RiceTerracesETCPLuzonOct2015

Last Two Weeks

Carol and I traveled to Manila on Monday, October 12. We were picked up by Daryl and Sharon Germaine. Sharon is Carol’s sister and they have lived just south of Manila for almost the same amount of time that we have been in the Philippines.

We traveled north of Manila, up into Northern Luzon to an area around Banaue where the people have built terraces that have been there for 100’s of years. They are truly amazing. You drive for many miles and they are going up the mountains. Many are still being used. I suggest that you go online and look at them. They truly are world famous, for good reason.

We spent four days traveling and just being tourists. It was so enjoyable. We stayed in simple accommodations and ate good local food (lots of rice). It was cold, saw my breath one evening, and it was so nice to not be sweating.

The Next Week

After going to church on Sunday (October 18) the four of us, Daryl, Sharon, Carol and I went our separate ways. Carol went to spend four days with her sister and brother-in-law out in the “province” and I stayed in Manila (along with twenty million other people).

I had received an invitation from our sister school in Manila to teach Church History to sixteen students. It was just delightful. They took good care of me in so many ways. The students, although nervous about their language ability, spoke to me in English all the time. They were even patient with me when I lapsed into Cebuano, not their language but the language of the people where I live.

We were in a small room with a whiteboard and fans for about seven hours a day. I planned on using my computer to show a presentation but my computer refused to cooperate so I shifted to the whiteboard, and it seemed to go very well.

I want to express my gratitude to all of you who pray for us, give generously and encourage us in so many other ways. The past two weeks would not have happened without you.

In His service and yours,

Vance and Carol Johnson

Serving with Reachglobal in the Philippines

Vances View September 28

*The First Few Days*

We arrived back in the Philippines at about Monday, September 14 at 10:30 PM Manila time (that is about 7:30 AM Monday morning on the west coast of the United States). We had an uneventful flight from Seattle to Inchon, Korea and then onward to Manila. At the Manila airport we took the “free” shuttle to the terminal which serves the airline we flew on to Cebu. There, we sat inside for four hours to fly one hour south to Cebu, our home away from home for the past thirty years.

Jet-lag has effected us more than in the past. Of course, you need to combine that with a lot of humidity and heat and we were finding it hard to stay awake during the day until just recently

Even though we have felt sleepy, we have gotten a number of things checked off on the To-do list:

• haircut ($1.75 and that includes a generous tip)
• battery for car ($85.00, ouch)
• air-conditioning recharged ($20.00) in the car
• grocery shopping (thank you Carol)
• two trips to the bank
• three trips to immigration (40 minutes one way). Why three? Don’t ask. . . The government now wants to see our marriage certificate which needs to be certified by their embassy, even though it is the original. See, you shouldn’t have asked. This means we are well on our way to a one year extension of our visa. Yes, praise the Lord.
• went to a couple of malls, ate out twice and enjoyed taking some walks.
• went to Tacloban (30 minute flight) for two days to spend time with a family that is opening a restaurant.

I did find out that I will be teaching three very interesting subjects in November:

1. Contemporary Theology. I have taught this several times, and enjoy it very much. The students will read several short articles on about thirteen topics and then prepare a reaction essay which they will summarize in class. Then the whole class will discuss and I will give some further comments and talk about further resources.
2. Preaching Contemporary Issues. This is a new topic for me and I am still putting together ideas about how to proceed. Basically it will be a preaching (homiletics) class which will, by nature, be more topically focused, rather than a book study.
3. Church History 2. This is about the history from the Reformation (1500’s) until the present. It is an excellent chance to show the students their spiritual roots.

Carol and I enjoyed worship yesterday with our home church here in Cebu, Harvest Community Church. They are just a small church but are seeking to plant four additional churches. It is truly humbling to be with these people.

Well, I should close for now but before I do I just want to say thank you to everyone for praying and giving so that we can finish the course that is set before us. This month has been one of the best months of giving we have experienced in the past thirty-three years!

In His service and yours,

Vance and Carol Johnson

Reachglobal, Philippines

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#Vance’s View

May 6, 2015

Greetings!

Monday and Tuesday of this week I (Vance) was in Manila. Nothing strange about that. Carol and I have been to Manila many times in the thirty years we have been in the Philippines.

What was different was the fact that this was my last Faith Academy Board of Trustees meeting. I have had the priviledge of being on the Board for the past ten years. It has been a source of joy to serve a community that is dedicated to serving us.

All five of our children have gone to Faith Academy for high school: living in the dormitories; traveling back and forth for Christmas and school breaks. Sometime, the airlines should name an airplane for us since we probably bought a wing or tail rudder.

I was very glad to serve this community through the past ten years and be part of what happened during that time.

Faith is experiencing change!

• The student body is no longer predominantly from the United States. The single largest ethnic group is now Korean.
• The school continues to try to expand its services to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student body and faculty.
• There is a small but growing component of the student body that comes from the Philippines. These students come from family with a different set of resources and needs. This too stretches the school.
• Large missions are a thing of the past and this means that faculty/staff come from smaller organizations with reduced services.

I have *enjoyed* serving this changing, dynamic community.

Thank you for making this possible.

As you pray for us, continue to pray for Faith Academy Manila.

• The need for teachers, each year, as the rate of change is quite high.
• The need for the school to anticipate further change and how to best meet that change.
• Our son, Mark, who graduates May 25. He will be leaving a great school and launching into a very different life.
• That Faith will find its way forward in serving the Kingdom of God.

Sincerely yours,

Vance and Carol Johnson

Reachglobal

Philippines

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Hello!

I have a limited agenda for this edition of Vance’s View. May 26 to September 13 of this year, we (Carol, Mark and I) are going to be in the Pacific Northwest. Most of the time we are going to be visting most of our supporting churches and individuals. That is why I am writing, to give you all an advance warning as to where we will be going.

Our Church Visitation Schedule

5/31/15 Irondale EFC, Port Hadlock WA
6/7/15 Yacolt EFC, Yacolt WA
6/14/15 Oroville EFC, Oroville CA
6/21/15 La Center EFC, La Center WA
6/28/15 The Church at Proebstel, Vancouver WA 
7/5/15 Bethel, Vashon Island WA
7/12/15 Bethany EFC, Canby OR
7/19/15 New Beginnings, Lynnwood WA
7/26/15 Charter Oak Community, Battle Ground WA
8/2/15 Chewelah EFC, Chewelah WA
8/9/15 Vista Community Church, Ridgefield WA
8/16/15 Harper EFC, Southworth WA
8/23/15 Highlands Community Church, Renton WA
8/30/15 Northcrest, Vancouver WA
9/6/15 Whidbey EFC, Greenbank WA
9/13/15 Fly to Philippines from SeaTac

We have some other activities planned as well but we hope to spend significant time with my father, Homer Johnson who is on hospice care at Victory in Battle Ground, WA.

Thank you for your interest and prayers. Thank you also for the generous support which makes our ministry possible.

Sincerely,

Vance Johnson

Reachglobal, Philippines

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Vances View March 2015

Hello from the Philippines!

This is Vance Johnson and I want to update you on some very exciting things that are happening!

Many prayed for the ReachGlobal Asia Division Conference that Carol and I attended from February 14-20. We had a marvelous time, in all respects.

• We were able to relax and rest!
• We were able to spend time with co-workers that we only see every two years or so, very special.
• We were ministered to by a wonderful group of people from Faith Evangelical Free Church, Allentown PA.
• We enjoyed excellent times of prayer with and for our co-workers which was all enhanced by receiving a booklet for use in our prayer time at home. With 200 in attendance, that was very strategic.
• We enjoyed an afternoon of “Olympics” with other missionaries in which care was taken to include everyone!
• We enjoyed several full afternoons of excellent seminars which spoke to Carol and I in powerful ways (retirement planning, integrity in ministry, marriage and many more).
• We were challenged each morning from the Word of God by the leaders of the mission.

Vance came home with a souvenir upper respitory infection which is now under control. I thought that was going to be with me for a very long time.

While we were in Thailand (the location of the conference) we talked to several leaders in the mission about starting a Global Fingerprints project for the area of the Philippines that was hit twice by typhoons in the past eighteen months. This is a child sponsorship program that our mission has put together to link donors in the United States who would like to make an impact in a child’s life.

We still need to figure out the mechanics, supervision and administration but in short it is something like this: $35.00 per month will help a child in the Philippines go to school, purchase school needs, get minimal health care assistance and some assistance with food.

We are not ready to roll this out but we would appreciate prayer for the following:

• That the project would gain favor with the national partner so that they can be the organization to facilitate the administration and selection process. In a country with 100 million people, half of whom are under fifteen years of age, this could quickly get to be very difficult. Pray for wisdom.
• That the project would gain favor with donors who want to sponsor a child.

Thank you for praying for these!

Please remember the upcoming events which I am listing below, not in order of importance but order of occurrence.

• Vance’s students take final exams: March 9-20
• We begin transferring to our new apartment: March 12-March 30
• Mark’s Spring Break with us: March 16-23
• Family Garage sale: March 21 (our new apartment is much smaller!)
• Evangelical Theological College Graduation: March 22
• We finish moving to our apartment before: April 1
• Harvest Community Church (our church) Family Outing: April 2-5
• Vance’s last Faith Academy Board Meeting (10 years): May 4
• EFCP (our partner) National Conference: May 12-14
• Annette, Bert and Heidi (Carol’s sister’s family with us in Cebu: May 17-20
• Vance and Carol go to Manila for Mark’s High School Graduation: May 20
• Mark’s High School Graduation: May 25
• Mark, Carol and Vance get on a plane bound for Seattle: May 26.

Trip to Indonesia

Dear Friends, Supporters (both individuals and churches) and Family,

Carol, Mark and I just got back two days ago from one of the most wonderful trips we have ever taken.

1. We got on a plane on December 23. We flew for one hour to Manila where we were met by Carol’s sister, Sharon and Sharon’s husband, Daryl. They took us to a nearby hotel where they had a room and we stowed our carry-on bags. We then went to a nearby mall, ate lunch, had coffee and talked. We returned to their room, watched some TV and they took us back to the airport. Did I say we had a great time? We did!
2. We then boarded a plane for the three plus hour flight from Manila to Jakarta. We arrived at midnight. Got our bags, went through immigration and customs and got a taxi for the domestic terminal. We got there several hours before the ticket agents arrived so we sat down, and I realized I left my iPad and a book on the previous plane. Took a taxi back to international where the Philippine Airline personnel were very helpful and found everything at the Lost and Found. Isn’t it nice when things work out!
3. We checked in and went to the gate, boarded our flight from Jakarta to Semarang (only about an hour) and our son, Michael, met us outside luggage. We rode in a “taxi” for one hour through the beautiful countryside of Central Java to the town of Salatiga where Michael, Angie and their two children are living for this year as they work on learning Bahasa Indonesian.
4. The next five days were spent talking, watching old movies, riding around their town, tasting Indonesian food (very good), going to church, hiking to see some old Hindu temples, learning the rythm of days which include the imam calling the faithful to prayer and just enjoying the grand children.
5. We then, together with Michael, Angie and the grandkids, got in a “taxi” and went back to Semarang where all seven  of us got on a plane for a one hour flight back to Jakarta.
6. We ate “junk” food; went to a large beachside recreation center; got drenched in a tropical downpour; walked around a beautiful mall; and talked at the guest house.
7. January 1 came very soon and we took a taxi back to the Jakarta airport, checked in and flew back to the Philippines. We arrived back home in Cebu on the morning of January 2.

Some initial reflections:

• You really do need to learn Indonesian to live there. You can get by with English here but to be effective at all, you need to learn Bahasa Indonesian.
• We are so proud of Michael and Angie and the progress they have made in six short months.
• We are thrilled with seeing how they have made friends in that culture and their awareness of the culture around them.
• The grand kids are doing well. Are they perfect? Of course not, but they are precious! They are going to school at a great school and making good progress, as well.

Some requests:

• Please pray for Michael, Angie, Colton (6) and Macie (4) as they make further adjustments to culture and langauge.
• Please join with us in thanking God for this excellent opportunity we enjoyed with our children. I never dreamed I would be going to see my grandchildren in Indonesia.
• Please thank God with us that our daughter, Katy, just heard that her friend was able to get her car running. It is a 20 year old Honda that was stolen just before Christmas. It was recovered and of course they stole the visors, glovebox (?) and the rug. They also cut part of the wiring harness and that is why it would not start. But now, thanks to answered prayer and her friend's skills, she will be able to drive again.

Thank you for praying for us, contributing to our finances and being interested in what we do.

In His service and yours,

Vance, Carol and Mark

The Johnsons

Serving in the Philippines with Reachglobal, the international outreach arm of the Evangelical Free Church of America.