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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.

Going to Immigration

Today we sort of finished something we started three months ago. I am not sure whether to be happy, relieved or frustrated. Maybe it would help if other people gave me some advice. I was wondering what kind of advice you would give me. We have been there six times during this three months and today took five hours.

The saving grace today was that Carol, my wife, was with me. We ate at Jollibee. Did lots of photocopying (you have to do it for them).

Saying Good Bye

Our fourth child, David, got on a plane yesterday to begin life in the United States of America. He has grown up in the Philippines for the majority of his eighteen years. We have been through this before, he is our fourth after all. I just thought it would get easier. Not!

I will be joining him in a month. His mother is already there. By the time I get there he will have a job, a driver's license and various other rites of passage completed. I am not sure I like this. However, I am glad that he has three siblings there already who can help with all the details of getting settled. He does have strong desires, large plans and an element of self-confidence. All of this I am thankful for. I just guess I am still wanting to be the "total" father and he is really launching out.

It did not help that he was taken off the second of the four flights that will get him "home". It was not his fault, the airlines realized that he could not make a connection because his flight was delayed and therefore they put him up in a hotel.

Just wish being a parent was not so complicated.

Check Out Gentle Answers

I have a former boss who has started a very interesting blog call Gentle Answers. I would encourage everyone to read his short, wise comments. He is on blogspot as well.

Strange Sources of Encouragement

Last blog, the one about the child being buried, I asked you to pray for more ways to live like Jesus in the community that we have been called to. God has begun to answer through what I would consider, a less than conventional way. I have always been interested in reading Victor Hugo's Les Mise'rables since Junior High Literature. Last week I checked out the hefty tome (1200+ pages in the translation by Julie Rose in the Modern Library). I just started reading and in the first twenty eight pages I have found much food for thought.

I would encourage everyone to read the first thirty pages.

Buried in the Kitchen Floor

The other day I was reading the local paper, Sunstar, and came across a story that I still find hard to conceive of. A grandfather had been reprimanded by the officials for burying his newborn granddaughter in the dirt of the kitchen floor. Now, I know that it is illegal to just bury someone anywhere but this had to be the most sad incident I have ever heard of.

The child died shortly after being born at home. By now you have all realized that the family is poor. The child died at birth, the kitchen floor was dirt and in a Roman Catholic country burying someone in unholy ground is the same as sending them to hell. Can you imagine what that was like to be digging a hole in the kitchen to bury your granddaughter? What was it like to be the mother in the next room, if the house had more than one room? What was it like to have bury the tiny body in the floor because you do not have any place else?

The local government did not send them to jail. They exhumed the body and buried it in "holy" ground. Then they warned the family to not do it again.

What kind of world do we live in where this kind of thing happens? Please pray that Carol and I will figure out further ways to be Jesus in this community.

Visiting Friends

It is early in the morning on Monday, August 10. I am in Anchorage and enjoying the hospitality of the people of Trailside Community Church. This church has supported us for 25 years and the encouragement from them and other friends here in Alaska is greatly appreciated.

But this is not the only place that Carol and I have experienced this. We have eighteen supporting churches and 60 plus individuals who monthly, quarterly give generously to make it possible for us to stay in the Philippines. These churches and individuals, many for the entire 25 years, have faithfully contributed. The total amount contributed is in excess of one million dollars.

This makes me both humbled and encouraged. Humbled by the large trust lavished on us by these generous donors and encouraged by the fact that they do not quit.

Sadness in Public

Yesterday, I was driving through the center of our town of 96,000 residents at 8:30 AM when I saw a lady standing in the middle of the road. Buses, jeepneys, trucks and private vehicles were going by on both sides. If you live where we do, none of this would sound strange. People regularly stand on the center line waiting for traffic to clear.

What made this unusual was the fact that the mature woman, in her 30's, was naked from the waist down. It is not common but it does happen from time to time. We have been here for twenty six years and this is the second instance for us.

One of the things that comes with poverty is a reduced insulation from problems in the world. This woman, I have no idea what was "wrong", was obviously in need of some assistance. She was distraught.

This society does not have institutions for these kind of situations. There is no place for this woman to "go" so that she will not be seen.

Carol saw a similar situation where the woman was totally naked and pregnant. She went to a local agency of a well known Christian organization that provides help to these kinds of people. She was told that the woman had been there earlier and when they tried to provide clothing she broke the door getting out of there.

I cried. I am not sure what else I could have done. I need to think of something better to do.

Visiting a flooded Church

The view from the roof of the church.











In a pre-school,waiting out the storm in a pre-school.














A car repair shop in the neighborhood. Someone is still living here.













The front yard with things from the pastor's family buried in the mud.













Pastor Ricky and I discussing how to use the funds that I brought to help the church, the community and the pastor's family. Thanks to the donors.














I was able to visit this church three weeks after it was flooded by a typhoon, high tide and the emergency release of water behind dams. The pastor and his family got on the roof of their simple, rented residence as the water rose to 7 feet deep within the house. They then fled to a neighbor and finally to a local daycare center. They have moved back into their residence and with the help of many, they have restored some semblance of normalcy to their lives.

Pray for them as they seek to minister to families all around them.

I want to thank the donors who gave so generously so this could happen.

Books and Students

Because the small school for missionary children closed because of a lack of students we had the fun task of distributing the materials, furniture and computers that were left.

These are few of the students from the college, where I teach, collecting some FREE items. Students all over the world love free things but these students do not get a chance to do this very often.

Thanks to the generosity of many, we had the joy of doing this! There are still many items which will be used in the future to help start several, God willing, Study Centers in the rural areas of this island.

People

This is a small portion of the association of churches that we work with. It was at a conference that I mentioned in the previous post. This group of seventy churches come from basically four regions in the Philippines. This particular conference is being conducted in the Central Visayas, where we live. This is a big advantage for us since that means that they predominantly speak the language that we understand.

Think of that for a minute, when these churches get together they have five languages they can choose from. Most people can speak three of the five (of course which three does tend to vary) so they are much more adept at these things than I am!

Currently we are seeking to move out of the large city we have lived in for the past 22 years and move to the much smaller city of Naga (80,000 population) but we are having a hard time finding housing. Please pray. We want to be there to help set up a Study/Tutorial Center that will enable us to supplement the education that the kids are getting in the public school. I just recently heard of one city's educational system with 40,000 students, 5,000 more than last school year, that has a student to teacher ration of 60 to 1.

We want to find a house that someone will long term rent to us, cheap! I know, doesn't eveyone, but we really feel like we could use this to find a way to meet observed and felt needs in the community.

Joys of Teaching

I have found that teaching is one of the things in life that brings joy. Not that I teach only for the joy that it brings but I am surprised by it (thanks to C. S. Lewis for describing that process). This past Wednesday I spent the day in the mountains with about 150 people from the churches that we work with in this part of the country. We sing, eat together, talk and listen to people encourage us in our walk with Jesus.

One of the other things that happens is that I get to talk to men and women that are working in these small churches, far from any large city or even a good sized town, but they continue to remain faithful. This is one of those young men, and of course his daughter. I cherish every time that we can get together and hear what they are doing. Pastor Marlon and I are sharing a different experience, we are both raising rabbits. He is doing it for a little money on the side and I do it so that we can demonstrate to others that it is possible to earn additional funds and provide extra protein for their diet at a very low expense.

Marlon was one of my students and now we talk to each other about theology and rabbits. It makes for joy.

Interesting Reading

Currently I am reading a fascinating book about contemporary China entitled Oracle Bones. I am not an expert by any means regarding China, her culture or her history but I have found this to be an interesting introduction.

I have also enjoyed reading a blog regarding theology which I am sure others will enjoy.  It is Faith and Theology and is located on blogspot as well.

Men

Sunday, November 18, Pastor Reuben, Pastor Virollo, Japeth and myself went thirty miles south of the church and into the hills to attend a joint men's fellowship. There was a great meal (whole roasted pigs, chicken soup that was the best, rice and young coconut) and excellent group dynamic activities. We did things together as teams and the leadership helped us to "process" what happened and what we can learn from all this. We sang together, prayed together and just stood around and talked. There were about a hundred men in attendance with several of the pastors being former students of mine. It was just one of those times when you are very glad you are doing exactly what you are. The men in the picture are from a small mountain community two hours further south. The man in the jacket holding the microphone is their pastor, Mehroy Parantar. He and his wife have been in that small community for eight years and it is a delight to see their ministry there. Thanks for helping to make this possible.

Naga Kids

For the past three Sundays I have been doing something I have not done for about 13 years, and I am enjoying it. Carol invited me to teach the youth at the Sunday School outreach in Naga which is conducted in the mornings before we go to church. I am really having a great time. There are between 50 and 90 children each week. They come from homes where the income levels are very low, lower than you are currently thinking.

I get to teach the students who are in secondary school and above and currently we have fifteen students with a slight preponderance of females. We are outdoors so do pray that we will not have rain to often. High tech presentations include crayons, pens, clipboards, student books and chairs. I am having a great time. Some of my students are in the tiny picture.

Children

My brother, Mark, and his wife, Miriam, just had their first child last August. This event triggered some thinking on my part. We, Carol and I, have five children sprinkled from 29 years to 11 years. I have often just assumed their presence in my life like living room furniture. My brother in turn, while just a few years my junior, is enjoying his first. It made me think about the furniture in our lives. Truly our children are the best blessing that we can enjoy. I suppose I may have something else to say when we have grandchildren (that will be April 2008). Well, I need to get to work but I was just wanting to express my thanks to God during this Thanksgiving season, for our children.

This is something I never thought...

Last night, the two young ladies who work in our home and myself slaughtered two rabbits. Some of you are aware that we are raising rabbits as a potential community development project, well, we are not raising them for pets so it came time to slaughter and I pulled out the manual and literally read step by step as we went through the process. It was interesting that these two young ladies, Aimie and Luna, knew more about the process than I did, even though they had never been around rabbits. Just one of the life skills that modern society removes from our portfolio.

Raising rabbits has been interesting and I do think there is potential. This country is the size of Arizona with a population of 80 million. Traditionally they have depended on fish as a major component of their diet but the fish are disappearing so we are looking for alternatives. Got any other ideas?

Home

I am back in the Philippines after being away for four months or so. It is good to be with Carol and Mark again. I will be seeing David (away at boarding school) in a few weeks.

Last Sunday, September 30, I went to our small church and one of the gentlemen said to me as I came in the door, "Welcome home!" If I had any doubts about coming back, that greeting settled them right away. Carol was not feeling well so I took the teachers to the Sunday School and it was a good reminder about what it means to live without many of the nicer things of life. Things I enjoyed in the United States and enjoy at our house here in Cebu.

Just wanted to thank everyone for walking with us through this path! Vance