Padens in the Philippines

Dear Friends, These days feel full—full of memories, full of transition, and full of reminders of God’s goodness. As we begin preparing for our upcoming home service, we’ve found ourselves doing a lot of reflecting—on the years behind us and the season just ahead. This fall marks 20 years of serving on the mission field—a milestone that still feels a little surreal. As we reflect, we keep going back to the beginning—arriving in Manila back in 2006 with two toddlers, stepping into language school, and honestly trying to figure out what this life as missionaries was really going to look like. We were taking in everything that felt so new—the language, the weather, the food—while trying to help our kids adjust at the same time we were adjusting ourselves. (Yes, Gilmer is Filipino but he comes from the mountains on the island of Mindanao-a completely different life and even language.) We didn’t have a clear picture of the future, but we knew God had called us, and that was enough. Over...