Blessings! Thank you for your
faithful prayers and partnership that helped keep us protected and encouraged
the entire season. God, for He is, did great things through and in the lives of
the Filipino and American Nehemiah Teams volunteers. I had opportunities to
join and visit some of them while they were in their respective fields. Here
are some high lights of the past 5 months so you may also rejoice and praise
the Lord with us. All the glory is for Him.
April – May 2013
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| NT Luzon teams |
80 plus young people participated in Filipino Nehemiah
Teams, more or less 50 were first time participants, 19 teams went out, 31
local people trained, 74 people followed in baptism. Some of this summer’s
participants and leaders volunteered to be translators for American Teams.
Others extended their stay in the communities to equip and train new believers.
The 11 AOT (Nehemiah Teams Advance Operations Training) participants who were
at training in Samal Island January to March became leaders and trainers for
most of this summer’s teams.
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| NT AOT participants and Franchise leaders during AOT break |
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| AOT participants |
After AOT, I had some time to be in Batangas and catch up
with home and talk with NT Luzon leaders. Then I went to Cebu to attend the Filipino
Youth Missions Conference (April 8-11). Youth and Christian leaders from
all over the country came to the said conference. There were different ministry
booths and missions workshops offered to all the participants to increase the
youth’s involvement in missions and mobilization. I had opportunities to talk
with some people and see possibility of partnership with other missionaries and
mission organizations. The highlight of the event was a contextualized worship
service for our *Neighbors who have come to faith in Jesus, and meeting Ryan
Shaw, president of Student Volunteer Movement 2. To
know more about Student Volunteer Movement 2 – SVM2, please visit: SVM2.net
April 12, I went to Palawan to assist in their
orientation. That team had 4 participants including Mark, their training
facilitator who after orientation joined in as team member. For the rest of the
month until May 14, I was in south Palawan mobilizing in churches and events,
meeting pastors and other leaders for possible partnerships, and visiting areas
where teams here can serve in the coming summers to move forward with localizing
NT in Palawan. The highlights of this trip were the opportunities to be a guest
speaker and trainer for a youth camp and Southern Baptist Women’s Fellowship,
being able to see Vicki, a *Neighbor girl put her faith in Jesus Christ, and
hearing the testimonies of the
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| Palawan NT |
June –July 2013
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| with NT American Big Sis Team |
180
young people participated in American Nehemiah Teams/Project 52 this
June-July. They were deployed in teams to a number of unreached people groups across
the globe, serving in various ministries. Several of these were deployed to the
Philippines, 4 of which were assigned in Luzon – 2 Bicol Medical Teams, Urban
Big Sister Team and a Mindoro Orphan Nanny Team. It was a joy to meet and work
some with the young ladies serving in these teams. At the end of the summer,
they saw a number of people especially young people come to faith and follow in
baptism. The ones in Bicol, through the help of the missionary partners in the
area continue to meet for Bible studies and a couple more young people followed
in baptism
after the teams have left. The teams that served in other areas and countries
also witnessed how the Holy Spirit moved in the lives of the people they are
serving, and from testimonies one will know how their lives were greatly
impacted by how God revealed Himself in different ways this summer.
To read more about American NT/Project 52 2013, please
visit: www.nehemiahteams.com
June 5-7, I attended the OSB Convention meeting –
One Sending Body (the sending board of the Filipino Southern Baptist
Convention. A number of Filipino Missionaries shared about what God is doing
through their ministries and people groups. The speakers poured out their
hearts challenging, casting vision, encouraging and equipping the Filipino
churches to mobilize, equip, send out and support Filipinos engaging in the global
harvest.
To know
more about the Global Harvest, please visit: philippinemissionsassociation.com
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| our Community group at during the BYW conferenece |
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| an all nations table packing food for STOP HUNGER NOW! |
July
17-22, I attended the 16th Baptist Youth World Conference in Singapore. 64 countries participated with more or less
2800 participants. It was a glimpse of that multicultural worship service
described in Revelation 7.9. A glimpse so short but enough to excite us and
fuel us to advance with the Gospel with our words, works and life. The
theme of the Conference is Reach – God reached out to us first so that together
we may reach out to others. That conference really made an impact. The speakers
really connected us to God in His Word. The worship team from different
countries really facilitated the movement of the Holy Spirit in the crowd
through music. There was a wide range of workshop topics to choose from
(including a Conversation with the BWA President, and BWA General
Secretary) to meet each participant’s ministry interest and needs. The
ambiance, technology and kindness of the host county – Singapore really helped
facilitate time to reflect on how God is speaking through the entire conference
period. The program Stop Hunger Now made way for all participants to
work hand in hand to pack 270,000 nutritious food packs to be
transported to the hungry, poor and homeless in South East Asia. It was so neat
to be in a room, around a table, working to fill bags of food with brothers and
sisters from different parts of the world!
To know
more about Baptist Youth World Conference and BWA, please visit: www.bwanet.org
To know
more about Stop Hunger Now, visit: www.stophungernow.org
I am
thankful to the Lord for the wonderful blessing of your friendship and
partnership. May God continue to bless you. Let’s continue to reach out to God
and reach out to the nations.
Please
also pray for the following:
- for NT Mt. Carmel sending a team to the *Neighbors this
October - November
- for the *believing Neighbors going through T4T to reach
others and for the plan to also send them out
- for this season of mobilization and my travel to Cambodia
in October to attend the Asia Pacific Youth Leader’s Summit and share about
what God is doing through young people going on missions
- for the areas where the teams have served , and for the
young people who participated to persevere in faith
- for my
family to come to faith. I have had some deeper and clearer conversations with
my sister lately.
In
Christ,
TO LOVE IS CHRIST. TO DIE IS GAIN.
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| friends from Cambodia @ BYW conference |
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| Indonesian Room mates during the BYW conference |
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| Friends from India during the BYW Conference |
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| Filipino friends @ the BYW Conference |
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| (your right) luigie serving in Samar with some American volunteers |
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| (your right ) Gigi also still serving in E. Samar |
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| (first from your left) Jael, also still serving in E. Samar |
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| Baptism in E. Samar |
