The year that was ...

We have had a number of highlights in the last quarter of 2009. Firstly was the 10^thanniversary celebration of International Student Ministries of New Zealand in October. This is the ministry Saling and I have been involved with in the last eight years. This was coupled by the birthday celebrations of Saling and Sarah who both have the same birthdays. Secondly, Saling and I celebrated our 27^th wedding anniversary in November. We have seen and experienced God’s loving grace through these years. And thirdly, we moved to another house in December. In all of these, God has brought people along our journey that have either ministered to us or we have ministered to. Hence, we are thankful to God for them all and for their part in our lives. So as 2009 comes to a close, we thank God for all His goodness and for the work that He has accomplished this year.

Participants to the ISM Conference from 14 countries

A blessed Christmas to all from the Garcia family.

Sarah, Mario and Saling

Settle Down

Where is home?

People have asked me if I would still go back to the Philippines or stay in New Zealand permanently. I find it difficult to give a straight answer to this question. Sometime I just reply with "I will take it one day at a time" or "I don't know what the future holds" or "It would be difficult to start all over again in the Philippines". Sometimes, my response was, "All I know is that I am in New Zealand at the moment."

However, one fascinating thing about our journey on this earth is that we have the Word of God to live by. How true is the everlasting statement of the Lord Jesus Christ when He said, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every work that comes from the mouth of God.'" Yes, when things don't seem to go the way it should, go back to the Word. When life is somewhat uncertain, go back to the Word. When question like the one I was asked above is asked, my mind tells me go back to the Word.

So what have I learned from God's Word in relation to the question asked? Let me take you to the account of prophet Jeremiah's in his letter to the Israelites who had been taken to Babylon as exiles. Jeremiah 29.4-7 states:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city into which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper."

Key words from the verses ... build ... settle ... plant ... marry ... increase in number ... seek peace and prosperity ... pray for Babylon.

The principle I learned from these verses is that wherever I am, I will make that my home. I have to think long term ... permanently perhaps. I have to settle it in my heart that I am in New Zealand and this country is my home until such time that God tells otherwise. Saling and I have already moved five times in our eight years of stay in New Zealand and these moves had been work related. The cities where our family have lived were Christchurch (Mario), Wellington, Porirua, Palmerston North. Sarah, our daughter is living still in Palmerston North. We have made friends and left friends there.

Saling and I live in Hamilton for 15 months now. This is now our home and we have placed it in our hearts to settle here so we can do what we have and can do for the ministry God has called us in. God graciously gave us jobs in this city and has blessed us with colabourers in ministering to international students. We also have an ongoing project ... a house build. Lord willing, we will move into this house second week of December 2009. Here is a peek of its progress.

The location of this house is close to Waikato University so it will be strategic in reaching out to international students. Many international students and their families had the opportunity to hear the Gospel and had the experience of a 'family' in our homes. We know that God will continue to use this home for His purposes in reaching the world through the international students that come to New Zealand.

Flooding in the Philippines

The recent typhoon in the Philippines locally called "Ondoy" created flash flooding in Metro Manila. Reports said that a month's worth of rain fell in just 12 hours. Our family home where my sister and her children and granchildren live was flooded for the first time in our lifetime. The water was about 1.5 meters deep. Everything was soaked overnight and all household items and clothings were ruined. Houses in other areas were submerged to the roof. One thing about Filipinos is their resiliency ... the ability to bounce back. Hence, my family there and the rest of the Filipino people are starting over again from the flooding. Here is a photo of our flooded house.

This house had been the venue of the early stages of the Reach high school ministry started by a team that was composed of Neneng, Elsie, Saling, myself and some other ministry friends who helped the ministry in the early stages.

Well, this is it for now. Till then with much blessings ...

Mario

Foggy Road

We left Hamilton at 6am last Saturday to go to Palmerston North. The first 2 hours of our 5.5. hour trip was under heavy fog. We can only see about 20-30 metres in front of us. In my (Mario) many years of driving I always wanted to see way ahead of me so I would know what to expect. But driving through the fog made me reliant on what I can see right in front of me with the aid of the car's headlight. This reminds me of my walk with God. There are times when what lies ahead is so clear but there are also times when it wasn't and yet both requires clarity of direction from God.

When we reached Palmerston North Saling spent time with our daughter Sarah the whole day and Mario attended the ISM Board meeting. Later in the day our family had dinner at a Korean restaurant called Arirang. The three of us watched the movie Transformers 2 over popcorn and drinks on Sunday. We all enjoyed it. It is always a joy to spend time with our daughter whom we miss every time.

On our way to Palmerston North we spotted a herd of sheep that were newly sheared. The photos of sheep that we see most of the time showed that they are covered with wool. They look different without the wool covering.

It was pouring with rain the whole time on our travel back to Hamilton but we made it just in time for the Amazing Race TV series that we avidly watch. We were like in the amazing race too - we travelled more than 900 km for this weekend trip.

Auckland Trip

Saling and I just got back today from our trip to Auckland yesterday. One way trip to Auckland from Hamilton is about two hours.

Yesterday was a full day. I had a Bible study with two Chinese guys, Kobe and David. Kobe is already a graduate and had been in my Bible study in Wellington in 2003 with two other Chinese students who are now back in China. It was good to see Kobe again. David has the strong desire to know God so he fills his time with his studies and involvement in Christian activities in his church.

Saling and I facilitated a Bible study with my relatives and their families in the evenig. Our friends Yogi and Mema who we have adopted to our family has been joining us. Yogi's sister was my co-teacher back in the Philippines. I also helped his younger brother in his spiritual life. We are using Dilemma of Choice, a Filipino culturally contextualised material developed by Reach Ministries in the Philippines.

Today, we saw our dear friends Paco and Nena who are travelling to the Philippines with their children. It was great to see them and fellowship with them. We have known one another since our university days.

Below is a photo of our group here in Hamilton when we farewelled a student going back to South Korea a couple of weeks ago. She was part of out Friday Bible study group that meets fortnightly at our home and had finished her language study. She is now back to South Korea and to her work as a nurse.

Families and Friends

We traveled to the United States in March 2009 to attend the wedding of Saling’s niece Christine to Joaquin in San Diego. The crowd in the wedding was a mix mostly of Filipinos and Mexicans who commonality is the Spanish influence in both cultures. This trip brought us joy as we rejoiced with the newly wed and spent time with relatives and friends that we have not seen for quite a while.

Our first stop was in California. We got a rented car and were always on the road visiting relatives and friends in the San Diego, Riverside and Los Angeles areas. One of the surprises of the trip was the visit to the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido courtesy of Mario’s former student from UP Rural High School in Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines. We then had a reunion in San Diego with four of Mario’s former students after 26 years and it was a great time reminiscing the past and laugh at it.

Reunion of Saling's relatives after the wedding in Riverside, California

Mario's reunion with former students in San Diego

We had a great time with Gene and Helen Tabor and their daughter Beth. It was always a blessing to spend time with them.

Our next travel was about seven hour drive from Riverside to Vallejo, California where we reunited with friends and relatives we haven’t seen for a long time.

The last leg of our US trip was in Washington. We were hosted by our friends Danny and Angie in Olympia. We also went to Oregon and crossed the US-Canada border and visited Au and her daughter Marie in Vancouver, B.C. We had a great fellowship with all of them for they were all part of the couples’ Bible study we had in the Philippines.

Having a Chinese meal with our friends in Vancouver, B.C. Canada