Holy Week and other fun

Howdy from the HOT city of Cebu, right in the middle of the Philippine Islands! Things have been busy for us at the BSC, so let me tell you all about what we've been up to!

Session 2 brought us three new brothers! Two of our students I mentioned last report, Raul Gamboa and Rechie Bejasa, decided to be immersed, as well as Bob Nadela, the long-time boyfriend of May Alda (one of our strong members and teachers at the BSC). The angels were rejoicing in heaven, as were we! Raul and Bob were immersed on March 16, while Rechie took the plunge April 6. We had the immersions at the park where we have our bi-monthly church outings, which just so happens to have a pool :). After our assembly time we all filed over to the pool and dunked them! It is such a joy to have been a part of these brothers' journeys to the truth.

I've still been having my special schedule classes with Terry. We have talked about the Sermon on the Mount, the Parables of Jesus, and many other teachings of Christ. It is amazing because he is so open. Instead of being touchy and defensive when we read and talk about something Jesus said which does not agree with his life, he openly admits that it is not correct and begins to work on correcting it! The only thing Terry needs to become a member of God's family. Matthew 7:21-23 tells us that, no matter how good a person might be, obedience to the will of God is the only thing that can make us pleasing to him. Please keep Terry and me in your prayers, that the Lord will be able to use me to touch his heart and lead him to obey.

Genea, Raul, and Jimmy Dagandan continued studying with me in our course What is Real Christianity? until the end of Session 2. God is still working on Jimmy. He has admitted to us that he is not yet right with God, but something is holding him back from making a commitment. He is still planning to continue studying with us, so we still have a chance to influence him. Please keep him in your prayers as well.

At the end of our Session we had our usual Graduation on April 12 and then began two weeks of much needed break time. We usually try to take a break during Holy Week, as many Philippine businesses actually close up for Thursday through Sunday of that holiday. If we have classes span over this time we usually lose students because they travel to their homes to be with family. Filipinos celebrate the week before Easter in many different ways. Some view it as not really different than any other time, just a long weekend before they have to go back to work. Others go so far as to commit to reenact the death of Jesus, beating themselves and allowing themselves to be crucified on crosses. I am not exaggerating. They LITERALLY are crucified on crosses. This is usually done by only the most devout of men and they try to be clean and careful, because the men are supposed to come down from the crosses and live to see another day.

There is so much "devotion"! The difficulty that I have with all that goes on around the country (and world, really!) during this time is that people are so focused on the death of Jesus for this brief time, but they seem to forget about him when the weekend is through. In the same way that they focus on the birth of Jesus only at Christmas they focus only on his death on Easter Sunday. I don't think that anything is wrong with meditating on the birth and death of Jesus at all. The problem is when people choose to think about him ONLY on these days and forget about his love and sacrifice during the rest of the year. Shouldn't we all try to remember his birth, life, and death every day of the week throughout the year? What a loss for the Lord...

We were able to recuperate and relax during these two break weeks and get some much needed sleep :). For some reason I have seemed to make a habit of getting sick during a break. I am finally feeling better just in time. We started our enrollment week for Session 3 of classes and are preparing for a seminar April 30 through May 2. Dad will be teaching a seminar on the topic of Holy Week, what the religious world teaches about it, and what the Bible really says about what happened. It seemed that this topic fit in with the timing of our seminar. We are hoping and praying for a great attendance, and I hope you'll pray with us too. We distributed flyers yesterday with the help of a few of our members, and we will be distributing again today and tomorrow. Please pray for our efforts to reach out to those who are lost here in Cebu City. The harvest is indeed great!

As far as family goes, Rachael and her family and Jon and his family are both now stateside. Jon and his family should be coming back soon, while Rach and Clint just left. Please pray for their safety and fundraising efforts. Amy is doing well, as am I. RJ has been taking it easy too, and finally has gotten his Philippine driver's license! Mom and Dad are busy as ever. By the grace of God we are all healthy and safe. Thank you so much for your continual interest and support of our family. We have been so very blessed by our great God and Savior :).

In him,
Sara Murrell :)