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Arrested Grad Update – Please Keep Praying!

     Thank you for praying for IGSL grad Pastor Tandin in Bhutan who had been arrested and held for much of the past year.  It was very discouraging to hear that he was sentenced with a 4 year prison term in a prison with very rough conditions ultimately for accepting outside money for Christian activity inside Bhutan (not the original accusations or why he was arrested).

Several events and seemingly divine orchestrated events have taken place where Tandin was granted bail, allowed to return home for the appeal, and was granted a postponement of the appeal due to a landslide that blocked his travel this week.  He did finally submit his appeal orally and in writing.  He was suprisingly allowed to return home while awaiting the final decision of the judge.  Tandin’s partner Pastor David was allowed to pay a large fine in lieu of jail time because the total sentence was under 3 years.

Pray for this judge and that Tandin’s penalty would be reduced to no more than a monetary fine at most! He has a wife and 3 young kids as well.

On October 7th, IGSL along with CCC International will be having a worldwide day of prayer which we do twice a year.  The focus for us for much of the day will be praying for the persecuted church.  We invite you to take time on the 7th or anytime before that to join us praying for the Church in places like Bhutan, N. Korea, China, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Here is an article you can read more from on Pastor Tandin’s situation so you can pray!

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IGSL Grad Arrested and Sentenced – Please Pray!

IGSL Grad Arrested & Sentenced

     About 6 months ago we shared a prayer request about a 2008 IGSL Graduate from Bhutan who was arrested and held for a long period without formal charges.  The charges at the time related to evangelistic activities in Buddhist Bhutan. Until 2008 the Church was underground in Bhutan and it’s still not safe to evangelize in many places openly. The charges however shifted to accepting outside money for Christian activity inside the country (foreign funding – i.e. “financial support”).

As we’ve followed the story through many here who taught him and knew him and his family, it’s been a difficult journey though God has shown himself faithful in many ways. Pastor Tandin rejoiced at his original hearing because most in his situation would be tried without a fair hearing because most evangelistics do not speak the native Bhutanese language, but are Nepali culturally. Most arrested Christians submit a 2-3 page defense at most, but Tandin submitted a 13 page, well researched defense using Bhutan’s own Constitution. He credited IGSL for giving him the research skills to give such a defense.  And like the Apostle Paul, Pastor Tandin preached the gospel along the way – in the courts and while being held.

We’ve been praying as his trial finally was held this week after several postponements.  It has it the community hard here that Tandin was sentenced as guilty and given almost 4 years in prison. The charges, from what it seems, are not even what were originally filed and are not true.  His colleague Pastor David was sentenced to 2 and 1/2 years as well.  They have 8 more days from this email going out to file a formal appeal, but please pray that they are granted bail so they can return home to their families. Pastor Tandin has a wife and 3 small kids.

It’s a sobering reminder of the cost of discipleship for many of the students at IGSL and many of the Christians around the world.  It’s humbling and compelling to be in a position to train and mentor these courageous men and women of God as they prepare to lead in some of these countries!  You can also pray for Gopal and Leia, a newlywed couple from Bhutan that I just spent the week doing ministry with.  Gopal is Tandin’s nephew and is in the small group I am mentoring. He is training at IGSL for his calling as an evangelist in Bhutan. Pray that God is glorified, but that Tandin is granted bail and that the appeal goes in his favor.

Here is an article you can read more from on Pastor Tandin’s situation so you can pray!

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Morgan Doing the Tinikling!

Morgan has written a couple blog posts about our visit to the cultural center. Here is her blog on getting a fashion lesson in “Malongs”

http://morganinmanila.com/2014/09/me-and-malongs/

And here is the one she wrote on doing what is in the video below – one of the traditional national dances here in the Philippines.

http://morganinmanila.com/2014/09/doing-the-tinikling-dance/
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But here’s the video which is fun of Morgan giving it a shot as an audience volunteer!

Morgan Trying Filipino National Dance from Brian Virtue on Vimeo.

Cultural Learning on Vacation!

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      We’ve enjoyed the chance to get away for a couple nights as a family before the next term starts.  We’ve been able to experience some cultural shows and see some of the traditional dances of the Philippines.  Morgan even got called up to be a audience volunteer to learn one of the bamboo dances!

Maybe the highlight was an educational and experiential demonstration of how to wear the traditional “Malong” which is basically what Indians and Indonesians call a “Sarong.”  The girls AND guys of our family dressed up in various traditional styles as you can see in the pictures above.

Most interesting though was the style that most Muslim women wear, which is common in the Southern Philippines (Mindanao). The ladies all got a chance to feel what it would be like to wear one of those full body coverings that only the eyes are visible through.

It’s a reminder – all cultures involve so much depth and layers to learn.  It’s easy in ministry to want to just skip to what we think works and get results as fast as possible, but learning culture is essential to effective mission because it shows what is meaningful to people. We’re thankful to be able to have these experiences with our children! Check out Kaelyn below!

You are impacting many lives through your prayers and financial generosity! We pray you are encouraged.  God Bless!

Brian and Christine (and Family)

Update on Our Training for the Fire Dept!

     Thank you friends for praying us through another term. This term tested us in some new ways, but God has been faithful.  We were able to enjoy a couple days of vacation away this week to regroup as a family after the trimester and last week’s full ministry week event (More on that next week).  Still so proud of the kids for how they are persevering here!

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     But we wanted to update you on what transpired in the trainings we asked you to pray about with the Bureau of Fire Protection here.  The class we helped teach involved 32 Inspectors from all over the Philippines – many of whom are away from their families for several months as they get trained and qualified for promotions.

My colleagues here and I covered 52 total seminar hours, of which I did 8 hours on influencing culture and leading change. I was excited to do this because it was a very new type of experience and it was very developmental.  But I found that I was able to tap into many of their struggles – both career and personally, as I walked them through the dynamics of change and especially its impact on people. It was a big effort, but I was glad to take part.

Most powerfully, in one of the final sessions focused on conflict resolution and reconciliation, IGSL’s President Tom Roxas came in to share his personal testimony of forgiveness and reconciliation with a mobster who murdered his brother. It was powerful and many in the room responded with tears to an invitation to experience reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ.

The feedback we’ve gotten indicates that getting the leadership training from us, with the Biblical foundations, was really transformational for many of the officers.  And it was so well received, our team was asked to offer the overall course of training again to a higher ranking group of officers in the Bureau of Fire Protection (Majors).  Conversations are still in the works on some kind of more formal partnership with their leadership training as well as with a proposal for us to begin sending one of our student “Target Area Ministry” teams to the Bureau of Fire soon.  You can pray for that!

     But another wild and fun step of faith. Also worth mentioning here – last week we sent 5 teams of students to the police academy to do continued follow-up and discipleship from the outreach last month that saw around 500 come to faith or recommit their lives to Christ. Because of the generally religious culture here, such follow up is so important and it’s been encouraging to hear the stories of authentic life change in Christ!  Thank you for praying!

Christine’s Small Group (ISG)

     One of the highlights this trimester was the discipleship small group I led of women in the Partners in Ministry Program.  I have loved getting to know them and sharing life with them week to week. It’s a diverse group from left to right – Wilma (Sri Lanka), me, Goma (Nepal), Cinu (India), Mareille (Berundi, Africa), and Many studies have shown that viagra on line pharmacy modern erection enhancing medicines work well for these males and help them refilling sexual potency. Look at a directory’s pagerank, the pagerank of internal pages, the number of pages indexed, and the sites that directory supports. buy viagra in usa As far as inguinal hernia viagra store in canada surgery is concerned, in most cases, and in the absence of postoperative complications, the operative repair can lead to a recovery of the sexual problems faced by major percentage of men being affected by ED is definitely the most popular ED drug. Some drug manufacturers prescription du viagra have capitalised on the benefits of online pharmacies are great, which has led many traditional patients to switch over to the Internet for prescriptions. taking the picture is Sunny from Korea.

     I’ve learned so much as I have walked alongside these women. Pray for them as God prepares them and their husbands for ministry. Next term I will lead a new group of women, but pray for these women who are great women of faith!

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Ministry Week!

It’s Ministry Week time again at IGSL which is the annual time of field ministry of evangelism and discipleship and training that faculty and students do together in their small groups.

Please pray for Brian as he leaves with his small group from Sept. 4-8. Classes just ended and now it’s five days designed for faculty to model ministry side by side students. The reason why the cheapest erectile dysfunction is prevented with the intake of the tadalafil cialis http://www.slovak-republic.org/itinerary/bratislava/. cialis from india online In certain particular occurrences you may be endorsed with prescriptions to treat your issue. The jelly version of the medicine is also good and has great response over male erectile levitra price in india dysfunction. Just alike the genuine one, it also requires sexual stimulation sale cialis in the male body so that it can works flawlessly. They will be doing leadership training for pastors from 10+ churches in Bulacon (30 min from the school) and working on a local campus to pioneer a new movement of multiplying followers of Jesus.

There will be about 25 total ministry teams sent out this week doing ministry! There are 5 times going to the police academy, one team with the Congress, one team with the military academy, and the rest at many churches and other sites.  Please pray for that!

Celebrating ONE YEAR and an UNLIKELY SECOND!

Dear friends!!

     We have been in Manila for a little over a year now! We had a fun celebration as a family because we felt like it was worthy of celebrating given all of what was required from all of us to make it through the move and the whole year.  I (Christine) am excited to share an update on our family as well as share some of the fun ministry opportunities I have had a hand in over the last couple of months.

     When we returned in May I honestly felt like I was jumping into the deep end of the pool and needed to hold my breath and pray my way through another year of transition and challenge. Last year was so stretching for me and coming back took faith when I feared more sickness, loneliness, and feeling overwhelmed.

     But several times of late I have said to Brian that I am surprised I came back after last year, but I am so glad we did.  God was not finished with our family here yet and I’m thankful for that. God has provided in so many ways that have led to us having a much better year so far. Some homeschool days are longer then others 🙂  but overall we are getting into a rhythm of life here and I am very thankful we are here for now.

      Many of you prayed for Morgan last year as our first year was hardest on her and I.  Prayers have been answered, it is such a gift to see.  She is lighter, happier.  She has made good friends here.  When we don’t have her girls Bible study she is sad, she really enjoys the Bible study we are leading together and she does a great job helping me lead.  She is good at it. But really all of our kids our doing well! 

     In fact, we wanted to share with you some of the responses from our family “debrief” when everyone reflected on things that they’ve learned over their first year here in Manila……

Colin:  “I’ve learned that I can make friends with tons of people! I have so many friends. Oh – and I’ve learned to read a lot more.”  (He has a large social capacity – he is well known and loved here.)

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Morgan: “I’ve learned that I can take things personally some times when my friends do things I don’t understand. I also have learned that I go to bed waaay earlier than Filipino kids my age!”

Kaelyn:  “I learned to say frog and beautiful in Tagalog.  And I learned to use the potty also.”  (Praise God for that one! We do not recommend starting potty training a month before you move to a developing nation. It was a bumpy road, but we got there! Kaelyn is our best Tagalog learner. Most of the words we know, we learned because she started using them first!)

Brian: “I’ve learned so much about the Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist parts of the world that I didn’t know much about before. I’ve learned more about God’s heart for people in these challenging places. And I’ve learned how to be a more effective teacher.”

Me: “I’ve learned I can handle a lot more than I think I can and I’m tougher than I think I am. And I’ve learned so much more about my kids – I know them so much better now!”

And we ALL have learned about the power of prayer through this year and are grateful for your prayers for us!!!  

So as the last few updates show, while I still am learning and adjusting culturally,  struggling through homeschooling and the heat and humidity and general lack of mobility here, God has been faithful to show me that He’s using me with my kids, and also as I invest and pour into the lives of women who will be partnering to take the gospel to places I may never visit or see. I’m thankful for the opportunity to impact the nations for Christ (and the local community too) in the ways God is providing for me.

The soccer equipment and the IGSL community day are fun things that really bring a lot of life and energy to the community and I like leading projects that meet needs. In the coming weeks we’ll share more about a much BIGGER project I’m helping coordinate. Keep praying!