Olson Family Newsletter Update

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Mailing Address: George & Ginny Olson New Tribes Mission Box M-049, CPO 1550 Mandaluyong City PHILIPPINES Mission Address: New Tribes Mission 1000 E. First St. Sanford, FL 32771-1487 Tribal home in Bolo in the Mountains of Northern Luzon Abby playing in the Feast of San Roque Games The kids first day at Faith Academy! Kids Our kids are enjoying Faith Academy. We are glad they are attending there – it is not only a great education, the social interaction is also very good. The school has a van service to pick them up and return them home every day through Manila traffic. Please pray the van will remain safe! It broke down in traffic this last Friday, but they fixed it and it seemed to be running ok. Pray for them to be free of sickness as well. Our current and future plans Language study – We have passed our first major language section and are into the second. We are looking at our pre-final evaluation some time around next March or April, and our final evaluation some time around next June or July. Spiritual giants Do not be mistaken into thinking we are some kind of spiritual giants, and that some spiritual ecstasy of feeling gets us through every day! It’s not like that at all. We deal with the mundane dirty work of life, like when our air conditioner broke and it took 2 weeks to get the spare part .There are many days, maybe most days, that I don’t feel very spiritual. Yet God’s promise is faithful and true – it doesn’t matter how we feel – our security with God is based on Christ’s finished work – 1 Peter 3:18.

Dear Friends and Family, The last time we communicated, before our recent update, Ginny was just recovering from a serious and sudden illness. She is back up to full strength now, as if the incident never even happened. We have an amazing God! It has been almost a whole year since we came here. Wow, that is hard to believe! We are deep into language study now. We have our good days and bad days, as one might expect. Yet we have every confidence that God is guiding us and watching us through every step. I have summarized the things that have happened with us below. As we move along, we must keep in mind the reason we are here – God sent us here to take His Gospel to an unreached tribal people group. The things we are struggling with now – language studies, equipment breakage, sickness, etc. – these are all part of the Lord’s continued preparations for us so that we can represent Christ to the people He is sending us to. November 2006 – We sign a lease and move into our house December 2006 – Cultural excursions – seeing cultural sights around Manila January 2007 – · Field conference – we meet fellow missionaries working in the various tribes and support roles around the islands · Language study – we begin studying Tagalog · Hospital – I (George) am rushed to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy · February – We continue in language study, and I visit some island tribes around the north end of Palawan. · April – we experience Easter in the national culture. The common theme we find – doing good works to wash away sins in order to be free to do what one desires the rest of the year. June – We take a weekend break from language study and visit Corregidor. July – · We go to a remote tribal location in the north and spend about 3 days there · Emergency—We return home, then Ginny comes down with a very sudden and serious blood infection. We rush Ginny to the hospital where she stays for 5 days. The doctor tells us that Ginny’s general good health is the main reason she survives, although we also know that the Lord was watching out for us. · Recovery – Ginny recovers very quickly and is back to full strength about 2 weeks after getting out of the hospital. We are able to begin language study again. · Plumbing – We have had many water leaks because of old pipes, and our water bill has been about 8 times the normal bill for this area. We hire a plumber to re-pipe the whole house. They are right in the middle of their work when we rush Ginny to the hospital. · Air conditioning – Our window unit breaks down and we ask them come and replace the motor on warranty. It takes 2 weeks to get the spare parts. August – · Ginny’s brother and 2 friends come for a visit. We are able to take them up north to visit 2 separate tribal ministries and then show them some sights in Manila. · Immediately when we return, I throw out my back and have to spend the next 2 weeks lying on the floor in between visits to the chiropractor. · Our air conditioning unit breaks again. This time it takes 3 weeks to get the replacement part. · When we are back to normal, Ginny and I both finish section 1 of Tagalog. Yeaaa!! We are one step closer to getting into a tribe. · A virus hijacks our website and I had to spend some time with tech support getting it back up. We lost all our old blog data from the past year. · We attend a week-long Culture and Language seminar, which gives us several tips on how best to continue our studies and pursue the next step – learning and studying a tribal language. The Festival of San Roque We also had in August the Feast of San Roque, the patron saint of this area of Manila. This consisted of a lot of preparations and games for the kids. We all went down and let our kids participate in the games, which consisted of “hit the pot” and “grab the treats.” It was a lot of fun for all the families in the neighborhood, and we enjoyed the chance to get to know our neighbors better. Tribal visits This past summer we have been able to go out into 3 different existing tribal works. Once when Ginny’s brother and a couple of friends were here, we visited a particular tribe high up in the mountains in central Luzon. The missionaries there recently had to leave, but before they left, they finished the chronological teaching from Creation to Christ. This was the beginning of the birth of a new body of believers. These are people that previously walked in darkness, and now “have seen a great light.” (Isaiah 9:2) A neighboring tribe, called Ibaloi, which has a strong church, sent over some of their own missionaries to help the new believers. To get to the village, we borrowed a 4 wheel drive van to head up the mountain. We met with the Ibaloi missionary in the town below, and proceeded to drive across the dirt roads to get to the mountain village (watching out for mud and rock slides). On some paved parts of the road, you have to keep your wheels on the “tire path” to keep from sliding into a ditch. I was driving, and pretty soon everyone started yelling, “Move to the left! Move to the left!” Naturally, I ignored their frantic requests and continued straight on, moving slightly more to the right. Suddenly there was this loud “Thunk!” and we were stuck fast. The right rear tire had gone off the tire path in just the spot where the ditch was. We all got out, and in the mud and rain we tried to lift the car back on the path, but to no avail. Agony sets in — How will we get out now? We considered walking the rest of the way up the mountain, when we decided to try one more time, using the 4 wheel drive to pull out of the stuck position. “1, 2, 3, lift!” Everyone lifted while I put the vehicle in gear and drove. It worked! So we were able to proceed, but everyone insisted that someone else drive from then on! At the bottom of the last hill we still had to stop and walk because the mud got too thick. (You can see pictures of the village on our website.) The Ibaloi missionary was borrowing a computer from the previous missionaries, but it was password protected. He asked for help. Well, I don’t know anything about cracking passwords! As we examined the computer, one of my companions asked, “Where were they from?” We told him, “Vancouver.” “Try Canada.” It worked! Wow – we hacked the password and were able to get into the computer so that the missionary there could finally use the computer! We met some of the believers from that tribal area and encouraged them. It is a beautiful area of the Philippines, but life is difficult there. Their vegetable crops all failed this year because rainy season came too late. On the way out, the brakes overheated while heading back down the mountain, so we had to drive about 5 mph for an hour and a half or so. All in all, a good day of missionary activity. Not as they seem We once heard about a missionary who went to the local Dairy Queen and ordered a banana split. It turned out that the banana split, though it looked like the picture perfect dessert, was covered with mayonnaise instead of whipped cream! This typifies life here — everything looks western on the outside, but inside it is totally different. However, it is not always like that. We recently ordered a quarter-pounder at the local Mcdonalds, and guess what? It was just like a quarter-pounder at home! It is so nice that in a place where things are not always as they seem, and things break so often, a quarter-pounder with cheese from Mcdonald’s is still one of life’s great constants!