Farewell, Fodors

This week we said goodbye to our first students from Romania. Florin and Dana have been with us for two and a half years. Since Florin already had some course work done before he came, he was able to graduate ahead of the normal April schedule.

We rarely have Europeans at our school, so it has been a unique experience for them and for us. We have really grown to love them, and they have grown to love Asia, and Asians. Florin was in James' discipleship group, so it was especially hard for them to say goodbye. We'll miss you, Fodor family!

Two Memories

What shall I write about today? The past week and a half has been a whirlwind of activities. I won't bore you with a blow by blow account of the Christmas parties I have attended (there have been six parties so far, and there are two more tomorrow)! The photos above should give you the idea. It has been fun.

I think I will treasure two memories from the last ten days. One was a song sung by our student, Tiffany, at the IGSL Family Christmas Party. The song is called "He Made a Way in a Manger". Apparently this is not a new song at all (written in 1998) but it was the first time I had heard it. It touched my heart because I've always believed that Christmas makes no sense if you don't think about the Cross, and this song connects them so beautifully. In the past week I have learned it myself and have been meditating on it ever since. Thanks, Tiff!

The second memory I'll cherish is the Christmas party hosted by our IGSL international students for international university students in Manila. We had over 100 guests, and most of them were not believers. Honestly, we have struggled as we have planned this party. Our guests, for the most part, are students from totally non-Christian backgrounds, who have no understanding at all of who Jesus is. Christmas is a great time to introduce Jesus, since there is so much focus on celebrating Christmas here in the Philippines. As we planned the party, there was tension in our group between those who wanted to give a strong evangelistic presentation and those who preferred to use the event to begin to build relationships and win trust. I was encouraged at how God used it to spark some excellent discussions among our students.

You see, most of our students here at IGSL come from Christian families, even though they are from non-Christian countries. However, we have a growing number of IGSL students who come from Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist backgrounds. I was especially excited as some of our Christian-background students began to seriously try to understand the thinking of our non-Christian guests. Some of these conversations were exhausting. We had endless discussions about how to connect with them, what kind of food to serve, what kind of games to play, what kind of music to present, what kind of message to share, and on and on. But in the end, the party was a great success, our guests are eager to get together again, and the IGSL students are excited about patiently helping their friends move a little closer to embracing Jesus. I'm tired. But it's a good kind of tired.

Christmas in the Philippines

There is nothing quite like Christmas in the Philippines. It starts in September and lasts until January. Filipinos know every Christmas carol ever written. I remember during my first Christmas here, I laughed when I heard "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" being played in the stores. But a colleague reminded me, "Where better to dream about it than in the tropics?"

There are parties and celebrations and gifts and games and more gifts and more parties. I looked at my calendar a few days ago and discovered that I have 8 parties to attend in the next two weeks. I suspect that there will be more than that; there are usually some last minute invitations. The particular parties on my list are not hectic or commercialized. They are just good times together with other believers, enjoying the gift of Jesus. The first one is this afternoon at IGSL. Let the parties begin!

(Note: the photo collage above is some of our Christmas tree ornaments collected through the years. We never have a color motif or theme in our house -- it's just "through the years".)