With cousins at Lake Norman

2:36AM- Jet lagged Maren eating Cheerios

A bitter sweet farewell to our Bagabag home

Today we drive away, for the last time, from our Bagabag home of over four years. This house has served us well and we are grateful to have lived here. What do you do with all your belongings??? Have sales! A Korean family (a pastor with a different mission) is setting up a house in Solano and bought nearly all of our things, a blessing for them and us. But good grief, we could not believe all the small items that we have accumulated over four years, and we have to make a decision about all of them.

We've eaten dinner with our good friends the Tiongsons; said goodbye to friends; bought groceries; killed ants/geckos/termites/bats/snakes/rats/roaches etc; swam at a local pool; travel to the village; received care packages and mail; eaten at the new McDonald's in Solano; renewed visas; eaten mangoes/guava/avocado/pineapple; caught monitor lizards...all for the last time.

This transition would be much harder if the center were staying open and we had to leave friends behind to continue on. Many will move to Manila or other areas in the country, others have left the mission as the Lord led them to other areas of ministry. Us? We'll hit North Carolina soil the day before Rodney's 40th birthday, on the 14th. Then begins our time of preparation for our next assignment in Africa.

Yesterday we visited a local orphanage, donating toys that won't be going back with us to the US. Abigail, who is 6 months young, is a beautiful and healthy girl who was rescued from human trafficking at 8 days old. A word of caution- do not visit an orphanage if you have a soft spot for children, it is very tempting to bring them home.

On a lighter note, Slone has discovered his toe, a rather tasty morsel between meals.

Driving Miss Sherri

June 25 marked the final time that Bible translator Sherri Brainard was driven from the Bagabag center to her allocation in Karao. Tad Wulliman and I had the privilege of driving Sherri and the last of her belongings (she has been in the process of moving for many months) into her village for the beginning of the last leg in her translation.

Sherri has maintained a house in Bagabag for 28 years, spending months at a time in the village, and returning to Bagabag for fellowship, computer support, supplies and worship among fellow westerners. But as of August 1st, there will be no Wycliffe folks living on the Bagabag center and all have made plans accordingly. Sherri estimates that seven years are required to complete the Karao New Testament.

In the past four years it has been a privilege to provide her with transportation to and from the village, bookcases, a window, a chest of drawers, curtain rods, a kitchen cabinet...the list goes on!

It was an emotional day as I recalled the many times I had been to Karao, all the while knowing this time was my last. As we worked or ate lunch or drove or...I tried one last time to take in the sights, burning them to the hard drive of my mind that I may have lasting memories from this place.

Thank you Sherri for allowing us to be a part of your ministry. I hope that our work will continue to make living in Karao more manageable. We look forward to the day when the people of Karao have the Word of God in their language, and we are humbled to have been allowed to be a small part of it. We'll miss you Sherri.

Have passport, will travel!

Praise the Lord we got Slone's passport two days ago! Now we apply for the 'Exit Clearance' that allows him to leave the country...19 days and counting!

Closing, transition and moving

Hello dear partners,

Six months have passed by quickly since we've written you. Here's a look at what is happening with the Ballards:

* Slone Abram Ballard was born March 4, 2010! He is now 3 months old and doing very well. Austin and Maren are enjoying their new playmate and can't wait until he grows up and can play more with them. We are enjoying this precious gift from God.

* Rodney has made several trips out to villages to transport translators and help them with various projects. He also had the privilege of photographing a celebration of one translator's life and work among the Ifugao (see our blog for more on this).

* We are in the throes of closing down the SIL center here; of course we're also closing down our home and our lives for the past 4 years. Why is SIL closing this center? Over a year ago, the SIL administration decided that the number of translations to be completed is small enough that we no longer need a center of this size. While it's a good thing for a missionary to work himself out of a job, this has been an emotional time for so many who have lived much of their lives here working towards the cause of Bible translation. Please pray for all those affected by the closing of this center which has been in this community for over 50 years.

* Rodney has been doing some career testing and has become interested in pursuing photography in missions. What does this mean for us? The Lord is leading us to an African country where Rodney will work in the Communications department, and specifically as a photojournalist. In the meantime, when we leave the Philippines July 13 we will have a short furlough living near Joy's parents again. Rodney will possibly take some photography and writing classes as well during this time in the
States.

We will be in touch as we learn more of what our next steps will be. Of course, we appreciate your prayers for God's guidance!

Love, The Ballard Family

Celebrating Bible Translator Anne West

Recently I attended Anne West's 'Life and Work'- A time of celebration given in Anne's honor by the Amganad people she served in the Ifugao province of the Philippines. It was also a birthday bash as Anne is 75 years young and pressing on in her translation project. The day held a thanksgiving service...



...prayer, public testimonies, a slide show...











...heaping piles of food, music and traditional song & dance (NO I did not dance!). When it came time to dance, I suddenly found great interest in busying myself with taking more pictures!







The day's MC was Landing, who's father was Anne's first translation assistant. Here is Landing standing next to his father and holding his adopted son.



Landing truly is a standing miracle. Born very premature, his entire body fit in the palm of his fathers hand. Landing remained very small for years to come, in fact at age 11 he weighed a mere 40 pounds. It was determined that he had 'Patent ductus arteriosus' (PDA), a condition where the duct that bypasses blood away from the lungs fails to close shortly after birth, starving the lungs of much needed oxygen.

While in surgery, the surgeon concluded that instead of having PDA, Landing had a hole in his heart and would need open heart surgery.

However, God intervened and the pediatrician talked with Anne, in secret, reassuring her that the initial PDA diagnosis was correct and that if the surgeon knew he was talking to her the surgeon would kill him. The pediatrician found a surgeon who agreed to do the surgery free of charge, at a different hospital.

Once he found the duct and tied it off the cardiac surgeon signaled an "A OK" to Anne who was watching the surgery from the viewing deck. Immediately Landing's arms and legs were moving frantically, receiving for the first time in 11 years the oxygen they needed.

While in recovery, Landing awoke and asked his father, "Dad, why are all those nurses standing around my bed?" As there was not a single nurse in his room the Holy Spirit gave his father the answer saying, "Those are not nurses, they are angels God has sent to take care of you".

Landing is a standing miracle. Long gone are the days when he was referred to as a "squatter", as children with heart problems often squat when they are short of oxygen. Landing is now a full grown man, with zero side effects from his childhood PDA.

Throughout the telling of this story by Anne, a recurring theme was that she continually found herself to be in a place where the only thing she could rely on was God. As I listened it struck me that we so often rely on Him...last, and instead rely on man and his machines. I was once again encouraged to fully trust Him who says "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel and watch over you".

Baby Slone is here!

Will it be a March baby???

To keep ourselves occupied while waiting for the baby (almost a week past the due date) I decided I would take Austin on the train. We found (on the map) what appeared to be a Zoological, Botanical garden & Aquarium just a short walk from the train station that we'll exit, being two stations down from where we got on. As is the custom in crowded portions of Manila, we transferred all the contents of our back pockets to the front, wore our backpack on the front, bought our tickets and excitedly boarded the train. Austin enjoyed looking out the window and watching as we hurriedly passed up cars and buses on the road below. At our stop we were able to directly enter a small mall (for the airconditioning, not the shopping) and weave our way through shops towards the exit on the street. After a walk of 10 minutes we reached our destination, only to find that the zoo is now a squatters village. Fortunately there was a nice man at the Jeepney stop who told us of a Wildlife center just up the street, which we quickly found and bought our tickets, P8.00 Adults and P5.00 Children, a total of about 28 cents US.

We saw a Philippine Eagle (the national bird), a macaw, a Brahminy kite, a pea fowl, monkeys, and a VERY large cloud rat (the size of three Chiuaua's). Austin got to swing on a mangrove swamp tree vine too.

It quickly became evident that this place is not frequented by many expatriates as we were stared at more than usual, maybe we should have been in a cage ourselves. All in all it was a great time.