Note From Sacramento

Mkel blogs in room 1818 on the 18th floor

This morning I began my first trip without the family. It was sad saying "goodbye," even though this is just an overnight trip! Tomorrow, I'll make appearances at three different services at Discovery Church in Elk Grove, CA.

Christine's family picked me up from the airport. We dropped my things off at the Sheraton and spent a few hours in Downtown Sacramento. We got some food at Hard Rock and then did some sightseeing around Old Town Sac. We saw old trains, a steamboat, and an old school house with a cast iron heating unit in the center. There were even people getting rides in horse drawn carriages!

I hope Christine is OK with Jojo tonight. Pray he sleeps a lot! And pray this trip helps get us closer to our goal of serving God in the Philippines by January 2005.

I'll be on a place back home in 24 hours. ;-)

Josiah Eating New Foods

Now we're helping Jojo branch out into the wonderful world of solid food. After doing well with some rice cereal, we're giving him some organic sweet potatoes from those little Gerber jars at the store. Dinner time is usually followed by bath time, considering about a fourth of the meal goes on his face, hands, bib, and at least one parent if not two! ;-)

A few nights ago, he slept from 11:45PM until about 6AM. That was awesome! But lately, he's been getting me up between 1 and 2AM and sometimes we stay up together till 4. He's definately teething. Some Orogel helps him with the pain, although he hates the taste of it. Christine also got him a couple new teethers. The one we had before was way too big for him to use.

Tonight we got to walk around the Albertson's shopping complex after picking up the teethers at Toys R Us. Jojo fell asleep in his stroller and we got to talk. That was a nice little "date" for us.

Josiah Gets More Shots

So today we went to the pediatrician for Jojo's second round of shots. Four of 'em. Two in each leg. Ouch! Plus, I have to be the one to hold him in my lap and keep his legs from moving while they shoot him up in the thighs. It's pretty sad. Christine gave him baby Tylenol right afterwards and he seems to be recovering alright.

The one thing we're still praying for is that he goes to sleep more often. He hates to sleep! So last night, we were up a lot again. The doctor says it might be because he's teething. So they recommended this Orogel stuff which will help the pain in his gums.

I booked my flight today for next week. The last time I flew alone, I think I came to visit Christine in Sacramento before we were married. So over 5 years ago. It's just an overnight trip, so it shouldn't be too hard on Christine and Jojo. Pray this is a productive trip in terms of securing more monthly financial partners in our work.

Filipino Hostage Freed

I read Angelo de la Cruz was freed by his captors. When he called his wife, she could hardly believe it, asking "sino po sila?" (who is this?). Filipinos celebrated his safe arrival in the United Arab Emirates, one of the cheif employers of OFWs.

To secure his release, the Philippines agreed to pull it's humanitarian force out of Iraq. At first, Manila said it would pull out "as soon as possible," since they were already scheduled to leave in a few weeks. The US warned they were playing a dangerous game by being so vague. In the end, however, they did actually pull out a full month ahead of schedule.

A Filipino Senator said this move showed Manila's commitment to protecting citizens overseas, even over other foreign policy issues. OFWs significantly fuel the economy, sending home funds earned abroad. There are millions of OFWs around the world---most are in the Middle East. 

Now it's come out that Manila originally intended to pull out when the US handed over power to the Iraqi government. Some say this would have never happened had they stuck to the original plan. Others are worried the US will now reduce economic aid to the Philippines. But the government seems certain the US would not reduce military aid in the war on terror, especially in the south where Al Qaeda-linked groups are still active. A poll shows 72% of Filipinos are loving President Arroyo. And just in time for her State of the Nation address on Monday. 

God's Recent Provisions

Praise God! In the last two weeks, we've recieved close to $300 in monthly pledges for our mission to the Philippines. Not counting these gifts, we're now at 52% of our monthly support goal and 64% of our start-up budget.

Additionally, my August, September & October weekends are rapidly being booked by churches for ministry presentations, preaching & playing (music). All this seems to indicate the Lord is about to do something big for us. There are now between 20 and 30 churches considering partnerships with our ministry. Amazingly, God even had a church I had never written to before contact me, saying they wanted our family to be the missions focus of their church for faith-promise investments in October!

The only downside is I'm going to have to make appearances at some of these places alone. Pray for Christine as she cares for Josiah while I'm away on overnight or weekend trips.

Now We're Sick, Too

Josiah's getting better, but Christine caught his cold and now I've got a sore throat. Good thing I'm not scheduled to lead worship at church today. I guess it's inevitable. Just like Ryan's family. Baby Noah got him and Jenny sick, too. But we'll get through it. Pray for us.
 
On another note, my Chet Atkins electric/acoustic guitar needs a new pickup. I'm bummed cause I just got it off eBay a couple of months ago and the pickup went bad. The seller said he just put a new one in there, so I'm going to try and ask him for some money back to get the issue resolved. Another seller did give me $60 back to set-up a guitar she sold me that turned out to have a bowed neck. Hope that goes well.

Josiah's Sick

We took Jojo to the pediatrician ahead of schedule yesterday since he's been sick. I think he caught a cold and cough from some other babies at church on Sunday. His little nose is red and he looks all sad. :-( So we've been giving him some medicine the doctor recommended. Pray he gets well soon.

Amidst the sad stuff, we had some fun, too. We played with a bunch of toys at Toys R Us. That cheered him up a bit. We saw dancing Elmos, stuffed animals, and plush dolls of the Muppet Babies (they even come with DVDs of the cartoon)! I wanted to get them all for him: Fozzie, Piggy, Kermit, Gonzo, etc... It sure brings back memories of 1987! But at $16 a pop, we just enjoyed them at the store. Christine got Jojo a booster chair so he can sit at the table while he eats. She also got some little stickers of bears for his room. It looks really nice in there now.

Josiah's Nicknames

OK, so our good friends Ryan and Jenny posted some of their baby's nicknames and it's inspired me to do the same. Here are some of the names we've bestowed on Josiah during his three and a half months outside the womb:

1. Jojo
2. Joege (like "George" w/o an "r")
3. Joegie My Poegie
4. Jojo My Little Mojo
5. Wicket
6. Wigglet
7. Mr. Wigglesworth
8. Sonkins
9. Smiley McJoege
10. Whiney McJoege

Josiah Eats Solid Food

Tonight was the first time Josiah had solid food for dinner! Yes! He had about ten spoons of Gerber Rice Cereal. It went off pretty well. No whining. Minimal mess. And I think he liked it! Which is good since he'll be eating a lot of rice in the Philippines! ;-)

Filipino Kidnapped in Iraq

The recent news about a Filipino kidnapped by Iraqi gunmen is affecting life in the Philippines. I've been following the story more closely since we got back from a church in Chino Hills. We were there last night presenting our mission, which includes equipping Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are believers for strategic underground ministry in the Middle East.

I checked out the usual CNN, MSNBC, and BBC news sites and went over to INQ7.net, a Filipino news service. You can even watch a Tagalog news program called "24 Oras" online to understand more about how the people feel and how this is affecting them.

So I watched the news and found out the Philippine government prevented over 100 OFWs from traveling to Iraq for work at the international airport. OFWs are understandably distraught since many cannot find work at home. I even heard some say they would rather die in Iraq then be jobless at home. Then I saw footage of the general manager of the airport stressing to angry crowds that overseas jobs are not as important as "...ang kaligtasan nyo, yung buhay nyo" (your safety and your lives).

The Philippines has around 50 troops and thousands of OFWs in Iraq. I'll be watching this situation as it develops.

Happy 4th of July!

This morning, I told Josiah "Do you know what today is? It's the day when we cried out in one voice, 'We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on...'" Actually, that was a quote from the Sci-Fi movie "Independence Day" which came out in the summer of '96. That was a fun movie.

This afternoon, I played a few songs at a combined picnic for Joy Christian Fellowship and the Garden Grove Church of God. This was an apartment complex outreach done in English and Spanish. Christine wasn't able to come since she is still recovering from her sickness. The crowd seemed to enjoy the songs I did solo on the guitar. They had a an inflatable bounce house for the kids, too.

I was so excited Van and Vi got me this way cool Chinese shirt from their trip to China town. If you saw the Matrix Reloaded, it's the same style as the white one Seraph was wearing. But this one is black with gold sleeves and a gold dragon design on the back. Pretty cool. Although I'll probably have to wait until Halloween or Chinese New Year to show it off! It might also work at an international missionary event. Who knows.

Find out why today is also Filipino American Friendship Day!

Home from Fresno

It's great to be back in our own Home Sweet Home! YES! Josiah's relaxing, Christine's sleeping and I just got up from a good power nap.

Last night, I was asked to do an impromptu worship time since the band didn't show. I whipped up a set in less than 40 minutes---complete with lyrics on PowerPoint slides. Then I did my special number and ministry presentation. It seemed to go off really well.

We made great time driving back from Fresno. I got down through the Grapevine in a little more than a couple of hours. Closer to LA, traffic was bad. Jojo got fussy so we got off near the Hollywood Bowl and hung out at a park for a litle bit. It's kind of sad you can actually drive faster on a side street and speed by cars on the 5 freeway.

Life on the road is tiring. We pray this wouldn't all have been in vain. We'd love to be finished with this support-raising stage of ministry soon. Please really pray the current leads and others contacts we made would be the ones to complete our support.

My Chet Atkins case finally came! It was backordered for two months! UPS left it for me while we were gone even though I told them to deliver it tomorrow. Anyway, I'm just glad my solidbody acoustic now has a case. It was always a bit scary taking it to church without one. This was also a gift from the good people at Santa Fe Springs Christian School.

Fresno: Day 6

Yesterday, we made it safely to Fresno State University for the second leg of our trip: Networking at the Filipino-American Pastor's annual retreat. They had us all stay in a dorm called Graves Hall. It was kind of weird living in a tiny dorm room. Not only because the Biola rooms were much bigger, but also because dorms aren't very baby-friendly.

Since it's the summer, they don't provide wireless access or telephones in the dorms. They actually make their students pay for Web access during the semester. But I just now found a way to get online with my laptop so I can blog again.

Praise God at least three Filipino pastors have told me they would like to support us and would try to work us into the budget in a couple of months. Also, I'll be playing my song, "As I Worship" on the Epiphone J160e and presenting our ministry tonight. Pray that goes well and gets even more Filipino churches eager to be part of our ministry.

Christine is sick and Jojo is very tired. Here's a tip: Bring a hand sanitizer and use it often if you're ever at an event shaking hands with hundreds of people! It's so easy to catch a cold at these things.

We're really looking forward to going home tomorrow.