Late post, I wrote this back in September and never posted

By Julie Paden - February 26, 2018

We live in the Philippines and there is water all around us, I love the water, I love the beach, but very rarely do we get to go enjoy it. Why that is? We don't make time? We don't have time? We are just too busy with "life" to set time aside? Probably all of the above and more. It's easier to just keep going with our busy schedules (and we know busy- we have 4 kids) than to find the time and make the needed sacrifices to get there.

This last time though (as pictured above) we did make a lot of sacrifices and I think we all would agree that it was well worth the effort! What a beautiful day, what a fun time as a family, and what fun new experiences. Then I think to myself, why don't we do that more?

Rainy crowded boat ride home

Probably because it's hard. It took us a long time to get there. Our van is broken so we had to take a very cozy taxi ride with all 6 of us smashed together, we then had to walk through a crowded market to get to the passenger boats while carrying our heavy inflatable kayaks you see in the photo, after we took the boat across the bay we needed another smashed tricycle ride to get to a beach where we could start our adventure. Then on the way home, it rained and we were all wet and had to wait a long time to find a taxi.

Needless to say it wasn't an easy day! Did we regret going? No way, it was so much fun and even during the hard times we had each other to help out and reminisce about later on.

Steps

Doesn't the story I just told you apply to so many things in our lives?

Life is all about different challenges and difficulties that come our way. I'm so thankful that God takes care of us and puts those people in our paths, at just the right time, who we need to get us through the next step on our journey.

Nhaya took a huge step this year! Well, as parents, we did too. Letting your 15 year old daughter go half way around the world and fly home from overseas by herself, was not an easy thing. Thankfully, God not only provided for this life-changing trip, but sent so many blessings along the way.

I will quickly tell the story about how she ended up going with Royal Servants this summer.

Gilmer and I needed to leave the country because of my visa (another long story). So we asked our director and he suggested we join him in Thailand to attend a youth summit. How awesome it was happening at just the right time and they had some space left for us. Not only were we excited to join a conversation about youth (since we worked with them for years) but we also were able to meet the new partners with SEND International- Royal Servants. Since SEND focuses more on career and adult missions work, Royal Servants can be the partner we refer those younger guys to, and SEND can be the organization Royal Servants can refer their young people to us who feel called to continue on in missions full-time. God's hand could be seen even in my visa "problems" to direct not only our path but Nhaya's as well.

Nhaya was at an age and place in life that we thought she would really benefit from a summer serving the Lord and getting out of her comfort zone. Most of you know our story about how we meet working with Teen Missions doing similar short-term missions trips and also where we both felt called to continue full-time missions work. Since talking to the leadership of the organization we felt comfortable sending Nhaya with her unique needs as a missionary kid coming from overseas. She chose the Western Europe trip and traveled to different countries, sleeping in tents and sharing her faith as well as working with a church in London doing VBS in a immigrant community. Please read more about her trip if you have time, as parents we couldn't be more excited about all she learned and experienced.

Continued church work

While we are here to support the Filipino church as a whole, Gilmer mostly keeps busy working in our partner church for this term, Christ Fellowship Church. He is currently continuing his work as the missions and evangelism pastor, which is of course a volunteer position in partnership with PSC SEND. We only have another 8 months here before we go back to the States for our home service year, making the next months critical in making sure they have a smooth running missions and evangelism department.

I also help by co-leading a small discipleship group pictured here. I praise God for these ladies and the journey we get to share as we learn and grow together.

PSC SEND

This was our family retreat in Luzon last April. Many of those pictured here are on their way to serve overseas as full-time missionaries. The rest of us work here in the Philippines to provide support and training for them, as well as the churches who send them.

We are currently working with one single lady on her way to Macedonia and one couple who desire to work in Taiwan. Both units are from Davao and we have close contact with them as they raise their support and finish the requirements to be sent. Please pray with us for them. Raising support here in the Philippines is hard (as explained in a previous blog post) so not getting discouraged is the biggest need for them right now. Pray for His provision and timing to prevail.