Howdy one and all!

It has been a while since I last wrote and much has happened! We're now into our eighth and last session of 2012 and things are going quite smoothly. Before I get into that, let me catch you up on what has happened.

I mentioned three students I had in session 7 in my last report; Daniel Borela, Jesus Almadin, and Dan Torion. These three men studied through Jesus: Man of the Bible and Jesus: Lord of Our Lives with me, and we completed the latter last session. At the end of it, my student Jesus decided that he needed to be immersed, and so (interestingly enough), my brother Jon, with the help of Dad and our brother Ronaldo Puzon, Jesus was immersed in our little pool in the store room at the BSC! We didn't see a dove fly down or anything, but we were all thrilled to be part of the beginning of our new brother's life in Christ. Please keep him in your prayers.

My other students, Dan and Daniel, were not so easily convinced. Dan is the son of a pastor for the Church of God, and seems to think that he's ok. Perhaps he is, that is God's to judge not mine, but from things he has told me I am not convinced. Daniel is a Catholic, though not a practicing Catholic, and still has questions that he wants answered. Dan recently enrolled in a college here in Cebu to study Education, so he has not had any time to continue classes with us, but we are trying to keep in contact with him. Daniel has enrolled in our course What Is Real Christianity?, in which we talk about the history of Christianity from the time of the apostles to the present, discussing the corruption of the Catholic Church, the Protestant Reformation, and many other issues. We've been having good discussions, but his heart is still hard. Please join me in praying that we can break down the barriers and answer any questions he might have.

We have several new students this session, including one man who had never opened a Bible on his own! We had to teach him how to find books, chapters, and verses! I've never met anyone who had no experience with the Bible, so this is an interesting experience for me. I've been teaching three courses this session, including What Is Real Christianity? (as I mentioned earlier), Archaeology and the Bible, and How We Got the Bible. I have four students in each of these classes and have been enjoying them very much. Our children's Bible classes on Saturdays are going well. We have 22 kids who have been pretty consistently coming, which is encouraging and overwhelming all at the same time. We've been going through the stories of the Old Testament kings and all that we can learn from them. Please keep all our students (young and old) and our teachers in your prayers.

Everyone is doing well on the family front. Jon, Gina, Sean, and Jasmin are adjusting well to three become four. Jon and Gina are still trying to get into a normal sleeping schedule, and Sean is enjoying his new role as big brother. Jasmin has almost doubled in weight since she was born, weighing a whopping 12 pounds at two months! She's a sweetheart, as you might imagine :). Rach, Clint, Andrew, and Lily are doing well. Andrew is able to read at a second grade level at the age of only 3! I find that amazing :). Lily is talking more and more, though what she's saying is still a bit of a mystery for me. Rach has been having some pretty bad headaches lately, mostly sinus related. Please keep that in your prayers. Mom and Dad are well, though exhausted. They work, work, work, and hardly take a break. It's inspiring and shaming all at the same time, but motivates me to work even harder. Amy is alright, but has been suffering from back problems again. Her old friend, her slipped disc, reminded her of its presence recently and she has been trying to recover from the pain and manage it. Please keep her in your prayers. If this problem doesn't go away she may have to have surgery, so we really are praying hard. As for me? I'm alright. I've got the beginnings of a cold and sinus problem starting myself, but I'm praying that it goes away. I feel better today, so maybe I've escaped it :)

Thanks for all your prayers and support! It is wonderful knowing you are all behind us and what we are doing here. We had our Thanksgiving dinner last night and it is wonderful to remember what we're thankful for and how much God has done for us. I hope and pray we all can remember this every day of our lives and continue to show our gratitude to the Lord by our obedience. May the Lord bless you and keep you :)

God Bless you all!

In him,
Sara Murrell :)