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.

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.