My PIM Team

As you know, I wear many hats. Usually I tell you stories about my work in the Student Services Department. But, I am also a PIM teacher. PIM stands for "Partners in Ministry" -- our certificate program to help develop the wives of our degree students. Some of our IGSL women are pursuing masters' degrees themselves, but most of our ladies are in the season of life with young children, where that is not really feasible. So, we started this program more than 15 years ago to help equip the wives for a lifetime of ministry alongside their husbands.

The ladies in the photo with me are Gerri, Michelle and Jan. We form the Leadership Team of PIM, giving direction to the other teachers, trying to help the program run well, and thinking of ways to improve it. (Gerri, seated next to me, is the one who is going with me to Bangladesh.)

I remember when we started with the very first PIM seminar in 1992-- it was called "Christian Motherhood". My kids, who were about 6 and 8 at the time, saw the poster on the ISOT bulletin board. They came running to me, and with great excitement, said, "Mom, Mom! There's going to be a seminar for you! You'll really like it! You can learn more about being a good mom! You should sign up!"

I told them, "Yes, I already know about it; I'm one of the teachers!" Their eyes widened in awe!

They said, "You mean you know more than other moms about how to be a good mom?" Kids can really humble you! I told them I wasn't an expert, but that God said that older moms should help younger moms in this area. They accepted that.

So, all these years later, I am still trying to do that, in the spirit of Titus 2:3-5. The ladies in this photo are all of the teachers in our PIM program. Each of us has about six women we are leading in discipleship groups, and most of us teach classes too. We love what we do!

Bangladesh!

Later this month, I am heading to Bangladesh! This trip has been in the works for many months. Now my plans have been finalized at last, and I am scheduled to leave on January 27. I will be going with Gerri Miller, one of my dear IGSL colleagues. We are going to visit three families of IGSL graduates in three different cities: Dhaka, the capital; Khulna, in the west; and Chittagong, in the east. We expect to stay for ten days. Since I haven't been there yet, these are borrowed photos, but I promise to take pictures when I'm there!

Bangladesh is a very densely populated country. In a moment I am going to tell you the population per square kilometer. But first I will give you some perspective, since you probably don't spend much time thinking about things like population density in your country. The population density in Canada is 3 people per square kilometer. Of course, large parts of Canada are uninhabitable, and those parts are averaged into the total. In the U.S., it's 31 people per square kilometer. That seems reasonable, averaging in the many large cities and the large rural areas too. It was a big shock for us (especially James) when we moved to the Philippines. The population density here is 282 people per square kilometer. Wow -- that's wall to wall people! But how about Bangladesh? It's a country that only has a few large cities; in fact it is 80% rural . . . and the population density is a whopping 1,045 people per square kilometer. This boggles my mind.

While we are there, Gerri and I will speak at a women's seminar in each of the three cities. Our graduates have set up these opportunities for us to minister to church women. But our main objectives are to be an encouragement to our graduates, and to learn about Bangladesh, so that we can minister more wisely to our current students from there. I've learned from our past trips that things often turn out differently than we expect. So, we are trying to be ready for anything!

Please pray that God will give us wisdom as we prepare, and that we will be faithful servants for His glory while we are there. And pray for our husbands who will be left behind in Manila.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

This is my favorite photo from this year's Christmas party--Esther from Nepal and Sana from Pakistan. Aren't they cute? Thanks, Darjee, for all the photos! Before I post the rest of the photos from this year's party, I want to share a story with you.

You know, during our first 8 years in the Philippines, some American friends always invited us to their house in Manila for Christmas. That was our tradition, and we enjoyed it a lot. For us, childhood Christmas memories meant spending time with our extended family, eating special foods, laughing and singing Christmas songs. Even though James and I were away from our own families and countries, being with these American friends made us feel like it was really Christmas.

But when we became ISOT students, during our first Christmas in Baguio in 1987, no one invited us to celebrate with them! Most of our friends were Filipino, and they had their own families to go to. Our kids were small (ages 3 and 1), and it wasn't easy for us to travel. We just stayed home, and it was a very lonely Christmas. I felt so sorry for myself!

In the months that followed, as I talked to some of my international classmates at ISOT, I found out that they were lonely too, that Christmas day. No one had invited them either! I had no idea! So James and I determined that the following Christmas, we wouldn't wait to be invited. We would take the initiative. That was a turning point for us -- looking back, I feel it was that Christmas when we "grew up" and became givers instead of receivers. So, during the Christmas of 1988, we invited our ISOT classmates who had no other place to go, to come to our house for Christmas. We became family to each other, and it was a very precious celebration. That was 20 years ago, and we have done it every Christmas since then!

For the last few years, because IGSL has gotten bigger, we have split the celebration into two days. The graduating students come for lunch on December 24th and the rest come on the 25th. This year we had more than 50 students each day. I received several texts and emails from IGSL alumni all over Asia that day, saying, "Are you having the party at your house? We miss being with you!" It seems we have created our own tradition, and it has become a precious memory for us and for others.

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During this year's party on the 25th, I was talking to George from Myanmar. (George is on the left in this photo.) He said, "You know, Ate, it's really hard being here in the Philippines at Christmas. I miss my country, and I miss the way we celebrate Christmas there." I said, "I understand. I really do, because there are still many things I miss about my own culture. But when you go back to Myanmar, you are going to miss this!" Later that day, as they were saying goodbye, George told me I was right!

Here are some photos to let you have a glimpse of Christmas 2008. Merry Christmas to you all!

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