February Update
Dear Family, Friends, and Prayer Partners,
Greetings from the Philippines!! We hope this finds all of you well in this New Year 2009.
Below is a list of our praises and prayer requests, but first we would like to show you some pictures! Hopefully you can get a better “picture” of what we are doing and life here. Just scroll down to see the prayer and praise section.
Thank you all for keeping up with us and for your prayers and support! It’s wonderful to have a great team of people like you who care about and support what we are doing here in the Philippines.
Ministry
Gilmer’s main job is to work with the Youth. This includes both High School (there is no junior high here) and College groups. This is one of his Men’s Bible Studies that he does once a week.
Some of the youth at a youth group meeting.
Nhaya and Caleb got to go along with Daddy and the youth, while passing out Christmas Baskets (ok yellow bags!) to some poorer areas we are working in. The tradition in the Philippines is for different groups to go Caroling at houses during the Christmas season, and then the house gives money to the Carolers. What the youth did was sing to the houses and then give them gifts! This came as a shock to those who received the “baskets.” What a great way to show Christ to others during the Christmas Season.
The area was a bit precarious for walking. Caleb is enjoying a ride on one of the youth guys backs!
Singing for one of the houses.
As you know, our Church, including Gilmer, are involved in teaching the VOICE (Values, Orientation, in the Classroom, Education) program in some public schools here. VOICE is recognized by the government and uses the Bible as its text book! We use it as a way to be involved in these kid’s lives and this is some of the youth sharing with students after class.
This is our WOW (Women of the Word- yes, the ladies here liked the name from my home church so much they named if after them) group as we sing for the Christmas party. It has been difficult to encourage women to come to WOW since they are so busy working and caring for their families. Almost all Filipinas have to work to help support their families. So please pray with us, as we change the timing, and hope that it will allow more women to come.
I Love this one! We had a graduation for the VOICE kids as a way for inviting them and their parents to church. This really captures the Mountain People’s spirit and culture. These are the VOICE kids doing a dance they prepared for the occasion. The boys play the gongs and the girls dance. By the way, what the boys are wearing is called a “Bahag” the traditional mountain dress and before the girls would have been topless.
Gilmer also helps with the music ministry as you see here. We were at a baptism where 7 new believers were able to be baptized.
Here are some pictures from the government orphanage we visited in January.
This boy, at first, was very naughty and wouldn’t speak to us, what a wonderful change hu?
Nhaya with her new found friends.
This woman was an orphan herself and now works here at this government facility. She can’t speak but I don’t think this baby cares! He just needs someone to hold him.
Open up!
Gilmer with one of the babies. There was also a new arrival that was found in the city park. He was only 6 weeks and very small! Please keep these kids in your prayers. We plan to go back again and try to get the youth involved to see the needs in their own country.
Family
Josiah is such a joy to our family! He is growing so fast, in fact he just learned to walk this last month.
He celebrated his 1st birthday last December 20th. Both Nhaya and Caleb love having a little brother and it’s their goal in life to make him laugh!
One of the advantages to Christmas in the tropics is that you can go to the beach during Christmas break. Here's the kids are holding a sea cucumber they found.
Nhaya is loving school, although she still struggles with obeying the rules, and is doing great academically. She will be 7 years old this April. Here she is with her only girl classmates.
Caleb just turned 5 last month and is doing great. He is so funny and loves bugs of all shapes and sizes. He is waiting for this August when he can go to school like his sister.
Some crazy missionaries after Thanksgiving Dinner!!
Praises
-For another year here in the Philippines, it’s now been 2 ½ years. God has really taught us some great things and we pray that He has used us in the lives of the Filipino’s here.
-We finally, after almost 3 months, had water come to our house!! We never thought running water meant so much to us, but living without it has really made us thankful for the little things. (Yes, we do have a big water tank but... ran out every 3 days and had to order big trucks to come fill it up. Which sometimes can take a whole day.)
-We are thankful that our family is finally well! At least one of the members of our family has been sick since the middle of November. Please pray that we will stay healthy. Which is one of the reasons that you have not heard from us in a very long time.
Prayer Requests
-We hate to start off with finances but this is one of our major areas we need prayer for. Our support has been down for quite some time now. Even though we sometimes struggle with worry or doubt we know that He is in control and is the one who provides for us.
Please pray for more monthly supporters, even during this hard time in the States. Our area counsel here has asked us to aggressively work on this or maybe even go back to the States before our term is finished due to the deficiency. If you feel lead to support us in this way I will attach a promise form with the email.
-The ministries that we are both involved in, as you saw above. Gilmer and the youth are also planning on taking a short term missions trip down south, to the Muslim areas in Mindanao, for 3 weeks during April and May. This is a huge deal for these kids. So please pray for all the details to be worked out and that they have a successful trip. Unfortunately, Nhaya still has school so the kids and I will have to stay here, you can pray for us too!
-Gilmer will also have to travel to the States this summer due to his green card problem so please pray for wisdom as to how long and when he should be gone.
-For us spiritually to learn and grow to have more faith/ trust in Christ. You might not automatically pray that way for missionaries but we are just people like all of you who have struggles and ups and downs too.
-SEND Philippines made some huge changes last month for this area of the world. This has big implications for us and what our future might hold. Please be praying with us as we decide where God might want us to work. (I will also attach the letter from the SEND counsel for you.)
Please feel free to share this link with others you think might be interested in our ministry.
God bless all of you and thanks for reading and praying,
The Paden Family
Gilmer, Julie, Nhaya, Caleb, and Josiah
SEND Philippines
I Cor 15:58
Greetings from the Philippines!! We hope this finds all of you well in this New Year 2009.
Below is a list of our praises and prayer requests, but first we would like to show you some pictures! Hopefully you can get a better “picture” of what we are doing and life here. Just scroll down to see the prayer and praise section.
Thank you all for keeping up with us and for your prayers and support! It’s wonderful to have a great team of people like you who care about and support what we are doing here in the Philippines.
Ministry
Gilmer’s main job is to work with the Youth. This includes both High School (there is no junior high here) and College groups. This is one of his Men’s Bible Studies that he does once a week.
Some of the youth at a youth group meeting.
Nhaya and Caleb got to go along with Daddy and the youth, while passing out Christmas Baskets (ok yellow bags!) to some poorer areas we are working in. The tradition in the Philippines is for different groups to go Caroling at houses during the Christmas season, and then the house gives money to the Carolers. What the youth did was sing to the houses and then give them gifts! This came as a shock to those who received the “baskets.” What a great way to show Christ to others during the Christmas Season.
The area was a bit precarious for walking. Caleb is enjoying a ride on one of the youth guys backs!
Singing for one of the houses.
As you know, our Church, including Gilmer, are involved in teaching the VOICE (Values, Orientation, in the Classroom, Education) program in some public schools here. VOICE is recognized by the government and uses the Bible as its text book! We use it as a way to be involved in these kid’s lives and this is some of the youth sharing with students after class.
This is our WOW (Women of the Word- yes, the ladies here liked the name from my home church so much they named if after them) group as we sing for the Christmas party. It has been difficult to encourage women to come to WOW since they are so busy working and caring for their families. Almost all Filipinas have to work to help support their families. So please pray with us, as we change the timing, and hope that it will allow more women to come.
I Love this one! We had a graduation for the VOICE kids as a way for inviting them and their parents to church. This really captures the Mountain People’s spirit and culture. These are the VOICE kids doing a dance they prepared for the occasion. The boys play the gongs and the girls dance. By the way, what the boys are wearing is called a “Bahag” the traditional mountain dress and before the girls would have been topless.
Gilmer also helps with the music ministry as you see here. We were at a baptism where 7 new believers were able to be baptized.
Here are some pictures from the government orphanage we visited in January.
This boy, at first, was very naughty and wouldn’t speak to us, what a wonderful change hu?
Nhaya with her new found friends.
This woman was an orphan herself and now works here at this government facility. She can’t speak but I don’t think this baby cares! He just needs someone to hold him.
Open up!
Gilmer with one of the babies. There was also a new arrival that was found in the city park. He was only 6 weeks and very small! Please keep these kids in your prayers. We plan to go back again and try to get the youth involved to see the needs in their own country.
Family
Josiah is such a joy to our family! He is growing so fast, in fact he just learned to walk this last month.
He celebrated his 1st birthday last December 20th. Both Nhaya and Caleb love having a little brother and it’s their goal in life to make him laugh!
One of the advantages to Christmas in the tropics is that you can go to the beach during Christmas break. Here's the kids are holding a sea cucumber they found.
Nhaya is loving school, although she still struggles with obeying the rules, and is doing great academically. She will be 7 years old this April. Here she is with her only girl classmates.
Caleb just turned 5 last month and is doing great. He is so funny and loves bugs of all shapes and sizes. He is waiting for this August when he can go to school like his sister.
Some crazy missionaries after Thanksgiving Dinner!!
Praises
-For another year here in the Philippines, it’s now been 2 ½ years. God has really taught us some great things and we pray that He has used us in the lives of the Filipino’s here.
-We finally, after almost 3 months, had water come to our house!! We never thought running water meant so much to us, but living without it has really made us thankful for the little things. (Yes, we do have a big water tank but... ran out every 3 days and had to order big trucks to come fill it up. Which sometimes can take a whole day.)
-We are thankful that our family is finally well! At least one of the members of our family has been sick since the middle of November. Please pray that we will stay healthy. Which is one of the reasons that you have not heard from us in a very long time.
Prayer Requests
-We hate to start off with finances but this is one of our major areas we need prayer for. Our support has been down for quite some time now. Even though we sometimes struggle with worry or doubt we know that He is in control and is the one who provides for us.
Please pray for more monthly supporters, even during this hard time in the States. Our area counsel here has asked us to aggressively work on this or maybe even go back to the States before our term is finished due to the deficiency. If you feel lead to support us in this way I will attach a promise form with the email.
-The ministries that we are both involved in, as you saw above. Gilmer and the youth are also planning on taking a short term missions trip down south, to the Muslim areas in Mindanao, for 3 weeks during April and May. This is a huge deal for these kids. So please pray for all the details to be worked out and that they have a successful trip. Unfortunately, Nhaya still has school so the kids and I will have to stay here, you can pray for us too!
-Gilmer will also have to travel to the States this summer due to his green card problem so please pray for wisdom as to how long and when he should be gone.
-For us spiritually to learn and grow to have more faith/ trust in Christ. You might not automatically pray that way for missionaries but we are just people like all of you who have struggles and ups and downs too.
-SEND Philippines made some huge changes last month for this area of the world. This has big implications for us and what our future might hold. Please be praying with us as we decide where God might want us to work. (I will also attach the letter from the SEND counsel for you.)
Please feel free to share this link with others you think might be interested in our ministry.
God bless all of you and thanks for reading and praying,
The Paden Family
Gilmer, Julie, Nhaya, Caleb, and Josiah
SEND Philippines
I Cor 15:58
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