Chris & Elizabeth

Since we arrived in Cebu I have relied heavily on my Tagalog to communicate with the people.  Tagalog is the main dialect of the Philippines so just about every person can understand and talk with me.  However, there are some who know very little Tagalog and others who have a prejudice against my language.  The church people have been teaching me some of their Cebuano and I’ve also learned a little from day to day living at the market, through soul winning, and other personal  contacts.  Thankfully, Pastor Travis, who is fluent in Cebuano, gave us our first language lesson this past week!  Even though Cebuano and Tagalog have a lot of similarities they are still very different and I have a lot to learn.  Please pray that the Lord would bless, Elizabeth, and I as we study the language!  While it will take my wife longer to learn Cebuano (because she doesn’t know Tagalog) in the long run, she will most likely speak it more clearly than I will.  We’re excited to learn the language and hope to get a better understanding of the culture through our journey!  

One of the ministries I’m involved with at North Cebu Baptist Church is the College and Career Sunday School Class.  It reminds me of former days when I taught the adult class back at our home church in New York.  There are some things that are uniquely different about this particular class though.  Space at the church is limited and because of this our class has been meeting outside under a tarp.  There are three seasons in the Philippines-hot, hotter, and really hot-so that tarp has been a blessing!  Then one morning I showed up at church and was surprised to discover a chicken in the back of our class! (Apparently supper for the Bible college students later that week.)  I could only smile to myself and think only in the Philippines!  During these past few months we’ve had a faithful group attend the class with several new Christians who are eager to grow.  It has been a blessing for me to teach this group and take part in their lives!

Since moving into our house we’ve experienced a few surprises. One thing we learned right away was when using your appliances for the first time~READ THE MANUAL!  You just never know what amazing things your washer is capable of until it’s too late.  And being in a foreign country you also realize that the manufacturer doesn’t always give you a warning.  That being said, I’ve had some experience hooking up appliances but this was something I didn’t see coming.  The drum inside our washer had been bolted down from the inside to keep it from moving during delivery (which I appreciate) , however, no one mentioned that to us.  So being a good husband, I hooked up the washer for my wife and we put in our very first load.  When the washer reached the spin cycle the entire machine starting jumping off the ground.  I’ve seen overloaded washers shake and make noise but this machine was literally jumping across our floor!  For a few moments it looked like our dryer was losing in a robotic boxing match.  Thankfully, it was a simple fix and we counted it a lesson learned.  As I’ve been working around the house, Abigail has been a curious observer.  She has fun trying to sweep and wash the floors.  Whatever daddy and mommy are doing~she wants to be right in the middle of it.  I’m so thankful for our baby girl and her sweet smile.  She makes being a handyman even more fun.