Christmas in Baguio

So, I'm doing some catching up today with our blog. :) We were so blessed this last Christmas to spend a few days with some dear friends in Baguio, a town in the northern part of the Philippines. Baguio is famous for strawberries, fresh vegetables, beautiful flowers, weaving, cool mountain air .... we just really love Baguio and try to go any chance we get. We went with our friends, the Tsutada family, and Junichi and Mari Nakade. They have been incredible friends while at seminary and we can't imagine life without them after we all graduate. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our last Christmas in the Philippines.

First we visited some friends and former APNTS students in a town on the way to Baguio. They are teaching at a Wesleyan Bible College. Justin and Kinomi will be great friends some day, I'm sure... right now they kind of just look at each other. :)

Beautiful Baguio


Justin quickly fell in love with Baguio strawberries.
visiting the Easter Weaving Room... you can buy tons of stuff upstairs, but the best part is going downstairs and seeing all the ladies work on the looms - truly amazing!
Baguio has some really great restaurants... we kind of planned our whole trip around eating. :)
Justin's first firework show on Christmas Day
is Brian thinking about a new hairstyle? :)
eating 1 day old chick... yes, we have some interesting food items in the Philippines. :)

we love Baguio! :)

Spaghetti!

Justin is in a food-loving stage right now... He wants to eat any and everything we eat, and he wants to eat a lot. :) It is a Philippine tradition to eat pasta on your first birthday, and we've been to a couple of 1st birthday celebrations recently. It's also tradition to send food home with everyone, so basically, Justin has been in heaven. He really loves spaghetti... here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last couple days.

Japan Culture Day

This last Tuesday was Japan Culture Day at APNTS chapel, so Justin wore his yukakata (traditional Japanese outfit for boys) that our wonderful Japanese friends gave him for Christmas. Doesn't he make a handsome Japanese boy? ;)






He even got to help with leading the worship songs during chapel. :)

He looked great until it was lunch time, and they were serving spaghetti (his favorite meal) in the dining hall, and mommy had forgotten to bring a bib... but his messy spaghetti face and spaghetti-covered yukata make for really cute pictures. :)



It was also a very special chapel for us. Brian has been asked to participate in every Japan Culture Day since we've been at APNTS, but he wasn't able to this year because he is in the states for NYI meetings. So our friends made a short video of Brian telling about his ministry with Japanese through the wedding chapels in Guam. It's so encouraging to have friends that care and show appreciation for things we did years ago, when they didn't even know us! I pray that we can be that same kind of friend - to always exhibit an encouraging and loving spirit.

a new approach in 2009

I (Julie) have never been successful at keeping a journal, even though I’ve tried numerous times throughout my life. I love the idea of journaling, and I always have lots of thoughts and feelings I want to remember and look back on, but my thoughts never make it on paper, no matter how many cool journals I purchase. ☺ But as we enter 2009, I’m inspired with a new idea of a way to remember things.

My friend Jana recently blogged about how she kept a ‘gratitude journal’ during 2008. She used a daily planner and recorded something she was thankful for every day. I receive an email reading every day from my favorite author, Henri Nouwen, and the passage for January 1, 2009 was this:

Expecting a Surprise

Each day holds a surprise. But only if we expect it can we see, hear, or feel it when it comes to us. Let's not be afraid to receive each day's surprise, whether it comes to us as sorrow or as joy. It will open a new place in our hearts, a place where we can welcome new friends and celebrate more fully our shared humanity.

So, thanks to inspiration from Henri Nouwen and Jana, I’m going to list something in my planner every day – something I’m thankful for, something new where I saw God working, or just something I want to remember. I’m a calendar/planner freak – I can’t live unless I look at my calendar at least 10 times a day, so maybe I’ll have better luck with this approach than with my beautiful journals that always sit in a dusty corner with blank pages. Hope your new year is filled with fun and relaxing moments with loved ones, new and special friendships, and new memories of God’s amazing grace and guidance!

2008 Christmas letter

To our dear friends and family,

Merry Christmas! Happy New Year! As we begin 2009 we’re overwhelmed with God’s grace and guidance in our lives this last year. Through every new friendship, challenge, and fun memory, God has continued to make real in our lives his peace ‘which surpasses all understanding’ (Philippians 4:7), and we’re excited and humbled as we continue to learn how to show his love to the people around us.

If it’s been a while since we talked, 2008 was a really big year for us – our family grew! Justin Dwayne Woolery FINALLY was born on January 22 (he was 2 ½ weeks late!). And life has never been the same or quite so much fun! It was an incredible blessing to have both sets of grandparents with us when he was born, and we have cherished watching him grow and develop over the last year. Justin was the only baby born on our campus this last year, so he’s extremely popular. It’s amazing to live in a community where Justin is surrounded by so much love. He also attracts quite a lot of attention, being a chubby, bald, white baby in Manila, so we’ve actually made some new friends through his amazing smile!

We’re still living in the Philippines, studying at Asia-Pacific Nazarene Theological Seminary. It’s hard to believe we left Guam 2 ½ years ago and are nearing the end of our studies for our Masters degrees. While our time at APNTS has been challenging in many ways, we’re so thankful to be receiving our education in such a diverse cross-cultural setting, and it’s hard to think about saying goodbye to the APNTS community when we graduate. Julie is in the middle of her thesis right now and will hopefully graduate this April, while Brian will finish classes in October.

Julie has continued to teach English classes to students from Korea, Myanmar, Japan, and the Philippines. We’re still amazed at how God brought this opportunity at APNTS and how much it has blessed our lives. Brian continues to serve as the Asia-Pacific Regional Youth Coordinator for the Church of the Nazarene. This year he was able to travel to Australia and Thailand to meet with youth leaders and encourage them in their work. He’s also busy now with the challenge of planning the NYI convention for the Asia-Pacific Region to be held in Manila in June 2009. Through both of these job opportunities, we continue to be humbled as we learn from youth leaders around Asia and the Pacific. God is doing amazing things among youth, and we’re excited to be a part in a small way!

So, the big question is, what comes next? And we have no idea! ☺ But we trust in an incredible God who has led us through adventures we never dreamed we would get to participate in, and we know he will continue to lead us to whatever is next. We would really love to stay somewhere in Asia-Pacific, so we’ll let you know as soon we find out! So, it’s no surprise that we really need your prayers in 2009! ☺ Thesis writing, NYI convention, parenting, visa fees, rent money, maintaining family relationships across the globe, and an unknown future can occasionally lead to worry, but again, we have complete confidence that God is in control and will provide for us everything that we need. Please pray for us this year, and thank you, thank you, thank you for your friendship and support. We’re so blessed to be on this journey with you!

One last thing…. I wanted to include pictures in this letter, but my email won’t let me today, so please visit our blog and you can catch up on all the details of our crazy adventures. We’re trying to post stories more frequently, but if you would rather receive them by email, just go to our blog once, and you can sign up to receive stories by email. The address is: www.woolerywanderings.blogspot.com.

We LOVE to hear from you! May God bless you and your family in this new year!

Love always,
Brian, Julie, and Justin Woolery

Thailand Youth Camp

“I came to know Christ as a university student. In my first year I had to work in my free time and study. I met a Christian person where I worked. They would tell everyone about God and no one was interested, but I was.”

During the last week of October I was in Thailand (I know, I know this is really late!). I was able to spend the first part of the week at the Thai District NYI camp at Bangkok 1st Church. There were near twenty campers who came from Bangkok as well as Chang-Mai, ten hours to the north.

I got to help with a relational evangelism workshop. This was a lot of fun as the youth shared the people that touched their lives for Christ. When telling about these relationships they were excited to share and passionate. It really re-emphasized with me that the essence of the gospel is not in just sharing ‘facts’ but rather stories of relationships, which direct our relationship with God.

The campers used tools such as evange-bracelets and evange-cubes to help tell their stories of how Jesus impacted their lives. The feeling of many of the youth was captured in this statement, “I was very nervous to go and talk to people I didn’t know about Jesus. But after doing it I felt a new sense of confidence. I can do this!” One young camper was so excited that he began holding his arm up, showing the multi-colored bracelet and asking the children, “Who wants to know about my bracelet? Can I tell you about my bracelet?!”

Late during the camp two people joined. The first was a 4th grader (which I’m not sure why he was attending) and his friend. At the end of the camp the friend shared with the group, “I am not a Christian. I am a Buddhist. I wondered how I could come to this camp since we are different religions. But while I have been here I have had a lot of fun and have made new friends. I do not want to be a Buddhist anymore. I want to be a Christian.” Opportunities to share the love and joy in Jesus, even when we didn’t know it, came from every direction!

It was a huge privilege for me to get to be in a context like this. It is here in local communities and local churches that life happens. This event in another country reminded me again of my responsibility to be intentional in my local setting, as normal as it seems.

Please pray for the young people of the Thailand district: for Nit, Goh, Pie, Gang, and the many others. Pray also for Belinda, the NYI Coordinator for the Southeast Asia Field.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just wanted to wish all of our dear family and friends a very Happy Thanksgiving! Even though this was a normal week, we were able to get together twice this week with different missionary friends for fun and relaxing thanksgiving celebrations. It is always so wonderful to share special food together - Justin has fallen in love with sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie - what a smart kid! :) We have so much in our lives to be thankful for - as I think about the past year, I'm amazed at the incredible gift of Justin, the extensive time we've been able to spend with our families, the continued opportunity to be living and studying in such a wonderful country, our amazing family of God that is found no matter where we are on the globe, and that same family of God who continues to pray for us and support us - Thank you so much for your prayers and friendship! We are so blessed by each of you! Happy Thanksgiving!

Fountains are cool!

Last Saturday, we spent the day with friends from the seminary and Brian's Uncle LeBron and Aunt Anne. LeBron and Anne are visiting for the 25th anniversary of APNTS, so we're so excited to steal them and spend time together whenever someone else isn't wanting them. ;) We went to Greenbelt, an open air shopping area in Makati. It's a gorgeous place to sit, drink coffee, and catch up. Justin got tired of sitting after a while, so he and I wandered around and found this really cool fountain. Justin had such a blast playing in it, he cried when we had to leave. Here are a few of our favorite pics. When you come to Manila to visit us, we can go here together! :)

Justin at 9 months

Justin is continuing to grow and develop personality more and more each day. Now, he's crawling, pulling up on everything, finding mischievous things to do, trying to eat and drink everything we do, desperately wanting to walk and run, and the list goes on and on. Here are some pictures from the last month....

reading books

future gymnast

playing with Daddy while eating

Halloween Costume - Fuzzy Caterpillar :)
and Mommy was a butterfly...

and quite proud of himself for crawling to the door and trying to push it open :)

100 Years

On October 5 it was such a privilege to join our Philippine church family in celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Church of the Nazarene. We celebrated ALL day long and were amazed at the testimonies of God's faithfulness in the last 100 years and the hope of what will happen in the next 100 years. The church we attend baptized 100+ people and took in 100 new members on the day of the celebration - amazing! In the afternoon, the Metro Manila District met on the APNTS campus for continued celebrations. Despite the rain and mud, 2000+ people gathered to worship and commit to serving God for the next 100 years.... here are just a couple pics. :)

Taytay Church of the Nazarene:

Metro Manila District Celebration:

Long time, no blog!

Well, it's been a very long time since we've posted any blogs... but when I think about the last month, I'm not at all surprised. :) So, this will be my attempt to catch up a little bit. October was super busy since it's the last month of our semester. But in addition to all the normal end-of-semester writing and cramming sessions, I (Julie) am attempting to finish my thesis proposal so I can (hopefully!) graduate in April, and Brian has been gone for the last 2 weeks, so he was trying to finish all his assignments AND prepare for his trip! Brian went to Singapore for regional meetings and then straight to Bangkok, Thailand for a youth leaders camp and meetings with field and global youth leaders. He's had a great time and will be home tomorrow morning, so needless to say, I'm quite thrilled that my 2 weeks as a single mom with a 9 month old is coming to a close! :) But, I can't really complain... Justin has been simply amazing since Brian left, and we have really amazing friends that take such good care of us. So even though I should be working on my thesis tonight, I'm too distracted and excited that Brian will be back tomorrow.... so, I'll post a couple more blogs and make Brian write about his trip and the exciting things God did and is doing as soon as he gets back! :)

hanging out with friends, Mami and Kenji, at the mall

our wonderful friends and neighbors, Yuri and Yasuki

playing with Isaiah and Ian and their grandfather visiting from the states! :)