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.

Outreaches

Over the last week Brian and I have gotten to do some different things. Last Saturday, we went to two outreaches, Camachile 1 and Dulo. Both outreaches are feeding ministries along with a short Bible study. We also went back to the outreaches today. On Monday, we shadowed Pastor Marcelo Ramirez. He is in charge of the church planters for MTW. It was great to see a different perspective of the work going on over here.

Next week we will be very busy as it will be Brian's last week here. We will be going back to Cubao, visiting the aftercare kids again, visiting PTS and doing a few outreaches. Please pray for us that we would have the strength and energy as we share the gospel.

Len-Len Update

Len-Len (I miss-spelled her name last time) has stage 3 cancer. It started in her nose and has spread to her lymph nodes. She has already started chemotherapy and needs to have radiation therapy. Unfortunately, right now she will have to wait until October to start the radiation because the hospital is backed up. There is the possibility that she can get in sooner at another hospital, though. Please pray that she will be able to go ahead and get started on the radiation as well.

Alabang

Brian and I are back at the guest house in Alabang now. Our weekend trips to the ABPs went well. This morning there was the monthly MTW pastors fellowship. All of the pastors and church planters for MTW were there. Their wives also had a fellowship at the same time, but not all of them were able to come. It was good for the pastors to be around each other some more as some of them are in cities without other Presbyterians. I was able to speak with Pastor Ruben Hidalgo this morning (it was his church that hosted the MOF rally in Lemery). He said that he has had follow-ups with some of the people that came to Christ and at least one of the guys wants to start a Christian band in Lemery. It is a great praise that there has been a commitment from the converts there. Buboy presented two prayer requests from ABP 1 this morning. Jing-Jing is one of the girls that has been in the home for a couple of years. She has diabetes and has had trouble watching what she eats and also has to take insulin everyday. The second prayer request is for Lyn-Lyn. She has a malignant tumor in her neck and started chemotherapy today. She is with her parents so, please pray that Buboy and others will be able to reach out to them in this time as well. Buboy also announced today that ABP 4 will open on September 9th. It will be a home for girls ages 6 to 12 with the older girls staying at ABP 1.

For the next week and a half or so, Brian and I will be going around with Topher. We will visit some of the members of his church, looking for kids for the ABPs, visiting the kids that were in aftercare, doing outreaches in Camachille and going back to Cubao for ministry. Please pray for us that we would always be prepared to share the gospel and would look for every opportunity to do it.

Christ's Stewards Fellowship

Saturday after the retreat, Brian and I went to Batangas City with Pastor Celso Namuco and his wife Hanny. Celso is the pastor of Christ's Stewards Fellowship which is a small, but growing church plant. Saturday night we met with some of their worship team before heading to Hanny's parents' home. We stayed with her parents and younger brother, Joshua, for the five nights we spent in Batangas City. They were very hospitable people.

Sunday morning before the service, Brian and I both shared our testimonies during the service. In the afternoon, Brian led the Bible study for the junior church (middle school-aged kids). Sunday night CSF held a Youth Jam, where teenagers were invited in to play with the band and I shared the gospel with them.

Monday morning we went with Celso to a United Elders of Batangas City meeting. Every month the pastors and elders along with some church members from all denominations get together for fellowship. We were able to meet pastors from a few other churches and share what we are doing here in the Philippines. In the afternoon we went to a local Catholic school to share the gospel with a couple of high school classes. In the class that I was in all 17 of the kids prayed to receive Christ. Please pray for them because they all come from Catholic homes and appear to have no idea how to pray from their hearts. Monday night, CSF held a Musicians On Fire (MOF) event in Lemery. They invite any and all bands to come and play two or three songs and share the gospel and testimonies in between. They give complete freedom to the bands to play whatever they want. About eight bands showed up to play and there were between 75 and 100 people there in all. I shared my testimony and Brian shared the gospel. Then Pastor Celso invited anyone that wanted to to pray with him. About 15 people raised their hands to indicate that they had prayed with Celso and committed their lives to Christ. It was amazing to see what God did as neither Brian or I expected anything like that.

Tuesday Brian and I went and made some home visits with Pastor Celso. After dinner we played basketball with some of the youth and some workers from the bakery that Hanny's parents own. We were also able to share the gospel with them.

On Wednesday nights CSF has another worship service. It is a lot like their Sunday morning service, but there are some people that come that are gone on the weekends. We both were able to thank them for their hospitality and share some of what we learned there. Pastor Nelson Dangan was also there for the service.

This weekend Brian and I will split up and go to different ABP homes. Brian will go to ABP 3 in Molino and help out with the younger boys. I will go with Josh to ABP 2 in San Pedro and help with the older boys.

Pastors' Families Retreat

The retreat went really well. Ken Cross, the pastor at Sandhills Presbyterian Church in North Carolina, was the keynote speaker. While Brian, Josh and I led a couple of short Bible studies for the children. We were also able to get to hear most of Ken's messages. Overall, it was a very relaxing time for everyone. The pastors really seemed to enjoy the fellowship and the teaching from Ken.

Cubao

Tuesday afternoon Brian and I spent time with Topher and Dan. We first went to Binan to look for some boys for ABP 2. We went to what was probably the worst smelling market that either of us had ever been through. I don't think that I have ever been more happy to be able to take a deep breath of second-hand cigarette smoke in my life. Most of the boys that we had gone to look for were gone. The police had rounded them up because of their "rugby" (glue that is inhaled for a high) use and taken them to some other homes. We did find one boy though, Julius Tolits. He actually spent about a month at ABP 2 before and wants to go back. Tolits agreed to quit using rugby in order to get back in the home. We went back to the market today and he was off of rugby, but wanted to tell his grandmother goodbye before he goes to the home. So tomorrow the social worker from ABP 2 will go meet with him and his grandmother before taking him to the home. We also handed out bread near the market yesterday, and Tolits took us to the home of a family that he knew. We were able to give them some bread and to pray with them.

Last night we went to Cubao, which is in downtown Manila, to do some more bread ministry and look for more boys for ABP 2. We were able to share with a group of street children and young adults. We prayed with them and a few of them prayed to accept Christ as their savior. While we were sharing with them a man stopped by to thank us for coming and sharing with the street kids. He said that he lived on the street until he was 15 and became a Christian. He was very excited and thankful for our ministry. We also talked to a few women who were living on the street with their children. It is really hard to describe the things that we saw. One of the women would like to put her daughter in ABP 1, but first we must find out if there are any openings.

Today Topher took us to the railroad tracks to speak with a couple families. We talked with one boy whose mother would like to put him in ABP 2, but his father won't allow him to go. We also may have found another girl for ABP 1. We visited Kenneth's mom and prayed with her today. Kenneth is one of the newest boys in ABP 2 and has only been there about a week.

Please pray for the kids that have had to leave the ABPs because they exhausted their time. The aftercare program which was keeping them in school has been cut because of a lack of funding. It has gotten to be really hard and discouraging for these kids.

Brian and I leave for the retreat tomorrow and it appears that we along with the other intern, Josh, will be leading the program for the pastors' children. Please pray that we would minister to them well and that God would speak through us.

Santa Rosa

Brian and I spent the last three days with Pastor Gerry at Christ Sanctuary Christian Ministries in Santa Rosa. Friday night we shared during a prayer meeting. Saturday we spent time visiting some people in the church and shared with the praise and worship team. Sunday morning we combined to give the sermon. We talked about discipleship and leadership with them and then Pastor Gerry followed up with a short summary of what we said. Sunday afternoon we had a youth fellowship where we were able to go into more detail about what discipleship is.

I feel like the church really understood the point that we were trying to get across. After the service on Sunday, the men met together and decided to start having monthly fellowships, which was very encouraging to Pastor Gerry. The youth we spoke to were actually more young adults and college students than youth, but they were very receptive to what we said. We gave them the opportunity to ask questions and that seemed to really help their understanding.

Please pray for their church that they would really adopt discipleship. Two young adults, Sister Sam and Brother Russell, both seemed to be very interested in discipling people. Please pray for them that they would continue with this and that God would give them people to disciple. Also, pray for the leadership of the church as at least two of the elders are gone for extended periods of time. One man works for an oil company in Libya and is gone for three months then comes home for one. The other man is a seaman and is gone for up to nine months at a time. Please pray that other men would step up to lead in the church. Also pray for the completion of their new church building and ABP 4. Construction is going well and both hope to open in August. Pray for the church as they get ready to be the host church for the new ABP.

Tomorrow Brian and I will go with Pastor Topher to minister to street children. We will also be looking for potential candidates for ABP 2 as there are three or four openings there.

On Thursday, Brian and I will head to Rizal for the Pastors' Family Retreat. We will be there through Saturday, before we head to Batangas City to help Pastor Celso. I believe that 13 of the 19 local pastors will be at the retreat with their families. Please pray that they would be encouraged, uplifted and refreshed while they are there. Please pray for Brian and I as we speak at Pastor Celso's church. There is a large group of young people there and it would be great to get them to start a discipleship program.

HIJCC - Bulihan

Brian and I spent Sunday through Wednesday with Pastor Dong Apuyo at Holiness In Jesus Christian Church (HIJCC) in Bulihan. On Sunday, the church celebrated its 11th anniversary. Mr. Scott spoke with the theme being "Overcoming evil with good through Christ." This is also the church that our group went to last year to sand the walls and paint. The sanctuary is almost completely finished now (all that is left to do is put up a ceiling above the balcony). It looks really nice now.

On Monday, we went with Pastor Dong to visit some of the church members in the morning and got a little while to rest in the afternoon. Pastor Dong's youngest brother, Rohelio, and two of his friends, Marlon and Daril, accompanied us around in the morning and afternoon. They were really great to be around and they made us feel very welcome while we were there. We played some chess with them and they tried to teach us how to play the guitar. Monday night we had our first youth fellowship. There were about 20 youth there from the church with about half being believers. I shared the gospel with them and Brian talked about discipleship and we played a game in between. Pastor Dong translated for us and it seemed like the messages were well accepted.

On Tuesday morning we hung out with Rohelio, Marlon and Daril for a little while before we started making visits with Pastor Dong. Another of Pastor Dong's brothers, Tutoy, and the other three guys went with us to visit church members again. In the afternoon, we hung out with Ro, Marlon and Daril again before heading to a women's fellowship at about 5. The women shared some of what was going on in their lives and Brian and I shared a little about our background and why we were in the Philippines. We then ate what we thought was dinner with the women only to find out afterwards that it was a merienda (snack). After the fellowship, we went back to the church and had a second youth rally. This time Brian shared the gospel and I spoke about leadership. Once again the messages seemed to be well accepted. We then talked with the youth some as they thanked us for coming and we thanked them for there hospitality and tried to encourage them before we left. We then finally had dinner at about 10:30 and we got to spend a long time talking with Pastor Dong.

Wednesday morning we went out with Pastor Dong and the guys again to visit members. We then had lunch and headed back to Alabang.

It was great to spend a lot of time with Pastor Dong. I think he was encouraged by the time we had. He is 33 and he and his wife, Vivian, have 5 kids. He is still attending seminary and hopefully will be ordained soon. He also has a water distribution business that he runs with Tutoy, as the church cannot completely provide for his needs. Please pray for him and HIJCC - Bulihan. Most of the church members there are poor, but they give a lot to the church. Please pray for Daril as he started college on Wednesday to get a computer programming degree. Rohelio and Marlon are both looking to attend seminary soon.

Please pray for me that I would get the opportunity to go back and visit them at least once before I leave. Also, pray for Brian and I as we head out to another church on Friday. And pray for safety for the CMPC time as the leave for home Friday morning.

In Christ,

David

Safely In Manila

I arrived over here safely late Friday night. On Sunday, Brian Moore and I will be going to a church plant. We will be staying there through Wednesday morning. Please pray for us as we go and for me imparticular as this will be my first time doing this sort of thing.

Headed Off

I am finally headed off for Manila. Please pray that I will have a safe trip over.

Getting Ready To Go

I am still trying to work on the subscription function. I am not sure what is going on with it.