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."
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
