I Love You, Philippines!

This is a great colored gecko I saw and loved!





Beautiful view of the dam near Shofar.







Crazy looking spider on the screen door.




For myself, this trip has been many things all crammed into a short three and half weeks. Exhilarating, breathtaking, challenging, faith stretching, exhausting, magic sarap, heartwarming, humbling… all these things and more. Overall I am thankful to God for allowing Rachel and I to live and experience the Philippines through Shofar Missions, and look forward to the day we can return again. Oh, and one last reflection before leaving the country – magic sarap!

Pastor Jason


Today is a funny day. It sure does not seem like we are leaving tomorrow morning! What an interesting adventure this has been. To physically see the work (school, ministries, and people) going on here and the country is nothing short of more then you could ever wonder. There is a interesting change and knowledge that comes from stepping out of the bubble at home and going out to see more than Wisconsin. It’s really awesome that God allows us to be a part of Shofar Missions and the work going on here.

Nick

Thus far, the highlight of our last full day has been playing with the kids while Tom and Jason showed the teachers of the school how to use our new security system. We had to distract the children and keep them in the playground area so they wouldn’t set off the alarm. It served a purpose, but it was super fun, too: which describes so many of the activities we accomplished here! Concerts, teaching kids, painting various items: all needful and fun activities. I am so grateful I was part of this team. Please pray for lasting fruit from our trip- both in our hearts and in the people’s lives we have connected with.

Rachel

Tomorrow we fly away from the most beautiful collection of trees on the face of the planet. I have been nerding out a little because I love me some nature (which some might think is odd,) because God is a good artist. Only by God’s grace have I seen the things here. Who would have though a sinner like me from small town Wisconsin would ever venture this far from home? That being said, I am giving a few last noogies to Shofar Learning kids, last goodbyes to new friends and the last looks at the beautiful mountains and trees. Goodbye Shofar and the Philippines, don’t eat all the Santils, you will get sick.

Brandon

Let me just begin this final post by saying that the past 3.5 weeks have been fun, challenging and the fastest days of my life. I can hardly believe that we’ll be on a plane headed back to the states tomorrow but I must say I am looking forward to the nearly 24 hour nap that I will ensue. Haha. This trip has really taught me a lot and God has shown me some things in my life I never saw before-the good and the ugly. I’m happy and thankful for it.
This trip challenged me as it was a trip of many “1sts.” It was my first time to the Philippines and I was taken away by the beauty and I absolutely love the culture and the smells. Also, I had never taught before and once to twice a week I taught the children in either devotions or from the comic book bible. I really enjoyed this aspect of the trip as I learned a lot while studying and it was really a blessing to see the kids learning and interacting with them. It was also my first time giving my testimony to a large crowd – I have never been so nervous but at the same time I am glad I put myself out there and I will never forget that day.
All in all, I have had a great time and I really enjoyed getting to know the people on the team and our fellow partners in ministry. Shofar Learning truly has a great staff and I look forward to seeing the future of Shofar-hopefully in person again.

Makita na ta!
Caitlin
We are just wrapping up everything left to do at Shofar Missions. Everyone is cleaning, and packing. We have all learned something knew about ourselves, this beautiful, amazing culture, and God. I do apologize for all the people in WI that the pictures do not do justice. I would also like to warn, once you come, you don't want to leave, and you just want to come back before you leave. Thank you to Shofar Mission, and Shofar Learning. This trip has truly been amazing and a once in a lifetime opportunity. Thank you to all the new family in Christ I met that showed me love. I love that God had the grace to allow me to come here with my husband and other family from JFB.

Amber

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY, Going to Church in a hemi dodge........ ah what.. Multicab

A "step dam" as some might say. To the left is a rice field.

Beautiful Flowers

One of my favorites, corn planted on the mountain side. Trust me it is a lot steeper then it looks.

Sir Brandon

Today brought about some very interesting activities. It was nice to return to FIC (Freedom in Christ) for our final Sunday and see our freinds there again. What a blessing it has been to physically see the faces of the people many of the teams in the past have talked about. Jason taught this morning,after church we ate with thee Salas family and experienced young coconut. We also had some aged coconut, I found that to be a bit rougher around the edges but sweeter on the inside. Seeing a few of the people for the last time was a bit rough, but we are just blessed to have gotten to know them. After din din the team split and went our own ways. Nick, Amber, Tom, Becky, and Jones headed over and down and up and through the paths to teacher Jayne's church where we showed a Francis Chan video called Holy Spirit (Part of the Basics series.) After the film we split up guys and girls and had a sort of discussion session. Jason, Rakel, Brandon, and Caitlin did the same at the FIC church. Now that we are getting down to the wire we finishing up a few projects (radio room window covering, some mechanical work, a few others) and will hit them head on Monday. On another note we will be finishing our lessons in the school this week so also please pray for the kids and teachers. Please continue to pray for us as we are finishing up. Also pray for the existing ministry's here, and for all the people that came to the concert and heard the message.

Until Next Time, Adios, Nick

The Beginning of the "Lasts" 7/30/11

Hello everyone!


Tonight was our very last concert for the 2011 trip.

The Andy Calope Band played two shows-one last night and one tonight. Both shows had a decent turn out...it seemed the more the music played the more people would come. I really enjoyed their music-they're the first "Josh Garrels"-esque band we've had. <3 The youth from Freedom in Christ joined us tonight which was way fun. Amber and I had the opportunity to hang out with the girls and shoot some hoops after the guys had a full on game. :) It is awesome to connect with our fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord who live across the world.


Today we also finished up some building projects in the morning-the shelves outside the radio room and the guard shack lean-to's. Yay! We had to get creative with putting the last of the shelves in...they go up to the ceiling which wouldn't be a big deal except we had to work around or should I say over the staircase. haha. We all put our brains together to make it a safe project.

Tomorrow will be our last service at FIC-I believe we're all eating together, we're bringing spaghetti and Lando and Evelyn are going to intoduce us to some Coconut. Way excited. Then we are going to split up for youth group-- Tom and Becky, Nick and Amber and Jones will head to Jane's home church while the Jason, Rachel, Brandon and myself will stay at FIC.

With that said I am going to head to bed now. Thanks for your prayers-please continue as we'll definitely need them in this last week with wrapping up teaching and shutting down. We're praying for all of you as well.
-Caitlin-







Nick playing some sweet b-ball.



Watching the concert.



Some of the many kids who stayed to watch the concert.

Tom and Lando.



They covered three songs all in one song at the end. Pretty talented.

Gearing up for the home stretch

We have been working hard for the last two and a half weeks, completing many projects from the work list, as well as unexpected ones that have popped up along the way. Brandon and Nick have really gone to town on the guard house, although everyone has helped out on this project at one time or another. The last piece of tin is about to be set in place and the finishing touches added on, to protect it from the wild wind we get here at Shofar.

Here we are setting the front posts - check and re-check for straightness!

...adding on the roof supports. Watch out for those power lines!

Here is Brandon nailing on the tin for the front porch.

The "nearly" finished product - lookin good!

We are getting ready for the last weekend of concerts with the Andy Calope band. These will be taking place at two local baranguys in the Toledo area. We have been taking lots of pictures of the concerts, and this weekend we plan to shoot video of our set up so we can make an instructional film on how to set up and take down for concerts, so other teams will be able to prepare to do the same in the future. Hopefully, we can get some footage of Andy and the band to add to our “Burning Dog Traveling Show” collection, as well.

Our typical front line set up for Main speakers and Monitors.

Keep those plugs straight - 110volts and 220 volts. The minute you stop respecting this little hummer, - ZAP! - it will remind you it's there!

Last night, we invited Lando and Evelyn to Shofar tonight for dinner, and in addition to a great evening of fellowship, we also were able to get a great cooking lesson from Evelyn. Lando showed us how to ripen a bunch of bananas he cut from a tree right next to Shofar last week, and they should be ready to eat Saturday morning! Evelyn showed us how to make Lumpia, as well as a Squash, and what a treat they were!There's a whole-lotta Lumpia goin' on, goin' on at Shofar - Jon!

So long for now, thanks all for the prayers, and keep 'em comin!

Jason

Island Haven

Hi y'all. Shofar is a beautiful place to spend some time but today I am going to talk about the travels we take and the words we speak.

We had two concerts this past weekend. One was in Telavera and one in Buanoy. Saturday we picked up the band Ramoth Gilead and started setting up at the basketball court. Some people set up the stage, some watch the bags and some play games with the kids hanging around. To see the Philippines culture in action is very cool. In the many months leading up to the trip we watched videos and talked about culture but nothing would tell the story as well as watching kids hang out for hours on end playing basketball, seeing people stop at a shop and talk for a period of time and also watch them talk about our concert posters. It is pretty cool to watch such a different group of people, I'm so used to seeing empty streets and people who drive around with a cell phone stuck in their ear that it makes me wonder if I will return home or not... Just kidding. In our group travels thus far we have seen Sari Saris, an Ocean Highway, Basketball Courts, Bake Shops, Multi Cabs, Motorcycles and many interesting people at all age ranges.

In speaking with kids I have learned some interesting things. For instance adding "ra" to something means just this or just that. So, one could say "joke-ra" which is "just joke" or "ok-ra" which is "just ok" or one of my favorites "Jones-ra" which by this point one would hope you know means "just Jones". I have also learned important words like bogoy "mischievous" (Evelyn says that Nick and I are this) and "dili, hawá palihog" which you can tell "bogoy" children because it means "no, please go away". There is much more to tell but I feel it shall be "lost in translation".

God is working here, and we need your prayers to keep going strong. This next stretch leads us to finishing projects at Shofar Mission, two more concerts, Bible lessons at Shofar Learning, youth group at two churches and much more.

If you have any questions, drop them in the comments box and one of our representatives will be happy to answer it for you. ;)

Until next time,
Brandon H --signing off



Caitlin giving her testimony at a JCIL (Jesus Christ Is Lord) outreach in Pondol. (Lando translated for her.)



Nick doing some much needed cleaning. Caitlin and Amber make a huge mess!



The view from the guard house to the next island over.



New shelves replacing the old ones on the stairwell.



Amber cleaning up sawdust from her shelf-making mess.


Jones-ra sporting some cool kid glasses.

"You cannot add anything to the cross" -so they say

Well well well. It has been a couple of days since our last post. This is because we were for some reason unable to connect to Blogger from our computers. Now it is my turn to give you an update. The team has been working like mad doing the following: working on the guard house, teaching bible class, doing school devotions, installing our state-of-the-art security system, and tons of other wee things. Let me tell you, the weather has taken its turn into rain making working outside a bit difficult but we will not be beaten. The guard house is moments away from a new steel roof porch and kitchen and it's under-structure is almost complete. The alarm system is on but a couple of bugs need working out. Everyone is putting their heart into it all. There have been some great challenges, days where you feel quite defeated beacause everything you do is an up hill climb (no pun intended). This facility we have here is such a huge blessing. We sleep dry and comfortable. The meals have been good. Our interaction amongst the team has been a real blessing and challenging at times. It has also been a blessing to see the ministry-heart of those who serve God here all year. The teaching staff is top-notch. Lando and family have been a real help to us and I had a nice time last Sunday just sitting and talking ministry and vision and Bible with pastor Lando.

I have a few pics to post for you:

Ben created a crucifix-shaped clothes line when he was here. We, however, "added to the cross". We think it's "supercross" now.



"And the Lord said, 'Let there be light.' and there was light. And it was good." We installed a new rear light in the Multi-Cab. It even has "slow-jam-blue" light setting on it.


Here's the "slow-jam-blue"






And then there's the children of Calaju-an... Very cute
And then there was the post-concert Jeepney snooze. We just crashed hard after the second show last weekend

And working in the classroom? A fun challenge, especially for those who have little teaching experience. Our Shofar Learning kids are bright fast learners. I encourage you to take the time to email them or Skype call them. They are totally a blast.







Anyway, just showing you what I saw.... Love you guys and miss you.

-=pastor tom

Projects, church and kids, oh my!

Hello from the mountaintop! It has been an eventful week, what with the concerts, projects and teaching we have been doing. On Sunday, the team split up between the Freedom in Christ church in Lutopan, and Jesus Christ is Lord church (a more rural church one of our teachers at Shofar attends). Our team members showed a Francis Chan video about the Fear of God and we had a discussion about that subject with the youth groups in both locations. The youth were a little shy since we are new people for them, but they slowly opened up and discussed the content of the video and how it applies to their lives. It was surprising how relevant the subject matter was for them, and it occured to me that young people struggle with the same fears, insecurities and sin no matter where they live. The team I was on went to the more remote location, which was a lot of fun: a long dirt road led us through a jungle-like atmosphere until we arrived at the "end of the road" (literally!) and hiked about 20 minutes before we arrived at their church. The location was beautiful (and very hot!)
Back "home" here at Shofar, we have been aquainting ourselves with the kids, doing devotions with them everyday and teaching a comic book Bible curriculum. They are very sharp and attentive children. Yesterday, Nick asked the question in class, "How can you KNOW that God loves you?" and several kids answered 'prayer' or 'the bible', but one tiny girl sitting next to me said in a tiny voice "discipline". I quietly tried to encourage her to raise her hand and say it, but she was a little shy! Many of the kids are skilled at English, but we are interpreted during our
lessons so all the kids can fully understand us.
I love hearing the kids doing their school lessons throughout the day while we work on projects outside. At any given time, you can hear them learning English phrases, and answering the teachers in a group. Sometimes we can hear them singing, too. It's a nice myraid of sounds drifting over the mountain. Before I came here, I didn't realize that we would be able to hear them all day long. It's pretty neat.
Keep praying for us- and we will pray for you too!
-Rach

Working for the Weekend

....School, Projects, Concerts, Church, Youth, and even some Takyan. It was a jam packed weekend and "so worth it."





The first concert was in Jaclupan near Tabanuk and the second one was in Calaju-an near Manglanilla. Calaju-an is closer to the ocean and a smaller venue; basketball court.





The band, Fervent stayed with us over night. They are part of a church near Cebu City and also have a school. It was an awesome time getting to know them and working with them the next day to put on the second concert. Started early with paking bags and food and supplies. Hauling equipment and making our way to Calaju-an. Hanging banners anywhere we could find a nail. Hanging posters and meeting new people with the band. Setting up equipment and finding electricity and even a little Takyan. (takyan is the Cebuano term for a local football game(hackysac-like) made of chicken feathers or colorful plastic pieces from rice bags). As usual there were a ton of kids at first and then once the music started the people of the town started to find their way in. It was a great turn out and an awesome night!

Journey and Jason or Jason and Journey..hard to tell who is who. (hahaha)....Some people thought Jason was the dummer on the poster we were hanging up. So they switched places for a day.

New friends....












Brandon learning Takyan...









Fervent















In Concert..
















The way home....
















~Becky