A family and church in need

Recently, we told you about the needs at Shiloh Bible Baptist Church in Punta, Philippines. The pastor's family lives in a very small living space above the church, and recent storm damage has made it impossible for them to stay there.

Also, the church pews are wearing out. Our friends have asked us to pray for them, so let's do just that. The latest estimate we have is that the repairs can be complete for about $1,300. That may not seem like a lot of money to us, but this church primarily ministers to the poor. So, anything we can do to help would be appreciated.

Since, as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, we asked the pastor's daughter to send us photos of the damage to give you an idea of what is going on there.

This is the outdoor view of the pastor's living area kitchen.
You can see that it is not the most steady structure right now.

You can see here the church pews are wasting. The pews
are also used for beds at night in the multipurpose building.

Another view of the pews.

This shows the damage to the roof. The material is called "nipa," and
it clearly needs to be repaired. The roof now lets in a lot of water during the rains
which come quite frequently in this part of the Philippines.

Same thing from a different angle. 

The result of the leaks in the roof are ceiling damage to the church. This is
a view from inside the church itself. 

This is the ladder going up to the pastor's house. It needs repairs.

This is the church's kitchen. It is not completed.

This is a sliding door that is starting to wear. This is not included
in the estimate we were given, so I don't know how much
more this repair would be. But we pass it along for prayers, too.

 

This is a window in the church. You can tell the wood is
showing signs of rot. 

 Let's pray for these needs. We welcome your prayers and any help you are willing to give to us.

Emergency need

Prayer warriors, we need everyone's prayers for this urgent matter. The details are a little sketchy, but this is what we know to the best of our abilities.

One of our pastors serves in a high-risk "critical" area of Muslim Mindanao. Apparently, the church performed the wedding (our source called it an "elopement" of a young couple in the church. However, the girl's parents are Muslim.

The Muslim family has gotten angry and is demanding an exorbitant dowry. (In the Philippines, you pay the dowry to the bride's family.) The family is demanding a dowry of 153,000 pesos. This is a poor area of Mindanao, and there is no way the church can afford that amount. That is just a little less than $4,000 US. The penalty for failure to pay this dowry will be that some of the church's young people will be put in prison by the Moros. That's the threat, though we expect this particularly violent sect of Muslims to react with more violence than their initial threat.

This makes no sense to us in the West, but it is a reality these people are facing. The offended family has given some grace and allowed the "damages" to be paid in installments. The first amount to be paid is 15,000 pesos, and after the pastor solicited funds from the barangay (think "village"), they were able to raise only 4,000 pesos. So, they have three weeks to get the final 11,000 pesos. That is roughly 300 pesos needed in three weeks. (The number is actually a little less, but we round up to account for transfer fees and fluctuating exchange rates.)

We will try to update this as often as we can in the near future. But please pray, because this need is urgent. We understand this pastor has had a great impact in his area lately, and there is no way Satan is happy to hear of people leaving Islam for Isa (the Arabic name for Jesus).

Folks, this need is urgent. Please join with us in serious prayer. Let's show these Muslims that Christians around the world will help their brothers, and maybe this act of generosity by us will lead to a bigger harvest in the field of Muslims.

If you desire to help financially, we will be glad to have your help. As always, you can contact our friends at Love in Action if you want to make a tax deductible gift.

In a related point, there is a church member of this pastor's flock who used to be a part of the Moro National Liberation Front sent to kill the pastor. Now this man desires to be a missionary pastor. God is doing tremendous things. Let's join with Him in His work.

To the praise, glory and honor of Jesus Christ our King!

Nowhere to go

Our friends in the Philippines often live in conditions we cannot imagine. Pastor Mario Montero, his wife and his four children live in a small room above the church.

The kitchen and sleeping area for this family is smaller than most of our bedrooms in the United States. They don't complain; they work and serve the Lord while living in a small area.

But lately, the roof has started leaking. We would say it only leaks when it rains, but on Mindanao, it always rains. Even though the adult daughters sleep down inside the church now, there is not much room for the pastor and his wife and two small children to go to avoid the water.

The repairs can be done for only $1,300. But for this church in Punta, which ministers primarily to the poor, this amount is hard to reach. Let's join with them in praying for this amount of money. (Full disclosure: This amount of money includes repairs to church benches, but we don't know how much is roof and how much is benches. Since they need both, we ask for the whole amount.)

If you desire to help financially, we will be glad to have your help. As always, you can contact our friends at Love in Action if you want to make a tax deductible gift.

Many thanks for your prayers, and for your gifts. May our Lord Jesus Christ richly bless you!

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!

A shepherd on the way

Several months back, we told you about a place on Mindanao called Lopez Jaena. Within this general city was a churchless village called Mabas.

During my trip there in April, we made a visit to the little village, way up at the top of Mount Malindang in Misamis Occidental.

Even though we had a great response to the presentation of the gospel there, it was a bittersweet time because these new believers had no instruction in the word of God. I remember thinking of the people as "sheep without a shepherd."

We have reason to rejoice now, because we have learned that a new missionary pastor is going out to at least Lopez Jaena, and as far as we know, he is going to continue to Mabas.

Mabas is a difficult place to reach. You must ride a motorbike up an occasionally paved road (only wide enough for a motorbike) for about three or four hours to reach the top of the mountain. The people are poor, and you must be prepared the traditional animistic religion and the communist rebels who occupy the mountains on Mindanao.

The stepfather of this missionary referred to Subanen outreach (reaching to the people in the mountains; "Subanen" is a Cebuano word meaning "native") as "suicide." When missionaries go to the mountains, they expect to do without food, money, medicine, things we take for granted. They expect to suffer sickness and watch their children die of malnutrition. That's why they don't usually last long on the mountains but eventually descend to the plain.

So, let's pray for the missionary. Pray for his support. Pray for his needs. With only $100 a month, this missionary would have enough funds to be able to focus on his ministry.

We rejoice that a shepherd is going to minister to the flock. Let's also send along our prayers, and let's see what God will do.

Also, we received word today that one of our pastors is struggling with some financial matters. Just please pray for these indigenous missionaries who live among the poorest of the poor at times and live off the tithes and offerings of their flock.

Politics as usual

We bring you a special need for our mission school in Punta, Dipolog City. We are rejoicing that all the funds for the school to be built came in, and we know there is constant work going on at the school to construct the building.

However, there is an urgent need for which we ask your prayers. There is a new divisional superintendent for Dipolog City, and with the change in leadership comes a surprise bribe -- I mean -- fee.

Normally, the school must pay government fees four times a year. However, with the ascension of this new superintendent, all Christian and private schools are required to pay another fee of 1,000 pesos per child this month (September). The new superintendent is apparently able to set arbitrary fees without explanation.

The 1,000 pesos translate to roughly $25 in U.S. currency. That's not much to us, but for the people in the Philippines, it is quite a bit of money, especially when you start multiplying that per child.

We have been given an extension until next week, ending Sept. 14 (subtract a day for International Dateline).

Let's pray God will provide the funds for all the kids.

Also, let us pray as our friends at the school, Obadiah Learning and Development, have asked us to pray.

They are praying the new superintendent will attend the dedication service for the school. The church will feed the guests, and the pastor will preach the gospel. They are praying that all will be able to attend and come to know Christ. Let's join with then in this prayer.

Our God hears our prayers

"And the prayer of faith shall save the sick." -- James 5:15a

During my trip to the Philippines a couple months ago, we got to know one particular woman. Her children are in the Obadiah Learning and Development Academy, and the family was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ through the school. 

In the hospital

Up until the time of my visit, this dear woman had been sick for a long time. In fact, before my trip, Bro. Joel told me of this woman who was so sick she couldn't sit through the service without collapsing. Her husband earns his living as a motorcab driver (a motorcab is a motorbike with a side saddle). The family was left with very little money for the needful medicine and treatments.

The children were often missing school to take care of their mother, and most expected the worst. She tried many different medical treatments, including visiting "kwak"doctors who were unable to do anything for her. My first full day in Punta, we met with the Obadiah parents, and they asked me to pray over this woman. Then, later during my stay, they told us she had been admitted to the hospital. 

So one Sunday after the service and some baptisms, her husband took me and some others to the hospital to visit this dear woman. How do you offer encouragement to a perpetually sick woman who understands maybe one-fourth of the words you say? I didn't do it very well, I don't think. But one verse that came to mind was the passage referenced at the top of the page. I let this new believer know that God promises to heal the sick if they pray. 

Jesus tells us that we will see amazing things if our faith is the size of a mustard seed. Well, that's being generous to describe my faith that day. In fact, I prayed for her with very little faith. I can be guilty of very weak faith at times. But after we prayed and we talked, she told Bro. Joel (who translated for me) that "now I know I must trust Jesus to heal me." (Quotes are as well as I can remember after two months.)

How is the family now? Well, after prayers of many believers (most of whom have greater faith than I do), we get this report from Bro. Joel.

"If she was so sickly before," Bro. Joel said, "it is the opposite now, to God be the glory! Now she drives motorbike to fetch her relatives to church, Amen!"

In fact, the family is reaching another family, bringing the family to the church and to the in-home Bible study. 

"Pastor Mario and the whole church were amazed last Sunday for her," Bro. Joel said.

God's people praise Him because He restored the health of this dear woman. Notice what else Bro. Joel told us.

"Her testimony, if not of Obadiah, she will not know Christ and believe on Him and got healed from her illness," he said.

Her children attend the school because of a third-party sponsor. This is why we tell you these stories. For between $15 and $50 a month (depending on government department of education fees), you can sponsor a child in the school. Imagine that. You may never get to go to the Philippines, but you could be a part of reaching an entire family with the good news of Jesus Christ.

When you join with an indigenous mission work, do you realize you are partakers in their fruit? Just look at this family. A poor family with minimal income, a sick mother, and multiple children. Now, they have Christ, the mother is driving a motorbike under her own strength, and not only are they converted, but they are reaching other families. 

What on earth can compare to being a part of impacting the eternity of people? Please pray for this ministry, and pray about joining in with the work. 

And let's rejoice at the work that God is doing through these dear, wonderful people.