Micah's 1st

Happy Birthday, brother Micah...

That's right, my little brother Micah Nicolas Mascardo (aka M.N.M.) celebrated his 1st Birthday on Saturday, July 3rd at La Romeria Park in the city of Torrance. It was an awesome time of seeing so many friends and family, eating "lechon" (roast pork), and "chorizo tacos" and playing all those children's games, like "Step on the balloon", you just had to be there (refer to pictures later in this blog)
Just in case you were scratching your head and wondering, I thought Micah's birthday was July 1st? We'll you're right, Micah actually turned one year old on Thursday, July 1st. Just in case you wanted to know. Enjoy viewing the pictures of all our friends and family as we celebrated this little guys life and thanked God for him.

Yes, mom and dad wanted us to match so we're all wearing clothes that are green.

Can you tell it's a Curious George theme? Check out the "cool" cupcakes my mom made.

Auntie Candace is such a servant she along with so many others helped to set up for Micah's Birthday Party.

IT'S TIME TO EAT

And the winner for Miss Philippines is...

Let the games begin...

STEP ON THE BALLOON- The object of this game is to pop everyone else's balloon without letting anyone else pop yours...The kids had so much fun...

But you know what I think, the adults had even more fun.

FATHER ABRAHAM, had many sons...

right arm ,left arm, right foot, left foot...

PINATA TIME!

Micah and Uncle Mike

Max helping push Micah on the swing.

Yes, that's me, Micah, Auntie Michelle is holding me while I'm taking a power nap.

HAPPY COUPLES!

Alright...see if you can look through these happy couple pictures and figure out who has been married for less than a year...I know it's hard to tell.

I'm kinda biased, but at the moment, this is my favorite couple.

GREAT IS GOD'S FAITHFULNESS!

DEDICATION TIME


Dad and mom shared their thankfulness to all our friends and family for attending Micah's Birthday party, but they also wanted everyone to be a witness to Micah's dedication to God. You see, mom and dad realize that me and Micah are just on loan from God. Yes we are gifts from God, but we ultimately belong to Him. So mom and dad prayed over Micah that he would grow to love God more than anything in the whole wide world. I know it's a cool thing, especially because mom and dad did the same thing for my 1st Birthday.

CAKE TIME!

Ok, who said that this was a birthday hat, I know that this is one of the parts from the Curious George Pinata.

Micah with Nanay and Tatay.

Missions: The Philippines

Mabuhay! That is the typical greeting you say when you welcome someone in the Philippines. That's right some of you may know, our family along with 23 people ventured out in faith on the Philippines Mission Trip. We had such a great time, the team was able to meet the physical needs of the children of Smokey Mountain, share the Gospel through drama and puppet shows at a Medical Outreach in Dinalupihan, Bataan, go street witnessing and pass out bibles in the town of Tondo and so much more. So here is just a brief overview of our time.

As you will see, God did some amazing things during our 10 days in the Philippines...we ask that you keep the people of the Philippines in your prayers.

As we departed on Sunday, June 6th, there were many things going through our minds, that is for me and Micah. This was going to be Micah's 1st Mission trip and to top it off, his 1st International Mission trip. As you may know from earlier posts, my (J.J) first mission trip was to the South Pacific, the Island of American Samoa. So you can call me a Missionary Veteran.

When mom and dad told us we were very excited, but they also told us it was a 16 hour plane ride...that didn't sound to exciting. But you know what it wasn't so bad.

Anyway, we thought we would share some of our pictures and memorable moments while we were in the Philippines. We didn't get to go to all the different outreaches, but we were able to pray for dad and the team. Not to mention, I got to play out in the rain, run around the YWAM Mission house, barefoot and shirtless and watch movies with all the other Missionary kids.

Sunset at Manila Bay

Here we are at the end of the Medical Outrea in Dinalupihan. A new Calvary Chapel just started so we colabored with Harvest Christian Fellowship in the Medical Outreach. There were many services available to the people from first aid, to dental extractions, from the pharmacy to receiving reading glasses and so much more. Our team was responsible for the Children's ministry. We were able to do puppet shows, dramas, read stories, paint faces and give out balloon animals, which is my personal favorite. All in all, to share the message of God's love to the children.

Me with dad...it's about 8am and 85 degrees with 99% humidity, you can't tell but we're really sweating.

Me with Mom

Micah with mom

I love the Philippines...no car seats. I was able to sit with dad on the passenger seat on the min-van.

My first "halo-halo" in the Philippines, translation "halo-halo" means "mix-mix". If you haven't tried one, it's a must. Stop by your local Chow King restaurant.

Uhhhh...I think the one on the right is the puppet?

Ahhhh...it's so good to be a kid, you could just fall asleep and you know someone is going to hold you.

Here I am for my worship debut with dad, we're singing "Great is your faithfulness".

Uncle James...I think you're taking this Jesus role a little bit too seriously, I think they know you're not really Jesus.

Here's dad with Pastor Juni, he's the pastor for Harvest Christian Fellowship in Quezon City. It's an awesome church, with peole that really love Jesus.

Ok, here's a question for you: How many filipino's can you fit unto a tricycle?

Uncle Jorge and Uncle Naz kickin' it on the Jeepney.

Micah is the center of attraction with the kids at the YWAM Missionary House.

Here are some pictures of the people of Smokey Mountain, which is an area where individuals live around the dumpsite and make their living off of scavenging for items in the trash that they might be able to sell.

Here are some pictures from an elementary School in Malabon. We had the privilege of hosting their first day of school assembly. Our team was able to share the Gospel and invite them to make Jesus their "Forever Friend". Many kids responded to the call.

We would like to express our thanks to each of you for your prayers and support for our family and the team as we prepared for the Philippines Mission Trip. We know that God used each of you instumentally in our lives and lives of the Filipino people. Maraming Salamat! (Thank you very much)