So Much Time and So Little To Do . . . Strike That, Reverse It

The world, without exception, seems to get busier this time of year.  The usual reasons apply; please accept my apologies for the delay in updates.  There are many exciting things that should be brought to your attention.

• The first semester of the 2012-13 school year was officially completed on October 18th.  Our enrollment for first semester floated between 65 and 70.
• The second semester began November 5th, with enrollment increasing to 75; we have several new students for second semester. I don't know any of the new students very well yet, but they seem to be good kids.
• One notable trouble maker from last year returned to finish his degree; he was assigned to my care group.  Weeping and wailing still in progress.
• The tentative date for graduation is March 13, 2013.  I would expect to be back in the U.S. about April.
• Preparations for the Christmas program at Aparri Church of Christ featuring the Aparri Bible Seminary Choir and assistant light director Sir Nick, as well as the subsequent tour, are well under way.
• Construction on the main building and the new boy's dorm continues; it is exciting to see the progress.  We're down to things like decorative structures, windows, wiring, and paint.  Both should be finished before the end of the school year.
• The fine lady who is my Filipina mother Ma'am Linda has a new grandson who is about a month old now.  Kristoff Chenaniah Torino; word is he already eats like a Filipino.  He is a blessing his parents have been praying for for a number of years.
• I got some proof this week that some of my students listened to me last year; that's always encouraging.  When you use the word "inchoate" to describe Paul's views on the Kingdom your first month of teaching in a new country/culture you wonder about how effective that is.
• I had a chance to Skype with my whole immediate family on Thanksgiving day; that's always pleasant.
• As further evidence that I'm language nerd, I found a Latin primer in our library and I'm happily chugging through it at present.  Knowing an inflected language like Greek makes Latin that much easier, and the vocabulary is surprisingly familiar.
• Part of the aforementioned choir preparations included learning the "Hallelujah" chorus from Handel's "Messiah." If I still had tonsils they would have come out of my mouth last night trying to sing that bass line.  Criminy, is it consistently high.

There is many other things that I could mention, but it seems better to say that things are going really well.  I have come to the conclusion that unless I hear different from the Lord, I need to be here teaching.  I still don't know what that means long term.  For now though, it seems clear enough.  I expect to be back here again next school year.  After that, we'll see.

I've mentioned in a previous post that the things that are difficult this year are very different from the things that were difficult last year.  One very nice blessing from that situation is the ability to see testing coming from similar places.

One of the things that I'm always concerned about is my attitude towards my work here.  I try to be extremely cautious in some ways and at the same time as generous as I can possibly be in others.  As you can imagine this provides opportunities for confusion; but I'm convinced it's the right thing to do.  When some of that confusion causes a misunderstanding, it is very easy to become emotionally distant; thinking that this will prevent confusion.  I am convinced however, that this would, on my part, reflect a poor attitude.

If I'm not willing to take some risks to treat people the best I possibly can, what kind of Christian am I?

The epistles that I've been teaching so far this school year (Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians) each spend a little time (Ephesians more so), talking about this idea.  Paul often speaks of becoming mature in your faith.  When your faith is mature, Paul says, you'll be able to discern the will of God and always do the best thing.  This is my goal right now; to always do the best thing.

Unfortunately, "what would Jesus do?" quickly became church cliché.  Nevertheless the idea behind it is still of great value.  Most of you know it isn't as easy as it sounds.  People can be downright selfish, even during the best of times.  But the mark of this maturity in the faith, Paul continues, is being more concerned about others than about yourself.  I humbly pray that I can display such maturity, but I also know that I'll get tested hard about this.  Things that seem simple and irrelevant like my mindset when I'm playing basketball; things that are obviously important like how I treat my students.

The testing never seems to completely stop, but I think it's proof of movement in the correct direction.

I hope you are well and your Thanksgiving was enjoyable.  Enjoy this Christmas season.

Nick

Useful to the Master

Every year here at ABS they have a special week in September called "Deeper Life Week."  This week is a special time to focus on spiritual things while the schedule gets changed up a little bit.  This year the special week fell on September 3-7.  If you lose sight of the purpose it would be really easy to complain about this week because you end up spending a lot of time with the same seven or eight people (your care group) and there is always that possibility that a lot of us saw growing up in church with a extended youth group trip.  You know the one I mean, it lasts about a week or ten days and by the time it's over you're sick of everyone in your youth group; tired of being around them.  Because of possibilities like that, because everybody has to work a little harder this week because of extra worship services or devotions or meals together it is easy to complain about what went wrong.

Thankfully, though, lots of things went right also; the week was an incredible success.  Perhaps the most satisfying thing for myself is being surprised by deeper friendships that arise from that week.  Even when a student is in your care group for several months they are still one of 8 or 9 and I don't always get as close to some of the students as I do with others.  During deeper life week I was surprised because one of the quieter students decided it was their job to joke with me on our work day where we were cleaning up around campus.  From that has come a closer friendship that I didn't expect.  Those things are always pleasant surprises because relationship building (in any form) can be difficult here because of the language barrier and other cultural reasons.  At same time I feel like it is one of the main reasons that I'm here, so it is rewarding to make those connections.

The theme of this deeper life week was the title to this post, "useful to the master" from 2 Timothy 2:21.  The study of scripture is rarely fruitless and never a disappointment.  2 Timothy 2 is a chapter that I hadn't studied much before I arrived here in the Philippines, but various circumstances here have kept bringing it to my attention.  That has been a true blessing, to the point that I'm surprised Paul managed to jam that much advice into one chapter.  Not just advice, but good advice for an aspiring, somewhat young, missionary.  We really wanted to emphasize this idea to the students; maximizing potential, talents, and availability to be as useful as you can be for the Lord.  Of course that's a great lesson for everyone, and one of the reasons that I bring it up.  There is no substitute for being willing.  If you want the Lord to use you he'll find a way.

It is hard to believe that October is almost here.  I'm looking forward to the rainy season ending here.  I get my coughs and colds during the rainy season which seems foolish when I think about the fact that the temps during the rainy season are about 50-60 degrees warmer than winters at home when I usually get my coughs and colds.  October is generally considered to be the last month of the rainy season here, so I'm patiently waiting for the dry, (relatively) cool season that follows and runs from November-January.

In other news the Aparri Church of Christ sports fest is complete with my adopted team finishing a solid 3rd out of 4 teams.  Teams are determined by what part of the city you live in; technically I live in the Punta neighborhood but I played for another neighborhood because they didn't have enough guys for a basketball team if I didn't play with them.  Events that were contested included basketball, volleyball, table tennis, badminton, chess and a few other things.  Attendance to devotion on Saturday mornings (at 5:30 AM) was also part of a team's overall point total.  Sports fest is fun, but it destroys me physically; it usually takes me the rest of the weekend to recover from the aches, pains and dehydration that result. 

Really quick: GO REDLEGS! Hopefully we can win that World Series this year.

Also, before I go, I want to remind you to pray for me.  We're coming into a time when things get more busy; a lot of things happening with ABS the next couple of months and then it's Christmas which is even busier.  1st semester will be over in a few short weeks, tempus fugit, etc.

I hope you're well and God bless,

Nick

When It's Not Raining We're Pouring

Life being what it is, there are times when you look up (or down) and wonder about the course of events that led to this moment.  I experienced one of those moments yesterday afternoon when I noticed that portions of my legs and feet were a kind dull, grayish green color.  I proceeded to try and dust this off and noticed that it was rather sticky and not inclined to release its grip on either my leg hair or my skin.  I then deduced that I had created an ingenious mixture of sweat, sunscreen, and wet concrete which resulted in this aforementioned effect on the skin.  The attempt to wash said substance off with water only proved difficult and resulted in more hair being removed from my legs than the mix releasing it's grip.

The magic of soap, alcohol based hand sanitizer, and time eventually led to most of this stuff coming off, but what is much more exciting is the reason why I had concrete on my legs to begin with.  Ever since I came to Aparri for the first time in May of 2011, the school has been involved in a construction project for a new main building that includes  an auditorium type room, class rooms, offices, a library, etc.  Yesterday we poured the last major structural portion of the building that we already occupy a part of; I expect it to be complete relatively soon.  Using two drum mixers and about 50 pairs of hands that included construction workers for the project, faculty and staff like myself, and most of the male students; we poured what I conservatively estimate to be 40 cubic yards of concrete one bucket at a time.  It was nice to get out and work a little under the sun.  It was even nicer to see that 3rd floor get poured. 

In addition to this project the school is also constructing a new boys dorm.  This was sorely needed.  At present they are still laying foundations for this project, this is also exciting to see.  The project should be completed soon enough that boys will live there later this school year.

With all of this stuff happening the campus is changing quite a bit; seeing the improvement of the school's facilities is enjoyable.  Of course the goal is to be able to accommodate more students and to do so in more pleasant environs.  The girls are a little jealous (and very crowded), but I'm sure that they will get their new dorm at some point. 

Mid-terms were last week, which only proves the old adage about the habits of time.  I imagine this is going to be another school year which will have come and gone before I know it.  There is some natural regret in that realization but I think it also proves you've been doing your job.  If I hope nothing else about my time here, I will always hope that I was able to fulfill the role of teacher of the Word.

We have our Deeper Life Week coming up, please pray for the students.  It is a week where we try to focus them on spiritual things for an entire week and it can be a life altering week for the students.  There are a lot of fun things that also happen during this week.  Please just pray that it goes well.

Regards, friends; and God bless.

Nick

Month One

As is typically the case when I'm here in the Philippines, time flies.  Sometimes this is a blessing, other times it seems like a bit of a hassle; but it is nice to know that somethings don't really change.  As usual, it is hard to believe that I've been here a month.  I was curious what year two would be like here.  Year one was an experience that required a lot of patience and faith.  The very nature of year two however, is that I now know more about what to expect and what is expected of me.  I knew more about how much money I would need to be here again and I knew if I had raised enough before I left. 

When I think about this abstractly, I feel like year two should be a time when faith gets even stronger because of the evidence of year one, namely that said faith was not misplaced.  But there is something about knowledge, no matter how trivial, that can work against faith if left unchecked.  Having some perspective here helps.  Even though I know infinity percent more now than I did when I first got here, I still don't know that much.  Thus, I'm in that awkward phase of transition into a different culture where I know enough to know how much I don't know.  I think that this is an apt description for that process that is commonly called sanctification.  That process where the christian (hopefully) becomes less self-centered and more Christ-centered; less like Adam and more like Christ.  What was once faith has become knowledge and there is now new things that require faith.  To complete the comparison I feel like I can say that I know enough about faith to know what I don't know. 

Recently I had the opportunity to read The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.  Every time I read Lewis I am in awe of the way he is able to describe complicated things with such clarity.  In the particular case of this work, one of the many things that he mentioned that struck me was the idea that even the things we think are good and pure can keep us from God.  Especially things like love.  As people, our love is imperfect, imperfect to such a degree that perhaps when we see true love we will shake our heads and wonder at our childishness.  The point Lewis makes about this is that if someone's sin is anger or sensuality, it is very difficult for them to turn that into a religion.  Something like love however, sounds pious enough that when twisted it is truly dangerous; dangerous enough to pave the road to hell.  Is there anything we humans are unable to ruin?  Thus love becomes a way to possess people, or an excuse to abuse others who are not loved; in essence it becomes selfish.  Lewis always makes me think, and laugh; that's why I like to read him.

Regarding other matters, my basketball game has been picking back up.  I played a game of one-on-one today that was absolutely exhausting.  If I ever learn how to hit a lefty layup consistently I'll be unstoppable. 

Last night I was the guest speaker at the officer induction ceremonies of the Forensic Literary Society of the Aparri Bible Seminary.  So we talked about leadership a little bit, and then because this is the Philippines, we ate.  It was a good time and there are pictures on Facebook.  Feel free to check them out.

Getting to know a new bunch of first year students has been enjoyable, they're still getting used to my English and to me; I'm still getting used to them.

I hope everyone is well; thank you for your support.  Please continue to pray for me.

Nick


P.S. Learn some Ilokano - natayag (nah-tie-ahg) Adjective - "tall." Believe it or not I hear this one fairly often.

Unexpected Changes

One of the first things I remember learning about mission trips were the phrases "be flexible" and "be patient." For the uninitiated, allow me to reiterate these statements.  I've been back in the Philippines now for almost an entire week!  Getting here required several detours, but the important part is that I am here. 

Japan was very nice.  That's correct, I wasn't planning on going to Japan anymore than a quick trip through the Nagoya airport.  I got much more than that, but that's the middle of the story.  The beginning of the story is a stormy, late spring day in the midwest of the United States.  My flight from Cincinnati to Detroit was less than 10 seconds from landing in Detroit when we caught some wind shear at an odd angle and started rotating out of alignment with the runway.  Ergo we couldn't land and waited around/above Detroit for 15-20 minutes.  Apparently we didn't have enough fuel to try to land again, but we did have enough fuel to fly to Columbus, OH and get more fuel.  So we did that.  I ended up on the ground at Detroit about 2 hours later than expected.  The good news was that the same storm that kept me from landing also prevented my connection from departing on time.  So I made the flight to Japan that continues to Manila.

Even though I had a small child sitting next to me on this long flight, it was one of the best I remember because I swear that I slept something like 9 of the 14 hours.  So as we neared our destination, Nagoya, the captain announces that there is a typhoon passing through Nagoya and we can't land there, so we're going to land at Tokyo-Narita.  The plan then became that the passengers who were staying in Japan would de-plane and those bound for Manila would just stay put while they re-fueled and re-stocked.  This would have been a great plan, however, the typhoon continued moving and next thing you know, it was in Narita and we couldn't take off.  Life being what it is, when we could take off we wouldn't have had enough time to make it to Manila before the airport closed.  So we sat for a while and it was decided that they would re-open the Narita airport (which had closed in the interim) just for us so that we could go through immigration and customs and spend a few hours at a hotel. 

And so it came to pass that I got to see a very small part of Japan around Narita.  We were the first flight out of Narita the next morning and ended up in Manila about 12 hours late.  Which was fine for me but horrible for the people waiting for me.  Sorry Manong Marion! 

So there you go, some extra travels that I doubt I'll get extra mileage for.

As I said earlier, the important part is that I'm here.  I taught my first class of this school year this morning and it went pretty well.  It has been excellent reconnecting with everyone here.

One of my main worries involved my missionary visa.  I'm cautiously optimistic that all will be arranged with one more visit to Manila next week, then I should be good for a year.  One of the "wow"moments of being in Japan was realizing that Japanese immigration gave me 90 days to stay in the country if I wanted it.  For free.  It's an interesting contrast.

Mom and Dad will be happy to know that the Kindle is wonderful and has proved to be worth it's weight in gold several times over already.  Thanks guys.

Please keep praying for me.  I need it.

Nick

Spacing A Blog Post Is Apparently Tremendously Difficult

So the previous post that contains the dates for my appearances at churches, the post I just updated, has still managed to defy all attempts to break it into paragraphs.  It has been lovingly squashed together by the internet.

The purpose of this post is to give a brief update of my goings on the past six weeks or so that I've been in the States.  First things first, I have a firm date for my return to the Philippines, that will be June 18.  Also,  I'm raising support again for this upcoming school year: to date the funding for approximately half of the year has been either received or pledged which is tremendous.  Many of you donated generously last year; many of you have donated generously this year.  If you donated last year but not this year, please consider doing so again.  As I've mentioned before on this blog, $710 supports me for a month; which is quite reasonable.  All donations of all amounts add up; several people and churches have told me that they want to support me for a month and if you can do that; it would be excellent.  If you can't give at that level; any donation would be excellent and helpful.  Please prayerfully consider that matter.

As for my goings on I've been working with a gentleman who is a member of my parent's church.  This work has been in the exciting field of construction.  Things have gone about as well as they could in my estimation.  I've had to do somethings that I don't particularly enjoy like painting; but overall it has been exciting to work with my hands.

My boys at ABS will be disappointed to know that I haven't had much of a chance to shoot basketball.  I was at my Aunt and Uncle's house yesterday for my cousin's birthday party and had a chance to shoot some hoops for the first time since I got home.  My shot was actually OK, but I've lost some of the jump I worked hard for this past school year.

I've also had a chance to go to a lot of different churches and see a lot of old friends and old acquaintances.  I'm hoping this continues because there are still many people that I want to see before I return to the Philippines.

Additionally I've been blessed with new supporters from local churches near my hometown.

Being home has been wonderful; that being said I can't wait to get back to the Philippines.

I'll leave you with some Tolkien just because I'm a nerd and I happen to be reading "The Lord of the Rings" right now.

The Road goes ever on and on
   Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
   And I must follow if I can,
Pursuing it with weary feet,
   Until it joins some larger way,
Where many paths and errands meet.
   And whither then?  I cannot say.

Hope you are well.

Nick

Home Sweet Home

I've now been home approximately two weeks; things have gone really well so far.  The Lord blessed me with a job practically immediately when i got home (I arrived on a Friday, I was working Tuesday).  Even though I'd never really worked construction before things are going ok, I've only made a few mistakes and none were massive.  Hopefully this job will allow me to take care of student loan expenses for the next year.  Other than airfare, student loans are my largest expense.

Of course being home means I get to see my family and I've managed to see most of my extended family already.  There are still some important friends that I haven't managed to see yet, but hopefully I'll catch them soon.

I do miss the Philippines; I miss the basketball everyday and all my friends and students.  Soon we will be reunited though.

I do have a partial schedule that I'll be adding to as dates are confirmed.  This is a schedule of churches I'll be presenting at.

Whitewater Crossing Christian Church - Cleves, OH: April 21-22.
Brooksville Christian Church - Brooksville, KY: May 6.
Highland Christian Church - Germantown, KY: May 27.
Fairview Christian Church - Johnsville, KY June 10.

Only three so far, but I expect a few more soon.  In the meantime, Americans: hopefully I'll see you soon.  Pilipinos: I'll see you in a few months.

Nick

Here We Are

Alas, we have finally reached the point that I thought was so distant. The school year is over here. My first year of full time teaching is complete. I've been in the Philippines ten and one half months now. I'm coming home in a few weeks. As my mother and little sister can tell you, that car ride to the airport back in May seems like millenia ago. There was so much uncertainty then, accompanied by the flat out fear that comes from finally letting go of the reigns and watching God drive for a while.

Aparri Bible Seminary celebrated graduation on Wednesday March 15, 2012. We had eight graduates this year, two received Bachelor of Theology degrees, one received a Bachelor in Christian Education degree, three received Associate degrees in Church Music, and two received Associate degrees in Christian Education. We had some Amerikano guests for graduation: Clarence Hogan who was the guest speaker at commencement and Some members of the Campbell family that I met when they were here last June. I enjoyed meeting Mr. Hogan and seeing the Campbells again.

The night before commencement was the candidate's banquet where the faculty and parents of the potential graduates enjoy an evening of "fooding" together as well as some other activities. I was asked to be the speaker for this event and it went very well. When they first asked me to speak I wasn't really high on the idea, I'd spent the earlier part of the day dealing with immigration issues and really wasn't in any kind of mood worth being in. I reluctantly agreed and God just took that and ran and the results glorified Him.

The next few weeks are going to be spent running around Luzon trying to make immigration arrangements for next year and teaching some Greek refreshers at a sister school of Aparri, Philippine Bible Seminary in Vigan, Ilocos Sur. Please pray for both of those activities. The immigration especially because it has a huge potential for frustration.

This past year has been such a blessing. It is difficult to describe it, but it has been truly amazing to see God work in such personal ways. The year wasn't completely problem free, but by and large the lack of issues, conflicts, and difficulties was also truly amazing. I treasure that sense of divine purpose.

Please continue to pray for me. Please continue to consider supporting this mission again next school year. To my friends in the United States, I look forward to seeing you.

Great News; Let's Hope For Some More

After my last post I received some encouraging responses almost immediately about my possible return. In fact I received enough of a response that I'm not going to be referring to it as a possible return anymore. I'm going to be referring to it as my return to the Philippines for a second school year.

The Lord answers prayers at the perfect time. I very much feel like the Lord has confirmed my suspicion that I should return for another school year by showing that he will continue to raise the support. When I got all this good news Isaiah 12:1-2 immediately flashed through my mind:

1 In that day you will say:

“I will praise you, LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD himself, is my strength and my defense;
he has become my salvation.
Just so you are aware, one church has already stepped up and said that they will provide a month of support for next school year, which is fantastic. That's one, we need eleven more through any possible combination of donors. Please prayerfully consider being a part of this mission.

One of the things that I decided to do recently was to read the Old Testament more and I'm currently sojourning through the Prophets. I've been very surprised with how much things resonate with me as I read them. Certainly that above passage in Isaiah was one that just made my heart shout.

Things are winding up here for this school year, this week is the final week of classes and tests are next week. I've even got two of my three tests written and I'm close to finishing the third. I'm looking forward to finishing this semester; everything has been great but those 6:45 AM devotions are getting to me.

Let us all celebrate the return of the "Filipino Englishing" section, something that has been conspicuously absent from this blog for far too long. There have been some good ones lately, like "translationing" but the best by far was one of my students who wished to jokingly refer to another student as untrustworthy. Instead of that word he went with "trustworthless" which I like a lot better. Another good one has been a bit of a joke between myself and some of the students when we're on the basketball court. Whenever we can't handle a pass or dribble a ball off of someone's foot out of bounds we say to each other "don't too much!"

Thanks for reading, I hope you are well and in the mean time, don't too much.

Nick

Very Fellowship

I mentioned in the last post that we had an inter-seminary fellowship coming up. This momentous event has now been completed, and I can confirm that it is in fact "very fellowship." The other schools that are a part of the fellowship are Philippine Bible Seminary located in Vigan, Ilocos Sur and Philippine College of Ministry located in Baguio City. The founders of these schools and Aparri Bible Seminary had connections with one another when they first arrived in the Philippines back in the 1950's. This was the fifth fellowship which was started with the intention of strengthening the bonds between the schools and their respective students. I enjoyed it because I got to see some people I already knew (mostly from Vigan) and also to meet many new people. An added bonus was watching all the students fellowship; a long time ago one of the students promised me that they would always make me smile. That is a promise that they constantly deliver on. This time the main source of amusement was how many of the students developed crushes on students from the other schools and vice versa.

My part in the fellowship was eating (it is a shared responsibility) and officiating basketball games. Six of them to be exact. By Friday night I was tired of running up and down the basketball court. In related news, I've just about "basketballed" through the bottom of my shoes. The soles are getting thin, this is mostly because the court here is pretty rough concrete. My current personal goal for basketball is to improve my leaping ability. Silly me, I thought losing a bunch of weight would make me jump higher; but it seems to have made me jump faster and only a little bit higher. I'm lucky to have the chance to get out and play a little.

Graduation is March 14 if you can believe that; precisely 4 weeks from now. All the students are asking me if I'm coming back next year, I've been telling them "I hope so." I started talking with my travel agent yesterday about returning the Philippines in June. Please pray for that situation. I'm basically to this point: I know that I'm supposed to be in the Philippines right now, and I think that I'm supposed to be in the Philippines next school year, and I haven't seen or heard anything that would lead me to believe that the situation has changed. On the contrary, the need is greater here and I feel I can meet that need.

Because of that I want to come back and that means I need funds. I need a little less than $10,000 for this to happen; and if the Lord wants me here then he will provide. Please prayerfully consider being a part of this mission. I am willing to go and there is a need that I can meet, I only need the means to travel and live while in the Philippines. Corollary, I'm coming home for a few months in April and if you know of any jobs that are available and would be a good fit for me, please let me know.

While you're praying, please pray for my family. Especially the Taylors. They have had a rough couple of weeks; my uncle Rob lost his mother and grandmother within a week of each other. This is in addition to the deaths previously mentioned in my extended family. Word is the family has had their fill of death; here's hoping things will calm down so people can adjust to new realities.

"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 136:1

Nick

Glory Hallelujah

Often times it is the conveniences of life that we get wrapped up in, I know this is true in my case. Perhaps it was about 6 weeks ago (maybe more, I don't precisely recall) that I heard a sermon about the differences between wants and needs. In response to this message I asked God to give me the wisdom to know the difference between the two. Shortly thereafter my laptop started malfunctioning and the internet service that I enjoy here also started malfunctioning. Other things that malfunctioned during this time were other computers that I could use to contact my family. I haven't been completely cut off for six weeks, I've managed a few emails; but for the most part I haven't had a lot of contact with anyone in the United States recently. I'm interpreting all those things as wants. The good news is that now, the internet service is restored. Additionally, the laptop and I appear to have reached a truce, there are still a few issues, but by the grace of God it is currently working.

So much has happened since the last post. It has all served to enhance my experiences here in Aparri and other places in the Philippines. The highlight of the interim has been my trip to Davao. I got to meet Mr. Elpidio Batalla who is from a town just south of Aparri, but moved to Davao on the island of Mindanao in 1956 to start a seminary. He was a gracious host as was the rest of his family. There was also a mission close to Mr. Batalla's house that he runs that was started by a graduate of Cincinnati Bible Seminary named Ruth Smith. It seems that CCU has long had a strong connection with the Philippines. I also got a chance to snorkel in Davao at a resort called Paradise Island. It was my first time snorkeling, and I only swallowed 1.5 mouthfuls of sea water. Pretty good I think. The fish and the coral were interesting.

It seems very strange to think about, but this school year and as a corollary my first experience here in the Philippines, are "rounding third and heading for home" in the words of the old lefthander. Two months and a few days, then I get to see my family.

My Ilokano has been steadily improving; my vocabulary isn't that large but it grows every day since I have at least 62 willing teachers, not to mention my colleagues here in the office, especially Sir Alex and Ma'am Linda. I'm also starting to get the pronunciation patterns down which helps a lot in terms of being understood when you are speaking. That accent that most non-native English speakers have that we all like to make fun of; that is the problem I'm working through right now with my Ilokano.

As I mentioned last time I want to return at least next year to teach here again. I have several reasons for this, but the most important is that I feel like God has placed me here to meet a need that he also equipped me to meet. Because of that I've been working the numbers for what it will cost to be here next year. Preliminary estimates (which include airfare) are $710 a month. Please consider supporting this mission that God has given me.

On a much sadder note, I want to pass along my condolences to some of my extended family. My grandfather's sister Katherine passed away recently. We called her Aunt Kitty, and she was a very kind, loving, funny, God-fearing woman. I'm grateful for all those things and that I was blessed enough to know her. My thoughts and prayers are with her children and grandchildren as well as with all the families that make up the Ulrich clan that knew her and loved her.

"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:37-39

Nick

Sorry about the Delay, Happy New Year!

December was just as busy as I told you it would be and January isn't slowing down yet. I have a feeling that things will be a whirlwind until April when I return to the United States. Hopefully that return will only be for a few months. The goal is to return for another school year and see what happens. Please, please pray for this. I feel that I belong here. For how long? That is the question everyone (including me) is asking. The answer of course is until God sends me somewhere else. Naturally I don't know when that will happen.

Let's talk about the Philippines. I experienced both Christmas (sort of) and New Year's here and they were interesting experiences. Christmas here is much less commercial. Gifts are given, but they aren't the focus. In true Pinoy fashion the focus of the celebration is eating. "Noche Bueno"is what they call it, and it is another meal around midnight on Christmas. The time leading up to midnight, and maybe after, is spent visiting friends and eating, or cooking and then eating, or maybe visiting family and eating. This is what they tell me happens. I was disgustingly tired from Choir tour and waking up for 5 AM devotions at Church the previous two days (one of which I spoke at) so I slept through Noche Bueno. New Year's eve was, naturally, more "fooding"and then it was "very fireworks." It was also my friend Kit's birthday so there was extra fooding for that.

Additionally, we have visitors from America, the Burns family is here right now spreading good cheer. It has been enjoyable talking with them and getting to know them. I met some of them back in September when I was stranded in Chicago for two days. One of the reasons they are here is a wedding, and so I met many new Pilipinos and Pilipino-Americans too. The best part thus far was that there was genuine hickory smoked ham and cheddar cheese at the wedding reception. I swear I ate half a pound of each before everything was said and done.

Our Christmas break ended this week at ABS, so we restarted classes, mid terms are next week. Time truly flies.

Please pray for my extended family, the Weltes lost one of their own last week to cancer.

God is good.