More than a Coincidence

Today something happened that reminded me of how (to borrow from Oswald Chambers) God is constantly engineering our circumstances to bring glory to His name. I needed to run several errands this morning, and so it was necessary to ride in several different taxis. While living here in metro Manila, catching taxis and jeepneys has been a regular part of our lives. I've long since lost count of how many we've ridden during the past several months. Awhile back, I told about some tokens with scripture verses that I have been giving to taxi drivers along with their fare(click here to read). Just this morning, as I was riding home in yet another taxi, the driver said that he thought I had been his passenger once before. He then reached into his glove compartment, and pulled out (you guessed it) one of those "gospel" coins! In a city teeming with millions of people . . . and thousands of taxis . . . I can only conclude that this was not a mere coincidence. Perhaps God allowed me to water a seed that was sown months ago. Perhaps someone else will get to reap the harvest someday. I'm just happy that God allowed me to catch a small glimpse of how He is constantly working not only in the big events of this world, but also in the micro-details of mundane things in our lives -- things like riding taxis and sharing scripture tokens.

First Anniversary for New Church in Tarlac Province

Last Sunday, R.G. traveled up from Manila to the Tarlac province where he met with a group coming down from Pangasinan. Together they rode on for about another hour to a little "sitio" (just a small community) know as San Pedro.

It is an area where poverty is a way of life.

And, until one year ago, they had been without the presence of an evangelical church

to bear witness to the Gospel.

Yesterday we celebrated the first anniversary of the planting of a new church there.



It's a small beginning.

But God is doing GREAT things!

He planted the seeds for this vision in the hearts of Sonny and Virgie Lagleva (pictured above).

Sonny and Virgie came to faith in Christ several years ago while living in Villasis, near the campus of the Bible Methodist Shepherds College. Since then they have worked faithfully as caretakers there, and have been actively involved in the local church. A few years ago they began to share with Tim Keep and David Black (missionaries here at that time) about the burden they felt in their hearts for the people in the community where Virgie had grown up. It soon became evident that God wanted them to be the ones to step out in faith and begin the work of planting a church in this needy place.

One year and one week ago, they held their first service.

Yesterday we saw some of the fruits of their faithfulness as people gathered in from the surrounding area . . . some even walked two or three kilometers to attend.

There was an atmosphere of excitement as we joined with them in rejoicing

at the goodness of our AWESOME God!

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A Visit to Ifugao Province

During the week of Christmas, we spent several days in the Ifugao province. Rev. David Yucaddi invited R.G. to preach in five of the Bible Methodist Gospel Light churches.

The first place we visited was the new church that is being planted in Bokiawan (a little community on the side of a mountain about one hour from Banaue). David Yucaddi's wife, Margie, began holding services there less than one year ago, and already God has entrusted them with a growing congregation. We shared pics of this place several months ago. This time, we are happy to be able to show you not only the PLACE, but also the PEOPLE to whom she and her helpers are ministering.

Here are some snapshots from our visit on the Sunday morning before Christmas as well as a few shots from some of the other places where we travelled and preached . . .

Sarah's Birthday

The day before Sarah's birthday, just before we left campus to travel to Baguio City, a group of young people from the Carumatan Bible Methodist Church surprised her with a birthday celebration.

They serenaded her with several beautiful songs, including this one . . .

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. . . and then they served a delicious birthday meal consisting of several special Filipino dishes. It was a highlight of our visit in Pangasinan. We thank the Lord for the many new friends that He is bringing into our lives. Our prayer is that we will also be a blessing to them.

Thanksgiving Day

Although Thanksgiving is not a holiday in the Philippines, we invited our Ilokano teachers and some other friends to join us in a special Thanksgiving meal. We had to be a little creative, because some things are not available here. Our menu consisted of: turkey, cornbread dressing, green beans, fried okra, "sweet potato" casserole (made from orange komote - pictured above), stuffed eggs and two pumpkin pies (made from the karabasa - that's the big squash in the picture).

A few of the big supermarkets in Manila had a small selection of turkeys available. We had to purchase the smallest one we could find, because our only cooking equipment right now consists of a toaster oven and one gas burner. Needless to say, we had to do some serious juggling to get everything cooked and hot before serving. Somehow Sarah was able to make it happen.

One lady was especially intrigued with the stuffed eggs. She said it looked like they had eyes! :-)

A United Methodist deaconess who lives down the street from us opened her home to us for the meal. She and some other residents there are also Ilokano-speakers, and so the meal also served as an opportunity for us to practice hearing and speaking the language a little.

R.G. attempted to bless the food in Ilokano. He made it through the first half of the prayer, and then had to finish in English. Afterward, the hostess spoke up and said (sympathetically), "He's trying his best." We all laughed. To R.G.'s encouragement, another Ilokano lady told one of the teachers that his pronunciation was good and did not have a "foreign" sound to it.

It was also enjoyable to tell a little about the story behind Thanksgiving Day, and why we celebrate it.

Of course, we greatly missed being with our family back home. But we thank God for His faithfulness to us, and for giving us many new friends who have blessed our lives. We are truly thankful!

An Ilokano Meal

Last week we were invited to eat lunch and visit with the family of Faith, one of our Ilokano teachers. We ate a delicious Ilokano specialty known as "pinak-bet" which was prepared by her grandfather. It consists of several vegetables cooked together and mixed with chicken meat. They also fed us some other traditional Filipino dishes.

This gave us an opportunity to practice both hearing and speaking in Ilokano while in a more normal setting. They were both amused and delighted while listening to our "baby talk" in their native language. It was a very valuable and enriching experience for us. We are thankful for teachers who are willing to go out of their way to help us learn.

Sowing Gospel Seeds

Although the primary focus of our time here in Manila is on learning language and culture, we also want God to use as as witnesses for Christ. Before coming to the Philippines, our friend, Pastor Darrell Stetler II, gave us a box of metal tokens. One one side of the "coin" is John 3:16 (in Tagalog/Filipino) and on the other side it asks the question, "Where will you spend eternity?" (John 3:36).

We have enjoyed giving these to taxi drivers each week along with their fare. The response has been very positive. Usually the driver's face will light up, and as we leave the cab, he will still be sitting there reading the message on the coin. It seems like such a small "seed" to sow . . . but in reality, it is the indestructible Word of God which will not return void.