Teaching VBS kids about missions

Some Philippines Questions (send us your answers!)

 1. How did the Philippines get its name?

 2. How many language groups are there in the Philippines?

 3. What is a favorite Filipino food made from a duck egg?

 4. Why is Spanish not very common in the Philippines?

 5. What is the name of the Filipino historical figure who killed Magellan?

 6. What is the name of the volcano that is currently erupting in the Philippines?

 7. What is the name of the volcano that erupted in 1991, causing the U.S. to shut down its air force base there?

 8. What are the names of 3 major regional trade languages in the Philippines?

 9. What is the name of the island where General Macarthur landed his forces to liberate the Philippines in World War II?

 10. How many of the language groups in the Philippines have no access to the Gospel in their heart language?

Taking a break at the museum

Fishing trip

My righteousness draws near speedily, my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice to the nations. The islands will look to me and wait in hope for my arm… Isaiah 51:5

"Ouch! Ouch! Get them off, get them off!"

I was saying good night to Isaac the other night, when he leaned over to pull up the blanket, and quickly jumped out of bed yelling what I wrote above. So I looked at the blanket, and there it was – full of fire ants! (Is this part of our preparation for going to the Philippines?) Yes, even in our comfortable apartment in San Antonio, the bugs can come after you! But there was a faith lesson learned here. Usually he pulls the blanket straight up over his head, which would have put the ants right into his eyes. For some reason, this time, he didn’t, and saw the Lord’s hand of protection.

Latest happenings

So what have the Olson's been up to since we sent out our last email and newsletter? We have been very busy with all kinds of things – meeting with people about the ministry, packing, getting passports, scheduling immunizations, etc. All the sorts of things that one has to do before heading off overseas to the serve the Lord as missionaries! As we prepare to go, we are overwhelmed with the grace of our God in allowing us to go and do His work – and that He has brought so many of you into such a close partnership with us before we go overseas!

Since our last printed newsletter (if you only get the printed copy, be sure to sign up for the email version, which comes out more frequently and includes more prayer requests), we have moved for the last time before going to the Philippines. We are now in San Antonio, the place where I grew up, and home of the "Alamo Heights Mules" (ahh, to bask in the glory days of youth again :)  ). Okay, whoever decided to come up with THAT mascot for a high school…

San Antonio has been a good move for us. It is good to be close to my (George's) parents and my sisters for an extended period before we head overseas. Our kids are enjoying getting to see their cousins more, too!

While in San Antonio, we are very busy doing the "partnership development" phase of the ministry. It has been amazing to watch God pull through in times of a financial crunch – things that take faith! If this sort of thing strengthens your faith to read, let me share it with you!

A matter of faith

The Lord had clearly spoken to our hearts about the amount of money He wanted us to give back to Him – through our church and offerings to other missionaries. Yet, we were looking at having nothing left to purchase groceries unless we pulled out of the funds that were given to cover the cost of our airplane tickets. A one week VBS trip to Houston put another strain on our finances, but because of a faithful partner family we met there, the cost of that trip was covered. We still didn't know where we were going to get the grocery money, though, and were about to do what we thought was inevitable, when we had several donations come in from different totally unexpected sources.

This enabled us to go ahead and buy groceries and pay our bills without having to pull anything out of the funds designated to cover our airplane tickets! And God has been doing lots of things like that for us recently – often speaking to people about joining our financial partnership team whom we had never approached about finances. He has given us every confidence that this is His work, and so we are leaving it all up to Him. He also keeps us in constant dependence on Him, which is exactly where we all need to be!

Our status

We have been asked to raise a certain amount of monthly support – a value recommended by our mission's leadership team in the Philippines. We thought we had reached that amount, but it turns out we are just under what is recommended. The value is an estimate, and only the Lord can truly foresee what lies ahead.

There is still plenty of opportunity for those who want to join us in financial partnership to reach the lost in the Philippines with the Gospel! We have basically 3 types of support – regular support (monthly or quarterly), annual support, and support that the Lord has laid on someone's heart for a certain time or season to give. All of these are offerings to His service, and we are very thankful for each and every person who has chosen to partner with us to reach the lost in unreached areas of the Philippines. Click here to go to the page with information on how to become part of our financial support team.

Everyone can participate in this ministry through prayer – it is prayer that has seen us through so far, and prayer that will see us through to the end! We would ask that you keep us in your prayers for the following:

·        God's provision of all that is necessary for us to leave in October

·        strength and wisdom as we prepare for departure

·        our kids to continue to be excited about going

·        future friendships our kids will make with Filipino kids

·        the relationships we will develop with our language teachers and language helpers, and other people in the Philippines

·        the tribal people we will ultimately go to, that they will be prepared and wanting to receive the Gospel

·        that we will excel in language learning and understanding the Filipino culture

·        that our relationships with family and friends here in the States will remain strong during our time in the Philippines

Airplane tickets

We have now purchased airplane tickets for departure to the Philippines on Wednesday, October 11th. That seems so soon! Praise the Lord for His goodness, and may His name be glorified in all the earth!

Long term strategic plan:

·         Mid October, 2006 - arrival in the Philippines, begin orientation and house searching in the capital city of Manila

·         October 30, 2006 – completion of move into a rental house, begin national language study (Tagalog)

·         January, 2008 – begin contacts in tribal area with unreached tribal group

·         July, 2008 - complete national language study

·         August 2008 - move into tribe, begin tribal language and culture study

·         September 2008 - begin tribal medical ministry, community development

·         July 2009 - completion of tribal language and culture study, begin scripture translation and lesson translation

·         August 2009 - begin literacy ministry

·         December 2009 - completion of initial bible lessons

·         January 2010 - begin teaching ministry - formal church planting in the tribal language — phase 1