"That God will finish what He started"

We're taking a break from our account of my trip to the Philippines to bring an urgent matter before you.

Our friends at Obadiah Learning and Development have begun construction on the school building we mentioned before. So far, $1,100 has been donated to help build the school building. Just to remind everyone, right now, Obadiah Learning and Development meets in the church building at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, Dipolog City. The school is an outreach arm of the church.

A few months back, a neighbor donated a piece of property to build a separate building for the school. The property is loaned, as it were, with a 5-year lease for a very small price. But our friends need a building.

Work begins on the Obadiah school building.

So far, the donations that have come in have been worth $1,100, or close to 50,000 Philippine pesos. The church has started construction of the building, but funds are still needed.

With a typhoon in the area bringing heavy rains, Bro. Joel Elorta is very concerned that the construction continue rapidly. Some of the lumber is already in place, but heavy rains can rot the wood and cause damage to the concrete.

"We plead to God that He will finish it before the typhoon hits it bad,that God will finish what He started," Bro. Joel told us.

Bro. Joel also told us the need to complete the project is "at least 120,000 pesos." That total translates to $2,758 in US currency. Since Bro. Joel said "at least," we are praying for $3,000 to help the building complete.

We can see evidence of God's mercy in this ministry in many ways. One of them is the consideration of the engineers planning the building.

"The most amazing of this Igsoon is that we don't have to pay for engineer fee,plumber fee and electrician fee, God touched their heart so they give their service for free," Bro. Joel told us.


As far as the typhoon goes, I don't think the typhoon is near Mindanao (the only news reports I could find about a typhoon near the Philippines placed it near Manila, quite a distance away). It seems, from those reports, that the typhoon has passed the islands, but the rain is still heavy. If we find out more about that particular issue, we will update it.


Let us join together in praying for this wonderful ministry. May God, indeed, finish what He has started in providing for this building.