Alexie's Teaching Debut

After traveling with the Titus Project team, we were finally back at our home church in Bontoc. I usually preach once a month and I was scheduled for today. But I had a tough act to follow because Alexie taught Sunday School.

It was Alexie’s teaching debut. She did a really good job.She was much more confident than I was the first time I taught. We are really proud of her.

Last night both of us were working side-by-side to prepare our visual aids.She had some really good ideas of how to visually represent the ideas she wanted to communicate. I enjoyed watching her study the passages that were part of her lesson and working out how best to incorporate them.

Grace,
Tom

9-Grid

Today I experimented with one of the teaching tricks I learned as an instructor at the nuclear plant. Instead of the typical sermon, we read the passage (Luke 17:11-19) then I gave the congregation an assignment.

They divided into groups and created a 9-Grid of icons that represented different aspects of the story.

Each group discussed what were the important elements of the story and the best way to represent those parts through a simple image or symbol.

Afterward, people from each group got up to describe the images of their 9-Grids: why they were chosen and what they represented.
This opened into a discussion of what we learned about the story and what we can learn from the story.

My sermon notes fit on a 4"x6" piece of paper. They were mostly a list of questions to encourage the discussion. I spoke less during this sermon than any other. Yet I think that it is one of the messages they will remember for the longest time.

Grace,
Tom

No Waver Zone

Elijah went before the people and said, "How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him."
But the people said nothing.

1 Kings 18:21

In our Christian Education class at church this morning, I taught about how God is unique. I am using a curriculum, What We Believe, from Mission Arlington. (This church has an unusual concept: develop quality teaching resources and instead of shrink wrapping and marketing them, offering them free on the internet.) The topic was perfect for what has been happening in our community. Since our congregation is made up of high school and college students (we are the only family or married couple in our church), they all know someone who has been affected by the events at the high school.

The two main illustrations I used were snowflakes and Mount Carmel. I first had to give some perspective about snowflakes and showed a short video clip of a blizzard. Snowflakes are not part of the common knowledge held by Filipinos, after all. Then we made paper snowflakes as we talked about how each one is different from another - even among the trillions of snowflakes that fall. But while each snowflake may be different, they are not unique. There are countless others that are similar in substance and shape. God, however, is unique. There is nothing like Him in shape, substance, thought, power, time, etc, etc.

The other part of the discussion was about Elijah on Mount Carmel from 1 Kings 18. The people stood by waiting to see who would prevail, God or Baal. This is very similar to what is happening here. But a difference was that they closed the door to multiple options in the future. I am not suggesting that the people of Bontoc execute the spiritists. But as long as people continue to waver between God and the spirits, they will never have freedom. The Bible shows that the hand of God moves when He is recognized as the only option.

I wish this wavering opinion about who God is was limited to the spirits. Too often, we (I) put ourselves in competition for that title. ...but this is starting to sound like a sermon and I am not scheduled to preach until next Sunday.

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to proclaim that God alone, is God.

Grace,
Tom

Lola & Lolo are Here!

There has been so much that has happened in the past week. Hopefully the collection of pictures below will give you an idea of what we have been doing.Mom, Dad, and my niece, Jordan, arrived Tuesday evening to lots of excited hugs. We were all glad to finally be in Bontoc! The bus ride was long, bumpy, and tiring. (Dad was missing his easy chair.)

The kids have enjoyed playing the new game Grandma brought with her, Bananagrams.

Annalise read Grandpa a book or two.
We visited the Bontoc Museum and explored the interactive, outdoor exhibits.

Mom learned a little bit about pounding rice.I think they now appreciate grocery stores much more. Jordan had no interest in looking through the meat market - not even for a picture!
Everybody loved the beauty of the mountains and the Maligcong Rice Terraces - 8th Wonder of the World.



Because Independence Day was Friday, we held our YWAM Health Clinic on Thursday. Mom and Dad enjoyed talking with the people who visited.
Of course, we had to see the parade!
This is a picture of Mom and Irish. Irish is one of the students in our Student Sponsorship Ministry. Because she lives by the University of Notre Dame, Mom was able to get a number of buttons with "Irish" themes: Kiss Me I'm Irish, Luck of the Irish, and such. She brought them along so she could give them to Irish when they met.
Also at Fun Night, the staff and students performed some of the traditional gong music and dancing. Jordan was a little embarrassed at being so close to handsome young men wearing g-strings.
Saturday was a beautiful day for enjoying the Mainit Hot Springs.
Dad and Jordan both gave their testimonies at church on Sunday. I loved hearing my Dad share some of the stories of his life's journey. There were a couple he shared that I had never heard before.
We had just left this souvenir shop when these two ladies were walking by. They excitedly ushered Jordan back into the store. There they grabbed one item after another until she was all dressed up Igorot-style. It was really cute. They spoke no English and our limited Ilocano only helped us to find that their names were Margarita and Concepcion. Margarita kept trying to get Jordan to dance, but she was a little overwhelmed already. I was curious how Jordan would have reacted if they had tried to put a snake vertebrae headband on her.
Monday morning, Dad and I attended the Municipal Government Flag Ceremony. Afterward, Dad took my place as speaker for the Moral Recovery Program. Having been a government employee for his career he was able to share insights from his career. It was very well received.
Mom also brought the game, Water Works, from home. It is a game I remember from my childhood. We have enjoyed playing it and just being together.

Today, Alayna and Annalise celebrated their birthdays a little early. Their grandparents and cousin brought their birthday gifts. Rather than waiting until August, the girls were delighted to discover the gifts beneath the wrapping paper.

We are blessed that our family has been able to travel to our side of the world and get a small taste of our ministry and our lives as we spend some precious time together.

Grace,
Thomas

Batch 2009

Today we attended the graduation commencement exercises at Mountain Province General Comprehensive High School. Lorna, a friend from the YWAM Student Sponsorship Ministry, had asked us to come. We were glad to be able to share in this event for her and other friends with whom we have spent time at church and in our home.

It was a long ceremony, about 4 hours. But it had some interesting elements that I have not seen before. As the students filed into the outdoor auditorium, they walked with a parent or grandparent to the seating area.

Lorna and her father walk to in the procession to the seating area.

Prior to the diplomas, numerous awards were presented to various students for athletic, academic, artistic, and community achievements. As each award was called out, students were escorted to the stage by a family member. The school faculty member would present the award to the family member who would, in turn, present it to the student. I found this a meaningful way to identify the contributions of family members to the success of their children. I was especially touched when the students were accompanied by a lolo or lola (grandfather or grandmother). (Some of the lolos even wore the traditional g-string of the Igorot tradition.)

Instead of caps and gowns, the ladies wore white blouses with the traditional woven tapis. Lisa and Alexie enjoyed looking at the various hairstyles the girls wore. The young men wore black pants and white shirts. Some of them wore western style shirts, others a Barong Tagalog. (This is the formal shirt worn by men in the Philippines.)

Rhealyn receiving her diploma.

Of course, many things seem to be universal about high school graduation, such as...

Family...

Ruth with her family

Rhealyn and her family

Lorna with her family

Friends...

Rhealyn and Charmaine

Celebration...

Adriana celebrating Rhealyn's success with her brothers

Food...

We joined Lorna's family for lunch afterward.

and more Family and Friends
We pray that God will bless the graduates of "Batch 2009" as they pursue the paths God has for them.

Grace,
Tom

Super Bowl I

Who needs the Super Bowl to have a Super Bowl party? We already had ours and although it is Sunday night and after 9 pm, the game has not even played. (An amazing thing about time zones.) The people here do not even know what the Super Bowl is or, of course, how significant an event it is in the US.

We were planning on having some typical Super Bowl party foods. Pizza, chips, salsa, etc. and playing games as a family tonight. As we were putting the pizza in the oven (we love having an oven) we got a text from someone saying she was on her way over. While we waited for her to show up, we were discussing who it may be since we did not recognize her name. It turns out she is one of the students from our church. What the text did not say was that 6 others from church were coming with her.

Honestly, I was a little overwhelmed at first. But Lisa and I took a minute and asked God to make the food we had multiply and help us all to really enjoy our time together. He was once again faithful. There was plenty to eat and leftovers, besides. More than that, I really enjoyed having them here and getting to know them better.

I did get to share American football with them, in a way. Besides having Super Bowl snacks, we watched Facing the Giants. Perhaps I will be able to get my hands on a copy of the Super Bowl and we will have a real Super Bowl party and watch a full football game. Then maybe they will better understand why some people watch the game for the hype and the commercials alone. (Then again, maybe they still won't.)

Grace,
Tom

Knock, Knock - Who's There?

Before the semester break, several of the boys from the SSM came over to watch the first of the Lord of the Rings movies, The Fellowship of the Ring. We planned to watch the others after semester break.

At church today, I told one of the guys to come over this afternoon and we would watch the next one. So after church we moved some furniture around, popped some popcorn, got ready for a movie. When the guys showed up, we started the show. After a little while, there was a knock on the door. Some of the students from church wanted to watch it, too. They came in and people squeezed together on the chairs and couch to make room. A while later, there was a knock on the door and more students came in. No more chairs, so some sat on the floor - not nice, padded carpeting, just tile. Oh well, nobody was complaining. A couple more times this act was repeated. By the end of the movie, we had about 25 people squeezed into our living room and flowing into the kitchen all intently watching our computer screen. (No wall-to-wall carpeting - No big screen TV - No surround sound)

We have enjoyed building relationships with the SSM students and the students that make up the church we are a part of. Beyond friendship with them, it is our desire to be a part of discipling them so that they can take the message of the Gospel to the people they are around. It has been encouraging that the attendance for the Christian Education class I began last week at church has been so high. We pray the Lord will use it toward their maturity and relationship with Him.

Grace,

Tom