Update

It is a little surreal to think that in 13 days, I will be in Baguio City, the Philippines, getting ready for three months of ministry there. Our flight leaves the Vancouver Airport at 11:10 AM Pacific time on Sunday, March 4. I am excited to finish this last leg of training, which will include cross-cultural training, learning to teach English (not sure how much we'll use it, but it should be good anyway), and some practical training on things like music and children's ministry.

The view from Steve Klassen's backyard, where we had a session on the Gospel of Mark

The last couple of weeks have been solid, with some really good sessions on spiritual authority and evangelism. I learned a lot about the authority we have in Christ and am pumped to exercise that more as we go serve. I also learned how witnessing is an essential part of our life as Christians and should flow out of our love for God and desire for others to know him.

Getting ready for some all-night prayer

We were also able to share about our trips with a nearby church and be involved in an all-night Prayer for the Nations event that MB Mission put on. It was awesome to spend an entire night learning about and praying for different countries around the world.

Every Tuesday is Plaid Tuesday

Before we leave, we need to have our traveler's visas processed. What was supposed to be a three day process is ending up taking longer, as we just found out that we need a letter from Sam (the pastor we will be working with in the Philippines) to the Philippine Foreign Affairs Office in Manila, before our visas can be processed. If everything works smoothly, we should have our visas in time, but prayer would definitely be appreciated to ensure that it happens!

Reading through the old blog posts, I realized that I haven't said much about what we will be doing in the Philippines. Our team will be working under the leadership of a local pastor named Sam Arcaño. We still don't know all the details, but some of the ways we will likely be helping out include youth evangelism and discipleship, Bible studies, VBS's for the kids, youth camps, and music ministry.

Along with the visas, also pray:

• for energy and determination to finish training strong
• that God would teach us what we need to know through the sessions
• for some good team bonding before we leave
• that God would be at work in the Philippines now and when we go

Thanks for praying, and for reading! Have a great day.