Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth! Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing.
Psalm 100:1-2, ESV
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| Church where they worked with the kids |
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| Hiking to the area where the youth will do the outreach |
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| The young people from the missions conference Gilmer spoke at on there way to their outreach. (Gilmer is in the grey middle/right) |
In our last update we explained about our moving-in situation.
Well, we are happy to announce that we are all moved into our new house and are
settling in. There is still much work to be done and the process has been long
but we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. We forget many times that
things run on a very different schedule here in the Philippines than we are use
to.
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At my graduation from my 7 week course.
These are fellow students and some of our teachers.
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I (Julie) apologize for not having this update out sooner! I have
been attending a 7 week language introduction course since
the end of October and since I'm the "blog lady" (as Gilmer likes to
call it) I have just not been able get this finished. The people here speak a
different language and before things get really busy we thought that having me
start on the language now would be a good idea. I have to say going back to
full-time school has not been as easy as I thought it would be. Being gone all
day, learning a new language, not to mention the heat and the travel to and
from the school- have all just about wiped me out! Even making dinner and
taking care of the kids in the evening have been passed to my very capable husband. I
finished last Friday, so now I'm trying to catch up on a lot of things that
have been pushed aside. I will continue to work on the language through tutors
but not full-time anymore.
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| Yeah! I'm finished. |
Gilmer has been busy meeting pastors, getting the feel of how the
church, as a whole, works here in Davao. Trying to decide where we will be most
effective in our work has been a burden for him in the last few months.
Starting out will be a long-term process but we had
a meeting with our boss from Manila a few weeks ago and we feel comfortable in
the next steps that need to be taken.
So all the moving in and settling aside, we are getting use to our
new city and enjoy living here. The kids are doing well in school. Luke is
growing fast and he will be happy to have his Mommy home again.
Praises:
- Moving and settling in our new house. Getting more comfortable
with our new city and meeting new people.
- Gilmer was able to attend and speak during a missions conference
last November. Very encouraging to see young people interested in missions.
-Meetings with our boss from Manila went well. Encouraged to
finally start getting the ball rolling in partnering with churches here.
-My language school is finished, but I will continue to study.
I'm just not sure what that will look like in the new year. I'm studying
Cebuano. It's known as a spoken language since they don't study it in school or
use it outside of conversation. My previous studies in Filipino are both
helping and confusing me. Many of the words are the same but sometimes the
meaning is completely different.
Prayer:
-Homesickness this holiday season is harder for all of us since we
just arrived back this year. Please pray for continued adjustment to our new
life here. It's so very different living here.
-Gilmer as he continues to meet and work with the pastors. Our job
is to raise awareness both as to the needs of the unreached peoples, to
help train and send potential long-term and short-term missionaries, and to partner with the churches that desire to be more involved
in missions but might not know how to start or how they can be involved. Please
pray with us that God will lead us in the right direction and open doors.
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| We had a visit from one of my first language teachers, Ate Flor (in green). What a blessing to see her again and meet her missionary friend. |
Praying you each have a joyous Christmas and wonderful New Year.
Or as we say in Filipino,
"Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon"
Serving
Together,
Gilmer and Julie Paden
(Nhaya, Caleb, Josiah
and Luke)
Below are more everyday pictures I thought you would like to see.
Many are taken on my drive to language school.
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These people come from
mountain areas surrounding the city and stay through the Christmas season hoping to get money, food, and clothes. They sleep anywhere they can. This is a little tarp right beside the road. |
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| In the distance is the largest mountain in the Philippines- Mt. Apo |
How
many tires do you think you could
carry on your bike? |
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| Which wire was it again? |
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Such happy faces!! It's like the shoebox ministry many of
you
participate in. |
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Love those smiles!! The nun working here said these are the
poorest of poor kids. You would never know it by their attitudes though.
They are so sweet.
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| Gilmer is trying to help! |
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