I'm Home

Thank you all for your prayers over the last four months. I got home yesterday afternoon. Please continue to pray for me as I readjust.

Prayer Requests

1. Albert Gorospe and Mac-Mac are still not in school. I know I said before that Mac-Mac was finally going to start, but I talked to him again on Sunday and for some reason has hasn't started yet.

2. Len-Len is currently in the hospital and isn't undergoing chemo right now because she hasn't been eating. She apparently has a lot of ulcers in her mouth. The hospital she is in isn't very nice. Meals must be brought in to her and for her to get good care someone really needs to stay with her. Her father and step-mother don't really want much to do with her anymore either.

3. I saw Crizaldy and his brother, Cedric, at Pastor Larry's church when I was there. Some of you may remember Crizaldy from when he was at ABP2 the first couple trips we made. They seem to be doing all right. However, their father doesn't like them going to church.

4. HIJCC Mission Team for Cambodia - Fe, Linda, Dan, Topher and Ronald. They will leave Oct.20 and stay in Cambodia for about a month.

5. PTS students - Marlita, Jeffrey, Rondald and Reyjie. They found out on Sunday that they will now be required to complete 10 hours of service every week. This is particularly difficult considering that the only times that they can really do any of it is on the weekends. Topher said that he will talk to Pastor Marcelo to try to get this changed. They also have finals coming up in a couple of weeks.

6. Jing-Jing is now staying at home with her mother, who controls her diabetes and what she eats much better than at ABP1. She is doing well.

7. Hopefully, sometime next week I will be going back to Cubao with Topher to hand out some Bibles.

8. I talked to Miguel about 30 minutes ago and he said that he would come to church on Sunday. Please pray that he will come.

9. I now have less than 3 weeks left. Please pray that I would use it all for God's glory and will not waste any time or opportunities.

Updates

I saw Mac-Mac yesterday and he will start at Don Bosco tomorrow. To my knowledge, Albert G. has still not been accepted into the school.

This week I will be doing the regular Bible studies at ABP 2 and 3 Wednesday through Friday. I will also be doing another Bible study on Thursday night. On Friday, we will have an outreach at the Elvinda Railroad. I will go back to Pastor Larry's church on Sunday and will have a youth outreach with Topher's help.

Steven and Deborah Scott, who are two of the missionaries that I and the rest of our church has worked with, will be at CMPC on Sunday.

Ang Bahay Parola 4

ABP 4 will have its opening ceremony on Sunday. There are already 5 girls there, 4 of which came from ABP 1. Please pray for Pastor Gerry Orgazon and Christ Sanctuary Christian Ministries, which is the host church for ABP 4.

Len-Len is undergoing therapy for her cancer and is doing okay. Her mother, father and step-mother have all made recent professions of faith, which is a huge blessing and praise. Please continue to pray for her and her family as they go through this process. Also, please pray for their financial needs as the treatments are not cheap for Filipinos.

Please pray for Mac-Mac and Albert. They were both released from ABP 2 in August because of their age and are currently living with their families. They are both waiting to see if they can get into Don Bosco, a private school and ministry which would provide for their education all the way through college. Please pray that this process would speed up as neither Mac-Mac nor Albert is in school right now.

Please pray for a young man that Brian and I met a couple months ago. His name is Miguel and he works at the Petron station that is near the guest house. He has really seemed to seek out a friendship with me (as well as Brian when he was here). He is not a Christian, but he recently showed interest in attending a Bible study. Please pray that I would be able to reach out to him and that God would change his heart.

Glorious Gospel Christian Church

Sunday went well at Glorious Gospel Christian Church in Canlubang. Pastor Larry has a small congregation, but about half of them are between 17 and 23 years old. I talked to them about discipleship and they seemed to be very interested. Two of them have previous experience with d-groups and are going to organize some d-groups within the church. I will be going back to meet with them again on Sept. 2.

Starting this week I will be doing the devotional for the boys in ABP2 on Thursdays and Fridays. Please pray for me as I get to share with the boys. I will also be leading a Bible study this Thursday. On Monday, I will be attending another Musicians On Fire event. This one will be in Lipa and is expected to have a large crowd. Please pray that God will work in the hearts of the people that attend.

For those of you wondering what I will do for my birthday, I will wait and celebrate it on Sunday with the HIJCC youth group.

Canlubang

On Sunday, I will again be at Pastor Larry's church in Canlubang. I will be spending time fellowshipping and speaking with his youth in the afternoon. Last week the door-to-door evangelism went well there and Pastor Larry got a few new contacts. I have done a lot of visitation and outreaches in San Pedro with Topher lately. They have had two new Bible studies start from contacts that we made along with Brian. It is a great encouragement to see some of the fruits of our labor.

Please pray for the people here as it has been raining a lot lately. The rain is both good and bad. There was a drought going on that could have crippled the agriculture businesses. However, the rain that has come has caused a lot of flooding. Some of the places where we do outreaches with Topher, including Camachile, are flooded now and will stay flooded until December.

Soaring Oaks Presbyterian

Soaring Oaks Presbyterian Church from California is coming in on Sunday. I will be going with them to Pastors Larry's church in Calamba this week and possibly to other churches with them. I have been doing a lot or outreaches and church visitations with Topher lately and will continue to do those during my free time. Please pray for me as a take Soaring Oaks to Calamba this week. Also, pray for me as I will be speaking at Pastor Rico's church on August 12.