FMS 2008 Graduation

Well the lecture phase is over and the outreach phase will start on January 6 but of course we had to have a graduation of the lecture phase while the students and staff are all together.

Our Thailand students will do their outreach in Khon Kaen Thailand with our Thai staff and the Filipino and Korean students will do their outreach here in the Philippines.

The Graduation of the lecture phase was a great time of celebration

Here are some scenes of this special evening............

Its great to be in the audience and just watch all the fun!

Imitation given by the students of Mel & Jun when they meet for a reunion in the year 2050

A graduation is never complete without the traditional tribal dancing

Mel & I dancing the courtship dance to the gongs (Very embarrassing!)

Special song by the staff


No celebration is complete without the food!

Pork anyone????

Fish any one???

" Is that pig really dead?" asks Amos




Rice anyone??

Mel giving the closing remarks

Of course the children gave a superb presentation of the Christmas Story!

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Pic of the children's graduation earlier in the day complete with awards, clown, ice cream etc.....

FMS Midterm Outreach

In the middle of every lecture phase we have a one week field assignment for the students to participate in...This year they went up further into the mountains where it is even cooler than Baguio There they conducted a dental mission and gave some family seminars within a church. One of the students made a movie of their time in Cada which I have tried to upload...pls wait for it but don't hold your breath waiting!

Outside the YWAM Centre In Baguio Preparing to leave for Cada outreach!

Just waiting for the ladies to be ready...

Yes they are all ready now!

Inside the jeepney..check out the padded ceiling!
Great for the head as you go over the mountainous roads that is full of humps!

..........and they are off!.......

They had a great outreach and came back with wonderful testimonies of all that the Lord had done during their time in Cada! Thank You Lord!

FMS Romantic/Special Evening

Every FMS during the one week teaching on sexuality the couples and singles dress up and have a romantic/special evening together where the couples tell their personal love stories as a form of encouragement...This event is always sponsored by our speakers Dr John & Mary Clark from Auckland NZ. They were not able to be with us this year however they still sent the finances for us to continue this tradition. May God bless them for their generosity!

Here are a few scenes from that special evening

Mel & I .....We were the special guests as we did the teaching that week!

Jun & Naty Sumcad FMS School Leaders

"The Food " prepared by Heidi & Patrena which gave a Filipino evening a Norwegian/Singaporean touch...........

The school was unusual this year as we had only one married couple...so here are the single students honoring the only married couple in the class!

We had four single ladies and one single man...here they are!

Man & Yung Thawiphak from Thailand who hope to run a FMS in Thailand next year with FMS Philippines help.....Praise the Lord for multiplication of this very necessary ministry!!

Group Picture of the couples and singles

Heidi & I with the Thai Students

Mel with some of the single students!

If you are wondering what happens to all the children during this evening..... well we have a special party for them upstairs far away from the adults!!

Family Ministries School 2008

Family Ministries School 2008

I started this blog a few months ago and it is only now on New Years Day that I have found time to finish it.....sorry for the delay...this is that which I began back in October.......

."as for us the old couple left at home. We have both been very busy these past weeks as we have been teaching in the 2008 Family Ministries School.

This year we taught on a number of new topics for us. This was due to the low number of students and the fact that some of our speakers were unable to join us for this school. So we along with some of the staff are covering seven weeks of the schools teaching/lectures. Consequently we had quite a bit of extra work preparing/researching/praying etc for these.This is a good opportunity and a challenge for us all..

Mel Teaching in the FMS 2008

Brenda in the FMS office preparing for her teaching.............

This year’s school is much smaller in numbers than usual but it is always a blessing to have students that are hungry to grow in the area of family and to apply that which they are learning. This is the first FMS we have held where the students are purely Asian coming from Korea, Thailand and the Philippines.

Sadly our students from India and Vietnam were unable to make it for this school. However we do have three new staff families from, Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines. Within this school we are seeing the emerging and beginnings of Family Ministries in YWAM Thailand. Let’s pray for this!

Brenda Teaching

We thank God for all that he is doing in this years FMS.Within this school we are seeing the beginnings of Family Ministries in YWAM Thailand. Please pray that we will hear clearly from the Lord regarding this. Please also continue to pray for the speakers, leaders staff and students of this years FMS. .

Other scenes from the FMS 2008


Pre-school Ministry for our staff and students children.....this runs along side the lecture phase so that the children are well cared for and ministered to.

The home schooling classroom for our school age children

Every Friday the children minister to the parents from their week of ministry


Ever Friday Night is Fun Night




On no-talent night Mel is doing a Johnny Cash take off!

Merry Christmas From Family Ministries Philippines

Hi everyone..couldn't resist putting all these pics in of the red t-shirted YWAM Philippines Family Ministries Staff & Students.....Hope you enjoy viewing!

Family Ministries Staff and Students (we are on the far right)

YWAM FMS Leaders & Staff

The Men

The Ladies

Our son was home for two weeks ..............

Jonathan came home for two weeks this Christmas..He flew in from England on Dec 16 and flew out to New Zealand on New Years Eve and we have just had word from him that he arrived safely...Here are some scenes from his time with us......

A game of "RISK" with his sister

On Jonathan's 21st birthday we took off 2 hours down from the mountains of Baguio to our favorite resort " THE FINAL OPTION ".

Mel resting after the drive down the hill!

Happy Birthday Jon!

If you have experienced snow this year for Christmas why not consider coming to to the Philippines for Christmas next year......its a little warmer!!!

Joanna is so "HAPPY"to have her brother home..beats going to the beach with us two old people!!

Just this once Jon I will put the sunblock on you ..... after this never again...

What's for lunch?..fish & rice of course!

Jon making Banana splits for the United Nations...Can you believe that there are 6 nations represented here..... Germany, Korea, Japan, Philippines, New Zealand & the USA.....Who says we can't be friends...most of these kids grandparents might say that we can't get along but these third culture kids are proving them wrong!

...some more ice-cream!!

Mel with Jon's best buddy Joseph ( a Korean Pastors kid who grew up here in Baguio) and Jonathan......

Jonathan missed Buko (fresh young coconut) pie so here you have it!

Love that Buko Pie!

All his bags are packed he's ready to go......

Leaving Baguio for Manila

.......the story doesn't end there...Mel & Jon took the bus to Manila instead of the car to avoid New Year traffic..they bought some puto (rice cakes) on the way which were delicious and then threw up all the way to Manila for the next four hours due to food poisioning...A Male Bonding Time to Remember Forever!!!!

Jonathan will be looking for work in Auckland...please continue to pray for him....thanks