Friday, 13 December 2013

October and November

Anna Visits PCL
This October, we had the wonderful privilege of having Anna Morse, from DBC, visit PCL, staying on the beautiful Gethsemane Prayer Mountain. On a personal level, it was wonderful to have a visit from a dear friend, to talk about Darwin friends and to share some of my life here in the Philippines. Anna also had the chance to spend time with and get to know the students of PCL. We were so blessed when she offered to teach a couple of 2-part tutorials about music. Filipinos are naturally musical people, but most of the students had very little knowledge about written music, and many expressed an interest in learning how to sing harmonies. Anna graciously accepted the request to be the speaker in our mid-week service, and we were blessed as she shared about ‘God the Gardener’ from John 15. I appreciated Anna’s interest in hearing the stories of nine PCL students who are sponsored by Australian friends (most from DBC connections). I am so blessed to be the ‘middle-man’ who passes along the sponsorship of these students, enabling them to fulfil their calling to be trained for Christian ministry as pastors, missionaries or teachers. For Anna to take extra time to get to know those the way that God is working in the lives of those particular students was a wonderful blessing.
Anna also spent time in my church, Gethsemane Dweller Church – Hillside, spending several hours teaching our worship team, leading us in a special number, and playing keyboard in our praise and worship.
The 9 days went so quickly but I (and the PCL students and my churchmates) thoroughly enjoyed her visit. We are now looking forward to more friends from DBC visiting PCL in January!   
Anna brought pavlova to the Prayer Mountain!

With my churchmates

Sharing God's Word in our Mid-Week Service



Teaching Music to our students

My Wedding!!!!
At the beginning of this year, I was 30 years old and had never had a boyfriend. I was happy with my life; I have been so blessed to have wonderful family and friends, a challenging and rewarding job and most of all, a personal relationship with Jesus. But of course, like most people, I longed for a partner to share life’s adventures with. On October 25, God fulfilled this dream, and I married Julius Verzosa. We both believe with all of our hearts that God brought us together in His perfect timing – and that it was worth waiting for!
In the lead-up to the wedding, the love and support from Darwin, Perth and the Philippines was overwhelming. We received gifts of money (so helpful as neither of us had any house-ish things), cards (now proudly displayed in our house), books, and things for the wedding (tiara, earrings, even candles that were made by my nieces and nephews – with a lot of help from my sister-in-law). Friends from Perth had even thrown us an engagement party! The day before the wedding, Juls’ friends came to the mountain to decorate the sanctuary. It looked stunning!
It was so wonderful to have family and friends from Australia (and the province) make the flight to Manila. While my brother and his family was unfortunately able to make it (they sent a video and were certainly in our hearts), my parents, my sister and her family joined us from Perth. We also had some Darwin friends (including Anna, Suz and Alex, and Kirk from DBC and Kylie from MCC) be part of our special day, with Anna and Suz as secondary sponsors.
The day went so quickly but it was filled with so much joy and love. We felt God’s blessing, especially as the weather was perfect on the day, despite rain in the days before and after. A highlight was teaching the Filipino guests ‘The Nutbush’ and ‘Cha-Cha Slide’, with Juls and his mates giving an improvisation that had us all in stitches.
After the wedding, we had a honeymoon that we never imagined possible – five days in a beautiful hotel in Thailand. This was a very much appreciated wedding gift and it was an experience that we will never forget, including an elephant ride, baby elephant show, a one-day boat tour where we snorkelled with amazing fish, and more Thai massages than I can remember. Juls and I are loving our new life together, and we look forward to a life together with our wonderful Lord. 

















Farewell GDC-Hillside

Of course, marriage means many changes, and one change was that it was time to say good-bye to Gethsemane Dweller Church – Hillside, my home church for more than 18 months. I was asked to be the song leader one last time, and to include my favourite praise song, ‘Happy Day’. After the service, we had a special farewell lunch, which the women had cooked, using big pots on little campfires outside. I had the opportunity to say goodbye and then there was an open microphone for the church members to say a message to me (and Juls, as they wished us a blessed life together). I will miss my GDC-H family but look forward to discovering God’s plans for us in our new church.







Semester Two
Semester Two began on November 11th. After all the wonderful changes in my life, it was nice to go back to PCL. As always, I am excited about what God is doing in the lives of our students.
This semester, I am not teaching English, as one of our other professors was keen to take the composition class. Instead, I am teaching biology and indoor games. I’m enjoying the meatiness of biology, and the social, fun aspect of indoor games (which also enhances English and logic skills). I continue with my administrative roles and student support. It’s great to be back at PCL.
We are continuing to adjust to the curriculum changes due to our new accreditation status. Please keep PCL in your prayers.



September 2013

Sportsfest
In the second week of September, PCL held its annual ‘Sportsfest’. This is one of the most highly anticipated events on the school calendar.
The event ran from Tuesday 10th til Thursday 12th. It started with a kind of opening ceremony, as all four teams paraded down towards the basketball court, sang a worship song, received a message of encouragement from our PCL President and prayed. This was followed by a cheering competition. I wish that I could include video in a newsletter, because the cheers were fantastic, including choreography, chanting, props and lots of creativity.
The sports played were basketball (male and female), volleyball (mixed), indoor sports, a dodge-ball game with a Filipino name I could never quite remember, a quiz night and a four-part team challenge. I even took part in an exhibition game of basketball – students vs committee. I have played very little sport in the 11 years since injuring my knee, so I was a bit nervous. However, it was lots of fun! Another absolute highlight was the Wednesday evening talent night. We had an ‘a capella’ (inspired by the movie ‘Pitch Perfect’) song, a fantastic dance, a highly entertaining play and a mishmash of all kinds of things put together. It was a fantastic night, and as one of the judges, I had a front-row seat.

On Thursday afternoon we held our award ceremony which acknowledged not only the sporting achievements but also students who showed great character. Through the entire week, the students sought to glorify God through their attitude, sportsmanship and team spirit. In the end it was the ‘Green Warriors’ who were the champions. 




 Johnnyboy and Elaine
Every week, in my prayer requests, I mention Johnnyboy and Elaine, the students we have brought here from Pangapasan Island, near Bohol Island. I would like to tell some of their story.
Pastor Lee, our Korean missionary pastor and the founder of PCL, first met these children two years ago, on a mission trip to the tiny island of Pangapasan. His heart was touched when he heard that their parents had separated, formed new families, and left their children. They, along with their three younger brothers, lived with their grandmother who struggled to support their needs. Both Johnnyboy (14) and Elaine (13) showed a high level of intelligence and a good attitude but had little opportunity to pursue their education, as they needed to do anything they could to survive. Johnnyboy told me that every day, rain or shine, he would go fishing, just to survive. His siblings would also go to the seashore to collect snails and other seafood to eat. Because of this, the children could not go to school.
I met them in April 2012, when I joined the mission trip to their island. From that time some of us gave some money to support their education on Bohol Island. However, it was still not ideal, as there was nobody to look after them. We prayed for a way to bring them to the mountain, where they could be well looked after, but there were some legal matters that needed to be worked out.
In May this year, when I returned from a visit to Australia, I was thrilled to find them living here! Now, they have wonderful, caring people to look after them and are doing so well in school. Johnnyboy was even the top student in his class. When he was young, he dreamed of becoming a marine engineer. Now, because of what God has done in his life, he hopes to one day become a pastor. Sometimes they are sad because they miss their grandmother and brothers. However, they know that God has a purpose for them and they are so thankful for the opportunity they have been given, knowing that an education can make a huge difference to their future. They have become a special part of the Prayer Mountain family. I know that God has a great plan for both of their lives. We continue to pray for their brothers Jhonloyd, NiƱo and Richard, as well as their grandmother back on the island.  

Special Moments
For the past 18 months, I have spent my weekends living on the third floor of a friend’s church. We call the third floor ‘Faith House’ and there are about 7 youth and two families who live there. I was very blessed on September 20th to be asked to be the ‘Ninang’ of Nicole, an 8 year old girl whose family is staying there. It was her Girl Scouts ceremony, and as Ninang, I was the one to put her hat on her head. Special moments like this remind me of how blessed I have been to have a ‘Faith House Family’. While I am really excited about having my own home after I am married, I will certainly miss these wonderful people, to whom I have become so close. 

June 2013

Welcome to the new Academic Year (2013-2014)
In the blink of an eye, summer vacation was over and it was the start of a new academic year. We were excited to see what this year would hold. As June approached, we waited to hear about our new enrolees. We were hoping for at least 50 new students (Batch Judges)… We got 57. Our total number of students from 1st year to 4th year is now 126. We believe that the jump in enrolments reflects the new status of the school, as we have now been accredited by CHED (Commission on Higher Education). 

It is a tradition at PCL to throw a welcome party for the new students. However, they like to really surprise the students so an elaborate scheme was devised. For the first week, one of our 2nd year students posed as a 1st year, attending all the orientation meetings and being quite vocal so that all of Batch Judges would recognise him as part of their batch. When an ‘urgent’ meeting was called for all of the students, some issues targeting our new students were raised and our 1st year imposter got into a heated discussion with a 2nd year and a 3rd year student. Things became more and more ‘heated’ and it was clear that our new students were very worried about the situation and the type of students we have here in our school. Suddenly, the student leading the discussion, who had been doing a great job at looking concerned, shouted, ‘Welcome!’ and the party began. Batch Judges realised that none of the ‘urgent’ meeting was real, and after a few minutes to recover from the shock, they enjoyed worship, games and messages of encouragement. Filipinos really love elaborate surprises and I must congratulate all of the actors for pulling it off. 

Welcome to our new students



CHED Celebration
As has been a theme of many of my newsletters and blogs, PCL has been undergoing the process of applying for CHED accreditation. We finally achieved it and our new students, Batch Judges, will graduate from their courses with a recognised SO (Special Order). So, on June 17 we had a special Thanksgiving Service, where Dr. PalYeon Won (our Korean Chancellor and President of the Board of Trustees), representatives from CHED, Gethsemane pastors and the Paul College of Leadership family celebrated this achievement.
We have been working towards this goal for more than 18 months and while we are so happy to have attained it, more work and adjustments will be required. We really appreciate your prayers during this time.