new fellowship begins

hello once again!


the last 11 days since i blogged have been very busy! we have started our last month here, which is crazy! as of today (may 15), we have 18 days left in the philippines, then we are headed back to canada! it seems like it hasn't been long enough to be nearly time to go home. our time here has been an incredible blessing to my life and i have learned so much.


two weeks ago yesterday, my team headed out to the beach! it is about a 2-3hr drive away from our house, and we left for the beach at - just wait for it! - FOUR THIRTY AM. yes. really. this is because in tropical countries like the philippines, it is simply too hot to be outside around noon while at the beach. we got to the beach just after 7am, and proceeded to enjoy every bit of the beautiful ocean, beach, and sun. it really was hot though, with temperatures reaching around 40 degrees celsius WITHOUT humidity. it was nuts.
the day was a lot of fun though, and we just enjoyed relaxing in the sun (and under a canopy sort of deal, to avoid major sunburns!) with pastor sam, ate evelyn, heart, and zach. the ocean was beautiful, and we topped off our day with a few jellyfish stings - kind of unavoidable! all in all, it was a great day, all stings and burns aside!

zach and heart playing in the sand. look at that ocean behind them!!

on saturday the 5th, our team was left alone in our house. pastor sam and ate evelyn drove heart back to her house in manila, taking zach with them, and the other people who live here were still at their leadership camp. we had a fun day trying to figure out things around here without ate evelyn, because she is essentially a mother to all of us... which makes us a bit lost without her! we also had the amazing opportunity to lead prayer fellowship on our own. i think we were all a bit nervous about it at the start, due to our language barrier with the balacbac women (they have the poorest english of all the people with whom we interact), but God is good, and He provided us with not one, but two, women who knew enough english to translate. jonas spoke, and it ended up being one of the best prayer fellowships to which we've been! it was cool to see that we have established a relationship with the women that does not depend upon ate evelyn or pastor sam.
the women here continue to inspire me with their joy and persistent attitudes of dependence upon Jesus. i'm definitely learning more and more how to look to God for everything that i need, because He is ultimately the source of all i have, do, and experience. such a good reminder for this north american girl!

the kids here LOVE jonas! and he loves them back :)

it has also been party time around here lately! we threw a joint party for ate cha, kuya ralph, grace, and shown last saturday - ate cha's belated birthday, a goodbye to kuya ralph (he left to visit his family in saudi arabia),  grace's early birthday, and "conGRADulations" to shown. we bought them gifts, decorated the house, and got them cakes - and totally surprised them! it was super cool to be able to do this for them, because they have all taught us so much, and we wanted to celebrate who they are, and, in shown's case, what they've accomplished! it was definitely sad to say goodbye to kuya ralph, but i am resting in the hope that i will see him in person again someday!

singing "happy early-belated,-we-will-miss-you,-conGRADulations-birthday to you"
(i know, it confused me too!)

i think one of the most exciting things i have ever experience occurred this past week - planting a church! we ran a vbs in our area, which was a first for the arcano family, and also the reason they moved to this area - to start a new church! we advertised the week prior to the vbs, and prayed hard for God to move and to lead kids to our vbs. we ended up with 52 kids the first day, and that only increased as the week went on! we definitely rejoiced in the number of kids who came, and were even more encouraged by the number of mums who hung around during every day of vbs to talk with ate evelyn. she invited them to our house for a Bible study this past sunday, or to at least send their kids over here for a sunday school lesson. sure enough, yesterday morning, 5 kids showed up for sunday school. thus began the dontogan church of baguio city. it seems to me that it should be more complicated to start a church, but maybe that's just my north american mindset. here, all it takes is some effort and a lot of love, prayer, and trust in the Lord Jesus. it is incredible to see people who love Him so much step out in so much faith. people here have virtually no idea who the arcanos are, yet the arcanos invite the community into their home regularly, and people respond! new fellowship begins, and so does a church! incredible!

the kids watching us teach them the vbs theme song & its dance

the kids love seeing their teachers look silly when they dance! ;)

a couple things any of you could pray for are:
1) the new church here in dontogan - we hope to see more and more people out every week to establish a real congregation. pray for hope and strength for pastor sam and ate evelyn as they work out of a genuine belief that God wants them to start a church here - as do i!
2) i am directing a youth camp this coming wednesday through friday. it is pretty stressful, seeing as not all the details have fallen into place yet, and the start of the camp is less than 24 hours away! pray that kids would sign up, that we would be able to teach relevant and important lessons, and that the retreat would run smoothly.


thanks for the prayers! we appreciate them.

charis and i on a rock at the top of the mountain
which is at the end of our road. the view is incredible!

love to you all,
tejal :)