Hilario's Zone

August -November 2010

2010-11-03T11:56:00.061+08:00

We want to be the first to take this time to greet you a happy holiday season!

Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year to each one of you!

May God keep you and bless you,

now and throughout the year

Presently we are in the middle of the YWAM Family Ministries School (FMS) and the Foundations for Family Life Seminars (FFL) 2010.
This week the students have a one week field assignment where they take that which they have learned in the past 6 weeks and begin to apply it to their personal relationships.
For us as staff it is a time to catch up on work such as administration, newsletters and to prepare for the latter 6 weeks of the lecture phase.

First Day of class with A Welcome Message

Classroom 2010

Students from Cambodia

We have been so blessed in this school as God has poured out his healing touch on so many of the students and we have seen so much restoration. This year we have 20 students coming from the Philippines, Mainland China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Denmark & Norway. We have 20 staff who are also from various nations including the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, New Zealand and Thailand. This year our lecturers have come from , Korea, Singapore, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Norway, New Zealand and the United States & Denmark. Due to these many nations represented it has brought such an interesting flavor/mix to the school and we are thrilled with all that God is doing and is continuing to do in all of our lives.
Life is certainly interesting when we are living and working in God's Kingdom!

YWAM Baguio Training Centre Dining Room

FMS/FFL Class Picture 2010

FMS/FFL Classroom Staff 2010

FMS/FFL 2010 Children' s Ministry Staff

We always have a welcome night on the first weekend and.....

we always have porky pig present!

...and to counteract all that cholesterol we have plenty of local fruits available!

Another highlight during the school is the special romantic night

Brenda pictured with some of the staff ladies..Mel was away on this special evening driving our guest speaker to Manila to catch his flight. The next day he collected our lecturers for the following week and brought them back to Baguio.

As a staff we transformed the classroom into a restaurant for the students.
..a great evening for all...

Dessert served with fruit punch!

Every week one of our staff ladies decorates the cross according to the topic of the week...
This particular week it was done according to Revelation 22:1-6

Student's children in the home school class.

While the parents are studying in the FMS /FFL we provide a home school for the school age children, a preschool for the 3-5 yr old and a nursery for the babies.

Before the FMS began one of the main things that God spoke to us in our family ministry team prayer times was that this particular school would be
' A Seed School and A Multiplier of Family Ministries ' to other nations..The Lord gave several of us pictures from Him of a Papaya tree which symbolizes this.

Papaya tree heavy with fruit and with much to share to others.

We have seen this happening already as students are expressing the desire to begin a work like this in their own nations.
We were also privileged to have the training leaders from a restricted access nation visit us for five days and Mel & I were able to meet with them and plan for next years ministry in their nation.
Lord willing we will run two new FFL's next year in two restricted access nations here in Asia.

The ripe Papaya fruit ready to eat and with hundreds of seeds.

YWAM Staff and students outside the YWAM Baguio Training Centre

On a personal note we are truly looking froward to our daughter Joanna' s arrival on Nov 28 . She will be home with us for two whole months!!
She has almost completed her first year of teachers college at Bethlehem Tertiary Institute in Tauranga NZ.
Here she is pictured at the end of year school ball..her first by the way.

Then our son Jonathan arrives on December 12 for a few weeks stay as well. He was recently promoted to Assistant Cruise Director with the Norwegian Cruise Lines.
He is presently on the Canada Western Caribbean route .....I think!!

Here he is pictured in his embarkation uniform.

We are so glad to be able to have Christmas together this year as a family! Yipee!!

We would appreciate your prayers for my Dad (Brenda). This past month he has been to hospital three times via ambulance with another heart attack his second this year and some transient-ischaemic attacks.
Today he was confined again to the hospital after collapsing while with friends. It is difficult to help and to understand fully his situation when we are living so far away.

Thank you once again for all that you do on our behalf.

We so appreciate each one of you!!

until next time take care and God Bless

Mel & Brenda

A GOD ending to our trip away

2010-08-22T16:27:00.020+08:00

After our time in Thailand we took our International leaders of YWAM Family Ministries Andreas & Angela Fresz into a restricted access nation for four days....We had such an incredible time there. The Lord worked out everything so perfectly bringing us together with co-workers, old friends and making some new friends and plans. I cannot share pictures of the people we were with and what God is saying but just to let you know that HE has great plans for our ministry there in the near future!

Mel with Andreas

Vegetables are good for you!

An old man with an old car (Mel's words not mine!)

Sometimes Mel likes to give me flowers..the cheap kind!

Bananas they say are good for depression!

Praying for a couple who will join the FMS this year!

We are really excited with this coming September's Family Ministries School So far we have had 25 students apply bringing along with them about half that many children. Fifty percent of these students are foreigners coming from seven different countries including two restricted access nations.
We feel so privileged to be a part of discipling the nations through Family Ministries and we feel energized knowing that HE has a wonderful future for Family Ministries Asia

Please continue to pray, pray, pray!

Thank you!

Elephants Elephants Elephants!!

2010-08-21T17:09:00.016+08:00

I think one of our major highlights was visiting the Maesa Elephant Park
in Chiang Mai Thailand!
It was surreal walking around this park amongst seventy plus elephants. Watching them bathe, paint, play soccer, play darts with Mel, eat, bow, and perform! I couldn't help but post these pictures.
The highlight for Mel was to ride one of course! Which he did with Larry Ballard our International Director of the YWAM Family Resource Center.

Mel hitching a ride..

Such silent traffic.............

On the home run now!

Elephants painting??......who ever heard of that...

A Thai massage anyone?

Performance time!

Eating Time!

Yes it' s a comfy ride...NOT!

Safely home again!

The elephant playing darts with Mel.....it was a tie...

Well this is definitely the end of this elephant tail...whoops tale...corny!

A great day!

Family Ministries International Leadership Meetings in Thailand

2010-08-21T14:28:00.055+08:00

In the year 2005 we were accepted to be members of the International Leadership Team for YWAM Family Ministries. Ever year we try to meet in a location that will work for all of us. This year we were able to meet in Chiang Mai Thailand around the Korean Family Ministries School being held there. It is always a tremendous encouragement and blessing to get together with like minded co-workers and friends.

Here are some pictures of those days...

FMILT Leadership Team

Our hotel and the location for the Korean Family Ministries School in Chiang Mai.

We met for three days prior to the Asian Consultation...a great time!

No meeting without eating!

Asian Family Ministries Consultation Chiang Mai Thailand 2010

2010-08-21T14:28:00.040+08:00

Thank you so much for praying for this important trip!
We were so aware of your prayers during the three weeks that we were away.Thank you for being such an important part of our team!!....

The Lord ordered our steps in amazing ways and everything worked out far beyond our expectations. We came home tired physically but energized in our spirits with our hearts full of gratefulness for that which the Lord is doing in our region in the area of Family Ministries.
Knowing also that he wants to do so much more and that he wants to use us is so good!

Here are some pictures of those days.........Firstly the Asian Consultation.

The Participants

Mel & I

When we first heard about this idea for the gathering of "Key Asian Family Ministry Workers " together in Chiang Mai, Thailand this July we were skeptical and unsure if we would get much interest. The doubt in our hearts was due to it now being the rainy season, on-going political turmoil in Bangkok, and we even wondered if people could make it financially. The Lord wonderfully surprised us as Key players from Korea, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia, India, Taiwan, Bangladesh, Australia & New Zealand registered for the event!

We met for the weekend with worship, hearing each others exciting reports of our ministries, praying for one another, meeting in discussion groups, and sharing over meals of delicious Thai food. We even made it for an outing to the local elephant park for a picnic lunch and an elephant show!

The Elephant Show

We were also blessed to have special guests Richard & Maria Kane from England to introduce "Marriage-Week " to Asia.

Meetings

Praying for the leader of Family Ministries India

Praying for a young family who work with Karen families at the Myanmar/Thailand Border

Through this gathering we saw the importance of being connected with each other and to feel that sense of family and to know that we are not alone in this ministry. We all agreed to have these kinds of meetings on an annual basis.

Pictured here is our organizational team.. Andreas & Angela Fresz our International leaders of YWAM Family Ministries and Yoon Ho & Chung Hee Park our Korean leaders of YWAM Family Ministries...We are all tired but happy and blessed with the results of the consultation and of course enjoying a special meal together bringing closure to this important time.

July 2010

2010-07-04T15:11:00.012+08:00

' Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want

but the realization of how much you already have.'

Warm greetings from Baguio City! Yes we made it back to the Philippines last June 16 and it has taken us this long to settle and to get ourselves organized to give an update to you all!

Two days before we were scheduled to fly out from Auckland to the Philippines Brenda's Dad was admitted to ICU with a heart attack. It was a difficult decision of whether to delay our departure or to go ahead as planned..Thankfully we have a good God who guides us so well during times like these. We came home as planned and Dad was released from hospital about three days later.For those of you who prayed thank-you!

Another shock for us occurred 12 hours after we arrived in Baguio.
Our landlord called Mel over to their home and told him that he had decided to increase our rent by 50% starting this July!. It took us a few days to decide whether we should unpack or start house hunting!! Finally we decided to unpack until we could process this better with a clearer mind. After much deliberation we decided to stay here in this house until January as we have a very full schedule until then and house hunting would just add unnecessary pressure. Please pray that our landlord will change his mind about the increase.

These past two weeks have been occupied with setting up house and office again, meeting with our staff three times to plan and pray, re-registering our training schools with the University of the Nations, getting back to our church after a long absence, attending a church anniversary of a local tribal church of one of our staff and cleaning up the garden. Mel was even able to get a few panels of the car painted...Phew! It certainly feels good to sit down today and write this e-mail.

Mel is presently in Manila for the week attending to some family business, having our computers serviced, and on Wednesday he along with more than 500,000 others attended the inauguration of the Philippines new president. Our new President Nonoy Aquino is the son of former President Cory Aquino. Please pray that God will use him mightily to bring much needed change to the Philippines

Approximately 12 years ago, well before my mother passed away she gave me a cross-stitch pattern to stitch and after many years I was able to complete it. It has been hanging in our home a couple of years now and the words embroidered there are as follows.....

'Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want
but the realization of how much you already have.'

So often it is easy to look at all that you want and yet forget about that which you already have! We have much to be grateful for.....

Time with family & friends in New Zealand over these last three months.
Blessed with friends who opened their homes for us and being able to enjoy wonderful meals and fellowship together with them.
Jonathan and Joanna staying with us together for several weeks at the little flat in Mt Maunganui. During that time we took turns in teaching Joanna to drive and she was able to pass her restricted drivers license.

Reuniting with Joanna after more than ten months apart!!

Joanna settled in teachers college and doing well in her studies and adjustment to NZ.

Being able to spend time with our church family and other church connections in New Zealand.

Brenda's Dad's recovery from his heart attack and release from the hospital.

Happy to see that on our arrival our Family Ministries Staff Team were in good heart and gladly serving the Lord wholeheartedly.
Thankful we were able to get extremely cheap tickets to Chiang Mai Thailand for our meetings this month.
Happy that Joanna will stay with us for two months this coming Nov 28 and possibly Jonathan will be here for a break this September.

Please Pray for the following upcoming important events.

July 23-25 Family Ministries International Leadership Team Meetings in Chiang Mai Thailand.

July 30-Aug 1 YWAM Family Ministries staff gathering for those working in Asia which also will be held in Chiang Mai Thailand

August 2-8 we will take our International Family Ministry Leaders Angela & Andreas Fresz to either Cambodia or Vietnam or both!
August 9 Pray for our safe return to the Philippines.

August 15 Arrival in Baguio of our new staff family (Vietnamese).
August 23-Sept 10 Commence the three week staff training for the Family Ministries School Staff.

September 15 is the first day of the five month Family Ministries School (FMS) and also when the Foundation for Family Life (FFL) Seminars begin. We will lead this school.and seminar.
Please pray for more students for both of these. Presently we have 10 confirmed students with about that many more interested. Please pray for their finances as well.
Please pray that the Lord will send the right guest speakers for this particular school.

Finally please pray for our strength and good health

Thank you so much. We would love to pray for you too so if you have some needs please just email us and we will gladly pray!

2010-07-04T14:44:00.015+08:00

YWAM Family Ministries Philippines Team February 2010

Celebrating Febilyn' s Birthday

Today February 16th (my birthday) marks 25 years in YWAM for me.. I arrived in the Philippines on this day way back in 1985 to do a three month summer of service with Youth With A Mission Philippines, serving as a nurse working amidst the poor & needy. Obviously my 3 months was extended as I am still here!! Mel marked his 25 years in YWAM last October 2009 while we were teaching in the Family Ministries School in Taiwan!

For this reason we just want to take this time to thank the Lord and to give him all the glory as he has remained so incredibly faithful to us over all of these years. Many of you also have been very loyal to us throughout this time and we would like to say thank you to you too! We could not do this without our God and your sincere friendship with us, your prayers, and practical support. We are so grateful to each one of you. Blessings to you all!

Well I guess you are beginning to wonder where we are writing from at this time...sometimes we wonder also!

We have now been back in the Philippines for just over a week. It's certainly good to be back here in Baguio. We are staying at the Family Ministries House which happens to be besides the house we rent and on the other side of the house is the Baguio domestic airport runway and the helicopter pad for the Philippine Air Force! Also staying with us here are the Banganan family who served together with us in Thailand.

You may remember that we left the Philippines last September in the middle of 'Typhoon Ondoy' which gave a record rainfall and much devastation and hardship for the people of the Philippines due to severe flooding and massive landslides. Well since that time there has been no rain in this area. Everything is very dry and dusty and we are experiencing a drought in this region. Sad to say but life continues to be difficult for many.

These past few days we have been having our own celebrations of our 52nd birthdays and 23 years of marriage and of course our 25 years in YWAM.

Later this week we will be holding three days of meetings with our Family Ministries Staff here in Baguio for planning and prayer. Please pray for us as we meet that we can hear Gods voice and HIS plan for the coming year.

This Sunday we return to Manila and fly out on Monday the 22nd Feb. to New Zealand for our three month furlough. We will arrive in Auckland on the 23rd of February via Thai Airways. Jonathan is already in Auckland between contracts with NCL and Joanna is at Mt Maunganui so we will celebrate Christmas and all of our birthdays in March this year. Mel hasn't been in NZ for over three years so it will be extra special for him and of course we are so looking forward to catching up with our children. By the way Joanna started studying at Bethlehem College this week, a very exciting move for her.

We also have new updates on the brand new YWAM Family Ministries International website Please visit at www.ywam-fmi.org and go to the news section and you will see our latest items on Family Ministries Thailand and the Philippines.
Well we look forward to seeing many of you in the coming months so until then...
take care and God Bless……

December 2009 - January 2010 Thailand

2010-07-04T11:53:00.024+08:00

A Christian Thai Wedding

The YWAM Thai Family Ministries School (FMS) continued on throughout the Christmas 2009 and 2010 New Year period.
On the 23rd of December as a school we put a wedding together for one of the Thai couples who had not experienced a Christian wedding ceremony.
We were able to transform the classroom into a beautiful place for the wedding and delicious reception meal.
Mel officiated and all the staff, students and children had their part to play in the ceremony. Lots of work and lots of fun! A very special occasion to remember!

Here are some pics of that memorable event....

Mel officiating with Oom translating to Thai...

The other students also renewed their marriage vows during the ceremony ...Vietnamese student couple....

The Reception Meal

The Happy Couple!

Renewal of Vows..Thai student couple....

Our classroom converted to a wedding chapel!

Later that week we celebrated Christmas as a school which was also something new for some of the students. It was strange for us to see local Thai elementary and highshool students going off to classes on Christmas Day and even having exams!

Here are a few scenes of Mel & I experiencing Christmas Day for the first time without both of our children...
Thanks to a new shopping mall that had just opened in Khon Kaen we were able to see a Christmas tree as well....

We had a special meal together Christmas Day!

Christmas lunch anyone?

The YWAM Family Ministries School-Thailand lecture phase finished on January 2, 2010.The students then continued on with their two month field assignment in Thailand with the Thai leaders & staff .Please continue to pray for them as they work with the churches in the area of family.

As for us we spent our last week in Thailand traveling six hours south to Bangkok for medical tests and then nine hours north to Chiang Mai to attend YWAM's 50th Anniversary celebrations...Here we witnessed our founders Loren & Darlene Cunningham being carried down through the Banquet Hall (which was filled with up to 700 YWAMers) in chairs carried on poles (by some very strong young men) in true Thai King & Queen honoring style.

Loren Cunningham

Darlene Cunningham

These YWAM 50th Anniversary gatherings are happening all around the world this year as we celebrate God's faithfulness to us as a mission.

Mel & I in the Banquet Hall

After a couple of days of celebrations we returned nine hours south back to Bangkok, took a three hour flight to to Manila and then a final bus trip (well at least for two weeks) of seven hours north to Baguio.

Thailand November to December 2009

2009-12-06T14:02:00.038+08:00

Greetings from us here in Khon Kaen Thailand!

The City Gate of Khon Kaen

Legoland Lego Blocks Thai Style!

Greetings once again from Khon Kaen Thailand!

It's December already and we pray that you will all have a wonderful Christmas and New Years Celebration. This will be our first Christmas without both of our children so please pray for Jonathan & Joanna that they too will have a meaningful Christmas! We are so grateful that we can get together with both of them in New Zealand late in February 2010. We will celebrate our Christmas then and all of our birthdays too. Joanna will be 18 in January and Jonathan 22 this December! (....Oh so maybe that's why the wrinkles and grey hair are appearing more and more...)

We will take our 3 month, 3 yearly furlough in New Zealand from late February until early June 2010. Please reserve some time on your busy calendars for us. We would love to catch up with you! It will be strange to be back in a land with many Caucasian people. I (Brenda) am one of very few Caucasians here in Khon Kaen. Mostly we see men with Thai wives. I have only seen two other white women here....However while we were in Vientiane City in Laos last month we saw more white people than people from Laos!

Hazel (one of our students who is from the Philippines) came with us to Laos to renew her visa too..here we are pictured in Vientiane City Laos..
The city is preparing for the SEA games that will be held there in the month of December

We have now ended the fourth week of lecture phase of the Thailand Family Ministries School . Yesterday we fare welled our guest speaker Linda Bubod from the Philippines who taught on codependency, addictions, and forgiveness. We are always so blessed with her wealth of experience in counseling and in teaching counseling. Linda is presently working as a professor at a seminary in Singapore heading up the counseling program. Many of the students had breakthroughs in the area of forgiveness especially towards significant people in their lives

Linda Teaching with Poie and Oom our Thai interpreters..one speaking Thai and one writing Thai

Each week the students are continuing to respond well to the teaching and are beginning to work through issues in their personal and family lives.They are all looking forward to the renewal of their marriage vows ceremony in a few weeks.

We were planning a one week midterm outreach but have had to cancel it due to lack of funds. As of now only one of the student couples have paid their full fees and all the others are doing the best they can little by little. As I wrote earlier that many of these students are from Buddhist backgrounds and have been provided for by the YWAM Centres that they have served in here in Thailand. However this financial help does not usually continue into their taking training such as the FMS or FFL.

So instead of the one week field assignment we will continue on with the lecture phase and teach the students how to celebrate Christmas over the 24Th & 25!! Christmas is just another day here. However last week a huge shopping mall opened here in Khon Kaen and we saw the first Christmas trees and decorations! We hope to also have some outreach into the community.

Opening of the new shopping mall with drums and a Christmas Carol!

Last week we went to the opening of this new shopping Mall as YWAM Khon Kaen have opened a Korean restaurant in the food court of this mall All of the profits will go to the Thai YWAMers to help them with their financial support and ministry. We were all blessed to eat dinner together at this new restaurant and to see a fireworks display and maybe see also the whole population of Khon Kaen!

YWAM Khon Kaen Staff working in the restaurant.

Presently Mel is down in Bangkok picking up our next guest speakers Jim & Jean Hatton. They will speak in the school for two weeks on Shame, Anger and Boundaries and how all of these things affect the family. Pray for their time here as in past FMS schools their teaching and ministry usually brings about significant change in the students lives.

This weekend Mel and I will take another trip to Laos to apply for a two month visa for Thailand. Please pray with us that we will obtain this visa as we have three more weeks of teaching coming up in the last two weeks of December and the first week of January. Our topics will include Families in Missions, Differences between Men & Women, Family Styles, Intercultural Marriage, Discipline in Parenting, Active listening and some basic Counseling Skills/Tools, Personality types and more!

Hope you are enjoying all the pictures ..here are some from Vientiane City Laos (we live about 3 hours from the Laos/Thai Border...)

Can you see Mel???

Our 'Quirky Looking' guest house ( Well that was how the Internet explained it.)

Mel relaxing besides the Mekong River

Worst Coffee in Laos

Best Coffee in Laos

Mekong River. Laos on the left..Thailand on the Right

Don't forget too that we love to hear from you as well and we look forward to that!

Until next time take care.......

Family Ministries School & Foundations for Family Seminars YWAM Khon Kaen Thailand

2009-11-14T16:06:00.055+08:00

Mel here with our Philippines staff family the Banganan's at Bangkok airport!

Yes we made it to Thailand and began staff training and setting up of the school almost immediately after our arrival. The pressure was on as after one week we needed to go down to Bangkok where we attended the Indo-China Philippines Regional Leaders meeting. There we met with about 12 leaders from the Philippines, Myanmar,Vietnam,Thailand and Cambodia. It was a good time to connect and network with others working in the region and we have already seen fruit from these times together!

A highlight of our time was having dinner at Steve & Marie Goode's (YWAM's International Director for Mercy Ministries) home in Bangkok

Then it was back on the bus again for another 6 hours trip to Khon Kaen where Mel was to officiate a wedding after a couple of days.....here he is walking down the isle with another Pastor who shared the message.....

Marriage Ceremony of a Filipino Couple working in Thailand

The wedding was held at a beautiful resort here in Khon Kaen!

The following day we needed to climb back in that bus again for another 6 hours to Bangkok and catch our flight to the Philippines. Thankfully we were able to get back to Baguio as all the roads had now opened. We then spent the next 8 days packing up our house to make it ready for our neighbours to move in and also catching up with friends and co-workers.

Then it was back to Manila another 6 hours in the bus and then a flight to Bangkok and another 6 hour bus trip up to Khon Kaen!

Elephant or the bus????

Hey the buses here are great with full recliner massaging chairs with lunch and snacks included plus two drivers a hostess and a toilet as well! Infact the bus is more comfortable that our
no- frills no- food flight!
( Oh and lots of Thai movies and comedy shows along the way!)

The FMS & FFL students had already arrived by the time we returned to Khon Kaen. Here are some pics of the school.

Man & Yung Thawiphak (Thai School Leaders) with Matthew and Amos

Mel & I

FMS Staff & Students

....same- same but sdifferent!

FMS Children with their teacher....

FMS & FFL Classroom...

Here are some pics of our neighbourhood etc......

A nice park that it ten minutes walk from our house.

The highway in front of the neighborhood we are staying in..its very quiet in our little street..truly

YWAM Khon Kaen Centre..and our classroom.

Our street with Mel standing outside the little house that we share with the Banganan Family complete with air-conditioned bedrooms and wi-fi! Thankyou Lord...it is very warm here! 36.C and the food is very spicy about 50.C!!!

Here is our FMS & FFL news.......

We have just completed the first week of the very first Family Ministries School (FMS) and Foundations for Family Life Seminars (FFL) here in Thailand. We thank God for bringing about this miracle and for providing the leaders, staff, students, speakers and venue for this school.

We praise God that our text book "Family Life as God Intended" by Donald Kirkby is now translated into Thai and the students have begun using it for their weekly assignments. Many of the students are from Buddhist homes and some are the first Christians in their families and therefore have not seen or had much understanding of the Christian family.

Man & Yung Thawiphak (Thai couple)) are leading the school and Oom Seesaeng (Thai single) is on staff and is our interpreter. We also have Arthur & Eva Banganan along with their two girls from the Philippines staffing and Mel & I are here supporting the running of the school for the whole of the lecture phase which ends Feb 5. 2010.

Within the student body we have 12 students.and three children. The students consist of four young Thai couples coming from the North, South, East and Western parts of Thailand. We also have a family from Vietnam. who took their CDTS in the Philippines last year. Lastly we have two singles in the school, a Filipina (YWAM Philippine's Staff). and one young man who is Thai.
We also have a few couples sitting in during the parenting and marriage weeks.

Please continue to pray for this school as it progresses.

Please pray especially for the school leaders as they have young children and also for our interpreter.Our Thai students speak very little English and some none at all.

Please pray for the students as they are so open and hungry to learn. Pray they will be healed and to be able to minister to others in the future and to take this ministry throughout their land and beyond.

As always please pray for a financial release. Many of the students are lacking their fees even though we are only charging a minimal fee of 20,000 Baht.

We feel as this school is situated in the heart of Asia it is very significant and we see it as only a small beginning of something much greater that God will do here in this region.

Thank you for praying!

Blessings to each one of you as you serve Him in your place of ministry.

Mel & Brenda Hilario

Family Ministries Staff

Taiwan FMS and our adventure getting there

2009-11-14T16:06:00.034+08:00

Last September 26 we hopped into a taxi to go to Manila International Airport to catch our flight to Taiwan. We were to teach in the 3rd Family Ministries School held in Dan Shui Taiwan.

Well our supposedly 30 minute trip turned into a 6 hour ordeal! Due to Typhoon Ondoy we became stranded in our taxi in sudden flooding and stand still traffic. Needless to say we missed our flight to Taiwan and then due to the severe flooding (waist deep) half a kilometre from the airport we had to turn around and go back. By this time water had entered our taxi. However we couldn't get back to our guest house so we looked for alternative accommodation but none was to be found. Finally we ended up sleeping on the couch of a guest house lobby with two drunken Englishmen who were also stranded due to the flood. After 24 hours once the floods had subsided we went back to the airport and caught our flight to Taiwan.

Phew! This was the longest flight we have ever had!
Here is Mel stretching out at Terminal 3 in Manila.

FMS 2009 Dan Shui Taiwan

Once we arrived in Taiwan it was all worth the effort as we had a great bunch of students (27) and nearly all of them were YWAM Staff and Taiwanese apart from two American husbands!

Mel teaching with the Taiwanese Interpreter Darla

We had a lot of fun too!
Here we coaxed the leaders into doing a skit with us on family in missions!
We were the parents and they were our children!

Teamwork is a part of Family in Missions..not just the Mother or the Father but the children too!

Here are some of the students doing a skit...this is one way they put the teaching into art form!

Here we are receiving affirmation after the two weeks of teaching..this is a YWAM custom.

One day it stopped raining..
(we were getting rain at the same time that the Philippines was being drenched.)
....so we took a walk a few minutes from the FMS classroom..so nice to get out and look around!

On the weekend we went back to 'school leaders Debbie & Len Fischer's home and went out for a special meal in Taipei City

That Sunday we travelled a couple of hours to their son's international church where Mel preached to mostly Filipino overseas contract workers.

So after this great time of ministry we caught our flight back to the Philippines
However when we arrived back we heard through the news report that all roads going into Baguio City were cut off due to landslides. See the two pictures below.

The report said that it could be up to 10 days until the roads would be cleared. As we were going to Thailand in eight days to help set up the first Family Ministries School there we decided to change our flight and go to Thailand a week early and return to the Philippines once the roads opened. So that's what we did!

Thank you for all of you who prayed for us and for the Philippines throughout this very difficult time. While we were away the YWAM Baguio Centre became a relief goods centre and the staff and students there have been very occupied with ministry to the Typhoon Victims.

The Jubilee Covenant...celebrating 50 years of YWAM

2009-09-15T08:46:00.004+08:00

Last week YWAMers from around the globe signed the Jubilee Covenant........celebrating 50 years of YWAM

I covenant before God -- together with my brothers and sisters -- to make these my priorities until “the earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”
(Habbakuk 2:14).

1. To love the Lord my God w with all my heart, soul, mind and
strength, and to love my neighbor as myself (Mark 12:30-31)

2. To seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness above every
concern for my own life and future (Matthew 6:25-34)

3. To serve others for no greater reason than my love for God
(John 21:15-17)

4. To take up my cross and follow Jesus wherever He leads me
(Mark 8:34-35)

5. To do everything I can possibly do through the power of the
Holy Spirit at work in me to fulfifill the Great Commission in
this generation (Mark 16:15)

I recognize that as YWAM celebrates fifty years of ministry,
God’s Spirit is at work in amazing ways around the
world.

I eagerly want to do my part to make sure that “the flame
goes forward” and thus help fulfill God’s dream that every
individual might hear and that all nations may be impacted
by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I consider it a great privilege to be alive and called “for
such a time as this” – and therefore, by God’s grace, I commit
myself:

The Jubilee Covenant
celebrating 50 years of
YWAM

2009-09-13T14:08:00.033+08:00

Greetings from a very, very wet & windy Sunday afternoon here in the Philippines!A typhoon is brewing and there is a large tropical depression causing havoc once again here in the Philippines!

Well with that what better thing to do than to give you a quick catch up on our lives here and of our future plans......

It wasn't raining on this day!

Over the past months as we have adjusted to our empty nest we have realized that our parenting has not really stopped but only changed due to the fact that our children are both living far from us and are no longer dependent on us.

Parenting has so many faces to it and sometimes we are sad , other times glad , and a few times mad . It also has it's times of rejoicing and of course many anxious moments. . However the best thing of all that we can do is to entrust our children to the Lord.. Yes it's the best thing to do but not always the easiest!

Three days ago we said good bye once again to our son Jonathan .He was here with us for three weeks between his work contracts. We were so happy that he chose us for his break! The weather wasn't perfect as we were still experiencing the wet season but we did manage to go for three swimming day trips!

Jonathan is reunited again with his Baguio friends...

We took a couple of swimming trip to the hot springs at the Klondykes

Snack time!..Korean noodles,hard boiled eggs, tuna sandwich, cookies and coffee

A week later we took a trip to the beach.....

Snack time again with Pancit Bihon (noodles with vegetable and chicken)

A perfect spot to just relax!

Jonathan left for Seattle Friday morning to join up with the NCL Cruise Ship the Norwegian Star.He begins a six month contract that will take him back to Alaska & Vancouver and then onto the Mexican Riviera, Los Angeles, and also the Panama Canal. We hope to see him again in New Zealand in March 2010.

Sorry but this is the only picture I could find..
..we are not being paid a commission for advertising :)

While we were on these swimming trips I was amazed to find some roses growing under the hot tropical sun.......

While Jonathan was here we received the great news from our daughter Joanna that she has been accepted to study Primary School Teaching this February 2010 at the Bethlehem Tertiary Institute in Tauranga. Of course Joanna was so excited about this as it has been such a long process and hope for her. Joanna has been living in Mt Maunganui New Zealand for the past 6 months. Of course it hasn't been easy for her this past year in changing cultures, nations, weather, friends and homes and at such a young age but we have seen her grow in the Lord during these months..Yesterday we received news from her that she now has a second job in which we see as God's provision for her in these difficult economic times.

Thank you Lord!

I love this picture (notice the feet ggrrhh!)

Over these past two months we have been doing a lot of preparatory work for the pioneering of Family Ministries in Thailand. Mel & I will travel to Thailand this October 20 to help the YWAM Thailand Family Ministry staff pioneer the Family Ministries School in Khon Kaen.
We will stay probably until early February 2010.
If you want to read more about this please visit the following:

http://www.ywamthai.org/khonkaen/familyministryschool.html

Before we go to Thailand firstly we will fly to Taiwan this September 26 where we will teach for two weeks in the Family Ministries School in Dan Shui Taiwan. . Our topics will include Styles of Communication, Family Systems, Parenting Styles, Shaky versus Firm Foundations in Marriage and the Differences Between Men & Women.

We have heard the good news that they have 20 plus YWAM students this year and will be doing the eight weeks outreach across the strait from Taiwan! This is exciting for us as you may remember that YWAM Family Ministries Philippines helped to pioneer the work there in Taiwan and to see the fruit of this is very fulfilling!

Passion Fruit

Atis (Custard Apple)

We hope to see many of you in New Zealand when we take our regular 3 yearly furlough for 3 months next year from March til May. It may be a little earlier depending on our time in Thailand and on Mel's processing for his NZ visitors visa. We are thankful to the Lord that we have a YWAM family who are willing to stay in the house we are renting in Baguio from October 2009 until June 2010 and are willing to cover the costs of the rent, utilities etc. Thank you for praying as this is indeed an answer to prayer!

Orchids grow well here!

Thank you once again for all the love and support. We cannot do this without you and we love having you on our team whether it be through friendship, prayer, or finances......

Blessings to each one of you! Mel & Brenda Hilario

Some Random Pictures taken in Manila on the last days of August 2009

2009-09-06T16:22:00.038+08:00

Mel & I still enjoy a trip to Manila fairly often to pick up family, friends, outreach teams, guest speakers etc and if we have time we like to visit places that we frequented during the 1980's....Manila has changed a lot over the years however some places remain the same..One of the most recent additions to Manila would have to be the Mall of Asia with it's amazing stores and beautiful surroundings..

Well here are some pics of Manila ...I hope you enjoy viewing!

SM Mall of Asia commonly named as MOA..
Following are some scenes of and surroundings of this huge Mall.......

Mel & Susan on the walkway to view Manila Bay....

Manila Bay from the Mall of Asia

The playground in front of the Mall Of Asia (above and below)

Wonderful breezy views as far as the eye can see...

I love the order here....and the newness of everything!

Mel at Rizal Park in front of the flag pole with the flag flying at half-mast due to the recent death of former President Cory Aquino

More pics at Rizal Park..get your binoculars out and you will see me at the foot of the Warrior!

Strolling around Rizal Park with my sister as the sun was going down...perfect!

They have introduced this little train with a carriage to take you around the park....for a price...

We decided to pose in front of it and walk instead......

So spacious and clean!

Numerous flags flying!

Rizal Monument Rizal Park....

That's a Carabao....(National Animal)

Where are the 12 Million Filipinos that live in Manila?..Maybe they are all at the Mall!

All kinds of vehicles are available..how about this Eco-friendly one...well mostly...

A walk along Roxas Boulevard is so romantic.....
especially with hundreds of vendors trying to make a sale!

These banners were displayed every few yards along the water front due to the recent death of our former President Cory Aquino......

The wind was getting up as a typhoon was on it's way...
Personally I was enjoying the breeze and the salt spray.......

..No gasoline or diesel fumes either as the road was closed to traffic due to a ' family fun run '

.....no we didn't join but we did watch...Does that count?

....Here is the evidence....Mel watching the race

Moving on to Manila Cathedral

Mel in front of the Cathedral.....

Then it was off to Intramuros....

That's me on the right striding it out in front of some of the buildings there....

The guards were kind enough to allow us inside the old Spanish Buildings.....

Beautifully kept buildings....

Then it was back home to Shalom Guest House for the night.
.....the following day we drove home to Baguio...

Most of this month we have been preparing for our two week teaching trip to Taiwan at the end of September and doing some preparations for our four month stay in Thailand beginning October....However the highlight of September was our son visiting for three weeks....Our next blog will be some scenes from his visit...but until then God Bless and take care

The first time in 24 years!

2009-08-18T14:06:00.095+08:00

In August I was so blessed to have my older sister visit us here in the Philippines. It was so much fun to take her around and watch her experience life on our turf which I might add is quite different to life in New Zealand....
Thank you to those of you who prayed for fine weather. God answered your prayers. We had torrential rain before and after her visit! Well here are some scenes of that memorable time in no particular order!

Eating rice at least twice a day was one of her new experiences....Here we are at the Mall of Asia's Ice Skating Rink even though the temperature outside is 35. C

Not all Kiwis like eating rice that often so now and then we would take a cultural food break and eat Pizza!

Here Mel is bargaining for a cheaper eco-friendly ride around the tourist belt....but to no avail.......Well it was good to walk and afterall it is the most eco-friendly way of all!

Ice cream anyone??

We even dropped by Bocaue Bulacan to visit our former neighbours.

They happen to be immigrating to New Zealand this year....Joanna's best friend when she was 5 years old is now living in Hawera with her Dad! It's amazing how things work out.

Wow all the houses have a new storey since we left ten years ago. Progress!..There is Mel cooling the car down before we dare to hop back in...remember it's 35.C and very sunny!

Another culture break....Banana Split anyone?

High School girls going home from school along the beach near China Sea Beach Resort La Union.

Now who said 'Missionary Life' is difficult?
(Susan treated us to an overnight stay at the Final Option Beach Resort in La Union. Thanks Susan..so refreshing!)

Beautiful Philippine's Scenery!

Delicious Philippines Food......

Here is our faithful and forever willing driver...... taking a rest in the Nipa Hut with his wife!

Baguio City Cathedral

Baguio City Cathedral has the 10 Commandments on display in the church grounds.

Baguio City's Burnham Park....Boat ride anyone?
( Notice the large SM shopping mall in the background)

Another cultural food break..McDonalds!

More boat rides above and below!

Visiting Baguio is not complete without a visit to the Philippine's Military Academy!

(Notice the words on the building above COURAGE - INTEGRITY - LOYALTY)

Every Saturday the soldiers parade.

So orderly and clean!

"United we stand divided we fall!"

How many soldiers is that????

Whoops it looks like these two forgot their uniforms!

At PMA we met up with some of the present YWAM Baguio DTS students that Mel had the pleasure to teach the week before!

Baguio City Mines View Market is very intriguing and has so many steps, and stores......

They even have local tribal clothes to try on for picture taking.......at a price of course......

Here are some local Filipino tourists trying on the clothing.....

And when you need a comfort break while in Mines View you need to know what you want to do before you pay.....different toilets with different prices for different events!

Off to the Market now to buy a .........

Fish anyone..Tilapia at the city market.

Our favorite ... Boneless Bangus..

Blind, singing beggars are forever present on the city overpasses and so are snatchers and pick pockets!

More fish! Amazing amount of fish considering we live in the mountains.....

Suasages anyone.....yes thats right..what did you think they were?.....flowers???

Every flavour under the sun available! (Yes literally hanging under the sun)

Giant crabs for sale......yumm!

Now this I can handle..strawberries....mmmmmm

More strawberries..the problem was we were so busy taking pictures we didn't buy any food!

Look at all these pirated DVD's ..don't worry we didn't buy any.....

For all of you who have never seen a kalamansi..well now you have!

Now that's a lot of chicken meat!

Mussels, clams........

One of the industries in Baguio is growing flowers and selling the cut flowers..here we are at the flower market!

The gown stores are very close to the food market..

'The Mansion House' The President of the Philippine's summer home!

Good exercise!

Horse riding anyone the price is P300 for one hour...($NZ10)

A woman in our neighbourhood carrying her firewood home to cook dinner. Charcoal is in her other hand.....

Our neighbours son catching the jeepney to school along with his yaya (babysitter).

Even the cows look different here. In Baguio they are on a kind of leash and not fenced in.

Here is a farmer walking his cow.......oh and rocks are blue in Baguio...(sorry just kidding!) Garbage is an ongoing problem here...notcie the garbage pile in the background....

There I am on the runway about to direct the next flight in!

Another picture of the airport runway..this was our children' s playground for a number of years....

The Lion' s Head

Swimming at ' Klondykes Hot Springs'

The Famous Zig Zag Road (Kennon Rd) built by 4000 men from different nations!

Mel gave Susan the tedious task of removing all the 'Malunggay' leaves to place in our soup for our evening meal..he helped her out in the end...as for me.... I did the picture taking!

Watching the local women at Easter Weaving weave their works of art is always a treat......
They are very talented and extremely patient women!

We even dropped by one of our local sponsored children's home......

..and delivered a sack of rice to the family...a regular gift from their sponsor......

....the family is so happy to have enough rice for the month......

Life here is full of contrasts especially between the rich and the poor......here are some scenes for the more privileged......the local Country Club Golf Club.......

A beautiful entrance with locally hand crafted wooden figures that are none too friendly....

...........I surrender!

Beautiful pine trees in Camp John Hay the former R & R Base for American Soldiers

The Beautiful Manor House..... A five star hotel here in Baguio

The Manor House Entrance..

Beautiful Camp John Hay above and below....

A former gas station turned restaurant named appropriately..'The Filling Station'

Recycling is big here!

Ok back to reality...yes that' s a man sleeping in a hammock in the back of a truck..by the time he reaches his unloading place he is very refreshed from his comfortable sleep....NOT!

Stuffed Barbeque Fish..our favorite Saturday lunch..just $1.50 per cooked fish....now that's a bargain!

Our area is also known fondly as ' the vegetable bowl of the Philippines' ..fresh vegetables are abundant!

The cemetery which is walking distance from where we live ..this is a family tomb of a wealthy family.....

Well it's time to say Goodbye to Susan..here we are at the Shalom Guest house in Manila shortly before her flight....thank you Susan for your visit and thanks every one for joining us on this tour....Blessings!