Last week Andrew and I were able to enjoy our Luzon regional conference, and were really encouraged by the time we had with all the missionaries here on the island of Luzon (the biggest island of the Philippines, where we live in Manila). I especially found encouragement in a message that our friend Geff Harada shared during a chapel time about fear. A passage he noted was from Exodus 17 when the people of Israel were questioning God's care for them when they had no water, and said, "Is the Lord here with us or not?" A pretty testing statement to make, right? But Geff pointed out that a lot of times when we are facing fears- fear of failure, of what the future holds, of getting through a trial, we are really thinking "Is God in this or not" when we are fearful of what will happen, because in our fear we are not trusting that God is in the situation and in control- and not only that, working things out for our best- our conformity to the image of Christ. This really hit home for me, as moving overseas has brought new or stronger fears into my life, "Am I really going to be able to learn this language? Will I be able to minister effectively or will I let my flesh get in the way of God's work? Am I going to be able to raise my kids well when I don't have the resources we do 'back home'?" And there's a list of other things that could go on and on. But God just used this to grab my attention, and really bring a sweeping sense of peace, in showing me that He is HERE, that He is right in the midst of what is happening in my life. He is not a spectator, but "makes everything work out according to His plan" Eph. 1:11. God is so powerful, all-knowing and wise that He can make any situation turn out to work towards His desires and plans for us- how awesome and reassuring to us! Well, I hope that some of this can resonate with you, I do believe we all have fears, even though they are in different contexts. But it is so awesome to know we have a God we can completely trust, and that we can lay our burdens before, knowing that He cares, and gives us peace that transcends all understanding.
We thank you for you faithful prayers, your desire to see God's word go out, and your love for our family!
Megan & Andrew
Praise:
1. We are expecting... baby #3!!! Yes, we thought that learning another language and culture wasn't quite enough, and desired to throw in a pregnancy as well! Joking aside, we feel SO incredibly blessed with this new little life, and are so excited to be a family of five come end of February 2012!!
2. We finished our language evalutations, and are progressing well in the language and culture here in Manila. Our culture and language consultant has been encouraged by our progress and interaction with the community and culture, and we only have God to thank that through His Spirit He is Able to work through us. Thank you for your continued prayers in our culture and language learning time- this is still just the beginning as we really have only scratched the surface!
3. Brenna- we praise God for the beautiful daughter He has given us, who is so full of adventure and curiosity, mixed in with a lot of drive! :) She has been such a blessing to our lives, and we are so thankful for her first year of life and the unique little person she is growing into!
Prayer Requests:
1. Focus and being intentional as we continue to involve ourselves in our community and go deeper in language and culture. Please pray specifically that we will have good direction in how to go to the next "Stage" of language/culture acquisition, and have good strategies for learning and pracitcal ways to implement them in our day to day lives.
2. Our pregnancy- please pray that we will be able to find a good doctor here in the Philippines, and trust God in this new situation of having a baby overseas.
3. Birthday celebration- we are having all of our Tagalog teachers and some missionary neighbors over for a Filipino style birthday party tomorrow for Brenna's first birthday. Please pray that this will be a good time of fellowship and continuing to build into our relationships with our Filipino teachers.
We thank you for you faithful prayers, your desire to see God's word go out, and your love for our family!
Megan & Andrew
Praise:
1. We are expecting... baby #3!!! Yes, we thought that learning another language and culture wasn't quite enough, and desired to throw in a pregnancy as well! Joking aside, we feel SO incredibly blessed with this new little life, and are so excited to be a family of five come end of February 2012!!
2. We finished our language evalutations, and are progressing well in the language and culture here in Manila. Our culture and language consultant has been encouraged by our progress and interaction with the community and culture, and we only have God to thank that through His Spirit He is Able to work through us. Thank you for your continued prayers in our culture and language learning time- this is still just the beginning as we really have only scratched the surface!
3. Brenna- we praise God for the beautiful daughter He has given us, who is so full of adventure and curiosity, mixed in with a lot of drive! :) She has been such a blessing to our lives, and we are so thankful for her first year of life and the unique little person she is growing into!
Prayer Requests:
1. Focus and being intentional as we continue to involve ourselves in our community and go deeper in language and culture. Please pray specifically that we will have good direction in how to go to the next "Stage" of language/culture acquisition, and have good strategies for learning and pracitcal ways to implement them in our day to day lives.
2. Our pregnancy- please pray that we will be able to find a good doctor here in the Philippines, and trust God in this new situation of having a baby overseas.
3. Birthday celebration- we are having all of our Tagalog teachers and some missionary neighbors over for a Filipino style birthday party tomorrow for Brenna's first birthday. Please pray that this will be a good time of fellowship and continuing to build into our relationships with our Filipino teachers.
Missions
Andrew and Megan Smith