tamara b

Some interesting thoughts and a prayer request from Tony Redfern who just arrived in the Philipines to do missionary work:

We arrived safely with very few travel disruptions after 31 hours of travel. We thank God for good health. We are still adjusting to the time zone. We are waking up at 12 midnight to 3 am ready to start the day! We are adjusting very well to Filipino food - we even ate fish-eyes! You have to suck the eyes out of the head of the fish - yummy! Craig and I are also adjusting to the culture and learning about the current reality of the church in Cebu City. We have been meeting with local missionaries, pastors and church leaders. It is amazing to learn why we are here teaching on "Leadership and Interpersonal Communication." It seems many churches are struggling with leadership issues. The churches of Cebu are in great need of strong spiritual leadership as Cebu City is known as the center of cult activity for all of the Philippines. Obviously, the cults and the culture work against the work of furthering the Kingdom of God. Please pray for us as many pastors and church leaders from conflicted-churches will be coming to the seminary class.

And for those who are interested:
Please continue to pray for the Stewart family. Connie and Sarah's funerals were on Friday. Caryn continues to fight for her life in the burn unit. She has 3rd degree burns on 75% of her body and is scheduled for more surgeries. Pray also for Brian and Christian as the mourn the death of their family and sit by Caryn's bedside. And let's also lift up the neighbors who've huddled together and are taking care of the dairy and the farm work that needs to be done in the mean time.