Erickson’s Philippines Updates

Frontline Christian Academy will have their second summative test this week. Since my wife teaches English and I teach computer science, you can imagine the crunch mode we are in right now. Sorry for the delay in posting. During this little gap, I encourage you to check out the article written September 18th, entitled “What is Love?” on Jeff Pessina’s blog site. He is the director here at Philippine Frontline Ministries.

As you might imagine, life here in the Philippines, serving in Frontline’s Children’s Center, Church, and school, doesn’t permit for many naps during the week. However, every Wednesday afternoon I always clear an hour or two of time to go in my room, close the door, and get some much needed rest. Why?

Because every Wednesday morning I wake up at 4:30am to be at Jeff Pessina’s house by 5am. Waiting to gather with me are other leaders in the ministry. . . ready to worship, pray, and seek God’s heart and direction for this ministry, in our lives, and in our families. Imagine up to 10 of us (some have forgotten to set their alarm a time or two…:)) singing, worshipping, pouring out our hearts to God, praying for Him to intervene where it is needed, to provide where it is needed, to continue to be God in our lives…

This last Wednesday was exceptionally special. Imagine grown men with their face to the floor, crying with tears of passionate desire. A passion for more of God in our lives and in everything He has called us to do. A desire to touch this entire Nation with the love of God and to be light anywhere that there is darkness. I believe we can achieve this goal. Pastor Romeo said something after we were done that really touched me. He said “Prayer is submitting your will to God”. When we pray we can express our heart and desires to God, but at the end we must choose if we will follow our own will or His. I had such an enjoyable time of prayer and then later that day got to enjoy my nap. What an awesome day!

Pictured above is Rally Razon. He and his wife, Marlyn along with their two kids, Rejay and Mark are serving at FTC as dorm parents for the girls (Andrea and I are doing the same, as the girls are in two different dorms). Rally is one of the most fun guys you will ever meet, most in his element during birthday parties. In the pictures he is doing the Daily Bread (Tagalog version) with the girls. The girls wake up at 5:00 a.m. every day and must be ready for school and at the devotion by 6:15 a.m.

Rally and Marlyn take turns leading the devotionals with the girls every morning. Andrea does devotions with the girls every Monday and Thursday evening. What about the boys? Oreck and Sheila del Monte (boys’ dorm parents) handle the daily morning devotions and Mark Klyne is doing the Monday and Thursday evening devotions with them. Why so many devotions?

During the almost two years we have been here working with the kids there is one thing I have learned. When I put my head down on the pillow at night, I want to be able and say to myself “I gave it all I had today. I gave every child my best”. For the past two years we have seen many kids come and go, and many times I never got to choose my last words (mainly because they would run away at night or when no one was looking). We want to know at the end of every day that we gave discipleship our best shot with every child. If a child leaves or is suddenly taken away, we know that we were able to impart something in their life that no one can ever take away-the love of God. That’s why discipleship is a daily thing.

I can’t believe how well these two pictures turned out. The camera on my phone is a 3.2 mega pixel, which is decent, but sometimes the pictures turn out fuzzy and unclear. I thank God that these pictures turned out as well as they did to show the awesomeness of His creation. However, no picture can do justice to how beautiful the scene was with my own eyes. Once again I am reminded how small I am and how big God really is. If you haven’t seen the video Indescribable, by Louie Giglio, let me recommend it as an awesome presentation on how big God really is.

The other day I was in my house when I heard some familiar voices through the window. A group of kids living on the streets came by to visit some of their old friends at FTC. When we first started FTC as a full time ministry we let ANY child come from just about ANYWHERE. As time went on some kids randomly left. Some of the kids pictured above were at one time living in FTC, but for different reasons (I.E wanting to be “free” on the streets, not liking structure in their lives…) they decided not to stay.

I am always reminded that this calling, to work with kids who are abused, abandoned, or seriously neglected, is a full time “Life”. We don’t stop what we do at 5:00 p.m. and start the next morning at 8:00 a.m. I also believe that it’s no different for us than it is for anyone who’s decided to carry their cross and follow Jesus. We all come across people during our day that need us to fully represent what God has done in our lives and how He has/is changing us and daily renewing our mind. No matter where we are or what time of day or night it is, there is always someone who needs us to love them like Christ loves us. Pictured above is Jeff joining the fun with the kids who visited. Jeff Rice really has a heart for the “down and out” and is really in his element when ministering to kids who are living on the street.

I just want to give everyone a quick update with some highlights of what is going on around here. Sorry for the long gap between posts!

1. Andrea is getting more involved at Frontline Christian Academy, allowing her administrative gifts to contribute where needed. FCA is almost 120 students this year, nearly doubled from last year.
2. Lanie (17 year old and mother of the absolute cutest 10-month-old girl, Sara) passed the Philippine DepEd high school equivalency test (like our GED). CONGRATS LANIE!!! Lanie will still spend at least the next year or two in FCA increasing her knowledge, skills, and social behavior.
3. I continue to teach computer science to all four high school levels at FCA. We just started learning how to write XHTML, which is used to write and design websites. Look for their websites to be world wide in the next several months.
4. Face The Children continues to follow our mission statement, helping those children who are abused, abandoned, or seriously neglected, then building up their character and integrity by daily interaction, parenting, counseling, and of course, with God as the center of everything we do. We look for these kids to be the next generation of church leaders in the not so distant future.
5. I am the music director at the church, Frontline Worship Center. We are also having our “Born To Worship” seminar this Saturday. Please pray that all goes well and that we can really find God’s heart for the worship team. I will teach one session, as will Pastor Romeo del Monte and Pastor Nestor Pelicano. Should be a blast!

There are so many more activities happening right now; hopefully I will be able to make time soon to sit down and put pictures with specific articles. In the overall scheme, God is moving in our lives and in those around us (especially the kids of FTC).