Hello my dearest family and friends. I am so sorry I have not written a report in so long. So much has been going on that I have really not found much time to write so since I find myself just sitting at home with a little while to write something up, I have finally caught myself up. Since there is so much I need to talk about there is no real chronological order to the events mentioned. So I shall get started.

We were so very happy to get our Robinsteins back. Clint, Rachael, and Andrew came home after a very long 3 months. Sadly our excitement was dulled somewhat as we found out that the Bible Study Center had been broken into the night before. We were very discouraged when that happened. It is hard to believe anyone would be that cruel and messed up to rob people. But thankfully no one got hurt in the process.

Another wonderful thing that happened was the Emperado family arrived after being back in the states for 6 months. It was so nice to get them back as well. It is never easy to have any of your family not around.

Clint's friend RJ Mate arrived here in Cebu at the beginning of March. Since he arrived Clint has been having a blast trying out all sorts of crazy card games and board games. They both seem to be enjoying it a lot. RJ plans to stick around for a while. He is even trying to learn Cebuano. From what Rachael and Sara say he is pretty good at it.

We were very sad this last month to once again loose parts of our family. Jon, Gina, and little Sean left for the states for 3 months. Although we were sad to see them go we were also very happy to get the news that they arrived safely in California and then Texas. This is Gina and Sean's first trip to the states so it is all new for the 2 of them.

We tried something new up at the Bible Study Center. We tried what we are calling mini sessions. Instead of having our 6 week session like normal we tried a 2 1 week back to back "mini sessions". We took our minor courses (classes that only normally meet once a week) and had 6 days for each class. So anyone who enrolled would finish the class in 1 week. It turned out to be very successful. We had several new people come and enroll. It was very nice to see so many new faces.

After 24 loooong weeks of hard studying me along with 4 others have finished our batch in the teacher training class. It was one of the most difficult courses I have ever taken but I, for sure, do not regret a single minute of it. I actually really enjoyed being able to take the class. When I first started out I thought it was going to be so difficult because the only teaching I had ever done was teaching Sunday school and other Children's Bible class. To my surprise I loved it. My very first class was suppose to be in our first mini session but the class I was scheduled to help teach had no students sign up. Then I was suppose to teach the 3 lesson of Bible Geography (the course I have been working on) but it turned out that one of our teachers couldn't make it to class one of the days so Dad asked me to take over the class for that night. I was so excited to be teaching twice in one night. I am learning that it is almost as if teaching is addictive (grin).

Since I last wrote we have had so many baptisms. We have even had several weddings! It has been a pretty wonderful year so far!

Dad, Clint, and I have been working on a brand new course for the Bible Study Center. It is by a man named Harvey Porter. He went and toured around the Bible lands and took a bunch of pictures and did all the research on several very important places. We have been working on editing it and making it into one of our "Minor" course at the Bible Study Center. We finally got it into somewhat of a teaching format and used it in our second week of our mini sessions. It is such an interesting course to go through and to teach. I am learning very quickly that doing editing on courses is a whole lot of work (grin). I am now in the process of working on the second part. It is turning out to be a very very interesting course.

I have had a lot of fun doing some painting in my room. I have wanted to do it for a long time so now I have some VERY green walls. I still have a way to go but so far it is really pretty. Happening outside of the apartment there has been a lot of canal work being done (meaning they are tearing up both sides of the road and making a "box" of cement to replace our stopped up drains. It has been going on for a long while and it is getting rather bothersome but we are learning to deal with it.

So much has changed in the little ones since I last mentioned them. Both of them are now walking. Andrew is starting to talk. He recognizes so much stuff. We have determined that his favorite word just might be "ball" lol. Anything he sees that is round gets called ball. He seems to know everyone's names now. Sean has grown so much. He has quite a few teeth. He smiles so much and doesn't cry as much as he used to. He has become quite pleasant.

The rest on my family is doing very well. There has been a bug going around that hit both mom and I but we are both recovering very well thankfully. Everyone has been pretty run down as of late because of all that has been going on but that is technically a good thing. The Lord has been very good to us over here. We are all truly blessed that we are able to continue working.

Prayer Requests:

Jon, Gina, and Sean's safe travel and successful fund raising.

Eliseo and Janice Arado and their baby on the way.

Pray for all our new brothers and sisters in Christ.

The good health of everyone.

In Him,

Amy Murrell