and worship leader, Ross Parsley will be serving as the interim senior pastor. I knew Ross while at ORU, he was the student worship leader during chapel services. My brother Eric moved to Colorado Springs to work with the church and their worship department. I reme...

It is amazing to see how far missions has come. This is definitely not your father's missions. Way back in 1995 I was here in the Philippines doing a missionary internship my school Oral Roberts Unviersity. I had to make a call to the States for some school business. At that time a call to the U.S. cost about $20 for five minutes. The call was made over a trans-Pacific phone line, and you had to have an operater here in the Philippines connect you with an operator in the States before you actually got to talk to the person you wanted to call. The reception was terrible, and there was a two second lag in the connection, so I could hear my voice echo as it traveled to the other side of the world Now just over ten years later, things have definitely changed. I have recently discovered the Gizmo Project . Using a microphone and headset I bought at a local computer store for about $5, I just made a call to the U.S. for free. I was able to do this sitting here at my desk, on my P...

Aslan is on the move, and the world will tremble.

We just got back from the city of Davao in the southern part of the Philippines. We spent a week there for the Calvary International Asia Pacific team Annual Meeting. A very blessed time was had by all. We stayed at Eden Mountain Resort , a beautiful place up in the mountains. In fact the weather there was very unFilipino like, much cooler, and even somewhat cold at night. I could ALMOST see my breath in the morning. Or course, I will have my full share of colder temperatures very soon, we leave for the States in just 28 days.

Enjoying the Packers vs. Eagles game live on Tuesday morning, Monday night in America.

What's so funny?

November 11 Cebu Pacific Flight #5J 545 Iloilo to Manila, departs 9:55AM arrives 10:55AM November 12 Cathay Pacific Flight #904 Manila to Hong Kong, departs 6:50AM arrives 8:50AM Continental Flight #98 Hong Kong to Newark, NJ, departs 11:25AM arrives 1:50PM Continental Flight #792 Newark to Orland, FL, departs 3:45PM arrives 6:43PM (on Sunday the 12th) November 28 Southwest Flight #1431 Orlando to Baltimore-Washington, departs 8:05PM arrives 10:15PM According to this , the flight from Hong Kong to Newark is 8th on the list of longest non-stop flights in current operation. The flight lasts 15 hours and 50 minutes (give or take a few minutes depending on winds), and it flys over the North Pole. Fortuantely this flight uses the newest Boeing 777s and is one of the flagship routes of Continental Airlines. This means the flights attendants are usually top notch (read extra nice and not too snobby) and the inflight entertainment is usually pretty good as well, and even the food is not too...

It is so good to be home in Iloilo. Manila is a fun place to visit, plus seeing friends and our missionary family there is a blessing. However, I am so glad I live in this small town of just barely half a million people, rather than in Manila with around 20 million poeple. Traffic is a major pain. Iloilo is just fine for me. Also since Manila is more Westernized, there is more air conditioning in the buildings and homes. Right now I am fighting a cold I caught from sleeping in AC. What is going to happen to me when I return to the States in November? I guess I need to start eating more oranges. As of this writing, we return to the States in just 51 days.

Daniel is now officially an American citizen. We had our interview at at the U.S. Embassy in Manila. It was merely a formality since both Chris and I are natural born American citizens. They had us raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth, asked us a few questions, confirmed that the baby passport picture we sent them matches the baby in our arms, then all was approved. We will get his passport via FedEx delivered to our home in Iloilo in about two weeks. Manila is a huge town with almost 20 million people. While it does have some really nice malls and American restaurants, and plenty of Starbucks coffee shops, I am so glad we do not live here. I love our small provincial town of Iloilo with just under half a million people. We are enjoying our stay here visiting fellow missionaries and enjoying Chili's and California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, I am looking forward to being back home tomorrow evening. We will do a bit more shopping, Chris will get a haircut, and we m...

We will be in Manila tomorrow, just an hour's flight away from our humble provincial town of Iloilo. We will be in the big city for three nights, coming back home on Thursday afternoon. We will enjoy some Western comforts that can be found in Manila, like certain American restaurants. I am really looking forward to eating at Chili's tomorrow night for dinner. Faithy is looking forward to spending some birthday money at the new Toys R Us store in the Robinson's Galleria Mall. Most importantly we are going to have our interview at the American Embassy in Manila to appeal for Daniel's US citizenship and get his passport. This should be no problem since both Chris and I are natural born American citizens.

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke

As I mentioned before , going to movies here in the Philippines can be pretty inexpensive. We saw the new Adam Sandler move Click. Over all a pretty good movie with an excellent message. It was like Bruce Almighty in that it was a comedy about a person having super powers to manipulate his environment, and that he learns something in the end. The message of Click is the importance of taking care of your family. Unfortunately what is left out of this movie is the necessity of Christ. I consider my family to be the most important people in my life. My ministry to my family comes before any ministry to Bible school students or street children. However, I know that without Christ in my life, I would utterly fail as a husband and a father. On my own I am too selfish. I do not have enough wisdom or patience to be the kind of man my family needs me to be. I need Christ to give me grace and strength. Left to my own resources I would fail. Thankfully I am not without Christ. He gives...

Our family loves to swim. As I mentioned before, we are blessed to have a pool on the campus where we live. Today our newest member of the family had his first swim. He did not LOVE it, but he did not hate it either. We basically held him up so that only his feet were in the water. He did start to enjoy splashing around. At least he did not cry and wail like he does when he get a bath. More pictures of this and other stuff can be found on our Flickr page .

Enjoying the swing out on our carport.

It is never too early to start planning for Christmas. We will be Stateside for Daniel's first Christmas. We will leave the Philippines on November 12. We will spend the first part of our vacation in Florida, enjoying Thanksgiving with my Mom, plus we feel that Florida weather will help us transition from the tropical heat of the Philippines to Winter in the States. We plan to be in Maryland around the end of November. When our plans become more firm, we will let you all know. We will return home to the Philippines at the end of January of 2007.

A followup on this post about God's timing. Here the child is now, doing much better, no more neck problems. Praise the Lord for prayer.

Today Faithy is 6 years old. It is hard to believe. When we first arrived here in the Philippines, Eric was 6, and Faithy was just 4. She started her day opening presents. Later we went out to dinner at the place of her choice, Pancake House. It is similar to Denny's in America. Happy Birthday Faithy!

In this picture you see fellow missionary Jimmy Capone praying for a child who lives in Calajunan, the city dump site of Iloilo. The young boy had a severe neck injury from an accident. He could not hold his neck up without help. Jimmy and the team prayed for this child for complete and total healing. We prayed and prayed asking God to heal this little one, and make his neck straight. We had to leave, but with heavy hearts since the child still had neck problems and was very listless. We left wondering why does God not heal instantly like He did in the Bible? Whe does He withhold His blessing? The seeds of prayer for healing were planted in this child's life, and now they have come to harvest. He is totally healed. He even came to Saturday's Kid's church at the Center. He is active, smiling, no more neck problems, totally healed. His father also recently accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and savior, he is now born again. God's purposes are greater than ours...

Life in the Philippines can be pretty loud. Because of the hot weather and our lack of central AC, we keep our windows open pretty much all day. Fortunately Daniel has been able to sleep through all the noise. We decided we were not going to tip toe around him when he slept--creating a zone of silence around him, making everyone whisper or observe strict silence. Even with all the noise, he sleeps through it all pretty good. The brothers.

and more pictures of Daniel and the kids can be found here .

First we had my buddy Jason and his family here during the first part of July, then we had the return of Jessica, then we had a team from Christ Community Worship Center church here for two weeks, then we had our third child, Daniel. It was a very busy July. The CCWC team was lead by Jimmy and Beth Capone. Jimmy is a true brother. They cam last summer for a short-term trip. This summer they brought a team from their church, including their daughters, Natalie and Julianna (Eric and Faith loved seeing their dear friends again). Jimmy and Beth are also Daniel's Godparents, and I am so blessed they were able to see their Godson while they were in-country. Jimmy--I am blessed to count you as a true brother and co-labor with you in Christ's vineyard. You are a steadfast source of encouragement and blessing. Thank you so much for once again coming to the other side of the world. You are a missionary to me. Dave

He's my brother. It's nice to be clean.

We are finally home. We spent only one night in the hospital.

So Chris wakes me up at around 4 AM the morning of July 26, 2006, and says “we are having the baby today, get ready to leave for the hospital.” Being that it was not even light out, I did what most fathers would do in my position, I went back to sleep. Eventually I got out of bed about forty minutes later.  So this day has finally come. We have always had pretty healthy pregnancies. We had several false alarms with Eric, our first child, thinking that this was the “big day,” only to fall asleep and wake up in the morning and go to work like normal. With Faith, our second, Chris knew exactly when the contractions were real and not false labor, so I knew this time again, she would know for sure and that I could trust her judgment with this. So I got out of bed pretty certain that our son was going to be born on this day. Honestly, I have been battling with feelings of uneasiness and a little fear over our decision to have this child here in the Philippines. Forgive me if I ...

He is here. The delivery was fast and problem free. All are doing great. Will post pictures soon. Thanks so much for praying. Born this day, July 26, 7:49 AM, just over 8 lbs.

It is around 5:30 AM the morning of July 26, we are heading for the hospital. This baby is going to be three days early.

Jessica Carter came to visit us last Summer with a Calvary International Discovery Missions team. She kept emailing us after the trip saying she really wanted to come back for another visit. Well, she is back, and we are so blessed to have her. It is always so cool to have people come visit us on a short-term missions trip. It is even cooler when they come back for more. This time, instead of coming with a team, she came totally on her own--brave girl. Again I say, how about YOU? When is it your time to come to the other side of the world?

Jason Branch and I have known each other since were were six years old. He and his wife Dina, and her son Brenden, are visiting us on a short-term missions trip. They are hoping to bring a team from their church here next summer. If you live in the North-Central Florida area, maybe you could join their team. It is a blessing to have them here,

From a letter of John Adams to his wife: "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.- I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by Solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfire and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more." Happy 2nd of July, on this day in 1776 the unanimous vote for the declaration of independence from the empire of Great Britain was voted and agreed upon. On that day, according to John Adams: "the greatest Question was decided, which ever was debated in America, and a greater perhaps, never was or will be decided among Men. A Resolution was passed without one dissenting Colony 'that these united Colonies, are, and of right ought to be fr...

So we do not have a frost-free fridge here in the Philippines, so every so often we have to defrost our freezer. At least this provides the an opportunity for the kids to play with snow, even here in the tropical Philippines.

In our home here in the Philippines you DO NOT EVER leave crumbs or dirty dishes out. Doing so invites ants and ants and more ants. We have been able to keep the ants at bay with some good ant killing gel and just being very quick to clean up after meals. Also the kids are only allowed to eat in the kitchen or in our dining room. Then there is the microwave oven. Our toaster sits on top of the microwave. We get a little lazy and we are not as quick to clean the toaster from crumbs as we should, mainly because the ants do not seem to be interested. For a while I thought it was their fear of being fried if they happen to be in there feasting while we had a craving for some toast and jam. Now I am starting to wonder if the ants are a little smarter than we think. I think it's the microwave oven. They simply do not go near it. As an experiment I spilled a little pile of sugar on top of the microwave. Normally you spill sugar on the counter or floor, and ants come running. For...

Enjoying in our bedroom the breezes that come with the rainy season.

the Philippines is VERY hot and humid, it is not the cleanest place--especially most streets, my wife is stared at here because she is caucasian and sticks out, most bathrooms here do not have toilet paper, there are occasional power outages--sometimes daily, we are taxed with visa and immigration fees just to even stay in the country, and even though we have been here for almost two years we are still dealing with the culture shock that comes with living in a foreign country . . . but . . . movies here are only 60 pesos. That's about $1. Just saw Pixar's Cars, it was great. To take the family, including popcorn and drinks, about $8. Vroom, vroom.

Enjoying the rainy season. Temperatures are a little cooler and breezier, of course you have to put up with the occasional flooding and the rain coming in sideways through your windows getting stuff inside your house wet.