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Our family continues to have an amazing time serving in the Philippines. We started the year on vacation in Tagaytay, Philippines. What you see in the picture above is a volcano inside a lake.  Of course our kids continued to grow . . . and grow. In March we completed our third Timothy Internship Program, training six new missionaries. It is an honor and privilege to work with the Sonshine Center and Pastor Chris Patricio. He is an amazing man of God, and good friend. Of course one of the biggest ministries of the Sonshine Center is Summer camps,  which began in April. This year the Summer camps were directed by Go To Nations missionaries Nomil and Valerie Adorada. As always they did an excellent job running the camps. This year Danny was a camper. So many children were touched. We ended up ministering to over  one thousand  kids. This Summer Eric (and Faithy and even Danny) got in on the action, s...

It is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35

Building on the success of last December's Lego Christmas Story , Eric got his creative juices flowing again, this time retelling the Thanksgiving Story with Legos. All pictures and captions by Eric. The Mayflower arrives at Plymouth Rock in the New World. The pilgrims begin to explore the new world. The pilgrims build houses to prepare for the coming winter. The Native American Squanto greets the pilgrims . . .  and introduces them to Chief Massasoit. Squanto teaches them farming techniques. So, after a hard but prosperous year the pilgrims prepared a thanksgiving feast and invited the Native Americans to join them in celebration. The Native Americans brought food for the feast. The pilgrims gave thanks to God for providing them all that they needed.

"When I realized that men were made in God's image, I could no longer kill them and eat them."  These are the words of a tribal leader who is now a pastoring a church among his native people. Last week Go To Nations held a pastor's conference in Davao, Philippines ministering specifically to pastors and church leaders of tribal groups in Mindanao. Over 400 church leaders from 20 tribes (pictured below) were in attendance. One of the most moving parts of the conference was when several groups sang the great hymn "How Great Thou Art" in their tribal dialect. Native peoples who once practiced cannibalism are now singing praises to God, starting churches, and reaching the unreached. The team who came to minister to these church leaders was made up of pastors and missionaries from the United States, the Philippines and Latvia. This team also included GTN president Jerry Williamson and Asia-Pacific regional director Craig Kuehn (pictured below in tribal ge...

People ask us what is our main job or ministry on the mission field. My answer, developing leaders. Training up the next generation of missionaries. Last week we had an incredible opportunity to train twenty one Filipino missionaries. In order to become a full-time missionary with our agency, you must first complete Missionary Preparation Orientation at the Go To Nations world headquarters in Jacksonville, FL. Chris and I completed this training back in 2003. This week Go To Nations held their first ever Missionary Preparation Orientation outside of their world headquarters, actually their first ever orientation outside of the United States. At the Sonshine Center, here in Iloilo, we held Missionary (Affiliate) Preparation Orientation with twenty one candidates. Cities, regions, nations and continents were represented by this class. I believe history was made this week. I also believe that this will be the first of many such missionary trainings to come. For decades missionar...

"You mean the Filipino government doesn't give you a free visa to stay here and do missionary work, you actually have to PAY the government to remain in the Philippines, even though you are ministering to Filipinos?" Incredulously this question was posed to my wife by a local pastor's wife. She couldn't believe that we had to pay the Filipino government visa fees to stay in the country to do missionary work. Actually it costs around $1,000 a year for a single missionary to remain in the Philippines, even though they are here to do missionary work. It's just part of the cost of doing missions. So do the math, there are six of us in our family--no small amount. Jesus did say, "Give unto Caesar what is Caesar's." We recently had a major miracle with our visa status. We received a heritage visa, reserved for the children and grand children of Filipinos who come back to the Philippines to visit. Because of my Filipino parents and grand parent...

This picture was taken on this date seven years ago, here is Eric and Faith, watching a Veggie Tales DVD on my Powerbook at LAX. We are getting ready to take our Air China flight across the Pacific Ocean and begin our full-time missionary career. Seven years (and two more kids) later, we are still serving in Asia. This continues to be an amazing adventure. We are about to make a similar journey.   Our flight plan: Tuesday October 4 Baltimore-Washington International to Pearson International (Toronto) Air Canada flight 7927 departing 6:30a arriving 8:12a Pearson International to Hong Kong Air Canada flight 15 departing 10a arriving 1:15p Wednesday October 5. Hong Kong to Manila Cebu Pacific flight 119 departing 7:30p arriving 9:30p Overnight in Manila Thursday October 6, Manila to Iloilo Cebu Pacific flight 457 departing 4:50p arriving 5:15p Please bathe our travels in prayer. We are hoping for peaceful and uneventful travels at all points. Ple...

We have just two weeks left in the States. We have enjoyed our time Stateside. Below are pictures of our time in Orlando with my Mom.

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

Today Faithy turns eleven. In honor of her birthday we are posting eleven pictures of Faithy doing ministry. She has a heart full of compassion, and God is using that heart on the mission field. 

As I type these lines I am sitting at a coffee shop window with a view of my alma mater Oral Roberts University .  Seeing ORU for the first time in almost fifteen years puts me in a reflective mood. Read on . . . Camp Sonshine has changed my life. I met my wife there, I did my first children's ministry there. Chris and I still work there (at Camp Sonshine Philippines), and so do our children . I almost did not go. In the Summer of 1991 I was planning to go on a missions trip to France.   ORU Summer Missions organizes trips each year, and I was on the France team. I spent the entire year raising funds, meeting with my team members, and learning French (actually took two semesters). But I did not make it to France. I was not able to raise the funds. Eventually I got THE LETTER from the Summer Missions department. I got it in early April. You know the letter, "The Hook"--basically telling me "since you did not raise enough funds for this trip, you will ...

Daniel is five years old! It is hard to believe that this day was so long ago. He is our only child born overseas in the Philippines. The story of his birth is an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness. Just a few minutes old. He's one! His first birthday. Second birthday, at the playground at the Sonshine Center. Third birthday, opening his huge present, a bike! Fourth birthday. Fifth birthday at Chuck E. Cheese, earlier today. If you are fortunate to know this amazing kid, then I know you are celebrating his birth with us.