~Our hyacinths just bloomed this week, and are just gorgeous! I went out this evening to take some pictures of the flowers and of the many bees that are enjoying the flowers as well (First time taking photos of bees, and I discovered that they are hard to capture! :-) So, here's some of my best pictures from my photo shoot... (taken with my favorite lens - the telephoto lens) Let me know what you think!
I guess the wasps were enjoying the flowers as well...
I found that piece of green leaf a distraction in the photo, but it is hard to move anything when you are working with bees... they move really fast ;-)
*One of my favorites*
~Another Favorite...~
Another favorite... I like the Shallow Depth of Field. :-)
I'll continue to post my latest pictures from my Photography Class as I take them. :-) Pictures and Digital Cameras are really great invention, but I have come to the conclusion that nothing that man makes will ever compare the God's marvelous creation of the human eye! What an amazing Creator we serve...
And now presenting Sabbath Night's Concert...!! (We also played At the Name of Jesus on Sabbath night, but since I posted it in the previous post, I didn't repost it again.)
First song...
Contrasts In E Minor...
And... The Chase!
And that concludes the series of videos from the TN/KY Music Festival 2009 - that was SO fun, wouldn't you agree?!
Finally... I was able to figure out how to upload videos to the blog! :-) Here is The Friday Concert Music.... Leave us a comment and let us know what you think! ~Enjoy!!
Praise the Lord, we have successfully completed our first String Orchestra! Last Thursday we traveled down to Tennessee, where our wonderful friends the Steffens invited us to test our music skills by playing in an orchestra. There were roughly about 300 children who were playing or singing in either the Band, Choir, or String Orchestra. We had such wonderful fun with our friends, and also playing all the fun music! We practiced 6 songs - Contrasts in E Minor (Which was Matthew, Caleb and my favorite song), The Chase (a really fun one too), Jesus the Very Thought of Thee (very beautiful song), At the Name of Jesus (One we played with the band and the choir), Allegro Spiritioso (The most challenging song for me to play, but still fun), and Themes From Vivaldi Gloria (I liked that one too). So, here are a bunch of pictures for you all to enjoy.... ;-) (If any of you want the full sized photos, feel free to send us an email or leave a comment!)
Practice Time... (Actually this was group rehearsal. {at least that's what I think its called} I was so sad I forgot my camera on Thursday, so we had to wait till Daddy got there on Friday to get any pictures... :-( ) A total average, we practiced 15 hours in 1 1/2 days! It was a lot of work, but oh it was more than worth it!
Having fun playing with friends... I was so glad that I was able to sit beside Shayla and play 2nd violin - she was such a huge help to me!!
The beginnings of Friday's Concert... Our first one ever! Oh the excitment!! ;-)
The important cellists and violist - all ready for the concert we've practiced and anticipated for so long...!
Two very happy friends...
Before we knew it, Sabbath evenings concert rolled around. The man that is standing in the middle of the picture is our great Conductor. :-)
:: Friends are a blessing! ::
If you can't tell, Shayla and I really had a good time together in the back row of the orchestra!!! What memories..
Full of wonderful memories, and very Happy and content after the concert. It was so fun to work together! We really hope to do it again sometime... What a huge blessing good friends are!!
On the next post, I'll be posting some videos of the music that we played - so stay tuned! ;-)
**A big thanks to the best Daddy in the world for taking all these great pictures!!**
How time flies!! I have been intending to make a nice blog post about the many escapades that have been going on around here lately, but there just simply are not enough hours in the day! :-) When we get home, perhaps I'll be able to catch up... ;-)
TOMORROW is the day we have all been waiting, practicing for, and greatly anticipating! Tomorrow is the first day of our first Music Festival. It is in Portland, Tennessee, and there will be 2 concerts, one Friday night, and another Sabbath evening. We are all VERY excited, and I'll be sure to post all about it when we arrive safely home - perhaps I'll even get to post some first time videos on here! :-) God bless.
Well, this post with the title "Violin Recital" has been sitting quietly here for a long time, so I thought I'd finish it, before I forget... Well, here are the videos from my and Abigail's recital (My video I am posting at the request of some friends... :-D ) You don't know how glad I am that my recital is over... but I suppose it was a good experience for me. :-)
**Thank you Mommy. for recording these moments in time!**
It has sounded as though satan has really been battling against the Mission Team, but Praise the Lord for all the baptisms!!! We must continue to pray for these dear souls, and also for the seeds that were sown as a result of the meetings there in Cujo...
Praise the Lord, we’ve had a successful conclusion to the meetings in Cuyo. Friday night was a real answer to prayer, with no disturbances to the meetings, and a higher attendance than usual. Sabbath was busy. We headed to Sabbath School by 8:00am, rushed home for lunch then back to the beach for the baptism.
The Baptism was a real blessing, with 101 people baptized! There were also 35 people baptized as a result of the small group ministries before we arrived, and there will be more baptisms in April after some Bible students have had a chance to complete their studies. We are praying that each one will be truly connected with Christ and will understand the meaning of their vows. It seems that the ground work has been thorough, and that each one that was baptized had completed Bible Studies, and were well prepared.
Now it’s Saturday night, and the Ferry will be leaving soon to take us to Puerto. From there we will tour around the island for about a week, taking in some of the natural wonders here.
I will try to send an update once we arrive at our destination tomorrow, and when possible as we continue through the retreat.
Thank you for your prayers.
The ferry will leave soon, so I have to go for now. Just wanted to give a quick report!
...and who will be able to solve it??? :-) We'll have to wait and see! The winner will win... well, a virtual batch of doughnuts (healthy ones of course) and a virtual bowl of ice cream! :-D :-D So, if you think you've solved the riddle, leave us a comment or send us an email!!
Here it is.......
I'm called by three letters Though I have a long name. I'm in all of you, But I'm never the same.
I'm all coiled up So that I am quite small, But if you stretch me out I'll be really tall
I could be the root Of certain disease; If man can unlock me, He'll solve many mysteries.
(Do any of you have guesses as to what this picture is of??? Its one of my latest 'experiments' :-)
We were blessed to receive another thrilling update from the far away land of the Philippines. Thank you all so much for your prayers ~ God is truly blessing their work there!!! I pray you'll be blessed....
Greetings again from Cuyo island! We all send our greetings and love.
Yesterday was one of those never to be forgotten Sabbaths. We attended the Suba church, a small church made of native materials, and set on a beautiful spot right next to the ocean. We got up early and rode to church in the back of an Elph (flatbed truck with metal frame on the sides and top, covered with a tarp). They “demanded” that we take the whole SabbathSchool, Church, and AY (Adventist Youth) programs. The Lord blessed and we were happy to be able to share some blessings with the brethren there.
After a fantastic lunch on the beach, we had the AY program, then headed back to Cuyo to get ready for the evening programs. The Cuyo topic for the night was on the Sabbath. Almost everyone in the audience raised their hand to show they wanted to keep all of God’s Law, especially the Sabbath. Attendance here has been lower than average, only about 140 per night, but it seems everyone who is there is truly interested and listening. The children’s meetings are staying somewhere over 300.Last night the translator for the Cuyo Children’s meetings wasn’t able to be there for the first part of the meeting, and failed to get a replacement! The CE team showed the nature video, and did a health presentation and almost sang themselves horse, but still the translator didn’t come. Of course we were praying for an answer, and wondering what to do, but God provided for the need through a section leader that stepped forward to translate, and he did a fantastic job!
Attendance in Magsaysay was up last night with over 200 adults and 260 children. The message on baptism was very well received in both the adult and kids meetings, with 32 adults signing cards that they would like to be baptized and a staggering 146 children making the same decision! There were another 111 children that committed to be baptized in the future, but will wait till they are older. Many more adults and children requested visitation and Bible studies.
Tonight we are presenting the topic of baptism in Cuyo, and State of the Dead in Magsaysay. Please keep praying for the Holy Spirit to work. This is a difficult time for people who must decide if they are willing to choose Christ in the face of persecution from family, friends, and the community.
We praise God that everyone on the team is well, and of good courage. We are a little tired from a long day yesterday, but joyful to see people triumphing over the enemy.
Please pray especially hard for tonight’s meeting on baptism in Cuyo.
I give greetings to all the family and friends of the team members here.
It sounds like Satan working against what the YD Team is doing there on the Island of Cujo right now - but we know that With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible. {Matthew 19:27} Thank you SO much for your prayers, and please do continue to pray for the Mission Team as they continue to be a light of the world.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Friends and Family,
This is going to be a long update, so bear with me!As we approach the end of time we can expect that Satan will intensify his attacks, and we also know that God will begin to withdraw that special holding back of the winds of strife.That means we will experience increasing opposition.That, I believe, is the time in which we are living. So it is not surprising that we are seeing, with this mission trip, more opposition than we have ever experienced before.
Even as we were making plans for the early work of training the local church members, starting the small groups, finding Bible workers and laymen to lay the groundwork, we saw unusual opposition.We had challenges getting the evangelism programs for the small groups, we were almost not allowed to transport the DVD players from Manila to Palawan, and our airline seats were sold to others even though we had confirmed bookings.The printed notes for the evangelism programs for the small groups were a disaster with sections mission and copies that could not be read.But those challenges were all overcome.
When arrangements were finally in place for the team, a week before we were scheduled to leave we found out about the ferry being cancelled and that there was no way to get to the island of Cuyo on schedule.But God helped us find lodging and a restful weekend was a blessing.
On the first night of the meetings we had significant challenges with major equipment failures in both venues.Since that time we have continued to have equipment issues and Ted is very busy each night fixing and adjusting things.We have never had equipment challenges like this before!
By now maybe you are wondering if its time to be discouraged, or if the team members are discouraged.Absolutely not!Through all of this the team members have pushed on with a happy heart and the presentations are strong.
But now the Catholic church in Cuyo has become very upset with our meetings.Last Sunday the priest preached strongly against us and told the congregation not to attend and not allow their children to attend.He has also been going door-to-door to tell people that we are going to enslave the people and they should stay away.Alas, that has had some effect and attendance has dropped.This attendance drop is very unusual, we normally have an increase in attendance. So in the town of Cuyo, our main venue, we are seeing much opposition which is affecting attendance, but its not affecting our team!Praise God for His blessings!
Not so in Magsaysay.There the attendance is holding strong and we have about 120 non SDA’s in attendance, beside the church members.That is very good.In Magsaysay the meetings are being held directly in front of the Catholic church, yet we have not seen the opposition we are seeing in Cuyo.There are more children attending the meetings there every night!
The health team is going out daily with the local Bible workers and laymen and they are doing door-to-door medical missionary work.They have conducted several health expo’s at both venues.
So now I come to the heart of the matter.It was faith, and I’m sure much prayer, that enabled God to part the waters of the Red Sea.Its an amazing story!Imagine standing on the banks and watching the waters separate exposing DRY land on which to walk!That is the kind of result we can expect when we have prayer and faith. I think sometimes we say “I’ll pray for you” or maybe “I’m praying for you,” but its time to do it now!
Will you, with earnest heart, seek the Lord for His special, miraculous blessings on this work.Who knows but this may be the last opportunity for these two communities.
Maybe we should rename CuyoIsland.I propose the name Jehovahjireh.It means
“in the mount of the LORD it shall be seen” (Gen 22:14)I believe we are going to see the work of the Lord in Cuyo.No matter how many darts Satan hurls at Cuyo we know God is there, and He cannot be overcome.
“Thank you, kind Father, for hearing our prayers of faith. Show your power in Cuyo we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.”
*One of my favorites*
*One of my favorites*
