Workers Confrence, Baguio

As Justin said October seemed to fly by with so many activities. I am going to share with you about our trip to Baguio for the church workers conference. We took a bus ride with Dave Matthews and the group he brought up from Bicol. There were eight of us total. Baguio is a mountain city and with the elevation came cool weather!! We were excited to feel the cool breeze and see pine trees! As we arrived at the conference center we were greeted by strawberry fields! We of course bought some sweet and cheap strawberries! They were delicious!



We checked in and as we were getting our room assignment many others were coming to do the same. I was waiting by our bags when I saw a failure face. I had not seen this man in eight years. His name is Julius, and I had met him in Dumaguette while he was attending Bible College. When we had first met he could speak only a few English words and I of course could speak no Tagalog. I immediately asked "are you Julius?" He said yes and I told him who I was and it jogged his memory. I was encouraged to hear that he was now married with two children and was a pastor of a small but growing church! We also met up with our friend Renan. Who is now pastoring a church in Lucena. God had brought so many pastors and workers from all over the northern region of the Philippines. We also were able to meet a few new Pastors and missionaries. One couple in particular, Anthony and Beth have been in the Philippines for the past three years and are now back in AZ. They started a church in Pampanga and were turning it over to a Filipino couple who are strangely from the US and don't speak any Tagalog. To make our small world even smaller Justin was talking with one missionary named Chet who is from San Bernardino and come to find out knows Justin's mom and people he grew up with. Praise God for these new found friends and for the old friendships rekindled.
The topic of the seminar was Preparing the Bride. We are in the last days and we as believers need to be ready for the Lords return. We need to be preaching the Gospel, sharing the truth of Jesus to the lost in the world. Some other points made were how we as true followers of Christ are to be set apart from this world. Lights in the darkness, salt in the world. We were encouraged as we heard testimony of God's faithfulness and of His provisions to our fellow workers in the Ministry.



We also had sweet fellowship! In the evenings we taught our new friends Dutch Blitz, Spoons and Scum, card games. We had a great time playing and laughing with them.
We are so privileged to be here and to be able to see the awesome work of God here in the Philippines first hand. Our classes are going well and we are getting closer to our goal of having good understanding of the Filipino language. This trip to Baguio was a time of Refreshment, as well as a energizing. We are encouraged to live each day as if it were our last.