Mabuhay! Welcome to the ramblings of Brian, Julie, and Justin! We're currently living in the Philippines, studying at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. Brian is also working with Asia-Pacific Nazarene Youth International, Julie is also teaching English classes, and Justin is working hard at being the cutest baby ever... especially on the APNTS campus. We're so blessed to have amazing friends in Guam (our home island), the States, and around the world. We LOVE to hear from you!
Yes, we have been at the Manila site for the 2009 Global NYI Convention since last Saturday, and all we can say is.... God is good all the time! The Church of the Nazarene holds a General Assembly every four years; members come to one place from all around the world to worship together and conduct business. But this year, for the first time, NYI (Nazarene Youth International) is holding its convention in 8 different sites all around the world, connecting by video-conference through the internet!
And we have the amazing privilege to be part of this historic event! Brian is the site coordinator for the Asia-Pacific convention site, which is being held here in Manila, Philippines. Many times delegates elected to the General Assembly cannot attend because of finances and the difficulty of obtaining visas. Since it's very difficult for NYI in Asia-Pacific to ever get together, we decided to take advantage of this opportunity and spend extra time together before the General NYI Convention started. So, our 30 delegates and 40 visitors from 14 different countries gathered on Sunday, and we have been enjoying worship services, workshops, and fellowship with each other. Then last night, we held our first meetings with the other Asia-Pacific delegates at the General Assembly site in Orlando.... and everything worked!!! The internet worked, we could see each other, hear each other, and understand enough to elect a new Asia-Pacific Regional NYI council for the next 4 years - God is so good!
We've also enjoyed some of the General Assembly services which can be viewed anytime at the Church of the Nazarene website. You can also view many of our regional activities from the past few days at the Asia-Pacific NYI website. The theme of our regional site has become "Up all night" since daytime meetings in Orlando are in the middle of the night in Manila... but our delegates are so thrilled to be part of this event and have a voice (many countries for the first time!) that no one has missed a meeting yet! :)
So, to our friends and family who are in Orlando now, we miss you, but we wouldn't trade this experience for anything. God is moving in mighty ways among the youth leaders of Asia-Pacific, and we're so blessed to be a part. We'll write more soon, but I need to get some sleep before tonight's meetings... hope to see you on screen at some point! They will be showing a glimpse of our site at the NYI service Friday morning at 10:30 (Orlando time) and Friday afternoon at the 4:00 service, a drama group from a local church in Manila will be performing. Keep praying for our internet and our eyes to stay open! How great is our God!
When Julie's parents and sister were visiting, we took a two day trip to Tagaytay and stayed at Sonya's Garden. Sonya's Garden is an incredibly beautiful Bed and Breakfast that we have been wanting to go to ever since we moved to the Philippines. We had so much fun walking around the beautiful flower gardens, eating huge meals with food fresh from the garden, and enjoying the peace and quiet... If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Philippines, Sonya's Garden is a must! Justin loved the unique shower... he could have stayed in there all day to play with the pebbles. :)
This is a picture taken at Taal Volcano in Tagaytay. I really won't do justice describing this amazing landmark, but I'll try... it's a lake inside a volcano inside a lake inside a volcano... just click on the link to get the amazing story. :)
We moved... down the street. :) Before we came to APNTS, we felt it was really important to live on campus so we could develop relationships with our fellow students. Although living on campus was the ironic reason Julie just finished her Master's degree, we really enjoyed our time and the opportunity to live in such a multi-cultural environment. But since Julie is finished and didn't want to take any more classes, we decided to look for a place to live off campus for our last few months in the Philippines. God worked out some incredible living situations for us as soon as we started praying about it, and we're currently house-sitting for some missionary friends that live less than a 10 minute walk from the APNTS campus. When they return in July we'll rent a small house in the same neighborhood. We're having so much fun living in a new place, but I think Justin is enjoying it even more....
He loved helping pack (and un-pack) boxes before we moved.
Having access to a washer and dryer where we're house-sitting makes Julie so happy she could almost cry, but it was also a great place for Justin and Grandpa Dwayne to chat. :) Aunt Terri has lots of cool things in her house that Justin loves... he was very proud of himself when he learned to get in this rocking chair by himself.
He LOVES having a small yard to play in and a place to use his new swimming pool. :)
He also has space to play on his new tricycle from Grandpa Dwayne.
We're so thankful to see how God continues to provide for all the small details of our lives - please continue to pray the we will have the support for our daily needs. :)
Well, the last few months have been quite exciting, and the next few months will be just as exciting, so it's about time for some blog posts to catch up! In March, I (Julie) successfully defended my thesis and graduated from APNTS with a Master's degree in Religious Education. It's so ironic that I finished before Brian, since I never really wanted to go to seminary in the first place. :) But God has provided some amazing opportunities, and we trust that our experience here will be used to enhance our future, so we continue trusting in God's incredible grace and guidance. We're also not looking forward to saying goodbye to our incredible friends at APNTS and in the Philippines, so we're treasuring our last few months here as Brian finishes his degree. It was a huge blessing to have my parents and sister visit for graduation and spend a few weeks with Justin.... and us. ;) Here are a few pics from the graduation festivities.
Just a quick post to say we're still here and will be posting soon about our many adventures in the last few months! :) It's been busy but wonderful - thesis defense, graduation, family visit, Justin walking/running everywhere, youth camp, and more... We're enjoying our summer, but we still haven't slowed down enough to update our blog.... hopefully soon. Thanks for staying in touch! :)
We celebrated Justin's first birthday on January 31 on the APNTS campus. In many countries in Asia, the first birthday is very special, and it is tradition to have a big party. Since this will probably be Justin's only birthday in the Philippines, we gave in to tradition, invited everyone, served spaghetti (Filipino birthday tradition - eat pasta), and had a wonderful time! Justin did pretty well, but he was a little overwhelmed by so many people at a few points.... Here are just a few pictures from his special day.
"Fish" was the theme for the party... why? because it's fun and easy! :)
Thanks to my wonderful friend, Terri, who helped me bake almost 100 'ocean' cupcakes and Justin's 'fish' cake! Justin's happy birthday message contained pictures from various occasions over the last year... yes, every circle in his name is a different picture. :)
tropical fish tattoos! This is where Brian chose to wear his.
showing off their tattoos....
Our amazing friend, Melissa, painted this for a fun photo op! Everyone had such a blast getting their picture taken. :)
Since our theme had to do with water, we played fun games with water balloons - perfect for a hot afternoon in Manila!
The merienda (snack): crab sushi rolls, 'octopus' hotdogs, shanghai lumpia, spaghetti, and goldfish crackers Brian brought back from the states! Needless to say, all the missionaries from the states went crazy over the goldfish. :)
I have put off writing this entry, because every time I talk about it, it just makes it more real, and that's still pretty difficult. You may have seen in past blogs some pictures of Justin with an adorable Filipino boy named EJ. EJ's mom, Janet, watches Justin twice a week, and soon after she started, I encouraged her to bring her 5 year old son. EJ is Justin's best friend... I've never seen two children so separated in age and development have so much genuine fun together and love for each other.
About 3 weeks ago, EJ was feeling sick when he was at our house, so the next day his parents took him to the doctor. They were told he had mumps. But a couple days later, his condition was getting worse, so they took him to another doctor, and he was diagnosed with diphtheria. I must admit I've only heard of diphtheria in relation to vaccinations and had no idea what it meant to have it, so I quickly researched and found that yes, he would need to be treated in a hospital, but if caught early, it was easily treatable and he would just need a lot of rest. There are still a lot of unknowns about all the details, but the toxins from the diphtheria reached EJ's heart, and he died less than one week after his diagnosis.
When I received the text about his death, I just kept hoping it was a mistake or a bad dream. For two or three days, every time Justin picked up a toy to play with, I would burst into tears because it reminded me of EJ. While our minds are still filled with tons of questions and unknowns, I'm trying to focus my energies now on supporting EJ's parents and older sister and remembering our incredible friend. Here are some of my favorite memories:
~Justin's face whenever he saw EJ... he would instantly light up no matter where we were or what was going on. He would shake his arms with excitment! :) ~EJ's incredible ability to play with Justin... other children come over to play and just kind of play with the toys and ignore Justin... he is still a baby, after all. ;) But EJ would intentionally play with Justin for hours - it was really amazing. ~Whenever Justin was taking a nap, EJ would sometimes come find me in the library. He would just stand and watch what I was doing, and then I would give him my cell phone so he could play games. ~EJ didn't speak very much English, so if I saw him on campus, I would ask him if Justin was sleeping, by motioning with my hands and leaning my head to the side. EJ quickly learned the words I was saying, but every time he saw me, he would say, "Ate Julie, Justin sleeping" and do the motions with his hands and head. ~EJ loved to watch Brian work on his computer. He would point at different icons on the screen, and when Brian would open it, he loved the action and movement. ~EJ wore a pair of bright yellow galoshes. When he was running around campus, you could see him from far away because of his yellow galoshes. ~EJ made everyone on campus smile. He always had a smile for anyone he saw.
While the funeral service and preceeding visits to his family's house were extremely painful, they were also filled with blessings. EJ's family lives in what we call a squatter area.... many small houses made of wood and scrap materials, very crowded living conditions, etc. One night while they were having a service outside, I was able to sit inside with Janet and we just talked about everything. It was so incredible. We cried together, and then we started telling stories, and that quickly brought laughter. When I first visited after EJ's death, I had developed some pictures of Justin and EJ and gave them to Janet. She was so appreciative and then directed my attention to a shelf behind me... the shelves were already filled with pictures of EJ, Joana (his 8 year old sister) and Justin... I can't describe the emotion I felt... I had never seen these pictures before... Janet had taken them with her cell phone at different times at our house...in each one the love EJ had for Justin was so evident.
So while we're still grieving, and our little apartment here will never seem the same without EJ's brilliant laugh, we're assured of where he is now and that we will see him again someday. Please keep EJ's family in your prayers. Of course, they are having a difficult time. And give an extra hug to the children in your life today... they really are blessings God has entrusted us with... make sure they know how much you love them. :)
So, I'm doing some catching up today with our blog. :) We were so blessed this last Christmas to spend a few days with some dear friends in Baguio, a town in the northern part of the Philippines. Baguio is famous for strawberries, fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, weaving, cool mountain air .... we just really love Baguio and try to go any chance we get. We went with our friends, the Tsutada family, and Junichi and Mari Nakade. They have been incredible friends while at seminary and we can't imagine life without them after we all graduate. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our last Christmas in the Philippines. First we visited some friends and former APNTS students in a town on the way to Baguio. They are teaching at a Wesleyan Bible College. Justin and Kinomi will be great friends some day, I'm sure... right now they kind of just look at each other. :)
Beautiful Baguio
Justin quickly fell in love with Baguio strawberries. visiting the Easter Weaving Room... you can buy tons of stuff upstairs, but the best part is going downstairs and seeing all the ladies work on the looms - truly amazing! Baguio has some really great restaurants... we kind of planned our whole trip around eating. :) Justin's first firework show on Christmas Day is Brian thinking about a new hairstyle? :) eating 1 day old chick... yes, we have some interesting food items in the Philippines. :)
