Couple of needs

Today we want to share two prayer needs for our friends on Mindanao.

First we update the ongoing ministry of Pastor Carlito in Mabas. He held the first Bible study on Sunday, and he reported to us that the people there were "hungry to know more about Jesus." We rejoice to hear that! As you may recall, Mabas is the place that had no church at all when we visited in April/May.

Pastor Carlito is praying for a digital camera so he can take photos of the Bible study. Let's join with him in praying for that (he estimates the camera should be 4,000 Philippine pesos, about $100 US). Also, since the mountain Subanen are poor in English, the usual KJV Bibles we usually send probably won't work. So, let's pray for some Visaya Bibles for this church. Pastor did not request those, but we take it upon ourselves to pray anyway.

Our second request is a bit different from our normal request. We have learned of a dear sister who is attending college "by faith." She is close to finishing her next-to-last semester. In two more weeks, she will have to pay the full balance of her tuition, which is 15,000 pesos, roughly $370 US.

This sister has worked while she pursued her education, but she is facing a total lack of funds. In fact, she did laundry for her the school board members throughout the time to try to earn more money, but she is nearing the time when the balance must come due.

She told us recently she is very discouraged, but we told her we would continue to pray for her need. Now, we are not usually in the habit of putting these personal requests here. But in this case, we wanted to alert the praying family of Christ to this need.

Recently, our Sunday School class looked at the wedding in Cana in John 2. There, Jesus performed a miracle in large part to save a family extreme embarrassment. We can be tempted to only pray for "spiritual" things, but we might forget that God is also interested in the "earthly" things. This matter is important to our sister. So let's pursue God's grace for her. We won't ask you for money for this, but we do ask you to pray. We only have two more weeks to see Christ answer this prayer.

Incidentally, this sister was on the fourth floor of her school building on Tuesday when a 5.1 magnitude earthquake hit. There was very little damage, thankfully, but imagine being on the fourth floor of a building when an earthquake hits. She said, "I thought this is the Day of JESUS CHRIST COMING. That all problem will be ok."

If we are Christians, we long for Christ's return. But until then, let us join with our mga igsoon and mga igsoon (brothers and sisters) in praying for their needs, for ministry and for their personal lives.

God bless you more for reading. Grace to you!