Happy October 1!

Greetings from the Philippines! I hope you are all in good health and the Lord is blessing you. He has continued to smile upon us here is Cebu and our work! We have been very busy at the Bible Study Center.

Session 4 at the BSC ended well. We had our graduation on the 23rd of August and some of our students received 5 certificates! At the end of the session, a new sister was added to the family. Sybil Cabusas, one of our students here at the Bible Study Center, was immersed September 2, 2008. She is originally from the Assemblies of God, but once she began to study, she saw that many of the group's teachings were wrong. She is married and has two children.

I went on a vacation on August 25-28 . Because of all the stress that I have had from making power points and teaching these past few sessions I took advantage of our break week between sessions and went by myself to the beach for a few days. I had a GREAT time! I have never been so rested in my life! I only wish I could go stay at the beach every session break :).

We sent out the second issue of The Messenger, our bi-monthly newsletter, the first week of September. If you haven't received a copy of The Messenger and would like to be added to the mailing list, please email me with your mailing address and you will be included.

We had a seminar during September 3-5 on the topic of Original Sin. Dad was the speaker and did a great job tracing the history of the belief from the Bible to modern day practices. Original sin is a very common belief here in the Philippines because of its Catholic background. As we saw in Dad's lesson, it was not a teaching of Christ or the Apostles, but an insertion of opinions of men. Several people enrolled after the seminar and have been consistent students.

Session 5 started on September 8 and we are now in Week 4. We have a great group of students! I have two classes, Can We Believe the Bible on Thursday at 5:30 pm and Jesus: Man of the Bible Monday/Wednesday at 7:00 pm. I have 4 new students in Jesus: Man of the Bible, Cris Abangan and his son, Cris the 3rd and Candido “Guids” Faustino. Cris and his son were invited by another student, Marlo Villanueva, to attend the seminar during enrollment week. “Guids” stopped by the BSC the evening of the 8th and enrolled. So far we have been having great discussions and they are keeping me on my toes.

Last month my computer started to bug out on me. It is a hand-me-down, one that Mom previously owned, so I've been expecting problems. I was working here at the office and my laptop's power cord (or so it seemed at the time) lost power. At first, jiggling the wire was all that was necessary to regain power, but then it went out altogether and no power was coming through. My laptop would not turn on. Dad, having experience with computers, opened it up and discovered that the solder connecting the power supply (which was the problem, not the power cord) to the motherboard was loose. He re-soldered it and then put it back together, and I haven't had any difficulty since. Dad told me that it is only a matter of time before there will be more problems and he will not be able to fix it. This is not good for me; I NEED a computer to work. Having said that, I am now trying to raise funds for a new laptop. I plan to buy one when we return to the US for our furlough come March. If you would like to help, or know anyone who might, please let me know.

On the 10th of September, my sister Amy and my brother-in-law Clint celebrated their birthday. Amy is now 18 and Clint is now 25. We had a meal together before office hours with cake and ice cream. My parents now do not have any “minors” for children, but that doesn’t mean their children are all mature :).

Plans for our furlough to the USA are slowly starting to form. We have set a tentative departure date: March 13, 2009 and will go to a travel agent about tickets soon. In March, Dad, Mom, Amy and I will be coming. Rach and Clint and Jon and Gina will stay behind and take their trips at different dates. This furlough I will be raising funds to return as a missionary, having completed my apprenticeship. We are all looking forward to the trip!

Jon and Gina have just finished settling into their new apartment on Dap-Dap street, not 2 minutes from the BSC. We helped them bring boxes and furniture and they have the whole place set up very well. They are right across the street from Rachael and Clint, so they go over to each others houses quite often.

Rachael and Clint are having a boy! Rach went in for an ultrasound on the 25th of September and they discovered the sex of the baby. It is such a relief to not call him “it” anymore :). They have already decided on a name, Andrew Dean. Now that we know it’s a boy, the face I’m gonna be an Aunt seems even more real!

Prayer requests: Please keep the following in your prayers:
Rachael’s health during the pregnancy, and Andrew Dean!
Everyone's health and well being
Sybil Cabusas
Students at the BSC
Furlough plans

Thank you for your continued support and prayers!

In him,
Sara Murrell