Looking Ahead

Now that Lindsey is doing better, we are looking ahead to the future. We thought we’d share with you our game plan. Currently we are enjoying the Christmas season at home with Lindsey’s parents.

In January, Chris will return to the Philippines for two and a half weeks. While back in Baguio, Chris will teach a block course on the Pastoral Epistles. Chris will also assist in the hosting of the annual lectureship with the guest speaker he invited, I. Howard Marshall.

Then in February we will hit the itineration trail. We’re actually crazy enough to drive from Florida to Alaska in the middle of winter! LOL. We are looking forward to visiting friends, family and churches along the way in the following states, Georgia, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho. We will arrive in Alaska by February 13. Chris’ family and Lindsey’s brother, who live in Alaska can’t wait to see us. In fact Chris’ sister has never met Hudson and we’ve never met her youngest daughter! Our kids are also very excited about playing in the snow. We’ll finish off the winter in Alaska and then venture off on our next road trip in May.

Saying Goodbye

Our blog has been sadly neglected as we have had so much going on and a lot of medical problems. In fact, Lindsey’s heart troubles eventually lead us to saying goodbye to the Philippines and returning to the US on a medical leave. The doctors in Asia made it sound like Lindsey’s heart problem was potentially life threatening. However after arriving in the US and seeing a specialist, we were relieved to find out that it isn’t as serious as we once thought. Lindsey was taken off the strong medication she was on and has been gradually recovering from all the side effects that it gave her.

Saying goodbye to everyone we loved in the Philippines was not easy, but we were blessed to have 3 goodbye parties! The first party was with the Young Kids Bible Club. Lindsey passed on the ministry baton to her co-teacher and another student’s wife.

The next party was with the students. They told their favorite memories of us. It was touching to see how meaningful the opening up of our home, for meals, small groups and conversations had been to the students. It was also a blessing to hear tales from Chris’ classroom and how the knowledge the students gained is impacting their lives and ministries.

Japanese students singing us a traditonal goodbye song

A final goodbye party was with the faculty. During this first term we were richly blessed to be surrounded by experience missionaries who were always ready to lend a hand, provide a listening ear or offer advice. They became close friends and we miss them already.

Fellow APTS missionaries, Ruth and Nick Wilson at our faculty goodbye party.

Below, our mentor missionaries, Paul and Eveline Lewis sending us off.

Students

Beyond lecturing in the classroom, we have the unique opportunity of spending time just getting to know the students. Each week we host a student/faculty home group for a time of prayer and fellowship. We also have a lot of social events, like the new student dinner we attended yesterday at a local restaurant.

Additionally, we enjoy hanging out with the students at our house. As we all live together on our small seminary campus, students will occasionally drop by to discuss theology, ministry or just for a casual chat. Friday night we even had some of the students from the dorm over for dinner. Flint from Fiji along with Josiah (also from Fiji) and with a little help from Deanna (an American missionary serving in Thailand) made us a delicious curry. After dinner, Deanna and Mario (a student from Indonesia) stayed to watch a DVD. It has been a fascinating experience for us living in this unique multicultural Christian community.

The cooks hard at work in our kitchen.

Christmas in Baguio

We spent our second Christmas in the Philippines last month. It was an eventful holiday season. It all started with the APTS candlelight Christmas service. Unfortunately, we missed this one as Lindsey was having surgery in Manila, but the kids attended and performed "Silent Night" in American Sign Language with the Young Kids Bible Club. We made it back on time for the faculty Christmas party at the Lewis' house. We also enjoyed a Christmas party at our neighbors, the Bowdoins, where Chris illustrated the "totality of Christmas" during a pictionary game.

A couple of days before Christmas our friends Ray & Deborah Miller, missionaries on the Philippine island of Mindoro, came up spend Christmas on campus with us. They joined us on Christmas Eve for a visit to the Baguio General Hospital where we, along with other evangelical missionaries in Baguio, delivered Christmas gifts to the sick children .
Then, LaChrisha, a missionary here at APTS joined the Millers and us for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of beef brisket sandwiches. Tasty! Of course the kids couldn't wait until after dinner when we opened up the Christmas gifts. We ended the evening sitting around our fire place.

On Christmas morning LaChrisha came over to help cook for the brunch we hosted for all the single students on campus. We served homemade cinnamon raisin bread, Amish egg casserole, fruit salad, apple cider, hot cocoa, coffee, juice, and chocolate chip muffins that Hymes family (fellow APTS missionaries) brought over. The kids opened up their stockings and passed out stockings to all of the students and friends who attended our brunch.

Christmas evening we joined the rest of the campus for a pot luck dinner. We had everything from turkey and cranberry sauce, to noodles with squid and kimchi! It was great time to rejoice in the birth of our savior with Christians from all over the world. It was like a little glimpse of heaven. We were truly blessed with a wonderful Christmas.