November

November was a hectic month for us. Life always gets busier for us toward the end of the trimester. Our calendar included the usual stuff, some meals with campus visitors, home groups, Bible club, and classes. It also included special holiday activities, like our campus Thanksgiving dinner, APTS annual candlelight Christmas service and the faculty Christmas party. In preparation for these events I (Lindsey) taught the Bible club kids how to sing "Silent Night" in American Sign Language, baked over 300 cookies and made 15 Christmas ornaments with the kids!

Interrupting all our activities was a couple of trips to the hospital for me. I had a gallbladder attack on the day before Thanksgiving. Thanks, to a providential discussion about gallbladders with my Mom the day before, I had some idea of what might be wrong with me and was able to suggest to the doctor that she check my gallbladder. They found multiple stones, including two somewhat large ones, and some thickening of my gallbladder. The doctor said it needed to come out with in a week. I decided to have the operation done in Manila at a cleaner and more modern hospital. So, I managed to talk the doctor into letting me go home just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. The next day was spent trying to locate a good surgeon (this proved to be no easy task!), packing and preparing to leave for Manila. I also had to get the kids ready to stay with a friend and fellow missionary on campus while we were gone.

(Picture of our family, not including Chris who's behind the camera, at the APTS Thanksgiving dinner.)

We left before sunrise on Saturday for Manila. In the afternoon I had an appointment with the surgeon. He showed us his collection of photos of gallbladders he removed. As he had been performing the surgery for nearly 20 years, and teaching others how to do it, the collection was extensive! However, we appreciated that he took his time with us and was experienced in laproscopic surgery.

We stayed the night in a guestroom at a church of an APTS graduate. We attended his bilingual (Chinese/English) church service the following morning. After church we had a quiet lunch (with out the kids) and checked into the hospital.

Late Monday afternoon the surgery was performed successfully. I no longer have a gallbladder! We were blessed to have several missionary friends visit us during our stay in the hospital. I was able to return home to Baguio (about a 5 hour drive) on Wednesday morning. I've been getting better day by day. I was even able to attend the faculty Christmas party on Friday for a little while. Pretty soon I should be fully recovered and hopefully, feeling better than I have in years. Thank you, thank you, thank you to all the friends, family and churches that prayed for us!

Photo of me at the faculty Christmas party just 4 days postop!

International Night

Each October APTS has an annual mission emphasis week. The week ends with international night banquet and presentations. Here is this years international night in pictures...

The opening human video about unreached people groups
The Young Kids Bible Club singing "Let Your Light Shine"

The American and Dutch students doing a traditional American square dance.

The pacific islanders human video.

The Korean students cultural exhibition

Chris' parents and Addie watching the Northern Asian students Psalm and traditional dance.

The faculty top ten list.


The Thai boxer and Japanese Samurai challenge.

Filipino warrior dance.

Note: I started this post last month, but was unable to publish it due to Internet and then health problems. So, here it is at last. I had hoped to add more pictures, but was unable to do so. Still, I think these photos will give you a taste of our international night.

Typhoon and Troubles

Things have been a bit crazy around here. We've battled a few illnesses. Hudson had yet another bad tummy bug. Poor little guy! Plus we've been passing around a cold.
We also have had computer troubles. Chris' computer got a worm. I never even knew that was possible! It has not been fun! Of course we couldn't just have one computer problem, the power cord for our lap top isn't working, so we are ordering a new one. Thank the Lord that we've been able to borrow a lap top to see us through the computer crisis!
In other news, we had a typhoon hit us Sunday & Monday. The winds weren't very strong, but we did get an amazing down poor of rain. When I stepped on to our road at one point, the water rushing down the hill was up past my ankle! It also started to flood into kitchen through the back door. The kids thought this was great! They were splashing around in the 1/2 inch of water covering my entire kitchen floor. Addie even asked if she could put on her swim suit! They were disappointed when I sent them upstairs to change out of their wet clothes. Thankfully, the maintenance guys were able to clear the drains in our back yard and stop the flooding before any damage was done.
The craziness continues with a very busy week ahead. Chris' parents arrive tonight for a 10 day visit. We also have the missions emphasis week with various related campus activities and are going to be celebrating Wesley and Addie's birthdays while the grandparents are here. It should be fun.

Faculty Retreat

Last weekend was spent at the beach. The faculty had their annual retreat in San Fernando, right on the South China Sea.

Here's a look at what we did when the faculty weren't in meetings...

Swimming in the pool (this is a favorite with the kids)

Playing in the sand

Eating delicious BBQ fish, eggplant and bananas and drinking coconut milk. Followed by smores for dessert and singing around the campfire.

And, of course, relaxing and visiting with fellow missionaries.

Pirate, Prayer & Papers

The end of the trimester is rapidly approaching and thus, our schedule is getting busier. The last couple of weeks have flown bye at warp speed. Chris has been busy grading rough draft of his hermeneutics papers. He is also busy writing the final exam for next week. Additionally, we had several big faculty and missionary meetings.
Along with meetings and school work, we hosted the monthly faculty prayer meeting at our house. We had about 20 faculty members over for a time of prayer, and of course, food. I provided fruit, deviled eggs, home made raisin bread, cookies and cherry chewbilees. The meeting went well and everyone enjoyed the "merienda" (snack).
To add to the crazy busyness, last week started for me (Lindsey) with a scratch on my cornea. Hudson woke up in the middle of the night crying and flinging his arms about. In one such swipe of the arm he manged to scratch my eye with his finger nail. I went to the doctor the next morning and was surprised to discover my vision was blurred in that eye. The doctor prescribed antibiotic eye drops and had me keep it covered with an eye pad. When I came home with one eye covered, I told Wesley that I was a pirate! After much prayer and 4 days of eye drops, I returned to the doctor. Thankfully, my eye is completely healed. I never knew how important two eyes are for depth prescription. I am relieved to be able to see clearly again!
This weekend we are off to the beach for our faculty retreat. I write more about that in the next blog.

Home groups

Every Friday we have faculty & student home groups. During our home groups we focus on getting to know the students and building relationships with them. Each week we enjoy a "merienda" or large snack. This usually includes 2 home made goodies (cookies, cake, muffins, etc) that I (Lindsey) bake and chips and one other item. We also play a game together. This week a student taught us a traditional Korean game. Wesley and Addie were voted the best players! Our home group always ends in a time of praying for each other. It is always a great time of getting to know our students a little bit better.

Family Photo

Missionaries take lots of pictures. A family photo is frequently needed for a church or newsletter. Today we attempted to take a photograph for a church that requested an updated photo of the family. As with any family with little kids, getting a good picture can be a challenge. Check out the pictures below for a good laugh at our attempts to get an acceptable family picture. We gave up on getting a great picture after about 10 attempts.

"Everyone sit down!"

"Smile nicely Wesley!"

"Where is Addie?"

"Hudson, Hudson, look up Hudson!"

"Let me fix your hair."

"Oh no! A cloud just passed over us. This picture is to dark!"

"Just one more picture!"

"This will have to do!"

Lunch with Cara

Last Friday Cara, one of our students took the family out to lunch. She wanted to thank Lindsey for helping her study for the English entrance exam. She passed it and now is taking two of Chris' classes.

We went to a Korean BBQ where we cooked the meat at our own table. The kids thought this was great. The food was tasty. Chris especially enjoyed the kimchi and Lindsey liked the soup.

Young Kids Bible Club

Young Kids Bible Club has started again with the new trimester. We just had our third meeting yesterday. The kids are enjoying it and learning more about Jesus. This week we learned about Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. After play time and song time the kids helped act out the story. Then we played a game and the children prayed for each other. At craft time the kids finger painted praying hands. We ended Bible club with a snack and table toys.

The Amoeba’s Ugly Cousin Strikes Again!

I’ve had an upset stomach since Thursday and, so I thought it was time to see a doctor and get things sorted. The whole going to the doctor and getting some medicine is not an easy process here. This is the part of the life of a missionary that most people never hear about, but I’ll give you the inside story. First off, a trip has to be made to the lab. It is about 20 minutes away if the traffic isn’t too bad. The tricky part is you have to take the sample to the lab within 30 minutes of collection, other wise it’s no good any you have to throw it out and try again. Thankfully, Chris was able to take it in for me on time.
Next comes the trip to pick up the lab results and see the doctor. I picked up the results, no problem, but then had to wade through both cars and sea of human traffic in an attempt to find a parking space. After about 30 minutes, I thought I’d finally found a good one, sure it was about a 10 minute walk from the doctors’ office, but it was some place to put the car. Therefore, I parked and started trekking up the torn up side walk, grasping my daughters hand a mid a swarm of other people tying not to sprain an ankle as we pick our way through the rubble. Eventually I gave up and joined the other people who opted to doge cars on the busy road. I was feeling rather weak, so I stopped for a Gatorade from 7-11 on the way.
We get to the doctors office building and climb up to the 3rd floor. Thankfully, the wait was not as long as most doctors’ offices are in the States. This was especially good as the building I was waiting in was very stuffy and smelled like leaking gas.
The doctor informed me that I had a blastocystist (at least I think that’s what he called it). He explained it as a bug that burrows into your intestine causing bleeding, diarrhea and other symptoms. It also feeds on iron and folic acid, which would explain why I’ve been so exhausted lately. Because this is the second time I’ve gotten this lovely bug, he recommended that I stick to eating only cooked produce for awhile. He also gave me a prescription for some really nasty medicine, Flagentyl. It does the trick, but you feel really awful while taking it. In fact, I had to get a prescription for anti nausea pills to take with it.
Now that I had a diagnosis and appropriate prescriptions, I was off to the pharmacy. Well, the first pharmacy only had 2 pill for one of the medications I needed. The next pharmacy had my regular heartburn medication, but none of the others. After waiting in line at two pharmacies, and feeling rather sick, I was ready to call in the reinforcements.
So, I headed back to my car, only to discover a parking ticket! I drove home and called Chris in his office to ask him to continue the hunt for my meds. We decided to load up the whole family and drive back into town to look for them. This way, one of us could double park and be on hand to move the car if the cops complained. I didn’t need two tickets in one day!
The near by pharmacy was “out of stock.” The next pharmacy at the hospital had the nausea medicine but said that the manufacturers weren’t supplying the Flagentyl anymore and to call our doctor for a new prescription. So, we called him. He called yet another pharmacy, and they said they had it. Finally, after 4 hours from when I left to go to the doctors and 5 pharmacies later we were home with all the medicine I need.
When retelling this story to my Mom I told her that the next time she was at a drive through Walgreen’s she should thank God for it!
So, how do I cope with all this frustration and with being sick yet again? My answer is worship music. Thinking about how great God is and how important his plans are, puts my small frustrations and problems into perspective. As I listen to words like, “present suffering may pass, Lord your mercy will last, as I open my eyes to the works of your hand. Hope will rise, glory shone, in my life your will be done” on my Hillsongs, "Mighty to Save" CD (thanks to a Christmas gift from a church in Florida) I make it my prayer. After all what’s a little sickness and hassle in the light of eternity?

A preview for the grandparents

Sending mail is a bit tricky from the Philippines. For those of you who just got our newsletter, we mailed it out about a month ago. Some people, like my parents, still haven't gotten it yet. So, when we get the chance we try to send out mail with people who are going back to the States. This week the Cagels are going back for School of Missions, so we are going to send back some pictures on CD for our parents. Still, it so hard for Grandparents who are so far away from their grand kids to wait. So, please allow me do indulge them with some recent cute pictures of their grand kids.

Here are some pictures of the kids at home, including Hudson with his latest fascination, "trash". The other little girl with Wesley and Addie in the picture above is their friend Isabel. Her parents are also on the faculty here.

These next two pictures are from our trip to the beach.

The final two pictures show Wesley playing "Go Fish" in our hotel room in Malaka and Addie at "Edmond's" (her bike) birthday party that Wesley and Addie arranged and invited the family to attend!

We hope these new pictures will tide the grandparents over for another week or two. We love you!

Welcome Student Banquet

This Saturday the whole family attended the President's Welcome banquet. We got to talk with different students and enjoyed a meal together. We also had a good time singing "God is So Good" in the 13 different languages of APTS (French, Thai, Japanese, Indonesian, Fijian, Samoan, Pidgin, Afrikaans, Korean, Mandarin, Tagalog, Ilocano,& English)! The kids and I (Lindsey) helped out the Thai students as there is only one couple from Thailand represented and Chris and I had learned the song when we ministered in Thailand one summer. The kids had learned the song at Bible club. Check out the picture of us singing bellow and the picture of Wesley and Addie with "Pim" and "Oh" the Thai students.