Tim & Bambi's Praise & Prayers

Greetings from the Philippines!

We are PRAISING God for:

Recovering well from a relapse of Hepatitis A. I've been feeling better; and am gradually getting back my normal color.
(For a while there, I was as yellow as a Philippine mango.)
Bambi is also now able to speak (very softly), and recovering also from chronic laryngitis. She'll have a check-up next week to see if the polyp on her vocal chord is gone.

Added blessings from illness include:
-The way our local congregation has stepped-up to give me the time to rest and recover thoroughly.
They've been doing so much of ministry and outreach together; and a strong culture of teamwork has come out of this.
-Bonus opportunity to soak in the Lord's presence and read the New Testament through again.
-Quality time with Bambi, who has cooked some of the most delicious and healthy meals I've had since we've been married.
Her talent amazes me; and we have grow so close to each other over the past few weeks.

A miracle
-The woman in our church who was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, has now been sent home from the hospital.
Doctors can no longer find the tumor, and are simply treating an infection with oral antibiotics. Praise the Lord!

-A new mission
Last week, we opened yet another mission outreach to one of the villages in San Fernando. We are now sending out 20-30 Christian volunteers each & every week on 7 different mission teams. It is exciting that many lost souls are being reached; but also that the Filipinos in our congregation are being trained on-the-job to dispense Christ's salvation into all the world.

We are PRAYING for:

-Opportunity to partner with the Department of Education to spearhead a program that will help drop-outs get a high school equivalency diploma.
-Complete restoration of our health

Greetings from the Philippines

We are PRAISING God for:

-75 people that have been immersed into Christ so far since this year (our goal for the year is 100)

Every month, people are coming to Christ and getting saved. An inclusive, evangelistic culture has developed. Believers are each embracing their own role in the great commission.

-Increased attendance steadily of the weekend services, and now between 350-400 people.

Our building cannot hold everyone at once, so we are currently holding 3 services. The 10am service usually has people spilling-out into the courtyard where they have to watch the service from outside on tv monitors.

-6 mission outreaches to other communities on-going each & every week, reaching hundreds of others non-Christians.

Many of these are children who are very hungry to hear God's word and are memorizing Scripture. Gradually they find ways to attend the weekend service, and bring their parents or relatives to know Jesus.

We are PRAYING for:

-Complete restoration of our health

I (Tim) am still fighting off Hepatitis-A (possibly from contaminated water, food, sanitary conditions...). It has slowed me down somewhat; but the mercies of the Lord are new every morning, and I am given the strength to do everything I need to do.

Bambi is on 2-week total voice rest (not a word; not even a whisper) after having been diagnoses with chronic laryngitis and a small polyp on her vocal chord.

A new member, Mryna, who suddenly discovered a 3-4 inch tumor attached to her pancreas. She has been instrumental in spearheading one of our mission outreaches. Doctors have given a very negative report and started speculating the number of months she may have left to live.

-A new land acquisition

For years now, I have been trying to locate the owners of plot of land adjacent to our building in order to possibly lease or buy it. Farmers growing rice on the land claim that the owners are out of the country and not contactable. However recent research (going way back into historical records) shows a possibility that the church may actually already own the said land, if it was indeed a part of a prior land that we purchased. Land surveys and titles can get complicated and messy in the Philippines. Please pray that this land will be confirmed as being legally owned by the church. We really need the space.