Sid's Visit

This post is actually a letter to our penpals in Canada. I felt that it was a good summary of Sid's visit to be Abram's Confirmation sponsor and a little hint of what we've been doing lately. There is so much to write about and so little time to do it. I can't believe that it's been two months since the last post! YIKES!

     We are very sorry for the late reply. We have been EXTREMELY busy these last few weeks. As you know, Sidney came from Louisiana, USA to be our oldest boy, Abram, Confirmation sponsor. It was very difficult keeping it a secret from Abe and Odilio even blurted something about going to the airport to pick him up...twice! Good thing Abe didn't pay close enough attention! He was totally shocked to see Sid standing a few feet away from him. Sid entered the training at the mission base in Louisiana at the same time we did in 2010. Here are some highlights of his trip:

• After the airport, we drove straight to Camiguin Island, our first mission post. Hopped on a ferry and ate lunch with Father Joe Villamil at the convento.



Swimming with the Archbishop of CdO and Heiko from Germany

• The next day we went to the Santo Nino Cold Spring. It is so beautiful there and it only costs about $2 for all of us to enter and get a private hut. The water is SO cold but very pure and crystal clear. We got used to it once we swam for a while. One bonus at the Cold Spring was a visit from the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro with his friend form Germany! They swam with us and we all shared a chocolate cake as we dried off and headed back to our town.

• Saturday was the town's 3rd Annual Alumni Reunion. It was nice to see signs from the Class of  '66, '95, and many others all at one time. There was a Mass for them at 6am that we did not attend as we were very tired from the travelling and swimming.
• Later that day was the BIG day for our 3 oldest. Maddie, Meredith, and Abram chose St. Maria Goretti, St. Therese, and St. John Bosco respectively as their patron saints. Can you believe that there was 1,000 Confirmandi?! The church was standing room only. There was well over 3,000 people in attendance if you add in 1,000 sponsors and family members also. Five priests including the Archbishop concelebrated the Mass that day. It was a memorable occasion!

Maddie chose St. Maria Goretti

Abram chose St. John Bosco

Meredith chose St. Therese

• Sunday we were able to celebrate two Masses. One at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and the other in the evening at a "barrio" chapel on the outskirts of town. We love the barrio Masses because people come down from the mountain to gather in a simple chapel made out of concrete blocks and worship our Lord with us. Also, something that is very touching to see is that many of the poor people cannot offer money during the offering. They wrap up their gifts of pineapple, crackers, rice, bananas, etc. in some kind of shiny wrapper and lay it at the foot of the altar. They give what they have.
• That very night we had a very powerful storm hit. In all of our 9 months that we spent there in 2011 we had never seen lightning or heard thunder that strongly. It would just rain and rain. This was different. Thunder was loud enough to shake our bamboo house and lightning lit up the dark sky as if it were day almost. We found out that we had a few leaks in our roof made out of palm branches. Thankful we were safe thru the morning.
• Monday we headed out EARLY...4am from the port. We traveled by ferry and car about 5-6 hours and into the mountains until we reached Malaybalay, Bukidnon, our new post since October '12. Needless to say we spent that day resting and catching our breath.
• Tuesday we picked up our regular ministry schedule with a visit to the City Jail. Sid and Odilio finished up a sacrament talk about Holy Communion that he had started the week before. Odilio loves visiting the jail and he loves when others come with him. A lot of times he take friends from our community at Isla Bonita who help with singing, playing guitar, translating, and giving testimonies. Sid was able to share his conversion through the power of the Eucharist. It was a great day!

At the City Jail

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• Wednesday we took advantage of the extra manpower and took Sid back to Isla Bonita to make a concrete floor. We sacked and carried many bags of sand and materials to a home not too far from the main road. As we waited to catch our breath, the others mixed and spread the concrete into a smooth finish. The family was very thankful. We were very thankful for all the benefactors that have contributed to this program called "Floors for the Poor". It was started by the Romero Family who was here before us and entrusted it to us and the Leano Family. It is a very successful project that will last a long time.

Floors for the Poor- with Sid and Ramon

• Thursday we went to St. Josephine Bakhita Chapel in Tag-Ilanao. It is very deep into the mountains that surround Malaybalay. St. Bakhita is one of Odilio's favorite saints. It made him sad one day to learn that there was another chapel named after her that was replaced by St. Francis Xavier because the people did not know who she was. Odilio and Sid shared Romans 12 with the group. A lot of it seemed to describe her life and her example of forgiveness of her captors. Hers is a touching story that is a better read than watching the movie by Ignatius Press. It has a lot of errors. Later that day we were able to visit Bishop Emeritus Pacana. He served as bishop of Malaybalay during the time that FMC's founders were serving here. He is so kind and asked us to come visit him more.

With Bishop Pacana

• Friday we went back to the jail in the morning to watch a dance presentation by the detainees in thanksgiving for Sidney's visit. The bamboo drums and the native chants filled us with energy. We wanted to join in! So touching for them to say "Thank you" in their own way. Later that day we were saddened to hear about the news of one of our friends from Isla Bonita who lost their first baby at 7 months in the womb. This makes the 3rd one from that community in the last month. Stacie is going to start a nutrition awareness class for expectant mothers there and we hope to provide food with enough protein for their growing babies. Their diets consist largely of white rice only. Please join us in praying for the healing of Nelson and Jona and their baby, NikApril.
• Saturday's big highlight was getting Father Oliver to bless the sari-sari of one of our home visits. The family's health had declined and were forced to shut their store down leaving them no income. We received a donation for them to reopen their business and get them back on their feet. We ended the week with a Lord's Day evening meal with Sid, the Leano's and us. It was a good way to sit back and remember in thanks the grace-filled, service-filled week.

Father Oliver at the blessing of the sari-sari

• Sunday was Sid's last day. We took him to the Benedictine Monastery for Mass and he was able to meet some of the priests afterwards. We also visited the gift shop which sells their homegrown and handmade products of the monks. Coffee, peanut brittle, peanut butter, rosaries, etc are a few things that can be found there. Got back home for lunch and Odilio, Maddie, and Meredith headed out to take Sid to Cagayan de Oro for his flight in the evening.

We are now back into our "normal" schedule. We only have a few weeks before we start to prepare for another group coming. Summer School of Missionary Evangelism (SSME) begins June 5th and ends June 27th. We only have a little time to catch our breath and start all over again with the holy craziness! :)

Prayer intentions for our mission:

1. The sale of our home in Kansas
2. The end of our visa fees
3. For our pregnant friends and their babies health
4. Better job opportunities for the men to provide for their families
5. A successful SSME

"So then, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and steady. Keep busy always in your work for the Lord, since you know that nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless." 1 Corinthians 15:58

Prison Ministry

"I was in prison and you came to me..."- Matthew 25:36

When we arrived in Malaybalay back in October '12 we were adjusting back to our life in the Philippines. It was our return trip to this beautiful country but now to a different area and to a different mission. “What do You want from us here? How can we serve You, Lord?” The Romeros were already very busy with their own ministries and we had an idea that we were going to be moving to another part of town. They gave us a quick tour of the city and pointed out different areas where Father Vir had mentioned opportunities to serve.

Meeting the Warden and Neneng

Even while on Camiguin in 2011, I had always been drawn to the prisons. Not very much happened on the island and as far as seeing a jail there might have been one way on the opposite side of the island. Still the call to serve our brothers and sisters behind bars started there. One day the Romeros started to mention all of the requests for their presence as missionaries and the only one that I remember was at the City Jail. I prayed and prayed after our baby was born and we had moved to the new house if this was possible.
One day during the novena Masses before Christmas, we met a priest at our chapel. He was so welcoming and so eager to meet us after the Mass. When he found out about our family being here as missionaries he was super excited! Father Oliver immediately fell in love with us and we too felt a strong connection. We invited him over for lunch (which has turned into at least a monthly appointment) and shared with each other our testimonies. Then I mentioned that we were so eager to get started after Josephine’s birth. I mentioned how the prison had been on my heart in my daily prayer. He told us how he was very close to the diocesan prison ministry coordinator and that it would be better if she could go ahead of us to formally introduce us to the warden.
The very next day, a lady named Neneng came to see us. We were surprised to hear her travel plans just to meet us. She hopped on a ferry from another island, reached the port and took 2 buses to get to Malaybalay only to arrive at midnight! A 16-hour trip! That’s not all. She woke up at 6am to visit the warden to prepare him for our visit in a few hours. Neneng was thrilled to know that Americans actually wanted to visit the jail weekly. God was answering prayers all over the place

Ramon sharing a test

The whole family and Neneng jumped into a multicab and headed off to the city jail about 15 minutes away. As she and Stacie talked and I was going in and out of the conversation, my heart and mind were starting to focus on the prisoners. I started feeling the butterflies in my stomach move around thinking how this was actually happening. I’ve never been to a prison before and here I am about to offer my time to a real life warden! I then looked around the multicab and saw the kids just being kids. Before I could think “Wait! Why did we bring the kids? What if they see something that scares them badly?” we had arrived.
We met the warden and other guards as they led us on the tour of the grounds. It was totally different than what I was expecting. There was landscaping and tilled up grounds ready for planting. We could see the main cells coming up and that too surprised me. I was expecting a rowdy and dirty environment but we walked into a lot of clapping hands and shouts of “Good morning ma’am/ sir!” and happy smiles. There are about 5 to 6 cells for males and 1 for the women. The guys cells were very full and they looked cramped. Still, most were very happy to see us visit.
We returned after a few days to distribute care packs for the prisoners which we didn’t get to do for Christmas. The Eckstine Family was there and sang while the kids handed out the gifts. We also had a Mass which Father Oli celebrated in a separate quarter. It was a blessed time being united with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Since those initial visits I have been regularly visiting the detainees every Tuesday morning. Bryan, Ramon, Bebie, and some of the others from Isla Bonita come to help with translations, singing, and testimonies. One huge witness from my guests is that they see someone who they know and immediately brings a smile to their lonely faces. Please pray for me as I continue sharing my series of talks based on Dismas Ministry . This is an awesome ministry program set up for prisoners in the US. Because of the language barrier here I have to simplify to get the point across. My topics lately have been all about the sacraments. I encourage you to get involved in your diocese and visit our brothers and sisters and minister to them. Found on the Dismas website-  As one of them (inmates) wrote, “Prisoners need God and the love of Jesus and Mary as much or even more than the population as a whole.”

Joy translating

One “Glory Story” I had on one of my visits a few weeks ago was about an answered prayer. I was up late putting the final touches on my presentation when suddenly my phone started buzzing with new texts. “Sorry, Odilio, I cannot come to the jail with you tomorrow” was one and another said that they couldn’t go because of another schedule. Oh, no! These were my two good helpers and one was a very good translator. My slideshow was almost finished and it was too late to go back to SIMPLIFY more! I quickly prayed to God to just send my guardian angel ahead of me to help the inmates prepare for me so that they could understand. I promised that I wasn’t going to worry about it and I actually slept very peacefully that night. The next day I showed up with just my two boys and Bebie, our helper. I motioned to Bebie to come up front so that she could translate but she shyly refused. An awkward moment passed and then one of the female detainees shouted, “I will be the one! I would like to translate!” “AMEN!” I said. Joy came up and beautifully translated everything right down from my testimonies to my corny jokes. What a Godsend! Thank you, Lord, for Joy giving me joy! She even contributed her own personal testimony in front of her peers which I know was not easy because of her tears. She came up afterwards and asked to join my prison ministry when she is out in two years. “Of course,” I told her. “That is, unless I learn Visaya before then.”  

“But the Lord will allow those who repent to return to him. He always gives encouragement to those who are losing hope.” Sirach (Ecclesiasticus) 17:24
                                        
               






Through a translator:
"We are happy when you visit us."
    -"How long has it been since you had a visitor?"
"2 years."   :(


I always ask the detainees to come up after a talk to share any feelings or testimonies. Joy translated once that they were all happy for my visit. "They can tell how much time and effort you put in to coming here every week."  :)


I forgot to mention a lot of details when I first posted this but here is one important part that should be stated. The Christmas care packs that we distributed included: toothbrush, toothpaste, laundry soap packs, and instant noodles, etc. The government does not supply the simple necessities and so recycle things for their own support. They will use old plastic soda bottles for artificial plants, empty instant coffee packs for belts, and other plastic wrappers for things like pencil holders and cell phone stands. Below are some samples:

This is a video of a song that the prisoners composed showing Jesus' love for them:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I want to share with you what has been on our hearts in these months since we’ve last written. To do so, I will quote Henri Nouwen from the book, The Only Necessary Thing: Living a prayerful life, as it captures these feelings so well.

“We can well live in community while being physically alone. In such a situation, we can act freely, speak honestly, and suffer patiently, because of the intimate bond of love that unites us with others even when time and place separate us from them. The community of love stretches out not only beyond the boundaries of countries and continents but also beyond the boundaries of decades and centuries. …The space for God in community transcends all limits of time and place. Thus the discipline of community frees us to go wherever the Spirit guides us, even to places we would rather not go.”

In this new mission here in the Philippines, where even the location of our service is different and unfamiliar to us this time around, we have never felt so lonely for you while at the same time feeling so empowered and encouraged by the prayers and support we receive from you – our strong home community. When we begin to doubt our call into this life so unconventional for a family, it is your belief in us that gives us the zeal to continue. When we receive the list of your names each month, our spirits are lifted as we realize that we are really not alone in this mission because you stand behind us.  We invite you, then, to come along with us now and see all that we have accomplished together thus far.

Our greatest boast is the birth of our seventh child, Josephine Eva-Marie, who arrived about six weeks after our arrival here in Malaybalay on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. She was born at our current mission house on November 28, 2012 and baptized in Holy Rosary Church on Camiguin Island during the Parish Christmas Celebration on December 29.  She is the greatest proof of our aim towards oneness with our Filipino brothers and sisters, who feel surprised but honored that we would deliver a baby in a country other than our own.  She is also a quiet witness to the preciousness of life - another life of Christ to be uniquely lived out, starting right where it is planted. This was well-symbolized when she was asked by Father Joe Villamil to be Baby Jesus at the same Christmas celebration Mass on the very day of her baptism. Odilio and I stood in as Mary and Joseph, of courseJ

We were privileged to be able to celebrate Christmas here. When we arrived in mid-October, the Christmas season was already well underway. Here in the Philippines, the people begin Christmas preparations as early as September! One very popular Christmas tradition for the Filipino people is Christmas-caroling. Young and old alike form groups and go about daily from September to January singing at as many homes as possible and collecting pinascohan (Christmas presents, aka pesos). When carolers sing at your home, whether you are rich or poor, you are expected to cooperate with the spirit of the season and give pesos for the entertainment. It’s like a four month long trick-or-treating! Of course, more often than not, the carolers are poor people and children. We were blessed to give to and receive from each and every caroler who came to our gate. We also used the opportunity to give out the many holy cards and medals that you all donated the last time we were in Kansas.

On Christmas Eve morning we drove high into the mountains to a little village of about 20 families to hold a Communion Service and to give them gifts of food and small toys. The people were so happy to see us. They are rarely able to come down to the city for lack of funds; and because of the great distance and lack of available time; they are rarely visited by a priest. We hope to be able to visit them at least monthly to share the Sunday Gospel readings. To do this, however, we need a vehicle, as the one we were using broke down just days after our first visit. The estimated cost of repairing the Tamaraw is $1000.

We also bought Christmas gifts of toiletries and simple foods to take to the almost 300 prisoners at the local jail. The prisoners must purchase their own personal necessities from little stores inside the jail. They make handicrafts and try to sell them to visitors in order to have money for some of their living expenses and also for something to send home to their families. Odilio has decided to begin visiting the prisoners at least once a week, and he has permission to hold a Bible study for them.

As in every place that we go, we have looked for opportunities to make home visits to those who are unable to attend Mass and the Sacraments. One of our home visits is an elderly lady who has insisted on helping us with our mission by giving us Visayan (the language of this part of the Philippines) lessons. She lived in the U.S. and worked as a housekeeper some years ago for ten years and is, therefore, very familiar with English. She has encouraged us in our mission by her eagerness to receive our family of nine into her home, saying what a joy it is to see a large American family as she is most familiar with seeing no more than three children in an American family. She has also given us an insight into our mission by explaining the typical Filipino mindset concerning Americans. “Most Filipinos, who know no better, believe all Americans to be naturally rich and intelligent. They hold them in high regard. This can work to your advantage as a missionary because they will believe your words over mine.”                                                             

The many priests that we’ve met here in our new diocese think that the people will believe not just our words but our actions as well. “Just continue to attend Mass as a family. Your presence is very powerful.” This has been the response of most of the priests here when we ask what we can do to help. One priest explained that often the members of a family will go their separate ways, the father to one place, the mother to another, the children to still another. “When the children see you here,” Father said to our kids, “they will flock to the church!” The priests also believe our arrival here to be very timely, as the Reproductive Health Bill - which highly encourages families to limit the number of children to 2 and which will give greater access to artificial birth control - has just been passed into law. Father Suarez, one of the priests assigned at the Cathedral, has asked us to be involved with the Family Life Apostolate by giving marriage preparation courses to engaged couples two weekends per month. This ministry will begin at the end of January.

 When we arrived here in October we met with the bishop to request his help in obtaining missionary visas as opposed to the tourist visas, which are incredibly expensive. He is still in the process of putting all of the paperwork together. He is waiting for a required letter from the Conference of Catholic Bishops, which is comprised of all the bishops in the Philippines. In the meantime, we have been obligated to purchase the tourist visas - first at 21 days, then at 30, and now every 60. Please pray that God will continue to supply all of our needs according to His good plans for our family.

Truly, we cannot tell you how grateful we are to all of you for all that you do for us. The only way we have of repaying you is in pleading with God on your behalf to grant all of your petitions, along with an abundance of His grace to see you through every trial and circumstance. Please pray for us also to have the strength and the zeal to continue spreading His Truth around the world. We miss you all and would love to hear from you. A short-term medical mission trip to the Philippines has been planned through FMC. They will be arriving at the end of February/beginning of March. You can send letters for us to Louisiana and they will hand-deliver them to us then! Just a thoughtJ

All of our love,

Stacie and Odilio Alvarez

Visit to Pamunglo on Camiguin Island 

Christmas Carolers

Christmas Eve in Caleb

Odilio and Brian

Brian and Kathy's daughter, Maria Daniela

Vincent, now age 5

A Missionary December to Remember

 

So much to post! December is already a busy month for the Alvarez Family. Now, I have to write about it. It's actually a good tool this techno-thingy. Many friends and family get to keep up with our mission at the very least once a month. I looked at the "stats" for this week to see how many had dropped off since my last post on the 13th. I've gained! I have 28 views from the USA and 25 from.... RUSSIA! That's even more from the Philippines :) I also had in 4th place views from Israel. So, I welcome all my readers especially from these places and I encourage you to leave your comment below or email me to say hello. We have always been open to serving in these places especially Russia. Oh, and a quick "Hello!" to Vietnam. Anyways, back to my year-end blog.

After things settled down from the typhoon, we began concentrating on our ministry. We met the president of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Chapel, Don Don, a few weeks ago. We started to tell him about the kinds of service that have been on our hearts. He invited us that same Sunday to visit 3 home bound parishioners who he administers Holy Communion to every week. All were very nice and very excited to have foreigners (with children!) visiting them. The first couple found out about Maddie's 15th birthday and invited us back for lunch and birthday cake. The next couple, the Openia Family, was our longest visit. Mrs. Ludi Openia lived in Nevada for about 10 years. She speaks English very well. Ludi was so happy to see us and as we talked about our mission she offered us Visayan lessons..."free of charge". She was so happy with our visit that she had already begun writing the lessons for our next visit. Please keep her in your prayers. She suffers from advanced osteoporosis and her husband, Lupe, is also almost entirely on bed rest. The third home visit was a little short because of the health of the elderly lady. The husband was a past Sheriff of Malaybalay. I didn't catch the names of the others but we are looking forward to future visits.

Next up was our eldest daughter, Maddie, and her 15th birthday...yes, 15!!! The years have flown by. I am very proud of my girl. She has just blossomed into a young woman. She is always ready to lend a helping hand to her mama and she also LOVES to shop. She didn't get that from me but it's nice that she volunteers to run errands in town. God bless my "Dotter"!

All this has been going while we (most of us anyway) attended the 4am  Novena Masses that began on the 16th. This means we were waking up at 3 to get ready by 330 and out the door by 340 at the latest because guess what??? They actually started on time! It was such an awesome feeling worshiping the one true God in a different part of the world in a different language but as brothers and sisters. The big blessing was that after every Mass each priest couldn't resist asking who this "new" family was and would invite us to breakfast with him. We met about 7 different priests. One of our favorites is newly ordained, Father Oliver. "Father Oli, meet missionary Odi," Mr. Don Don said as he motioned for us to sit with Father. We have since had him over for lunch and had a great time sharing each other's testimonies. Fr. Oli is in charge of running the media apostolate for the entire diocese of Malaybalay. It is scheduled to be under his management in June/July of this year and already has plans of following up on FMC's own apostolate. Pray for this also to be a fruitful way to spread the Gospel in this area.

December 24-25 was obviously blessed as we prepared for and celebrated the birth of Our Lord. This of course will forever be in our memories as it is the first time we've celebrated away from both sides of our relatives. It is also the first time we've celebrated this holy day in a foreign country. Because we're in the tropics and so far away from all we've traditionally associated with this greatest of holidays, it really hadn't begun to "look a lot like Christmas" to us yet, but when we were asked by a young local layman named Brian, who is also VERY zealous for spreading God's Word, to accompany him on this Christmas Eve morning high into the mountains of Bukidnon to a tiny village of about 20 families who never get to hear Mass, who don't even have a chapel, and who very rarely are able to travel down to the city, as they don't have the means; we were filled with the unspeakable joy that Christmas is meant to bring! We were especially excited because we came bearing gifts. In addition to twenty bags filled with rice, canned fish, coffee, Milo, and toys, we brought with us Christ Himself in the form of Holy Communion and the Holy Scriptures! Thankfully, the Romero Family (missionaries formerly serving in Malaybalay) left us the use of a vehicle because we have never traveled so far to carry Christ. We drove up rocky, winding roads and even crossed a river (our Tamaraw was too wide and heavy for the narrow, hanging bridge built for motorcycles). How happy but surprised the people were to see a whole family of American missionaries who weren’t much different from themselves. We hope to return to them as soon as our Tamaraw is able again                                                                                                                                                                                                  

 

 

 

 

 

We met the Eckstines and  Ramon and Kring's family at the Benedictine Monastery for the Midnight Mass. I couldn't help but think of our hometown parish in Wichita and was missing the way that St. Anthony's lit up. Our friends back home sent us this pic and everything was better :) Thanks, Swan Family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew that we were planning to return to Camiguin soon to visit again but Father Joe called up and asked for us and the Eckstines to be present at the Sagay Christmas Celebration on the 29th. We all agreed to go along with Ramon and Kring and that we would have Josephine baptized there at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church. We traveled to CdO, stayed the night. Fr. Joe took us to St. Patrick's and held a private Mass in honor of Stacie and my 16th wedding anniversary...yes, 16th!!! Here he is blessing our family. 

Woke up the next day and traveled and drove forever again until our poor Tamaraw blew a gasket or so it seems. After the delay, some of us were on the road again, packed into a non-air conditioned bus, standing most of the way. We finally reached the port and set off by ferry to the island. We prayed for dolphins that sometimes are spotted swimming alongside the boat and guess what now...yes, God sent some to cross our path. Somehow the dolphins got mixed up because they were going in the opposite direction. Still, the whole boat erupted in shouts of joy. Thank you, Lord for answering the prayers of your little (and big) children.

Got to the island and began getting flashbacks of our first mission post. It was so awesome to be back. It feels like a true home for me. I told Stacie the other day that I wouldn't mind being buried here when I die. The place has so many beautiful trees, mountain paths, streams, and the people. Everyone smiles! They are so welcoming and love their visitors. We started the 29th with Josephine's baptism and the Mass and followed with a huge Christmas party at the local gym where all the chapels and their groups held a competition, dancing to Christmas music. I was asked to be a lector for the Mass, Stacie and I stood in as Joseph and Mary with our new baby, and the Eckstines sang in front of the whole parish. God is good! It was a blessed time.

 

 

We took a quick tour of the island the next few days. Visited the cold spring, Santo Ninyo. Got burned but not too badly. Went to the base of the volcano with our group plus a group of missionary sisters from Spain, Japan, Philippines, and Vietnam. Enjoyed talking Spanish with the nun from Spain and she enjoyed Julian a lot. We visited one of my favorite chapels in Pomunglo(?). The hike there is awesome with the river flowing steadily and pouring over huge rocks. The best part though is getting there and arriving to a bunch of happy, smiling faces. The chapel was too small so we help the Bible sharing outside. I was afraid that the people were going to expect food packs like we did last year on a "short-term" trip (it lasted only 24 hours). I told them that all we had to share with them today was God's Word. People LOVE the Word of God! "Everyone needs to experience this." I thought. Schedule a short-term trip with FMC and you won't come back the same...for the better! Anyway, it was a blessed time as we shared our thoughts and even some of the locals shared in their dialect.

Father was not able to go with us at that chapel visit but came with us to the next in Bacnit. This area was hit very hard with a powerful downpour back in July I think. The nice thing about this visit is that Father Joe translated for us which he had never done before. He even added his own testimony at the end. He also made sure to explain to those gathered what a real sacrifice it is for both of our families to give up everything for the Gospel. Made me reflect on it a little more and made me think how many laborers are really needed in this huge world. Please pray for others to join us in the harvest...maybe it's you.

So much more happened but it is so hard to cram it in a blog. Presently, we are still on the island as the ferry and bus schedule try to catch up and get back on track. So many people going back to work and school...and mission posts :) Thank you to all who have donated to our mission. We hope to be sending a newsletter to you soon. Different things are on the horizon and we need your prayers to help us discern. Please continue to pray for us as we pray for you, our benefactors, every day. May God bless you and keep you and may his graces be with you always in this new year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Alvarezes!!!

Please help us pray for the following:

• For the repair expenses of the Tamaraw to be minimal
• For missionary visas to be processed soon (need paperwork from Bishops in Manila)
• For a special intention for our mission
• For peace and unity in our family and mission team
• For funds to be able to purchase our own vehicle to better reach the people

“Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.”—Romans 15:30

  

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