I trust by God's grace you are off to a good start in this new year. We praise the Lord that we are citizens of God's Kingdom which is not all shook up by the events of the kingdoms of man. We thank Him that we are secure in the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. With that assurance I share with you the following answers to prayer and updates for more prayer. Thank you for being for being a *solid* team of prayer warriors and supporters.
1. '08 Evangelistic Christmas Party Report
This report was sent to you last Saturday and again I want to thank you for your prayer and giving because as you can imagine a lot of work went into coordinating this huge effort. If you have any questions about the report feel free to write and go to our personal website to see photos.
2. Mustard Seed's Batch 4 Opening Today
If you recall in the recent past we wrote about ACTION's Discipleship Vocational Mustard Seed ministry for underprivileged young women and their need for funding in order to open their next batch of students. I am thrilled to report that today is the opening day of class for 10 young women and the budget has been fully met. Oh how we marvel at God's faithfulness in providing for His work!
3. Birthing Clinic Ground Breaking
Speaking of marveling at God's provision, Wednesday January 28 is the ground breaking for ACTION's Shalom Birthing Clinic which we have also written about recently under the leadership of Mavis Orton and Cindy Gingerich. This doesn't mean the budget is complete for the completion and outfitting of the clinic, but we have enough in hand to get started. You can refer to our personal website to download their brochure.
4. New Drop In Center Building Purchased and to be Dedicated to the Lord
My good buddy Ron Homenuke, longtime colleague in working with street children, along with his co-workers in Olongapo City, will be dedicating to the Lord a new drop in center which they have purchased for ministry to street children. The dedication will be this Friday. If you want to learn more, go to Ron's webpage.
5. Praise Goh and Erin Johnson
Praise arrived last Thursday and is now starting her research project commissioned by 180° Global Alliance and to meet an academic requirement for her Master's Degree in Cross-cultural Studies at Fuller Seminary. She will be with us for 2 months and will also lead our children's program at our Field Conference in March. She is a delightful young woman.
Erin will be arriving February 9 to work with our street children team into November. She will be learning how we go about mobilizing churches to work with street children while being involved in ministry.
6. Cagayan de Oro City Relief Operation
The week of January 11, northern Mindinao was hammered by days of torrential rain which caused landslides and severe flooding. As a result there was much damage to infastructure and personal property, death and thousands of families relocated to temporary shelters. Several years ago we helped start a network of churches and evangelical agencies in CDO City to work with their street children called Mindinao Street Children Ministries. To make it short, we ramped up a relief plan as we monitored their situation from Manila and sent them $2250 on January 16. The next morning they were able to purchase and distribute blankets, sleeping mats and cooking pots to 220 families. We were not able to send personnel there to assist because flights in and out of CDO were cancelled for days but the operation was carried out smoothly and now the funds are accounted for. This is the value of developing strategic partnerships with bretheran throughout the country as we carry out the Lord's work with mutual trust, accountability and fellowship in Christ which is forged in the trenches.
7. Strategic Planning 3
ACTION's Street Impact Team and 180° Global Alliance are jointly sponsoring our 3rd Strategic Planning Workshop February 3-6. We will have key workers from around Metro Manila as well as from Bicol, Cagayan de Oro, Marinduque, Pampanga and Bulucan to strategize how to move our ministries forward together over the next few years. We will work on policies like child protection, accountability of funds, among many other topics as we seek to improve our work. There will also be several times for prayer and study of God's Word so pray for us as we grow and learn together.
8. Gallon of Care Update
Recently we received a few more boxes of Gallon of Care from Minnesota for which we're grateful. Last Friday we gave 25 packs to Ver Reyes who is the pastor of Breath of Life Church, a long-time faithful partner in ministry to street children. Pastor Ver has a school for the children of dump dwellers at the Payatas dump site where these packs will be used and greatly appreciated.
Speaking of students, the other day I received a note from Angelica Cunanan, the deaf/mute teenager we are helping to sponsor in school. She says, "thank you very much for your continuing support for my studies. I am dreaming some day to finish my studies and be a teacher to my co-deaf." Angelica, if you recall, was saved at a camp a few years back and this is our second year of helping her with her studies. It's a joy to see her growing in the Lord at her church, Agape Christian Fellowship, where she ministers to other deaf people.
9. ACTION's Week of Prayer
January 11 to 17 our mission had a worldwide week of prayer with the theme verse being Colossians 4:2. "Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving." (NASB) It was a joy to pray not only for our team members here, but colleagues serving around the world with ACTION in 21 countries. Mary Ann did a great job collecting and distributing prayer requests along with my secretary Olive Fornoles.
10. Mary Ann enrolled at MBI
Mary Ann is offically now a working student. She is currently enrolled at Moody Bible Institute taking 3 classes and she is loving it. She has lots of reading assignments and papers to write so she is busy. She is able to do this because she received 2 large donations to cover these costs for which we thank the Lord.
11. Swamped with reports
With the new year comes required year end and new year reports, audits and preparations for our March International Council meetings in Calgary, Alberta. We also a have few evaluation forms for supporting churches to fill out. I don't think we have ever had so many reports to write at one time so pray for us as we manage our time and keep our heads clear as we tackle these several at a time. Being in administration we do understand the necessity of reporting but we sure wish the deadlines could be spread out over the course of a year. Please don't misunderstand, we're not complaining. It is just the reality that these reports are on top of everything else we do daily. We need God's enabling.
12. Update on our kids
In early January, John Mark and Micah decided to call off their engagement after much discussion and prayer. We agree with their decision. As a result, Micah will be visiting us for her 2 week leave, Lord willing, in April to take a break from her duties in Iraq and to explore possible ministry opportunities for after her demobilization in July. We are praying and looking into the possibility of her returning to serve in our ministries as well as work on her Master's Degree online.
Amos' graduation is just around the corner and he is seeing the light at the end of a long tunnel after 5 plus years of graduate studies at Caltech. Lord willing he will graduate June 12 and at least Mary Ann will attend and perhaps me if I can work out the time and if funds are available for airfare. Amos continues to look at various job opportunities so he would appreciate prayer.
Closing:
Since our 2 week Christmas and New Year break I have been reading some good books, namely "Marriage to a Difficult Man" about Jonathan and Sarah Edwards, "A Crime so Monstrous" about modern day slavery, and "Proverbs" a commentary written by Charles Bridges which is one of our recent Bookshare titles. If you can get ahold of these books, I recommend them to you. I am not a good reader but reading good books refreshes and challenges one's mind and soul.
The other day when Mary Ann and I were having breakfast with Praise, I told her with all sincerity, I am still amazed at God's grace for choosing the likes of me to come into a personal relationship with Christ and to serve Him as a missionary. I pray I never lose that sense of wonderment. Today I read John 15:16 which sums it up well "You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, and that whatever you ask of the Father in My name, He may give it to you." It is an awesome privilege to be sent by the Lord of the harvest to serve Him and others as a missionary. Thank you for being a part of our sending team.
No comments:
Post a Comment