anascomissions.org

It is so good to be back home again in Iloilo. As much as I love making Bible school teaching trips to various places, I find it very hard to be away from my family. They spent two days in Hong Kong enjoying a mini family vacation at Hong Kong Disneyland. We then met up in Manila Saturday night. We spend two nights there enjoying some American comforts like good restaurants and nice shopping malls. We ate a really nice Italian place and also Chilis, it was just like States, the atmosphere, the food, and even free refills on your drinks. It is amazing how enjoying this kind of stuff every now and then can really recharge your batteries while living in a foreign country. We also found a great bookstore in the Power Plant Mall. We were there for over two hours just reading, like a library. I am very glad we are all back together again. I missed them very much. I can now disclose that myself and my other Bible school teacher were almost compromised while we were in (unnamed count

Today was my last day of teaching here in (unnamed country) with the Underground Church. I was so blessed to spend a week here teaching, once again it has changed my life. I was very blessed, humbled, and inspired by the believers here. One of the pastors told me that things are getting better and more open here. The government is realizing that the church is not going away, and it is only growing, and it has become a force to be reckoned with. Also this country is wanting to be a part of the World Train Organization, and in order to do that, it must be more open and tolerant of religious expression. This is an answer to prayer. The Christians here firmly believe that one day this country will be free and open, and the church will no longer have to be underground. Lord speed the day. Aslan is on the move.

I have confirmed there are almost 3,000,000 scooters in this city, and that is no exaggeration. I have taken pictures and shot video, but even these cannot properly convey the sheer numbers of scooters here. They are everywhere, parked in every open spot on the sidewalk, and also parked inside buildings and places to eat. Words, pictures, and video footage cannot properly describe what nearly 3,000,000 scooters motoring around looks like. I am benefiting from the fact that this is not my first trip here. Last time in November, it was very hard and I was worn out every night after teaching. This time things are not as difficult. I am sure part of it is the fact that I am not sick with a cold. On my last trip, I would wake up sick, wishing I could just stay in bed and rest, but I knew there was no substitute teacher. I was it, and the students were expecting me everyday. I also believe the joy of the Lord has given me great strength. It is a great joy to see these students again

Nap time again, I may join in the sleeping later. It is so good to be back here again, it feels like I never left. After just a one hour flight to Manila and then a two hour flight from Manila to here, I find myself back in this country I cannot name. Day two in-country is the first day teaching, and I am so blessed to be teaching the same group of students I was with the last time I was here. It is nice to be remembered, and to see my brothers and friends again. I am still so challenged by their example and their faith. Persecution makes the faith of a church very pure. That is very obvious from these Christians. Their hunger for knowledge is humbling and inspiring. Walking around the markets, or sitting on the back of a scooter on the way to the safe house feels comfortably familiar, like I have returned to a place I know and love so much. Even more than this very unique city and country, the true pleasure is in reuniting with my brothers and sisters here, and with the strong

and the world will tremble.

What does it mean to encourage yourself in the Lord? This was spoken of concerning Paul, when he faced struggles and imprisonments on the mission field. I find myself meditating on this phrase thinking that this is something I need to figure out. There are times when I am very discouraged. I just want to give up, call it quits, go back to the States, to the familiar, to hot showers. The Lord brought that phrase "encourage yourself in the Lord" to mind, and I feel I need to find out what this means. Thankfully I am blessed with family and friends here who also encourage, lift up and bless me and challenge me to press on. There are times when God seeks you to find encouragement from just Him, when He is all you got, and all you need. While I certainly do not claim to fully understand what this means, I feel that I am on the road to a definition, and to a deeper understanding of how Christ strengthens His children. So that when I am discouraged (and I know that discoura

I can't believe my baby girl is old enough to be doing ballet. Lessons every Saturday morning.

For one week our Internet service was down, yet another reminder that we live in a third-world country where some things are somewhat advanced, but some things, like customer technical support, is still lacking. We were told that they were making some improvements to our service. It was working great before--here's an idea for an improvement, if it's not broken, don't fix it. All in all I can't complain too much, it only costs about $14 a month for high speed Internet, and I am able to share it wirelessly between our two Powerbooks. So how about this weather? It is actually cold at night. It feels like back to school weather in September, or early Spring weather. I never thought I would be this cold (outside a movie theater) here in the Philippines. We are enjoying it while we can, in March someone flips a switch and goes back up to high humidity and tropical heat.

this is what I will be eating for breakfast. PLEASE keep this upcoming trip in your prayers. PRAY. GOD IS LISTENING. IT WORKS.