Then He said to them, “the harvest is truly great, but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”
Luke 10:2 -----Jesus
Dear Friends,
Greetings in the name of Jesus. We pray the Lord will richly bless you today and always. “Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.” ---Psalm 105:4
Many of us live very lives filled with much activity and we live in a world that has its fair share of problems. When a major storm hits a location, there is what is called: “the eye of the storm” and in that area it is relatively calm. But in time as the storm moves on the full blast of the winds hit again. However, when the storms of life hit---there is an area where there remains safety and protection and peace---if we will but stay there. It is in the center of God’s will for our lives.
Jesus said in: Matthew 7:24-25 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken to a wise man who built his house on the rock.; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded upon the rock.” Jesus also said in John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Last night, my wife Emie, and our missionary friends from Australia drove 40 minutes to attend a pre-funeral service of the father of one of our church members named Felix. In the Philippines they have several nights of gatherings at the home of the deceased prior to the main funeral. We had time last night to share a comforting word from the Scriptures, as well as a message of salvation, to the family and friends. Afterwards, several people prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. During that time of gathering in memory of the one who had died----eternal life was imparted to those who just that night received Jesus.
Earlier this month, Pastor Teddy from Biliran island and Pastor Jing were able to distribute gifts of snacks, cloths & soap to 68 prisoners in the Naval jail and share the gospel with them. They really appreciated receiving the helpful material gifts, and many of them received the most precious gift of all---SALVATION. They asked Jesus into their heart. There are ministry workers in the area that will continue to visit and minister to them. Matthew 25:36b “…I was in prison and you came to visit Me”
In our weekly children’s feeding (physical& spiritual) outreach to the urban poor children in Tacloban many are being blessed. Normal attendance on these Saturday morning outreaches is mid thirties to mid forties. Over the years we have distributed several thousand meals, seen many children come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord, and helped them learn basic truths from the Bible to help them in their lives.
Matthew 19:14a And Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto Me,”
On Tuesday, Feb. 13th Emie and I and Peter and Hope left Tacloban at 6:00 A.M. to drive semi-good and semi-quite bad road to Borongan Eastern Samar and then further to Canavid where we have a church, and then a drove different route over the mountain road to arrive home late that night at about 10:30 P.M. There were ministry related matters that had to be accomplished at the government offices in that area as well as a ministry visitation to Pastor Arnel and others at the Canavid church. We traveled 446 kilometers on that trip and for those reading this who has ever been on bad roads in the Philippines, you can relate to the effort it takes to drive here at times. Many pot holes, broken up sections in the concrete highways and some side sections fallen off into ravines. But we had fruitful trip and thank the Lord for the safety He provided.
Pastor Arnel shared with us that after their Sunday service in Canavid, 2 people received water baptism in the Pacific Ocean, which Eastern Samar borders on. They also were preparing for a special Valentines Day youth program for Wednesday evening, which would both minister to the Christian youth and be an evangelistic outreach as well.
As led by the Lord we provide help to people in various ways, such as food, clothing, medical, etc., as led by the Holy Spirit. We also help various ministries at times with some financial donations, which are modest by American standards but are a real help over here. I would just like to share just 3 testimonies. In the past year we have helped on a few occasions an elderly lady named “Nanay” (Grandma) Josepa Machado who worked in another organization’s children ministry most of her life. She has no retirement income and now lives (on an island far from here) with relatives of very modest means. She really is thankful to the Lord for using us to help.
Last week I delivered a donation to a Children’s ministry organization, CEF, late in the afternoon and Regie, the lady at the office was very surprised and happy. She said: “The Lord has really surprised me today.” This last Monday I wired a donation to a Filipino film evangelist named Nick Conson who works on the large island of Mindanao. He also was surprised and happy. He texted me: “Thank you Very much Brother, you are such a Blessing to us…Really God answers my Prayers today through you.”
It is always a great blessing, when one feels led by the Lord to help in an area and is able to deliver a surprise blessing---and then find out from the one who receives, that they had a specific need that they had been praying to God for---and you are the one God used to answer there prayer.
Emie and I pray that the Lord greatly blesses you in all areas your lives. Thank-you for your prayers and financial investments in helping us share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
