0704 NL

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" height=120 BGCOLOR="#FFCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="0443f781egdyul.gif"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#009900" FACE="Arial" ><B>Proclaim His Praise in the Islands - the Hallowells</B></FONT> <B> </B><B>|    </B><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Proclaim His Praise in the Islands the "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <div>                                                   </div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" height=360 BGCOLOR="#CCFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> 0704 NL</div> <bR> <bR> <div> April 2007</div> <bR> <div> Dear Friend,</div> <bR> <div> Answered prayer!  We were able to book our tickets recently to leave the USA on May 15 in order to return to the Philippines to begin another four-year term of missionary service.  </div> <bR> <div> We love teaching and mentoring the (mostly Chinese) seminary students to whom our Lord has called us.  We are excited about being able to get back to that strategic and fulfilling role.   Please turn inside to read more about what is waiting for us in May.</div> <bR> <div> It has been a good 11 months for us.   We have been encouraged by how our mobilization ministry assignment in the USA has gone.  We have enjoyed the comfort and convenience of life in the USA.  We have loved seeing family and friends.  Please turn inside for more of the things that have made it good.  </div> <bR> <div> We are trying to challenge ourselves to be as single-minded as the Apostle Paul when he was roughly 60 years old, in prison, and writing to the Philippians.  Again, please turn inside to see what we mean.  </div> <bR> <div> Pressing on,</div> <div> Jay and Amor</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2acbf1d0.jpg" border=0 width="447" height="285" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> We said farewell to Jay’s parents, three sisters & brothers-in-law, and eight nieces and nephews on Easter weekend in Oklahoma.  While we sometimes feel that we have to sacrifice so much, remembering Paul’s example (see Paul vs. Garfield) helps us to stay balanced.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Page 2</div> <bR> <div> <B>God’s Rain</B></div> <bR> <div> In a newsletter last year we used the metaphor of a pond with a low water level to describe how we left the Philippines </div> <div> after our last four year term.  While missionary work and life is challenging and fulfilling, it can also be draining.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> By the time we leave the USA on May 15, we’ll have been on our Mobilization Assignment here for just over 11 months.  The time has been busier than we had desired.  We haven’t done everything we would have liked to have done.  Still, God has sent His rain, using His people, people like you, as his clouds.  The water level in our pond has been raised!  Thank you!</div> <bR> <div> <B>Showers of blessing</B></div> <bR> <div> •     Safety: Over 20,000 miles driven with no accidents or mechanical problems.</div> <div> •     Tools for our ministry provided: notebook computer, scanner, digital camera, software, and books</div> <div> •     Health: We are grateful for the high level of medical and dental attention we received.  We were poked and prodded more than we liked, mostly for routine matters.  We are grateful to be found healthy enough for another term!</div> <div> •     Support:  2006 giving to our support, while adequate for 2006, will not be sufficient for 2007.  We have been informed of several people who will begin to give in 2007 or will increase their giving in 2007.  Thank you!  PTL!</div> <div> •     Emotional health: It was wonderful to reconnect again with family, friends, and churches.  Thank you!</div> <div> •     Aesthetics.  Parks, trails, rivers, the ocean, mountains, plains, sunrises and sunsets, snow, four seasons, and much more.  Wow!  What a creator!</div> <div> •     Intellectual stimulation: Around the edges we have done some good reading and study.  Jay, for example, has really been challenged recently by Christopher Wright’s, The Mission of God (IVP, 2006).</div> <div> •     Spiritual growth: Being involved as members of our local church, even if irregularly due to traveling, was quite encouraging.</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B>Raised but not full</B></div> <bR> <div> The “water level” in our pond has been raised enough for our return to the Philippines on May 15, but not enough for a whole four year term.  Please continue to pray for God’s showers to continue while we are in the Philippines.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2b0c3a80.gif" border=0 width="195" height="168" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Paul: “But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind…”</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Page 3</div> <bR> <div> <B>May 17 and beyond</B></div> <bR> <div> Our seminary students will leave their various homes scattered around the Philippines and Asia and arrive on the campus of the Biblical Seminary of the Philippines by June 4.  </div> <bR> <div> Their first week will include orientation and an intense workshop on improving their English language communication skills.   We value your prayers as we teach a number of workshops and sessions during that first week.  </div> <bR> <div> The first quarter begins on June 11.  Jay will be teaching New Testament 1 – the Gospels, Inductive Bible Study, and an extension class on the Pastoral Epistles.  </div> <bR> <div> Amor will have a somewhat gentler start with her teaching load, not being assigned a class until the 2nd Quarter begins in September.  </div> <bR> <div> We will both need to hit the ground running in order to get to know both the students who began seminary while we were in the USA this last year and those who will be beginning this year.  Some of those will need us to mentor them; all will need our encouragement and personal touch.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2b2c5b20.gif" border=0 width="197" height="178" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Paul: “…and straining toward what is ahead…”</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="2b443f20.jpg" border=0 width="323" height="242" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></div> <div> Please join us in praying that the American children we have spoken to, like those Jay (left) shared with above, will grow up to be like the apostle Paul in following Jesus and building His Kingdom.  </div> <div> Please pray that the seminary students we begin teaching and mentoring in June and beyond do the same!</div> <bR> <div> A photo of Amor and three seminary students (deleted for security reasons) had the following caption:</div> <div> Amor loves ministering to ladies.  In the photo to the left, Amor (right) hosts a group of students in our apartment in the Philippines.  Even something simple to eat and drink can aid fellowship and ministry.</div> <div> May all who we teach and mentor “win the prize for which God has called them,” like Paul!</div> <bR> <bR> <div> Page 4</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="2aed0b40.gif" border=0 width="208" height="180" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <div> Paul: “…I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  All of us who are mature should take such a view of things.”  Philippians 3:13b-15a NIV</div> <bR> <div> Like Paul (and Garfield?), we are happy with God's plans for the future.  Like Paul and unlike Garfield, we are pressing on with what He has called us to do.  May God help you as you do the same!</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> by Jay and Amor Hallowell</div> <div> Last update: April 25, 2007</div> <div> --------------------------------- end of Hallowell content ----------------------------------------------</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>