Busy, busy, busy...

What can you write about when you haven’t written a report for four months? What excuse can you give for being so forgetful? None, really, you just have to do it. I will do my best to make up for the time I haven’t written:)

We spent the Christmas holiday with my parents continuing our holiday tradition, building something. This year we worked on finishing cabinets in some of the rooms and building cabinets in some of the bathrooms. I think they turned out very well, though we still are not finished. What fun would that be, though? We wouldn’t have anything to do during the holidays :)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! by the way :)

In November I wrote and mentioned that Clint, Rachael and Andrew were in the USA fundraising. They finished fundraising and returned in January of this year. We were all excited to be back together again. We were also shocked at how much Andrew had grown! It’s amazing what a few months will do to a toddler. He’s now walking around getting into everything (I guess running would be a better word) and talking up a storm! It’s a lot of fun having him around again.

January 1, 2010 came upon us in a rush and passed just as quickly. Time passes so quickly now that it’s hard to get a hold of things and keep on track sometimes. In the first full week of January we had some joy and some frustration. Rachael, Clint and Andrew were scheduled to be returning on January 8, which had us all excited, as you may imagine. Amy and I had been having a couple days of respite at a beach resort on Mactan Island, right next to Cebu. We went to the airport from there and met Mom and Dad who told us that during the night the Bible Study Center had been robbed! Some criminals, who the police have yet to identify, used bolt cutters to cut our locks, broke in and took 2 laptop computers, 3 LCD projectors and other various appliances and items. Despite the joy I had in the return of my family it was a depressing day. The devil really knew what he was doing when he threw that on us. After time passed and the initial blow was over I finally came to peace with the situation because the things they stole were just belongings and the robbers weren’t able to hurt anyone. It’s amazing how we can get caught up in the little things and forget the big picture. One thing that made me laugh was something Rachael said. The computers which were stolen had our course materials left on them, so Rach said that she hopes that they look at the files and find our courses and then maybe, one day, they might change their ways and come see us. It’s a long shot, but hey! stranger things have happened :)

The week after we were robbed we started enrollment week before our first session of classes for 2010. Dad taught the seminar for our first week of classes titled “What does the Bible REALLY teach us about SIN?” He took modern teachings of Calvinism and Catholicism among others and showed that they are not based on the Bible, but the ideas of men. He then took students through what the Bible DOES say about sin, focusing on 1 Corinthians 10:13 and James 1:13-14 and how sin is ALWAYS a choice.

Before Session 1 started Noli Raganas, a student of ours from 2009, was immersed. Nenita de Guzman, another student from 2009, was immersed in the middle of our session. I had the privilege of teaching our member’s course at the BSC about Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount found in Matthew 5-7, which lasts 3 sessions, starting in Session 5 of 2009. My group of 6 students graduated and made me proud. We also had a batch of 5 new teachers complete our training program for teachers here at the BSC. Once they completed they were all assigned to teach in our next session.

March 8 was a day of sadness for us, once again. Jon, Gina and Sean got on a plane to the USA for 3 months of furlough and fundraising. They plan on being there until June 8. If you haven’t seen them and would like to I can put you in touch with them. They seem to be enjoying themselves despite the cold they experienced. We really miss having them around, but are coping pretty well. From what I hear they are almost finished with their fundraising but still have about $200 a month left. If you might be interested in helping them let me know and I can connect you. Please keep their fundraising and their safety in your prayers.

We held our enrollment week for Sessions 2 and 3 on March 8-12. During this week my grandfather, Ken Wilkey, taught a seminar for us about Idolatry titled “The Difference Between Praying to Images and Idolatry”. We decided to have this topic because the Catholic Church authorizes praying to images of Jesus, Mary, the saints, etc… and claims this is not Idolatry. My grandpa went through what the Bible teaches and taught a very informative seminar on the topic.

Sessions 2 and 3 in March were a new experience for us. A session of classes for us at the BSC lasts for 6 weeks. A class may come together once or twice a week, depending on the subject. We decided to try something different this year because of a Catholic holiday, Holy Week. During Holy Week, the week before Easter Sunday, stores are closed and people go to the Catholic Churches for prayer, mass, and other practices held in their homes. People will often go to their homes in the province to spend time with their families. Because of this we are unable to hold classes during this week because we usually lose our students for a week. This happens to us every year and so this year we decided to do something different. Instead of a six-week session we decided to have a six-DAY session. One week of classes, Monday through Saturday night, and the classes would meet every night. We had two weeks (March 15-20 and 22-27) like this, back to back, and they went very well! We had a great turnout for students and some new contacts. We were also blessed to have my grandpa and another well-known missionary who is very dear to our hearts, Bob Buchanan, with us during these two weeks. My grandfather held a class March 15-20 titled “First Century Principles for the 21st century Christian” for members of the church and Uncle Bob (as we like to call him) held a class on the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament March 22-27, also for members. We were happy to have these inspiring men with us for a time to share some of their knowledge and experience with us!

Holy Week was March 28-April 3, so we went out of the city for a bit of a vacation. We took a trip to Negros Island, and island to the east of Cebu where my parents have a bit of property with Mango trees and the Emperados own some beach front property. We joined the Emperados Tuesday morning and stayed until Thursday afternoon swimming and having a great time by the ocean, and then we headed up the mountain to join my parents at their property. During our stay the brethren in Negros were holding their annual Summer Meeting. We were able to join their activities and Dad, Clint and Mom were given the opportunity to speak on various topics. It was great to get together with the brethren to uplift and encourage each other. We returned to Cebu on Saturday (April 3) just in time to prepare for enrollment week for Session 4.

Enrollment week for Session 4 started this last April 5 and my father taught a seminar which he has taught before, “Is the Modern Practice of Tithing from God or from Man”. Some of our members asked if he would talk about this because it is a topic which many people are interested in, and they were right. We had more than 50 people attend! There was one family who had heard about our seminar because their grandson had found a flyer crumpled up on the ground and brought it to his grandmother! Amazing how God brings people to us.

We’ve had several weddings since Dad was able to finalize his paperwork to get his solemnizing license. The Philippine government requires that anyone who wants to marry people must get a solemnizing license. After some frustration and time he was able to submit all the requirements and renew his old license just in time for the wedding of Mark and Gretel Ybanez in February. In the beginning of March he solemnized the wedding of Sherwin and Donabelle Garcia and this Sunday (April 18) at our regular church outing we’ll be having a third wedding, Eliseo Arado and Janice Iglesia. Please keep these couples and their futures in your prayers.

Session 4 began Monday, April 12. Our new minor course Biblical Geography being taught by our brand new teacher Amy Murrell had 14 students. Rachael is teaching our major course Jesus: Man of the Bible this session and has seven students! Just so you know this is a large group for a major course :). God has been blessing our work more and more.

Please keep our work, our students and our brethren in your prayers. We are ready and waiting for what the Lord plans to bring our way the rest of this year. Thank you for your continued prayers and support in all that we do.

Also please keep our health in your prayers. Several of us have been getting sick or injuring themselves. Within two days I had two accidents, I cut my hand with a handsaw and hit myself in the eye with a ring from a three-ring binder. Apparently I’m a klutz :). Please pray that we all stay healthy and that I don’t kill myself :).

Thanks for your interest in my life! God bless!

In him,
Sara Murrell