Thank-you very much for your prayers and words of encouragement over the past several weeks and days. The prayers of the saints are the very air we breathe. The following are ministry updates and requests for more prayer.
1. Mom's home-going: The service on Saturday honored Mom's life of faith, compassion, love, forgiveness and generous spirit. Many people testified to her character and walk with the Lord Jesus and He was glorified. The Lord gave me grace as I gave the message from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 using Mom's Bible which we gave her on June 17, '88 which was well used and to the officiating pastor who clearly presented the gospel. The title of the message was "Hope Beyond the Grave and the Second Coming." The service was followed by a nice lunch. Mom would have been very pleased.
Yesterday I preached the message at her church, St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran, then Mary Ann and I spoke in an adult Sunday school class. In the afternoon we went to the cemetery and laid Mom to rest. I read Psalm 116:15 NKJV at the grave side and this verse provided much comfort throughout the events of the week. The Lord was very gracious and tender and the prayers of many were clearly answered.
2. Bicol Feeding: Recently our relief and development team led by Luv Zacal started a nutritional feeding program for 100 children ages 2-8 who've been resettled in the Amore resettlement site in Daraga, Albay due to Typhoon Durian which struck the region in late '07. We're working in cooperation with several local churches, health and social workers as well as government officials. The program will cost $7,317 which will feed the children 5 days per week for six months and provide training to parents and older siblings in hygiene including Bible studies.
3. Letre, Malabon City relief operation: Recently a large fire burnt out over 1,000 squatter families in Letre, Malabon City in Metro Manila. On May 25 ACTION, working in cooperation with our long-time partner Church of Hope in Navotas City, provided basic relief items to 325 families with 200 people indicting they turned from their sin and trusted Christ as Savior. Workers from Church of Hope and ACTION church-planter Raffy Sison will now do the follow-up with the goal of planting a church. Pray that the follow-up Bible studies will produce a new church. The cost for the relief items was $5,536.
4. Street children camp: June 10-13 in cooperation with several churches will have an evangelistic camp for kids from Bulacan province. With the soaring cost of food and gas we've had to increase our camp budget to $3,726 which will provide food, supplies and medicines for 105 campers and workers for a four day camp as well as pre and post camp planning and debriefing meetings. Pray that many kids attend the camp, churches work well together and many campers trust Christ as Savior.
5. Micah and John Mark update: At the time of this writing Micah is in LA visiting John Mark. Next June 10-13 Mary Ann and I will be in LA to spend more time with John Mark, meet his family and help them decide when they should be married so we request prayer regarding this big decision. We're also looking forward to having John Mark with us in Minnesota for the month of July so he can meet Micah's family and see some of the sites around the area.
*Micah's deployment is still scheduled for August 3 so pray for her as well in this regard.*
6. Preaching schedule and monthly support level: Mary Ann and I have been preaching and ministering each weekend and truly enjoying making new friends and getting reacquainted with others. Our prayer is that Christ would be glorified as we minister the Word of God and present His work in and through us and our team, new workers sent out to join us and funds released to support us personally and the many projects we'll involved with. Several have asked us how our personal financial support is doing and we're about $400 short per month at this time due to many needing to either stop their support or reduce it since the beginning of '08. Our income has been okay though due to several unexpected one-time gifts and now receiving honorariums but we ask you to take our need to the Lord and ask Him to fully supply our need before we leave for Manila August 5.
*You can track our schedule at http://www.jeffmaryann.com/id1.html. We currently have July 13, 20 and 27 available to speak in a Sunday school class or preach so contact us if there's an opportunity for us to encourage your church or another in world missions.*
7. 2nd quarter hard-copy "Yes, Lord!": You should receive our 2nd quarter hard-copy newsletter in the mail shortly but in the meantime it can be read at http://www.jeffmaryann.com
8. Working Hands' Graduation: Last Saturday, 28 young men graduated from ACTION's discipleship-vocational training ministry from either the electronics or auto mechanics course. This was Working Hands' 16th class to graduate over the years. It costs $120 per month or $1,200 per student for the 10 month program and if you're interested in learning about this very practical ministry, log on to http://www.actionintl.org/index.php?page=missionaries&item=1335
Conclusion: Last Thursday Mary Ann and I needed to fulfill a prior speaking assignment with International Bible Givers who have been very generous over the years in providing Tagalog Bibles and materials for our work among street children. I spoke from John 12:26 explaining how the Lord led us to ACTION and Manila starting in '83 which was followed by a missions challenge to a packed house. Jesus says "Whoever serves Me must follow Me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves Me" (NIV) so I asked the audience if they're followers of Christ and if so where is He leading them and what is He asking them to do. I ask you the same questions:
*are you a follower of Jesus?
*if so where is He leading you and what is He asking you to do?
The promise then to those who obey His bidding is "My Father will honor the one who serves Me" which is an awesome motivation to all of us to have obedient faith.
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