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!

The Home Stretch…

Howdy, y’all!  Figured it was time for an update on all things Panama and Pillod…

So 3^rd quarter ended and that was awesome!  Semana Santa was a wonderful week off for us as we mostly lounged around sleeping and resting and just catching up on vegging around the house.  Our first grade teacher had a friend come in to Panama for a visit, and so we offered our services as “tour guides” for a couple days…That was totally fun!  And if you ever get a chance to visit the expansion project for the new locks that are being built on the Colon side of the country, you will be amazed!  This place looks like Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings, it’s so huge and deep into the ground!

Anyway, huge thanks to Katy and Renee for allowing us to ride with you and show you two around!  We had a blast!

Fourth quarter is sort of tough because it’s an entire quarter with only a single day off (besides weekends) for Labor Day, which is on May 1^st here in Panama.  But, lucky me, I’m teaching my favorite topics now and just about to enter into AP Exam Review time for the Advanced Biology class.  Loving it!

Friday nights have been just absolutely tremendous.  We’ve got an incredible group of high school students that come to the house for Bible study.  We’re going through the book of Philippians in a DVD study taught by Matt Chandler.  He’s the pastor at the Village Church I think in Dallas, Texas and is very solid!  But better than that are the conversations we have with the students before, during, and after the DVD session.  These young men and women are really knowledgeable and really serious and really are digging and learning.  The hope is that after this study we will not only stay together and pursue something else, but that maybe one or more of these students will put together a Bible study with their peers and just use the material that they’ve just been through to facilitate the conversations and sharing with one another.  This has been absolutely wonderful!

So thank you to all the students who come to the study!  And thank you to the adults that come to learn and help out as well!  I expect great things from you men and women as well!

Drew is plugging away is about to finish his first year of middle school.  The transition has been tough, but he seems to have at least adapted to the crazy schedule and increased homework for the most part.  He also attended, with a friend from school, a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) camp not long ago.  It was 5 days of highly scheduled/structured time learning about life and schedules and quiet times and journaling, and presenting to churches the Gospel in creative ways.  He went back to the YWAM camp this past Saturday for a couple hours to hang out with the group from the week-long camp and reunite with them, and then also work on some possible ministry things that they could present to other churches in the future.  Good stuff!  Drew has also become friends with a neighborhood boy who speaks about as much English as Drew speaks Spanish, so that’s always fun to watch them play video games or shoot the bow and arrow in the back yard while trying to understand each other!  But I have been duly impressed with Drew’s increase in Spanish language just this year!

Allison, or as I call her, La Cara en la Caja…or as the students call her, Sra. Oficina or Ms. Office…she’s doing well also!  She would like to attend intensive language school this summer to help out not only with her work at the CCA (Crossroads Christian Academy), but with all the irons we have in the fire in the interior that we’ve helped out with thus far.  Also, it would be nice to be able to have an actual conversation with our Spanish speaking neighbors, you know what I mean?  She helps me out on Friday nights with our high school Bible study and brings cool insights that my limited XY chromosome combination cannot fathom at times.

Then there’s Pepper.  Pepper has fallen in love with languages in general and acts as the Pilliod family translator whenever needed!  His favorite class is Spanish class and he’s planning on taking the French introductory class CCA offers next year.  Thus far, as of today, his dream job would be to find an unreached people group that has no written language, learn the language, write the language, translate the Bible into their language, teach them to read and write, and teach the Bible.  How cool is that?!  The really cool thing is that here at Crossroads Bible Church, we have been fortunate enough to become friends with people intimately involved with Wycliffe Bible Translators, so that has been awesome!

Along that note, Pepper has the opportunity to go to possibly Guatemala and attend a workshop that is going to be put on in regards to Bible translation.  This will be a wonderful opportunity for Pepper as his Spanish skills will be definitely tested, but he will also get to be more intimately involved in the details of what it means to be a Bible translator.  He’s also scheduled to go on the Peru trip in late July, so we’re looking forward to that as well!

Unfortunately, we are a bit behind in raising funds for Pepper to attend the Peru trip, and we just beginning to talk about Pepper’s possible internship with the Wycliffe crew.  I hate talking about money, especially when I don’t have any, but if you’re in Panama reading this, Pepper is willing to work around the house and do odds and ends (like the name of this blog) for donations to his Peru trip and internship.  If you’re not in Panama, well, that would be tough for him to do odd jobs around the house!  But maybe one summer we can get him back to the States and he can work for you in retrospect!  Hahahaha!

Anyway, we are blessed beyond imagination.  We have productive work.  Our kids are flourishing.  There are ups and downs (like the internet), but it’s been wonderful!

We have decided to stay in Panama at least until Pepper graduates or God hits me over the head with a 2×4 and moves us.  So that means that we are signing on to not only finish out this school year, but to begin next school year (‘13/’14) as well as the following (‘14/’15).  After that?  Who knows?!  After that, Drew will be entering 9^th grade and we’ll just have to see!  Pepper will, Lord willing, be entering some college/university at that point as well, so it’s really all wait and see at this point.

What will Ali and I be doing?  Good question.  As of today I’m still teaching high school science and doing high school coordination.  How/will that change in the future?  Not sure yet.  But I’ll be sure to let you know when I know!

Prayers:

• Be praying for our last quarter that I am filled with wisdom in how to teach the students and how to lead them in their academic walk and facilitate their spiritual walk.
• Be praying for Allison as she works both with accounting/finance as well as the great and wonderful know-it-all in the office that has to help out all us lowly confused teachers with our problems…we spend all out time caring about our classrooms and our students that we many times forget what else we are supposed to do!  So pray that Ali fills us in on our duties as we forget them!  Hahahaha!
• Be praying for the leadership of both the school and the church as they work through what will happen with teachers leaving and new teachers coming…as well as youth pastors leaving and new people coming
• Be praying for a solid finish to the school year for Drew and wisdom in his course selection for administrators involved in that
• Be praying that we can come up with funds for Pepper’s Peru mission trip and also any necessary funds for his internship.  Also that his love of languages continues and becomes more and more God honoring as he gets to the point of choosing a college to attend in the next couple years.
• Pray for God’s wisdom in a possible trip to Panama as well.  We’ve become pretty good at mixing fun with needed work in places and with people around the country.  And talk to others that have been here and they can fill you in on how tired you will be afterward!  Hahaha!

Ok, guys and gals!  Pill signing off!

Soli Deo Glora!

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

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

No flash-bang. Bathe. Die first before going.

Ali and I just got back from the parent meeting for the Mancora, Peru mission trip that Pepper and 21 other students will be going on in July/August.  It was a good meeting!  Amongst other things, we learned the three objectives for the trip…Yes, those three objectives are listed in the title of this post!  So let me explain each slightly.

Some of you know what a “flash-bang” actually is.  For the rest of you, here’s a little background.  The flash-bang is kind of like a grenade that police toss into a room.  Except this grenade only makes an extremely loud noise with lots of intense light…and then it’s gone.  However, after stunning its victims for a bit via loud sound and intense light, the police can enter and arrest people as they are stunned and confused.  But afterwards, there’s really no evidence that the device was there at all.  The walls are not charred black.  There is no burned up furniture.  There are no holes in the walls.  It’s almost like nothing happened.

And so, Pastor T.J., the youth pastor and trip leader for the Peru mission, doesn’t want this trip to be a flash-bang where they go in, make a loud noise with cool programs and great music and crafts and games and “stuff,” and then leave without making a lasting impact.  No flash-bang mission trips!  I totally agree.  So on my end I’m trying to figure out how to approach that objective with Pepper.  How does a gringo who is NOT bilingual, go to Peru where the entire mission will be taking place in Spanish and leave a lasting impact on kids and youth from that country?  Good question.  If you have suggestions, please let me  know!

Part of the approach is to just have Pepper remain as Pepper and keep God as his guiding light in all things and for Pepper to keep his servant hearted spirit about him.  We’ll go from there!

The second objective was to bathe!  Now, there was a story from last year’s trip that on the airplane coming back to Panama the stewardess walked past the mission group that was seated in a group together on the plane…walk back again…walk back a third time but this time emptied an entire bottle of air freshener upon the mission group!  Awesome!  But that’s not what Pastor T.J.’s talking about here.  He’s talking about bathing in the Grace and Power of Jesus Christ from today until the trip is over and even after they come back!  Everyday, just bathe in the Glory that is the Christ as He is the reflection of the Shekinah of the Almighty One!  Bathe in Prayer and Holy supplication with the God who created all that there is.  That’s what Pastor T.J.’s talking about!

Granted, it wouldn’t hurt to bathe with some soap and water either.

And again, I now rack my brain and spirit in how to relay this idea to my 14 year old.  I’m guessing I’ll just have him read the above paragraph…that ought to work!  Anyway, they will be discussing these items during their training sessions as the year progresses and the trip gets closer and closer…but of course I’m taking suggestions as well!

Lastly, Pastor T.J. mentioned that they must die first before they go.  Thinking of the team as a whole is paramount.  Praying for the team as a whole is paramount.  Covering the team as a whole is paramount.  Praying for the 2 churches that they will be ministering to, praying now for the individuals that they will meet on the trip that they can minister to, praying that the team members will reflect Christ’s Glory so obviously, praying that the Word is preached even through an English speaking person like Pepper, praying that he reflects on his own testimony and can relay that to youth his own age but from a different country and culture and language.  It will all be a God-thing!

Dying to self is a Christian mandate so this objective must be met on a daily basis for all of us and not just the Mancora, Peru team members and leaders.  So discussing this with Pepper will be fun, actually, as we talk about practical ways the heart of this manifests itself and how dying to self and becoming “others” focused becomes habit.

I’m humbled by my teen-aged son.  He is extremely introverted and yet has this insatiable God-driven desire to share with others the Gospel and share the love of Jesus through service.  Pepper has been humbled by those that have heard what he is doing and want to be financial donors to support his trip.

Ever since deciding to move overseas the Pilliods have been blessed beyond measure.  We live and work here in Panama on God’s good humor and the benevolence of others.  It is indeed an amazing thing that God can do…even in a bunch of crazy nuts like the Pills!

Ok, y’all, talk with you later!

Soli Deo Gloria