Symanzik Family Update

Sunday we took an afternoon excursion to the Eagle Sanctuary. It's only about 45 minutes from our house, it is peaceful, not expensive, and 'cooler' than the city!

It was fun to spend time as a family enjoying nature.

A Philippine Eagle

This is a banyan tree with a vine growing around it.

A pretty flower

a weird seed. At first we thought someone had dropped
plastic candy wrappers on the ground. But there were so many
of them we picked one up and realized it was a seed. The
creativity of God is amazing!

Mikayla showing how big this flower blossom is

Mikayla, Ben and Kirsten being silly infront of tall grass!

Did you know bamboo is considered a grass?

Feeding a deer. Deer in the Philippines are small...more like
the size of a goat.

A warty hog. We decided he was not pretty at all!

Mikayla showing the size of a leaf!

On our way out of the Eagle Sanctuary, a host of native tribal representatives were coming in for a convention. Many of them had native costumes on and were from the west side of the island - Zamboanga, as well as other places. It was fun to talk
with them and take pictures of each other!

And on the way home we followed a small pickup with about 4 or 5 people sitting under the tarp and these 4 guys standing behind them in the bed of the truck. Don't know how many were in the cab!

James says, "Hi everybody! I'm starting to get potty trained!"

Jerard says, "Hi everybody! I love rolling around on the bedroom floor exploring!"

Living in the Philippines has given us a lot of opportunities to see poverty up close. We have a community living next door to our house who most Americans would classify as extremely poor. We see the poor daily. There is a woman and her child who lives out of a wheelchair that she pushes around the neighborhoods near our house (the child walks, the wheelchair just holds all that they own). We sometimes see them walking down the street, sometimes eating rice on the street that people have given to them, sometimes looking through garbage bins for things to sell for money.

The view from our back window.

But we have also learned that alleviating poverty is not a simple problem, even if we had unlimited funds at our disposal. So often, except in the case of emergencies, simply giving money to the poor can foster dependence upon the giver as opposed to freeing the poor from the cycle of poverty. In fact, giving sometimes does more damage than good if it is given unwisely.

To help many of us understand these issues, another missionary and myself have started a small group dealing with the issue of poverty. We are using materials from Food for the Hungry that give a broad overview of what poverty alleviation looks like from a biblical perspective. Between 20 and 30 people have been coming to each meeting so far, many of them missionaries and some of them Filipinos who are working with the poor. Everyone is hungry for a better way to help the poor, for a better way to make a real lasting impact in the lives of the poor.

We are asking for your prayers. Poverty for us is "in your face" and very real. It does not go away easily. Yet, as Christians we know that we are called to address the issue because we are called to care like God himself cares. We want to help the poor -- but real help is often harder than it looks. Pray that we may put what we are learning into real, practical help for the poor.

Seems like a short while ago I gave birth to our daughter Mikayla....and now she is 15!

Mikayla - taken this morning of her birthday

As one of her friends told her, "...half way to 30!"

having ice cream and brownies with friends

Mikayla is a blessing. She is doing well in her studies, playing basketball on the High School girls team, helping lead a weekly Bible Study at school, continuing to play her clarinet, and writing.

We continue to pray that God, our Heavenly Father, glorious, may give Mikayla the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that she may know him better. We pray also that the eyes of her heart may be enlightened in order that she may know the hope to which he has called her, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Birthday hugs

Faith Academy Mindanao, the Christian school for Missionary children our kids attend, is in need of the following for the next school year (2010-11).......Check it out....are you a retired teacher or librarian? Want to serve for a year or two overseas? Teach motivated children with actively involved parents?........

* Kindergarten Teacher * Elementary School Upper Elementary Teachers * Middle School Mathematics Teacher (6-8) * High School Bible Teacher (9-12) * High School English Teacher (9-12) * High School Librarian (9-12) * High School Science Teacher (9-12) * Physical Education Teacher (K-12) * Special Education Teacher (K-12) * Guidance Counselor and Chaplain

Interested? Email Mr. Alan Farlin mindanao.principal@faith.edu.ph

Please pray that Faith Academy will obtain all the teaching staff needed for the next school year. It's always amazing to see how God works!