La Batalla de las Bandas…and other stuff as well!

Hello all!!!

So Drew participated in Crossfire’s (the youth group) first “Battle of the Bands” recently and the group he drums for won 3rd place!  Cool stuff!  Some comments about Drew were:

When did Drew learn to play the drums?

So…that was…Drew, right?

Hey, look at that…That’s {looks between Drew and me repeatedly} Mr. Pill’s son!

Pretty cool stuff!  They played a cover of Rend Collective’s “My Lighthouse” (see original song below…

…and then played their original song called “Forevermore.”  This song was AWESOME!  Think Green Day meets the Cranberries from the ’90s…so much YES in this one!  And a tremendous message in the lyrics as well!

If you would like to HEAR their original song, please just send me an email at mike.pilliod@gmail.com and I’ll see what I can do!

So…what else is going on?!  A friend of mine has a website called PTYGuia that’s just getting started.  Clink on the link to view: http://ptyguia.com/

Here you can either submit a place if you are a business owner and want some more traffic to your place, or if you’re a tourist or looking for a place you can go here and search around for various establishments or locations…Good stuff!  Tremendous upside!

Pepper is now FOR SURE going to Moody Bible Institute in Chicago!  It’s totally and completely official!  Woot woot!!!  Now we just begin the process of figuring out housing and schedules and orientations and blah blah blah…So, if you think about it, please pray for ME as I now have a wife who’s the mother of an eldest son that’s jumping headlong out of the nest and about stretch out his wings and catch some air!  Hahaha!  But seriously, give our family some prayer…Lots of changes coming quickly…and it’s all good, of course, but change nonetheless.

Today a huge truck came to CCA loaded down with “goodies” for next year…so that was fun to unload…My buddy and fellow educator Jamie took to cataloging the materials that arrived so I got to have the fun of distributing the science stuff to the appropriate teachers (read: Brennan and Allison)…so that’s always like a nerd Christmas in the science department as we get sheep organs and cats and models and Newton’s 2nd Law devices and slingshot thingies and posters and all the cool stuff!

We are pushing towards our last few weeks of school here in Panama…please pray for the students and the staff as we are all tired…of each other…Lol!  AP testing begins TOMORROW on Thursday with a great many of our students taking the AP Spanish exam and then again on Monday where I have 5 brave souls tackling the AP Biology exam…Then there’s AP English Language and Composition as well…anyway, these tests are happening in your town, too…

Lastly, a plug for some CCA openings!  See below for some spots still open for the coming school year!

1. Elementary teaching positions
   1. Grade 2
   2. Grade 3
2. High School Math Instructor
   1. One position open
   2. To teach multiple preps from Algebra I on up to as high as you can go!
   3. If you love Physics, let me know as that might be available as well
3. Elementary Principal

For all positions, please visit the following link: http://www.ccapanama.org/resources/employment_opportunities.cfm

When you get there, fill out the online interest form and our staff recruiter will get in touch with you and fill you in!  Additionally, please feel free to browse the rest of the website there and check us out!

Well, I think that just about catches us all up on the goings on that is the Pills in Panama!

Thanks a bunch, y’all, for reading!  Thanks for praying!  And if you need anything at all…let me know!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Howdy, y’all!!!

There’s been a bunch going on…we got our permanent residency, which is cool, and our new driver licenses which last 4 years, which is cool…and we did both those governmental actions in ONE DAY!  Woot woot!!!  Talk about miracles…

At Crossfire we had the middle school and high school retreats…both talking about our identify…how we see ourselves, how others see us, how God sees us.  And of course for high school my small group discussions ranged far and wide covering the breadth of the entire Bible…as per norm!  And in middle school we had wonderful discussions on identity and where our identity SHOULD come from.

Vince and Gretta asked Allison and I for some help and we were eager to oblige…they loaded us down with a bunch of stuff and we took the La Mulita through the mountains to the village where they minister.  Wonderful drive!  We loved it!

Most of the school’s open positions have commitments for next school year, so that’s great.  Still just short on 2 or 3 spots!  So if you think you want to teach…let me know and I can get you in touch with the right person!

For Sunday school Allison has been hammering through the book of James.  The last 2 times I led the discussion in combined Sunday School (both Spanish and English) with my awesome friends Ricardo and Jorge translating!  I believe we’ll be together next time as well since we got through only about 1/2 of what I wanted to discuss which was really only 1/2 of 1 verse!  But, hey, you know me…lots of history and discussion in there!!  It was a great learning experience for all of us and I’m pretty sure we all learned something about God in the process.

For Friday nights we’ve been going through the book of Hebrews…and we’ve had some mind-blowing times in that study as well!  This past week was awesome as we learned about God’s faithfulness to keep his promise to Abraham and how he made an oath, swearing by Himself.  We then turned back to the book of Genesis when God “cut the deal” with Abraham and showed how this was really God making a deal with Himself to do what he promised to do for Abraham.  Abraham was basically out of the picture…in fact, God knocked him out!

Anyway, it was awesome!

Pepper got a phone call from Moody Bible Institute this evening…which was fun.  Granted, it’s a bit early for him since he’s in the 4th quarter of his Junior year, but it was good to get some personal discussion from them!  Right now it seems Moody is at the top of his list…we’ll see how that goes as he progresses through school and through searching for schools to attend in Fall of 2015.

Drew has really developed spiritually…it’s easy to tell because he’s been asking all the awesome questions!  These are questions that most folks don’t even begin to think about at all!  Things pertaining to being made in God’s image and what that means.  Things pertaining to missionary work and why we don’t just build walls around places that haven’t heard the name of Jesus…stuff like that.  Great convos happening in the Pill household!

Two friends/colleagues just had their baby yesterday after a year of marriage, so that was cool.  And another friend of ours just moved from WAY OVER THERE to closer to here where he goes to church and does youth ministry and tutors students in math and teaches chess…great times!

We had one Senior and six Juniors go on a mission trip to the interior just last month and they came back fired up with ideas even for our own school and how to improve the culture of our school from a student point of view.  That’s what I’ve been wanting my whole career!  Students to police themselves and take care of their own issues with the guidance of the older folk when needed.  It’s beginning to happen…slow going, yes, but moving for sure.

Lots of great theological discussions going on during classes as of late…I love that!  The Gospel is being preached by faculty, staff, and students alike.  Apologetics is being done by faculty, staff, and students alike…and that’s really where the rubber meets the road, eh?

Please continue to pray for the school and that we find a few more folks to fill in a few spots that we have left over.  Also, please be praying for Pepper as he finishes out his Junior year and moves headlong into college searches.  Pray for Drew as he grows and matures into the young man that God would have him be and that he becomes more secure in his standing amongst his peers and his identity given to him by God.  Pray for Allison, she’s a mom…need I say more!

Again, if you believe you want to teach in a Christian environment, please let me know as we do have a few openings left!

See ya!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Cosas…

We had this week off from school.  I’m very thankful for the time away from the school building…it’s good to get away sometimes!  But even though it’s only Friday, it seems my work-a-holic brain has gotten back into work-a-holic mode!  But at least I’m still away from the school building……..right……?

Anyway, Carnaval is always an interesting time around here.  One of the major roadways into/out of the city is always closed for the “festivities” and yet most people end up leaving the city anyway to go to the “interior” where the serious partying happens.  I’m sure you can “Google” what all happens during these few days this week.  But for the Pills, it was relaxing and rejuvenating!

Firstly, a bit over a week ago we were reunited with a colleague from Mandarin Christian School…she has answered the call to come finish up this year teaching the K5 class as our teacher must leave on maternity leave!  So we spent some time with her taking her around to a few of the touristy places and getting her set up with her apartment, etc.  We love hanging with people when they come here for the first time!  She experienced with “overseas” living and teaching as a missionary, so she’s a quick study!

We went back to La Iglesia Biblica Ebenezer in Chame to help out with the pouring of a new slab of concrete to expand their floor surface area for their growing church.  A roof and walls will likely happen at some point, but it was great to get the floor taken care of!  The men and the ladies all worked really hard to get this done and I’m excited to see how God works through Pastor Ruben and the folks in Chame!

Then it was time for some beach relaxation!  We visited Mandy at her beach house just past Chame and spent a full day and full night there hanging out, relaxing in the water, fishing, putting together puzzles, and just talking!  Great time to be had!  I’m all nice and sun-burnt, but it was worth it!

We’ve also begun the arduous search for appropriate post-secondary schooling for Pepper.  He will be 17 years old in 2 days and rapidly approaching his Senior year of high school…DOH!  Where does the time go?!  As of right now, what he wants to do is attend a Christian college offering a degree in Applied Linguistics.  He’s absolutely fallen in LOVE with linguistics and wants to get to the point where he’s in full-time ministry writing unwritten languages and putting together Bibles in their own language and teaching people how to read the Scriptures in their own tongue to further the Gospel!  Awesome!

So, Moody Bible Institute is high on his list at this point.  And we’ll need some help in looking for other colleges that offer Applied Linguistics!  So if you know of any, let me or Pepper know and we’ll check it out!  So, off he goes to write letters to say “Hi” to the colleges and make his name known and make his current plans for ministry known, etc.  We’ll see where it all leads…!

In addition to that, Pepper’s raising funds for his 3rd trip to Mancora, Peru!  Hard to believe!!!  I remember when he first went…he didn’t speak very much Spanish at all…now he’s basically fluent and loves going to Mancora to help run the children’s camps there over the summer.  If you’d like to donate to that cause (it does cost some $950, I think, for him to go this year) I believe there is a link on one of the pages of this blog…right…?  I think so…let me know; or better yet, let Allison know because she’s so much smarter than me and can point you in the right direction!!!

Drew is doing great!  He’d still rather be in the interior in some small village hanging out with younger kids playing with them and chopping wood and riding horses and slicing things with machetes, but he’s doing just dandy in suburbia and in school!  He puts up with Mom and Dad getting on his case about grades and studying, etc., although I know he’d rather be on a farm or something…as crazy as that sounds, I do believe he’s better suited for hanging in the rural areas than the urban/suburban areas!  Hahaha!  So, if you’ve got ideas on how to take care of that particular set of interests, let me know!  Hahaha!

This school year is in full swing and has been difficult and awesome, simultaneously!  I’m really a 1/2 and 1/2 employee now…Half time in the classroom and half time administrator.  With Nathan (the middle school coordinator) constantly coming up with good ideas, we’ve been busy this year!  But, that’s a good thing.  I see lots more to be done and worked on and tweaked for next year and lots of possible changes and definite changes…so it’s an interesting time at CCA right now, for sure!

The school is doing great.  I believe the small groups that were started during chapel times have been awesome, and I for one have been having a blast teaching Apologetics to willing students!  So much win!

Anyway, be praying for Crossroads Christian Academy as we enter our heavy/frantic teacher recruiting phase…and if you know of any teachers that want to teach any subject at any level, please send them my way as we’ve got openings in science, math, music, English, elementary, middle, high school levels…you name it!

Be praying for our faculty/staff as they transition our of CCA and on to other things, and be praying as we bring in new staff that we that are here can make them feel welcome and get them settled and working on what they were called to do!

Be praying for Pepper as he raises money for his Junior/Senior mission trip to Volcan this month…He and 6 other students answered the call for CCA students to get together and put together a school mission trip basically on their own with mild prompting  from adult sponsors.  It’s been great to watch it happen!  And pray for his college search that it goes stress free and that he’s able to contact people at colleges and speak with real humans and get a good sense of where to really pursue.

Be praying for Drew as he finishes 7th grade and moves on into 8th grade soon and as he turns THIRTEEN YEARS OLD this month!!!  What????!!!!  Little Drew…not so little…Pray that he makes good decisions in the here and now spiritually such that the totality of his life is affected in the positive and for the glory of God.

Pray for Allison and her job as Mom/Husband/La Cara en la Caja/Adoptive Mom/Mentor/Teacher/and my particular rock and comfort…

Thanks a bunch for all your support!  We appreciate your prayers and your emails and Facebook posts and words of encouragement to continue on with serving the people in Panama City, Panama through rigorous academics and lots of AWESOME Bible studies!!!

Ok, all…have a good one!

Soli Deo Gloria!

It’s been a long time…

Hello there, blogosphere!  I have been away from the blog for around 3 months now, and I’m sorry for that.  And, I have so much to say that I’m actually going to attempt to keep this short.

School began in August and I assumed my new role as part time teacher and part time high school coordinator.  I do believe that right about now I’ve hit my stride in both, although in regards to teaching I still feel like I always feel and have felt since my first year of teaching Drop Out Prevention English II/III, and Environmental Science/Ecology; like a hundred pounds of homemade sin on a popsicle stick!  It seems to me that most teachers take the students’ sometimes lack-luster approach to learning as a personal affront to our very natures.  And I know for a FACT that the last place anybody wants to be is in a room full of teachers that are grading tests!  There’s a lot of complaining and angst that goes on in that room, for sure…as if the students are getting questions wrong on tests just to somehow SPITE us!

So anyway…other than the normal I’m-a-teacher-so-I-feel-like-I-never-do-a-good-enough-job-teaching-and-if-I-did-better-then-my-students-wouldn’t-ever-get-anything-wrong-and-they-would-know-how-to-think-critically-and-for-themselves-without-having-everything-spoon-fed-to-them…I’m doing great!

But enough of the Eeyore that is me and my fellow educator colleagues, and back to an update!

We’ve been attempting to go to Ruben Ortega’s church that he pastors in Chame at least once per month, but we missed this past month…and it feels like we’ve missed a big part of our routine and life.

We visited the Holtons in El Valle, and that’s ALWAYS a blast!  Even though our kids have only met two or three times, it’s as if they’ve been friends their entire lives and they just pick up right where they left off previously.  Thank God for friends like that, eh?  We marched our happy hind parts up to a HUGE waterfall that was just gushing water!  They said they have never seen it gushing so much water since they’ve been there…well, the 2 sets of kids didn’t have any qualms about climbing up the rocks and walking behind the waterfall and then jumping through it…great fun!  I stayed conveniently up on higher, dryer, ground!

Allison’s father, Clayton, was having some issues and he ended up needing a quintuple bypass surgery on his heart this past week.  So Allison flew to Florida to be with them for a little while last Friday and she’ll return to Panama on Monday after Thanksgiving.  Clayton’s doing great for a guy who had his sternum sawed in 1/2 and then had a wench separate the halves of his rib cage opened…just saying…

And the Panama people have been great to me and the boys!  They’ve brought us dinner and lunch and offered prayers and just in general have been their normal, wonderful selves!

We’ll be headed back to the States for Christmas this year.  I think we’re probably going to freeze our collective booties off!  I’m officially used to Christmas weather being 100% humidity and upper 80s F!!

Allison and I have been sort of team teaching the English portion of Sunday school for the 6th through 12th graders.  We just finished running through 1 Samuel and it’s been AWESOME!  We left them on a huge cliff-hanger at the end of the book with King Saul and his armor bearer killing themselves and the Philistines hacking Saul’s head off and parading around Philistia and storing his sword in the temple of Ashtoroth (or however it’s spelled).  What happens next?  What happens to David?  Will David take over as king?  How will he depose the king of Philistia after his huge victory over Israel?  What will happen to David’s band of merry men?  Oh the questions and uncertainty are getting to me so much so my skin is tingling with anticipation!!!

But I digress…

We have also been continuing our Friday night small group study through the Love and Respect DVD series of Biblical marriage with high school students and that’s been going just famously!  In fact, we finished up last Friday night and are now probably going to have a pizza/movie night or something with the group and then next year (read: January) begin to study through a book of the New Testament.  Not sure which just yet, but I’m narrowing it down with the group!

Crossfire is going well…our small group of 11th and 12th grade English speaking guys is gelling nicely and they are talking about things like leaving a legacy and making their school a place where students WANT to be and things like that!

Wednesdays have been great as well.  In lieu of a standard chapel schedule this year, we have decided to run 1/2 the Wednesdays as chapel and the other 1/2 as small groups.  The group I facilitate is a study on Presuppositional Apologetics.  It’s been a blast!  The students really get into the logic and reasoning behind it and can see and feel how God is God and there is none like Him!  And they learn that there indeed is a proof for the existence of God and learn a Biblical, God honoring sort of method for defending the faith and presenting the Gospel in a way that demolishes strongholds and destroys arguments and yet still deals gently and in love because we know that those we speak to are souls and not just opponents in a debate…we know that this is the impetus behind our missionary drive and urgency to see the Gospel of Christ spread throughout the world.  The students love this so much that after our last meeting, a small group of students spontaneously moved into role-playing mode as one played the atheist and the other played the Christian…it was good to see them taking this and running with it.

As far as school goes…well, Ali and I have seen some dramatic improvements in Drew this year…both academically and spiritually…and it has been a blessing to encourage him to continue!  Pepper is taking a tough load of courses and working his tail off, which is good too!  There’s always the concern about the teachers leaving a hole behind that needs to be filled, and what sort of schedule of craziness that I might end up doing for next year as well…but all in due time…all in God’s time.  It’ll get figured out one way or another, that’s for sure!

We’re going to need teachers for next year…all levels and all subjects, basically…so do not hesitate to shoot me a message if you believe this might be for you!  {hey, a little plug for hiring purposes never hurt, right}

Anyway, all in all I do believe this year is flying by rapidly, and good things are happening!  I am, of course, falling behind my ideal schedule in all my classes as far as teaching goes, but I’ve got 3rd and 4th quarters to make it up!  Hahaha!

Just think…this time next year Pepper will be a Senior just about to put the finishing touches on his 7th semester of high school and head toward the final stretch to college!  What?!  And Drew will be at the top of the middle school as an 8th grader…the same grade Pepper was when we were in Florida the year before we came to Panama.  Time flies…and God is good…All the time…All the time…God is good!

Soli Deo Gloria

Love and Respect

Hello!!!

I just wanted to take a few moments to talk about my Friday night with you!  Yay!

As many of you know, my life has been centered around teen-agers basically since I was one!  First I was one.  And once I became “not” one then I coached them.  And then I coached them and taught them science.  And then I left coaching and moved into Bible studies and youth group stuff while still teaching science.  Now it’s teaching science, integrating the Bible hopefully on a daily basis, administrating the high school, teaching Sunday school, helping prepare the youth group Wednesdays, leading Junior/Senior men small group, and facilitating Friday night small group as well…and lest we forget, I have 2 teens in the house as well that are a part of all this teen stuff.

Teens are cool.

I am cool.

It’s a partnership made in Heaven!  Hahahaha!  {I can HEAR Allison rolling her eyes from the back room as I write this}

Anyway, Ali and I kicked off our first Friday night Bible study of the year last night by cooking our new favorite dinner (“discovered” by Pepper), chicken curry alfredo, for everyone, mixing up 3 gallons of the sweetest sweet tea imaginable (yes, I used a whole 2 cups of sugar per gallon), making the ever-famous “crack-dip” (so named because it’s addicting), purchasing every bag of regular Ruffles that El Rey had to offer, setting out the baby carrots and cutting the celery for the more health conscious (although dipping it into the “crack-dip” negates any benefit), and “dumping” together the blueberry dump cake!  Great night.

Ali and I are still amazed at the study these teens really wanted to do.  After our Philippians study with Matt Chandler’s DVD, we began to talk with the group about what to do and over and over and over the discussion turned towards male/female relationships.  There is a huge need for this.

Ali and I actually purchased the “Love and Respect” DVDs and workbooks quite some time ago with the thought of facilitating this study with married couples possibly through the church.  God had other plans, though.  The couples idea never took flight, but doing this Biblically based marriage study with singles began to make more and more sense.  I’m convinced that studying Biblical marriage is a necessity for singles!  This allows for folks to learn what God would have a marriage look like.

Anyway, so it really was the teens themselves that promoted this idea of doing a Biblical marriage study.

Our previous small group opened up the doors and invited lots of other people to join us.  And it looks like many will be coming!  Unfortunately, the Crossfire worship band (Crossfire is the Wednesday night youth group) had their retreat last night as well and as such we were missing a few people…but they’ll be back!  And I know that others expressed interest in coming as well.

Another cool thing is the parent response!  Parents are awesome!  They have been really supportive of having us go through this study with their teens, and I’m totally thankful for that!

The discussion was lively, hilarious, and heart-felt last night.  It was a bit difficult because I know where the DVD lessons are headed and many times Ali and I would just have to give a short answer and then say, “But just wait!  Because Emerson’s going to talk about that…and as you’ve seen, he’s hilarious!”

So just be praying for us as we continue to talk with this group of teens and ask them questions and have them ask us questions…this topic of Biblical marriage can be dicey at times and OF COURSE touches on some “touchy” issues, but, hey, these issues aren’t going to hide from them just because we don’t talk about them.

Ok, y’all!  That’s it!  Time take La Mulita to the taller for a new placa!

Soli Deo Gloria!

End of school year…beginning of school year…

So school for students ended yesterday.  Time to look back and look forward.

One thing I’ve learned about MKs (missionary kids), or at least the students in our very transient international Christian mission school, is that they learn some very interesting coping skills quite early on.  They get real tired, real fast, of friends coming and going…and faculty coming and going…that they learn to stay away from folks that aren’t going to be around for very long.  They are a very tight knit group with the students and adults that are around for long lengths of time.

One of the highlights of my entire career happened early in the Spring semester this year…just mere months ago.  Students and parents all know that CCA typically writes 2-year contracts for faculty/staff members.  I believe this is a good thing because at least there is SOME continuity for students!  But they know this…and some students/entire classes know how to push the buttons to test your endurance.

Anyway, one class in particular is very good at pushing the buttons of the new teacher and getting him/her to question his/her ability/tenacity/stick-to-it-ness.  They did it to me last year and they did it to the new teacher this year.  But perseverance is a good thing with this crew.

So a couple of students from this particular class approached me tentatively during lunch one day.  This was not the approach of the, “Hey, Mr. Pill I have a question about class…”  Neither was it the “Hey, Mr. Pill, did you hear the one about…”  No, this was the approach of the young teen seeking something meaningful.  This was the tentativeness that told me curriculum was NOT the topic du jour!  Their question was one of sincerity and one of sincere emotion.  The question was, “Hey, Mr. Pill…so, um, we know that your 2 years is coming up at the end of this school year, and, um, well, we just wanted to know if, you know, um, like, are you like, coming back next year, you know?”

Yes…I know…

My response was simple.  And I repeat it to you now not just in mere fulfillment of the story, but as advice as well.  My response was, “Ladies…until God slaps me upside the head with a 2×4, we’re staying here!  So unless you have some knowledge of my being fired, or a word from the Lord, I’ll be here until you graduate.”

The result?  Well, they go on their way never to push the proverbial buttons again.

The MKs and the students in our school learn coping lessons…and they need to unlearn some of these too.  They tend to maybe push some people away; new students, new teachers, new authority figures in general.  It’s a way for them to “already know” that people won’t be staying when they say, “We’re not coming back.”

And the results of being long term?

I got to have a conversation about Biblical topics ranging from the Creation to the New Heavens/Earth and much in between during study times with a student this year.

Allison and I got to facilitate a wonderful small group of high school students diving into Philippians.  This group not only wants to stick together, but also wants to do another study on male/female relationships and interactions and use it as an outreach for some students in the school and other places as well.

I’ve had another student ask if I was going to be here for her graduation.  I answered in the affirmative.

So in regards to the advice I would give about this…you’ve got to invest in people!  It doesn’t matter if they are leaving in a year or in two years or in 3 months.  If you live your life NOT investing in the people around you because of the fear of saying goodbye, then you’ll be basically a hermit congratulating yourself on how smart you are in predicting that people will leave in a very transient situation.  DUH…

Invest in people’s lives.  Get to know them.  Love them.  Let them into your life.  Let them get to know you.  Let them love you.

We know NOT the entirety of the details of God’s plans for us as individuals.  And we do not know the sort of impact that we can have in the lives of others if we invest in them…especially in education when they leave us and graduate and if they use what they learned from us we never see it, but especially in a place such as this where people are coming and going all the time.  Six months might be the only time you have to invest in someone’s life.  So we should get to it, yes?

For students reading this…

You might not think that you have an effect on the life of a teacher, but you do.  Indeed, you have profound effects on the teachers and staff around you!  As I think of the students that have impacted me I think of 2 particular 7th graders that refused to purchase their grades (ask for more details if you need more details).  I think of one of my 8th grade yeyecitas that wrote me an encouraging end of the year note explaining some of the impact I had on her.  I think of some of the graduating Seniors going to college and the insight they brought to Bible study each Friday night.  I think of the sarcastic females that if I didn’t know better I would assume were my own daughters.  I think of students in leadership roles because they understand the concept of legacy and planting a shade tree NOT for your own comfort and enjoyment, but for the future.  I think of my own son who has fallen in love with languages and wants to translate indigenous languages and write Bibles in their own language and teach people to read.  I think of my other son who teaches me to have fun in all situations.

Damas y Caballeros, you have great impact upon your teachers and the rest of the staff.  I know.  La Señora Oficina knows.

Anyway, I’ve had a wonderful year this year.  I took on a new role as the High School Coordinator and got to learn under the tutelage of an experienced teacher and administrator and simultaneously I got to begin and continue to work with a younger, less experienced new administrator for next year as he and I develop some new ideas and plans for next year and the future.  What a wonderful place for me to be!  Right smack dab in the middle of it all!

In regards to next year, I look forward to our new crop of Seniors.  And I look forward to the current 10th graders stepping it up as Juniors.  And I cannot wait to see my crew of 8th graders take on the green shirts and really do some good stuff!  I want to encourage them to join student council and really make this school their own.  I look forward to science curriculum review.  I look forward to our Physics teacher teaching online, virtually and distantly, from Virginia and how that will work out.  I look forward to teaching one less class than this year and taking on more administrative roles.  I look forward to seeing how my adopted daughters perform in the classroom with a year under their belts.  I look forward to increased AP courses.  I look forward to small group discipleship on Wednesdays.  I’m excited about my new microscopes with the 3″x3″ heads up display as opposed to squinting to look through the oculars of the old scopes.  I look forward to increased relationships with my students and in pushing the teachers that I serve onwards and forwards to bigger and better things in the realms of student achievement!

I’m excited for next year already and I’ve still got to go to work this Monday and Tuesday and close out this year!

And I’m excited about going to church at La Iglesia Biblica Ebenezer tomorrow in la mañana!  I cannot wait to see Hermano Reuben and ask how things are going and see if there are any needs that I can provide…and to be encouraged by the flock that he leads; they are awesome!

So, as I’m tired and weary from this long year, I’m energized from this wonderful year!  And as I need to get some rest, and Allison needs to get some rest, we shall only rest for a bit.  Allison is going to language school for 4 weeks this summer, starting in a week, and I’ll be working towards next year as soon as I can and calling the Florida DOE about what all I need to do for re-certification.  So it’s going to be an interesting summer…maybe not so extremely busy, but exciting nonetheless.

I’m so thankful for being right in the middle of God’s Will.  And I couldn’t ask to be more content than I am right now.  So off to bed I go!  Lord willing, the earth will continue to spin and I’ll see another sunrise and begin again getting ready for another year at CCA!

God bless all of you that read this and continued to the end.  It doesn’t get much more random access than this from me…but sometimes even the planners need to ramble a bit.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Mancora…

I have a guest blogger tonight.  Her name is Cheryl Jones.  Ms. Jones currently teaches middle school English at Crossroads Christian Academy (same school I’m at).  But it’s what she did last summer that you should read tonight.

Cheryl was the photographer and blogger for last year’s Crossfire Mancora Peru mission trip that Pepper went on.

Pepper was scared, a bit, to go on this trip, but confided in me that God wanted him there…so we raised the money and he went!  Pepper was a hit with the young locals there playing football (American) and tossing kids around and just helping out.

Well, when it came time for turning in applications this year for the coming summer trip back to Mancora, I asked Pepper to pray about it for a couple days before getting back to me with whether or not he wanted to go.  So after a couple days, on our way to La Mulita (the family truck) to go to school, Pepper said he wanted to go.  So we printed out the application and turned it in as quickly as possible!

Anyway, I’d like for y’all to prayerfully read Ms. Jones blog about last year’s mission trip at http://crossfireperu.blogspot.com so you can have an idea of what all was going on there last year that Pepper got to be a part of.  Afterwards, if you feel so lead to help with the cost of sending Pepper to Peru, please inquire with either me or Allison as to the best way to go about donating.  The long of the short of it is this…you can either send aid to RCE (see Support page) and write a message that it’s for Pepper’s mission trip, or you can send a check to us in Panama…if you choose the latter (sending an actual check) please either contact me at mike.pilliod@gmail.com or Allison at allisonpilliod@gmail.com so we can get the correct hoops for you to jump through!

With that said, copy/paste the web address into your browser or click the link above and go to the oldest blog post from Cheryl Jones about the Mancora mission trip, and be blessed while reading chronologically through their trip!

See ya!

Soli Deo Gloria

God’s Sovereignty and Human Responsibility…The Great Commission…and Other Stuff, I suppose.

Hello all!

I’m not too sure how much I will actually write tonight…but I’m sure I have some YouTube posts that I want to link here.  They are lengthy so please please please pace yourself over the next week or two and block out some time to watch/listen to these when you get the chance…they speak, in different ways, of basically who I am and why I’m here in Panama and not in Florida with my parents where my children’s grandparents can be close by.

Here is the first…

It’s Dr. John MacArthur discussing the sovereignty of God and human responsibility.  I’m deeply humbled by the sovereignty of God.  I don’t understand why God does what He does and I ask Him on a periodic basis.  Sometimes He gives me reasons.  Sometimes He gives me peace.  Sometimes He lets me stew in it for a bit.  This is a serious bit of Biblical exegesis and it takes a bit to follow.

The next one is here…

This one is Francis Chan talking basically about The Great Commission.  I’m saddened by the amount of lost people there are in the world.  There are so many people groups on the earth that haven’t even heard the name of Jesus…that speaks ILL of us as Christians.  I sense urgency to spread the Good News, and yet at times I feel like I’m as stagnant in my order to spread the Word of God as any hardened atheist!  This video is around 40-ish minutes long so plan accordingly!

Sometimes I wonder why God intended for us Pilliods to be in Panama.  Sometimes I flounder in my work and in my walk.  Sometimes I believe I’m the worst of worst missionaries ever who had the ill-conceived idea to leave his/her homeland and work for the Lord overseas.  Sometimes.  Sometimes.

And then there’s tonight (yes, tonight!)…

• I’m banging away on my computer and I see the name of one of my students taped to the screen and I realize that my wife and I have been a blessing in various ways to her…and she has blessed us beyond measure.
• I see on my Outlook a recurring event that both jokingly and literally celebrates the maturation of yet another student.
• I remember how my eldest son went on a mission trip, as a child, to Peru without really knowing the language and came back a man with a spark for learning all sorts of linguistics for the propagation of the Gospel.
• I recall conversations with one of our Spanish instructors who practically begged me to begin a new high school Bible study at our house because she sees the difference that it makes in her son.
• I remember that there are even young people outside of the school that I need to speak with and have spoken with about their trials and triumphs in all things great and small.
• I click on my Facebook inbox history and read through the theological discussions with students that I’ve had.
• I recall how we Pilliods have been forced to throw away our brand of materialism/lifestyle that we used to live/have and now instead have time to focus on others instead of ourselves.

And like God constantly, constantly, constantly says to His people, I REMEMBER!

Because of the sovereignty of God I’m drawn to remembering and discussing a woman by the name of Sadie.  Sadie was my Great Grandmother.  Sadie was pregnant with my Grandfather but had Tuberculosis.  The doctors advised her to abort the child and save her own life.  She steadfastly REFUSED!  Sadie gave birth to my Grandfather and was subsequently held in quarantine never to physically touch her child.  The nurses used to bring my Grandfather to the window for her to see and she died some months later.

My Grandfather eventually gave birth to my Mother.  My Mother eventually gave birth to me!  Talk about the sovereignty and decree and will of God Almighty!  Thank God for His ultimate plan.

I was born in 1973.  I like to say that I’m a Roe vs. Wade survivor.  No, not that my Mother was ever going to abort me, but that Roe vs. Wade became law in 1973…the same year that I was born!  So I’m a Roe vs. Wade survivor.

Interestingly enough Crossroads Bible Church-Panama obtained land in 1973 (their current location) and obtained their new name!  Coincidence?  There is no such thing, for God is sovereign!  The year 1973 is interesting to me for it brought me here to earth and brought me here to CBC to work with youth and work with some of the most amazing students I’ve ever been around!

So I struggle with how God can pre-ordain everything to include my own steps, and yet can also instill in my a desire to bring the Word of God to those that have not ever heard of Him!  And lo and behold I’m now in the midst of Panamanian missionary training!  Go figure.

I love this country.  I love the people.  I love my students.  I love my own kids.  I love my wife.  People tell me that I’m being of service here and they point out many things…But when it comes down to it, I really believe that God is so smart that He can use me in His service and simultaneously cause me to benefit even more-so by being blessed by others here including an increased deep relationship with my wife, new conversations and circumstances involving my own children, the talents of the students I have the privilege to teach as well as seeing them mature in their walk with God, and with increased training in The Great Commission, and with a humbling/reducing of self as I become more cognizant of the magnification of God.

So what does all this mean?  I don’t know.  Work with me, here, I’m trying to figure it all out as well!  But this much I know…I’m in the right place at the right time for the right reasons.  How it all works out is up to God.  I’m going to MOVE and let God steer me.  He’s a pretty good driver…

Soli Deo Gloria

Title? I don’t know…how about…STUFF!

Hello all!

A lot has been going on since my last post.  In fact, I’ve been busier than a one toothed man in a corn on the cob eating contest…and it’s been great!

Once back in Panama Allison and I were immediately busy with getting new apartments ready for incoming teachers and picking them up from the airport at various and sundry times.  We made multiple trips to the stores to get some start up food, linens, pots/pans…you name it.  And it was so much fun!  We had an absolute blast getting apartments ready for move-in.  We had a blast going to the airport to pick up new staff as well!

Pepper started practicing football as soon as we got back, too.  Oh, and I’m now the new Balboa Dragons wide-receivers coach…DOH!  So all y’all that thought I was going to go to Panama and immediately start coaching baseball…well…it simply did not happen that way!  I’ve loved coaching again; it’s been a little bit of  a stretch in time since last I’ve coached.  I’m having a blast!

School has started as well and I am the new high school coordinator.  Basically that doesn’t mean much other than during assemblies I get to play “bad cop” and talk about the horrors of tardies and absences and dissuade students from doing anything that garners them detention because then that means hanging out with me in detention after school…and we all have better things to do than that, right?

I’m teaching AP Biology again this year, and I’ve got a great group of students.  In fact, they are so cool that I gave them their books and 5 chapters worth of assignments for over the summer and they finished it all!  Woot woot!  I love these kids.  We had our first AP Biology Post Test De-stressor Night at Casa Pill last night…pizza and silly movies along with jokes and even some actual conversation from time to time.  Good stuff!

Pepper went to and came back from his mission trip to Mancora, Peru.  I know there were a bunch of you praying for him and for the trip, and we definitely thank you!  He had an absolute blast!  Most people figured that a pale-skinned, no Spanish-speaking introvert wouldn’t be able to accomplish much on that trip, but God had other plans.  God worked through Pepper’s “toddler Spanish” to work with a group of kids that just loved being around him.  Often they called him “Pedro” because they couldn’t pronounce “Pepper,” but that’s fine.  Sometimes they even simply shortened it more to “Pepe.”  If there was a way for him to go back to Mancora, Peru tomorrow, Pepper would be on the plane.  He has been affected deeply and infected deeply with worldwide missions…it has been awesome to watch from afar!

Drew is a big, bad middle-schooler now!  He’s moved from the elementary school blue uniform shirt to the middle school maroon shirt, gotten a locker to keep his books in, and a bunch of classes to try to find!  Please pray for Drew and his transition time to middle school.  Transitions are tough on anyone, and Drew tends to take a good bit of time figuring out the transition.  You know…writing down assignments for a bunch of different classes, learning a bunch of new teachers, doing assignments, finishing assignments, actually turning them in, etc.  He’s an awesome kid and loves playing with the younger kids around our neighborhood and helping out folks with their groceries (yes, Allison, he actually ASKED Clare if she could use some help), and is all around quite flexible.  But just keep him in your prayers.

The youth group just started this past Wednesday night and I’m partnered up with a cool dude named Jonathan to work with the English speaking 11th and 12th grade boys in a small group.  We are planning a small group retreat for September 14th/15th at Casa Paraiso so please pray that we can have a good time and a God filled time as well learning about these guys and talking with them to get to know them.  Pepper is a 10th grader so he’s not in my group, but that’s good because he’s got a man working with his group who has become a wonderful family friend and sort of a mentor and colleague to Pepper.

Our school just had the Senior retreat this past weekend, too.  I was blessed yet again to attend.  We have 13 amazing young men and women who are in their final year of high school.  We had an awesome time at the missions base in Paraiso playing games, goofing off, talking about the bible, discussing stresses, discussing college, talking about our senior years, talking about college life, giving advice, singing worship songs to The Almighty, praying for one another individually and corporately…It was an amazing 2 days with these young adults and I cannot wait until Monday to get back to class to teach these men and women after such an impactful time with God and with each other.  I really believe this Senior class is going to mark a turning point in the life and culture of Crossroads Christian Academy in regards to service to others and discipling of younger students…as well as set the tone for what a teacher/student relationship is supposed to look like.  I really love these students.

Allison is “da-bomb” as always.  Her job description in writing is quite short because it’s tough to write out what she does.  I seriously cannot even begin to describe what all she does for the Pilliod family, for Crossroads Christian Academy office staff/ administration/teachers/students, hosting my bone-headed/hair-brained get togethers with students…She’s busier than a stump-tailed during fly time!  It’s crazy!  But if you ask her, and I have, she’d tell you she’s never been more fulfilled as a person, as a woman of God, as a mother, as a wife.  This work gets in your blood because it’s not about making money, or making friends, or climbing some job ladder.  It’s about relationships.  Relationship with God that demands relationships with those He loves…and even those He doesn’t even yet know.

I want to encourage you to seek God’s will right where you are.  If you’re in Panama, great!  Get in touch with me and I’ll get you in touch with Allison and she can lay a course for you to love on people around here (now you know why she’s so busy).  But seriously…it’s more than likely that you already have too much on your plate…most people do.  Maybe God’s will isn’t for you to pack up your family and move to a foreign country…maybe it is.  I don’t know what God’s got for you.  Seek Godly advice from solid Christians that you know.  Seek what the Bible has to say to you.  Pray short and listen long.

Thank you, Lord, for Crossroads Christian Academy and thank you for Crossroads Bible Church.  I love this place so much.  I know I complain about the driving, but I love this place more than I hate the driving!  Hahahahaha!  Anyway, please bless Pepper and Drew as they go through school and football and transitions during this 2nd year.  And bless Ali with wisdom and strength and perseverance and continue to make her the “go to guy” for all things various from fixing air conditioners to making keys to bus schedules to posting payments to chasing down tardy students to performing tune ups on cars and building NASA rockets to other planets.  We all love you, Lord, and we give you the glory and the honor and the praise in all things that you do…we know we can do nothing and you can do everything.

Soli Deo Gloria

Publix…oh, and other things too…

Hello all…

It has been some time since I posted here, and I am sorry for that.  The end of school is always a busy time.  Combine that with getting ready to leave Panama, coming back to the States for some time with family and friends eating at restaurants we miss, and strutting through the frozen food aisle at Publix…and then actually coming back to spend time with family and friends and restaurants and Publix…and, well, you get a pretty good excuse in my book!  Hahahaha!

Anyway, the school year ended in usual style…you know, hurrying up to finish curriculum, reviewing for exams, writing exams, administering exams, grading exams, cleaning up the classroom, etc…

It was a good time.  The seniors graduated and went on their way.  Many are either at or soon will be at their college of choice soon.  I’m thankful for having been able to spend time with those seniors and in particular for being able to teach some advanced level biology to 4 brave individuals!  And I pray that God grabs hold of them mightily and increasingly conforms their will to His will.

The rest of the school was happy to leave and most of them will be returning next year so I will see them shortly!

We flew out of Panama on June 19th and landed in Atlanta.  We got our bags and brought them over to the conveyor belt to put them on our next plane.  After that we had a couple hours to kill before our flight to Orlando departed…so we bought lunch…Chick-fil-A!!!  The funny thing was that since my Spanish is a little bit better than Ali’s, she began telling me her order and the kids’ orders as well.  I said to her, “You do realize that they can understand you here, right?”  So that was funny.

We took off and landed in Orlando.  My parents came to pick us up and we made it back to Orange Park.

We have been housed with Ali’s parents and the boys with my parents.

Coming back here after a year I really noticed how much Spanish I had actually learned.  So that was very cool!  Oh, and Target is even better now than what I remember.  Oh, and Publix is still the BEST!  I’m just saying!

It has been an ongoing joke that I pretty much lived at Publix when I lived in Florida…and it’s sort of true.  I simply got into the habit of buying whatever we needed for the day as opposed to buying a lot of stuff for a lot of days!  So, yes, I was always there.  And then, of course, there’s the frozen food aisle.

I love the frozen food aisle at Publix!  They have these motion sensor lights that come on when anyone walks by.  Anytime I was feeling “blue” I would make sure to get to Publix early in the morning so the crowds were small…why…because with too many people around the motion sensors were keeping the lights on in the aisle all the time!

Anyway, I would go to Publix in the mornings when the crowds were small, and STRUT!  Yes, you read that right…strut!  Just bring up your memory banks of the Travolta movie, “Staying Alive” and you’ll remember “the strut” at the end!

So to pick yourself up when you’re feeling blue, simply go to your local Publix, find the frozen food aisle, and wait for the lights to go dark in the doors.  Then strut and watch all the lights turn on to shine on you while strutting your stuff!

If you’re interested, yes, there actually is video now!  It’s on Facebook and I’m not smart enough to know how to save it to put it here, so send me a friend request and then go to the following link!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=475277289151507&set=t.1059015038&type=3&theater

We’ve also been eating our way through our visit here.  Cheesecake factory, Rosy’s, Outback, O’Steen’s, Cantina Laredo, Don Juan’s, Bonefish, Crispers, Columbia, Ale House, Sushi House, Lime Leaf, Bowl of Pho, Farrah’s, Yum Yum Tree, Sonny’s, Everybody’s Restaurant, G’s BBQ Hut, Ming Moon, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, IHOP…you know, standard fare…Oh, and eating at people’s houses as well!  Yumm!!!  I do appreciate the hospitality, that’s for sure!

Oh, and I think I’ve put on 10 pounds!  Yikes!

We also got to go to Crossroads Family Worship Center, Christ’s Church-Mandarin, Old Providence Baptist Church, and Harvest Bible Church-Jacksonville.  Wonderful places of worship!

We even go to speak a couple times and explain what it is we do in Panama…so many stories to tell!

I am tired at times from all the running around…and eating and strutting…but I am very much rejuvenated and ready to get back to Panama.  I thank all of you here for putting up with me and being hospitable to me and my family so we could get some rest and have some fun and see some faces and catch up!  ‘Twas wonderful!

We head back to Panama on the 19th.  I’m going to have to take another trip to Publix, I think, to get my strut on one more time before departing…

So what’s coming up?

• Well, let’s just start with the fact that we are still looking for at least one teacher to fill a spot…two teachers would be better.  Math?  Science?  Math/Science?  If you know of anyone that fits that bill, let me know…{wink}
• Classes begin August 9th, so pray for me and for the other teachers at CCA and for all that goes into getting students into desks and information into minds!
• Pray for the office staff and the administration and the board so that things can run smoothly in the classrooms and Jesus can be glorified.
• Ali and I, along with a handful of other folks, will be attending PAAM training this Fall.  PAAM stands for Panameños Alcanzando al Mundo…Panamanians Reaching the World…and trains people in Panama as missionaries so that they can go elsewhere and work.  So we’ll have that going on.
• We are also going to be facilitating a marriage small group study through Crossroads Bible Church called “Love and Respect”…I suggest you “Google” it and check it out…it’s awesome!
• We will possibly be doing another study of “The Truth Project” with high school students again…maybe in the Spring.
• I’ll be working with the youth at Crossfire again this year.
• We also have some families (friends of ours) coming to Panama to visit and to do short term mission work, so that’s cool!
• Lastly, Ali and I are signed up with RCE too.  What is that?  Well, it will make more sense if you read our Support Page…{wink wink}!  Basically, for those of you that support us financially or want to support us financially, this group will replace what you have had to do before with actually writing paper checks and mailing it, etc…Bleh!  Things will be able to be done online and automatically if you so choose!  Yay!  But more to come on that issue later on!

Lots and lots going on!

Oh, and I’ll be pushing El Rey to get motion sensor lights for their frozen food aisle so I can “strut!”

Thank you for reading…thank you for praying…And I’ll be back soon!

Soli Deo Gloria!