After 4 1/2 months I am finally back home. I flew into Austin December 9th at 8 pm. It is great to be home.

Thanks to everyone who prayed for me while I was gone. God listens to the prayers of His people. It helped me make it through this time and it made a big impact in the work we were doing. The last month went very well. It was a good time of wrapping up and resolution for all of us there. We got baptise three more ladies. That was a great pleasure. Our last night on the island we had a going away party and around 90 people showed up. It was nice to see how much the community had adopted us and wanted to send us off. We were up to the wee hours of the morning with our closer friends. I got to sleep around midnight but then we were up at 4 to get everything out of the house and taken down to the boat. There was a group of about 20 that got up with us at 4 and saw us off at the boat. There were quite a few tears amidst all the goodbyes. It was encouraging to the see the impact we have had and that we will be missed.

It is good to be home, but I won't forget what God has done and taught me. It has been a long hard road but filled with God's grace and provision for me. He is always faithful and has been there for me every step of the way.

But His mission for the world is not over. Please continue to pray for the people of the world who still need to know the love of Jesus Christ! We are God's tools to help reconcile the earth to Himself.... Don't ever forget!!!

Paulo (right) and one of his friends at our second baptism

Let me tell you about my friend Paulo. Paulo is 12 years old and started attending one of our Bible studies about 1 1/2 months ago. He was real eager to learn from the very start. He told us that all the stories and everything he was learning from us he was going and teaching to his friends at school. After he started passing on his newly acquired knowledge his friends labeled him apostle paulo.

He was faithful to attend every time he could and really seemed to understand what we were trying to get across. After about three weeks of him attending, passing it on too his friends and inviting his friends to join us also his friends told him they could see a change. They confessed to him when he first began sharing with them that they were all talking about him behind his back, but now they could tell it was something serious and important. So now we have several middle school aged boys that come to learn about the Bible and how Jesus wants them to live.

I am down to one month left here. It has been a crazy journey here.
God is alive and doing work. Unfortunately so is the devil. There are a lot of spiritual strongholds in the Philippines and very much on the island we are working on. Here are some strong points we could use MUCH prayer on.
1. Witchcraft - It is culturally acceptable to go to a witch doctor for healing. We have about three in our village. They don't find anything wrong with it. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12)
2. Alcohol - I would say the majority of the men on our island are alcoholics. There is just not much to do so they all turn to drinking. It is a major problem. They usually start around 14. (Ephesians 5:17-18)
3. Suicide - It apperently is not common for the Philippines, but we have overwhelming account of suicide or attempted from our island. It is strange and definately something spiritual. Many of the families have been affected by it.
4. Homosexuality - This is a major stronghold in all of SE asia and it is here. We have been able to share with several guys in this lifestyle. It is something incredibly hard to break out of. (Romans 1:24-27)
5. Parenting - Every single person I have talked to has scars from their parents. And while being here I have observed two things, neglect and abuse. I have yet to see true discipline administered correctly. (Proverbs 22:6)

These are all major problems and spiritual stronghold I have seen that you could all pray against.

It is hard for me to stay focused. I miss home and am ready to be back. So pray for me to finish the work I was sent here for. We still have time to see God do more.

Thanks for all the support!

Hey I have been trying to add some more active snapshots of my life here with some videos I have taken. I have uploaded them on youtube and you guys can check them out at http://www.youtube.com/user/jare222?feature=mhum

Just some better visuals of how things look for me!

Keep up the prayers, God hears and answers everyday!

Hey friends,

We are at our halfway point now. Crazy how things progress. Anyways a lot has still been taking place. The week after we had all of our baptisms was pretty hard. The people who chose to be obedient started to hear a lot of feedback from other people in the village. Not so much focused at us but more that those people were just trying to act holy to impress us. Just a lot of gossip and comments from their own families and other people. We know that this all just spiritual warfare and there is usually always backlash when people make a stand for Jesus. But pray that they would stand firm under this pressure and it would only bring them closer to their savior.

This past week we took a little 3 day retreat with all of us missionaries how in this area. It was Jeff and Kim (the permanent missionaries here) Ronnie and Savannah (both part of the journeyman program, 2 years in the field, post college, they are doing college ministry), Ernest and Cecil (our two Filippino team leaders), Hannah (another semester person who stays in city and does college ministry with Ronnie and Savannah), then me, Dave, and Joey. So we had a good little retreat. We went to a small resort on another island. Nice beach, good food and beautiful scenery. It was a great time to recharge and evaluate for upcoming two months.

Well as always please please please continue to pray that God would move

Our group after baptism

Joanne about to be baptised by Cecil

Me baptising Morlan

Praise session on the beach

Night time bible study in our home

Well I don't feel like I have been putting up here the way God has moved, and how significant HE has been. So I have several stories to tell.

1) About 3 weeks ago on a monday morning we were up at 5 am to catch the boat back for our day off. Suddenly the early morning was split with screams. One of the older women we knew, and had been doing bible studies with us, was wailin. News had just reached her that very morning that her son had hung himself. I don't think ive experience anything more saddening than that woman's pain. It was terrible. For the next week the funeral preparations were begun. The lady had pleaded with us to pray for her dead son on several occasions. Cecil (our girl team leader) spent much time with her explaining that there is no point after death and he was in the hands of God now. She was very gentle and loving with her, and said we just wanted to pray for her. The past 3 weeks she has continued to meet in Bible studies and speak with Cecil. Yesterday morning(sunday) we had our little get together in our house and she came. Ernest asked the group if anybody to share something from God. She stood up, while crying, and told how much God had filled her up since the death of her son.
2) Also about 3 weeks ago we met a guy named Morlan. Morlan was a bacla (the philippino term for their gay/crossdressers). After that he started coming around more often and started to attend bible studies. After the 2nd week he professed his faith and christ and was with us constantly. He was very adament about studying the bible, taking notes and learning as much as he could. He also began accompanying us the different bible studies we were doing around the community. 4 days ago he told us he wanted to be baptised! When asked why, he knew it was because Jesus told him do it after he had placed his faith in Him.
3) We had also had two of our neighbors, Heidi and Marrianne, decide that they needed to get baptised. They had put their faith in Jesus and wanted to follow him in Baptism. So we planned it for all 3 of them this sunday following our service. When the time came to head down to the water not only were these 3 ready but also two others. Nanay Belin(the lady whos son committed suicide) and another girl named Joanne who had been coming to the bible studies for some time. So we ended up baptising five! It was pretty amazing......

Baptism is a very big step for anybody to take here because it very much goes against culture. Everyone has a catholic background and was baptised as an infant. Most people don't understand why they would need to be baptised again if they already have been. So these making their decision shows a lot of understanding and maturity which is truly from God!

So God has really been moving greatly in a short time! 5 baptised in the past month, wow.....

Please continue to pray for us and the people here. We are going to extend our stay in this community in view of what God is doing. Just taking it week by week on moving on or staying.......

I love all of you, and miss yall!

Me and Dave got taken spear fishing with some friends. It was incredible to watch them work. They can hold their breath outrageously long! Check out my videos on facebook http://www.facebook.com/video/?of=678772789#!/video/video.php?v=470084652789&subj=678772789 this is my friend Tyson diving deep!

It was a great time with those guys, and a crazy cool experience. God's nature is incredible!

Well the days have been adding up and this week saw us in the Philippines 1 month. God continues to work in the lives of the people here as well as my own heart. I have gotten to see two men follow Jesus in baptism in the past week which brings joy to my heart. We have still been meeting new families and doing Bible studies like crazy. Yesterday we had 11 adults in our small home for a sunday worship service and then almost the exact same group wanted to have another Bible study that night. Some of the people are really starting to thirst for the scripture.

We are also at the point where we have to start deciding if we need to leave this community and head for new territory. It is hard to know what to do. We have gotten to know so many people it is hard to leave, and to know if our work there is done. So be in prayer for us that we will know God's will in the matter......

Had a delicious meal of chicken fried squid for lunch the other day. Everybody this week has decided they want to feed us so we have been getting food from everywhere! Some good, some not good, but that is all part of it.

Be a people of prayer!

Jared

Church service in our house this past sunday

Big tree we climbed on top of the mountain behind our house

on top of the mountain

my gear

Well week two is down. This week had its ups and downs. The beginning of this week was rough. I was kind of down and missing home. Ernest, one of our two Philippino supervisors, got sick and was unable to go out and translate for us. It was hard because it didn't feel like we were doing much. But the last two days God has just really showed up for me personally and in our ministry. Just teaching me to rely on Him and to trust Him has been a big lesson that I don't feel is over. But also we were able to find several other families who had Bible studies in the past at their homes. So these last two days we have done several Bible studies with them that have all gone very well. That was definately a lift of the spirits. We have also been able to disciple two of the guys that prayed to recieve Christ the first week. So in short God is good!

I am still getting use to life here. There are good things and things that are a lot harder to get use to, but that is just part of the experience. Pray that we would rely on God to sustain us. He truly is our oy and the only reason we are here doing this work.

Tomorrow we are taking a day off and I get to go scuba dive for the first time. I am pretty excited!

Well first week down! It has been a crazy new experience that is for sure. We sleep on small mats on concrete floor. There is no break from sweating everyday, even while we sleep. We cook our meals on a small camp stove. Bathing consists of pumping water into a bucket, soaping yourself up, then dumping the water on you. Oh and that is communal so you have to be wearing shorts. There is a toilet in a little outhouse. It also recquires you to pump more water, take your bucket with you to the toilet, because that is the only way it flushes.

The coast is beautiful, and the water is amazing. Go about a hundred yards offshore and the visibility is about 40 feet, BEAUTIFUL. I can just walk out the front door and go snorkel every day.

The people here LOVE basketball! We have played just about everyday. We have a bit of a reputation now. It is usually me, David(another american here with me), and our Filippino supervisor Ernest, then they usually give us 2 more guys (usually the weaker players out there) then put all of their best guys on one team to try and beat us. It has only happened once. It is really weird. I am always the tallest when we play. When I play basketball in the states I usually play point guard, but here they make me play center haha, but it is nice to get rebounds. That has been a great way to get to meet people, and we have made a lot of friends.

Already this first week we have had a lot of significant conversations with people. One night two guys came over J-mar (20) and William (17). They just wanted to talk. We had to speak through an interpretor but it was going really well. I shared my testimony with them and they both ended up praying to recieve Christ right then! It was awesome! The next day, after we had played a game of basketball, David shared with one of the guys we had just met, on the side of the court, and he prayed to recieve Christ. His name is Raymar (29) and we have already been to meet his family and help disciple him, the past two days.

It is amazing to already see what God is doing here. It is definately a big adjustment from everyday life. Please pray for us that we will continue to adjust. The first week in everything is still strange and exciting, but I do believe the lack of comforts we are use to will begin to wear on us. So pray for us that we might have strength!

Jared

Well tomorrow is the day I have been waiting for. We will finally be going out to the island. We will be living in an abandon house in a small community for the next month and then move to another community on the island. Pray for us we will be living without electricity (so no AC) no running water, and from what I have heard no door at the moment. So should be interesting, but I am very much looking forward to the experience.....

I can't wait to share some stories from our first week out there!

and pictures will be coming soon......

So we have now left Brunei, and are in the metropolis of Singapore, staying at the metro YMCA. It is crazy big here. There are people everywhere. 4.8 million to be exact. It was quite intimidating to get on the subway for the first time and try to figure out the city, but we started to get the hang of it today as we toured around the city. Tonight we will be going to the night safari at the singapore zoo. Im pretty dang pumped for that. Ill be leaving wednessday at 10:30 to head to Manila. Philippines here I come!

So today was pretty cool. We went to this museum that has all of the gifts from different heads of state to the sultan. All kinds of swords and symbolic ornate object from other cultures. It also had the crown jewels and chariot. They were pretty outrageous with the gold. Then we went back out to the water village to walk around. We were in pairs so me and arianne went one way. We ended up getting invited into this house that was packed full of about 50 people for food. They told us they were celebrating. Come to find out that it was the anniversary of the lady's grandfather dying. Apperently they get together each year to help pray him into a better afterlife. She said he had been dead since before she was born and she had to be like 30. Kinda sad, they are very much stuck in bondage. But they were super nice and stuffed us full of food. Then Jeff and Dave's daughter Jessi showed up and we were just sitting with the family and then one of the ladies was like "do you want to see a monkey?" to which I replied "absolutely I do." So then they brought out a baby monkey that was the cutest/creepiest thing I have ever seen/played with. The family was incredibly nice and was quick to invite us back, if we weren't going to be leaving so soon.....

It was a good day, worth remembering!

Today we went and saw the two biggest mosques here in the country. They are in honor of the current Sultan and his father the previous sultan. They are the 28th and 29th rulers. They are both quite extravagant and our considered national treasures to the people. It was my first time to be in a mosque and it was very eye opening. We met a few of the workers on the inside and got to talk for a little bit also. The country here is so wealthy that when they do anything it is usually all out. There are many monuments to the sultan all over. It is although his 64 birthday celebration going on right now, so it is even more over the top than normal.

We also with our down time got to go to the beach for a little while. It wa nice to just relax and enjoy it out here. It was a beautiful day that God gave us!

Awesome days

Yesterday we took part in the first ever ultimate frisbee tournament in this location. It was a blast. Us americans there were placed on the 4 different teams to playin the tournament. My team got 2nd. We all had a great time meeting new friends and tossing the disc around. It also ended in a crazy rain storm. It rained so hard for about half an hour that it flooded the entire field. But that didn't stop us from having fun in it