Philippines Team 2014 (some photos and some prayer requests)

I was asked to start this blog up again to keep the MFB church body informed on our trip to the Philippines.  I will be posting mostly pictures (since that is what you really want to see) and quotes from the team members.  Please comment back as they would love to use this as a forum to communicate and document our trip.

But it is more than that!  My hope from the start of this blog was that it would be a photo album and a reminder of how we are serving as senders here at MFBC.  I hope that you will be encouraged in your personal walk with the Lord.

Here's my heart...something that I've been thinking about since I was asked to join this team...How can I love the people of the Philippines and Thailand if I'm not loving my neighbor here in Meridian?  So, almost daily, since last November I've asked God to help me know how to love my neighbor.  And you've journeyed with me on this pursuit of "loving my neighbor".  

Here's how we've been doing this together: giving out 49 gifts at Christmas with an invitation to our Christmas services, giving out almost 100 gifts at Easter with an invitation to our Easter services, giving out over 700 water bottles to the  thirsty at the Meridian Dairy Days parade with an invitation to our Vacation Bible School while at the same time giving out over 1,000 pieces of candy with an invitation to the same VBS and to our newly starting Family Fellowships.

I know that I don't know how to love my neighbor well, but I want to. Thanks for joining me on this journey!  Let's continue to love our neighbors where ever we may be each day.

Now on to some pictures (what you really want to see!) ~Beth

Here's our team photo from our trip to Portland, OR for some initial culture awareness training.

Here's our team at the commissioning service from 6/29.

Here's a quick photo of where we will be staying for most of the time in Baguio with the weather forecast.

our prayer requests:

Tuesday, July 1: Please pray that we will continue to learn to love each other and work towards unity as we meet with our family members at a team dinner.

Wednesday, July 2: Please pray for our attitudes; that we will be kind, tenderhearted, humble and patient as we finish up our packing and spending time with our family and friends before starting this journey.

Thursday, July 3: Please pray for our journey to the Philippines.  Pray that we will see God's hand of provision as we journey through the many connections and different cities to get to our final destination.  

Friday, July 4: Please pray that as we travel that God would continue to knit our hearts together to work and be a team, an extension of the body of Christ from Meridian First Baptist.  Please pray that we would have courage to share the hope that is in us because of God's great love and saving grace in our life with those with whom we come in contact with on this journey.  Please also pray for the Hortons as they will be traveling to Manilla to meet us and a fellow family who will be spending time with us there in the Philippines.  Please pray that they will get the rest they need for their journey (driving) and that they will be able to find both the family and our team in short time and be able to navigate us to the New Tribes Guest House in Manilla.

Saturday, July 5: Please thank God with us for the hospitality shown to us by the Hortons and the ones at the New Tribes Guest House.  Please pray for us; that God would strengthen our hearts with His unconditional love as we still have a drive today to get to Baguio and set ourselves up for our time with the Hortons. We will be tired.  Please pray that we would draw our strength from God and that we would practice loving each other with patience, kindness, not envying or boasting, not in arrogance or rudeness, not rejoicing with wrongdoing, but rejoicing with each other in truth; that we would bear, believe, hope and endure all things with each other; remembering that God's love never ends. (taken from 1 Corinthians 13:1-13)