Not only in Europe has the season changed but also in the Philippines; the stormy season has begun. Between October and December about ten tropical storms usually hit the island where Adrian, Evelyn, Melissa, Lukas und Olivia Jotter live. They have had four already. In many other parts of the Philippines these storms often cause flooding and destruction. The city where the Jotters live is protected due to its location in the mountains and in the interior of the island. They would normally only experience strong wind and heavy rain. On such days, it can cool down to about 22 °C from a more usual 30°C and then they wear long trousers and sweaters. So, they do sometimes get a bit of an autumn feeling, too, even though they are close to the equator.
On the other hand, they are seasonally a bit ahead because Christmas officially began in the Philippines on September 1: there is Christmas music playing in the shops and in their neighbourhood the houses have been decorated with Christmas trees and lights for over a month now.
After Adrian had been sick for two weeks in October and ended up having to take strong antibiotics in order to get better, he became homesick. After sharing this with a couple of people and most importantly with the Lord, times of prayer, and some yummy more European style home cooked meals, the homesickness has diminished. As a family, they really enjoy living in the Philippines but sometimes they would also like to be at home in Germany. Please pray that their homesickness will never get too severe. They trust in the Lord that He will help them through it every time.
Adrian and Evelyn have reached phase 3 of their language and culture study. This phase will probably continue until February. The goal for this phase is to be able to speak in connected sentences and retell familiar stories and events… stories about things they have experienced themselves or that they know very well. It could be a trip to the post office, market, a café etc., with their language helper but it could also be a short five-minute video that they watch together or even Bible stories that are well known to them.
So far, this phase has been a lot of fun and they enjoy the advantage of being able to take care of some errands together with their language helper and then learn more about it instead of having to do it additionally in the afternoons.
Praise the Lord that Evelyn was able to use the unexpected opportunity of Adrian’s sickness to learn how to do things in the culture that Adrian would normally do. She could see the blessing of being able to dive deeper into life in the Philippines. Attending a birthday in the neighbourhood on her own was a good experience and it gave her more courage to approach people and talk to them. They are thankful and happy that Adrian is back on his feet and that they are able to continue with language learning.
They are very thankful for their super reliable house helpers (a married couple) who are a great help not only with housework but also in learning language and culture and they are gradually becoming good friends to their whole family.
Pray that Adrian and Evelyn stay motivated, diligent and keep a humble heart attitude as they continue learning the language and culture of the people and that they can reach the goals of phase 3 by February.
Pray that as a family they can be a good testimony of God’s love and grace in their everyday lives, so that their house helpers and the language helpers will see it. They spend a lot of time with them each day and they desire for them to come to know Him for themselves.