June 2019 Ministry Updates

Highlights

(June 2019)

Revisiting Our Plan

Our scheduled activities until December 2019

I am blessed to have wonderful church planting team.  Aside from being competent in their ministry works, they have passion to seek the lost.  


Through  this church panting ministry, we are helping people back to God through planting small churches in the community.  We started here in Sitio Katuwiran, a pocket of informal settler in Barangay San Rafael, Montalban. We begun reaching out this community Last August 2018 and on January 2019, we were able to start with feeding program with the help of Scandinavian Children Mission Team.  Sixty children were lead to Christ.   Following our planned schedule, early March we started with home Bible study group and on June we were able to start the youth fellowship with newly converts from the youth camp.  Along with our home bible study groups and youth fellowship.  We are also praying for a place where we can start gathering the new converts for join worship.  

Josh handling over the school supply

Basketball Mission Team Came to Bless...

A Basketball Mission Team from Cole Valley Christian School Boise, Idaho, USA  came and bless the children with school supplies and a handful of groceries packs for the families in the community.  We were able to bless 100 families and 100 children for their gifts.  We are thankful for their partnership in bringing the gospel of Jesus to heart of these people, we are like-sheep without shepherd. 


Prayer Concerns:
1.  Pray for church planting team, pray for their health and financial provision.
2.  Please pray for a place where we can construct simple structure for the church.
3.  Please for the fund to construct the structure for church. 

May 2019 Ministry Updates

Highlights
(May 2019)

Pastor Marvin Cerina, one of the missionary explain the
salvation to the campers. 

Evangelistic Youth Camp

Fifteen youth from  our church planting were sent to join in a three days evangelistic youth camp on May 25-27, 2019.  Companion With The Poor (CWTP), is our mission organization were me and my team where affiliated.  Every year, through the generous financial help from donors, we bring 150 non- christians young people from our different church planting areas to a place with swimming pool, good food and lodging. We share Jesus and  His love to them.

From our church planting area in Sitio katuriwan, San Rafael Montalban,  we sent 15 unbelievers to join in the camp.  First we ask permission from the their parents then ask the them to sign a commitment form that they will obey the rules and respect their fellow campers.  strict rules is necessary to implement before and during the camp to ensure success.  From experience, young people from this kind of community most likely had difficulty in observing rules. 

Home Bible Study

Our approach in reaching the community for Christ are subtle and friendly.  First, we come to their house knocking, asking if they wanted to be prayed, which in most cases they agree. Second, we ask them if we can visit them again, this time, some were hesitant however, they agreed. In third visit we usually bring something; a kilo of rice or a noodles. There the relationship begun.  We share our faith and motives why we are coming to their community.  Relationship grows, and home bible study begins.  It Usually start with few members from the family, then they invite their neighbors. 

As of this month we have two bible study groups lead by Ligaya Esquieda and Rebecca Bataanon the other group is lead by Pastor Noel Nerio and his wife Alva Nerio.  Pastor Nerio is our local partner.  The Lord willing, in two years time, when the partnership is completed, we will turn over the ministry to Pastor Noel's leadership and our team will start another church planting in other community. 

Prayer Concerns:
1.  Please pray for the campers. Pray that will receive Jesus in their hearts
2.  Pray for our team health and financial provision for family and ministry needs
3.  Pray for a place where our team can hold a meeting and bible study
4.  Pray for the community that they will receive the gospel of Jesus with gladness.

April 2019 Ministry Updates

Knock Knock!

Bon Lachica, Our Missionary-n-Training
(MIT), approached one of the mothers

Since we started working in Sitio (zone) Katuwiran in Barangay San Rafael, Rodriguez, Rizal.  We were able to serve 60 children and their parents. Since we started last December 2018,  we were able to establish two home Bible study groups.  The first quarter of 2019 focused on establishing good relationship in the community.  The kiddie program helps us pave the way to have good relationship both parents and children. 

Our current activities now is door-to-door, we intentionally knock every door (I am referring to the front covering of the shanties, we called it door), we introduce ourselves that we are Christian workers and we offer prayer for the family.  When they respond, we will invite them for a Bible study. Our objective  is to knock 9 doors (houses) for the first week of May 2019 and on second week increase by three total of twelve then fifteen and so on.  We will continue knocking until September this year then evaluate and repeat  the process until we fully saturate the whole community for evangelism.  

Off for one day

We are thankful to have at least one-day for fellowship with all the missionaries/church planters and their families.  We want to build strong relationship with our missionaries and their children, so we plan even to have a one-day “family Day” once a year. 

Next Three-months Plan...

1. We are praying to have feeding program. Children ministry is one of the activities we do in church planting. 

2.  Start Alternative Learning System (ALS).  ALS in a government program for non-formal education.  We have trained missionaries in Companion With Poor to teach ALS in the community. 

3.  Look for the place where we can start congregate new believers.

4.  Established five new Bible study groups.

Prayer Concerns;

1.  Pray for team as we reach other for Christ. Pray for our health and financial needs.

2.  Pray for a place for worship within the community.

3.  Pray for more ministry partners coming along side with us. 

March 2019 Ministry Updates

Children learned To Pray In Kiddie Class

Baste, praying...

Our team begins in reaching the community through children.  Usually we start in giving snacks to the children after we teach Bible story.  This time, the Scandinavian Children Mission partnered with us in reaching children.  For three months, together with their team, we meet the children in the community every Monday for two hours.  We completed the program with 60 children.  

Baby Baste (in photo, praying), is one of the children learned to pray.  His parents were happy because of Baste’s transformation.  Baste is just among those who learned good values through the program. the same time the kiddie Class helps out team became visible to the people in the community and they begins to recognize us as Christian workers.  This program became an avenue for teaching the truth from the Bible and the same time we educate children on how they should behave with their parents, elderly and even among their peers.   One of the highlights in Kiddies Class program is teaching the children to protect themselves from others who might abuse them.  The story used from the Bible is from the gospel of John chapter 10. Highlighting that God is the Good Shepherd and He cares for us. Teacher Ederly Camina, volunteer teacher, relate the story from the Bible to their present situation that many children were abused. “You need to protect yourself from the bad guys and tell your parents if somebody touches your private part”, children were laughing.  But teacher Ederly make it to the point.  


Education Breaks the Cycle Of Poverty

It's became a pattern in community when the father is drunkard, most like the children were became

Rejel Simbulan during
actual practice
in automotive

drunkard too, when the family is poor and uneducated, most like many of the children will be the same. The cycle kept repeating. One of the advocacy we had is to help break that cycle through education and employment opportunity.  One of the church planting components is Alternative Learning System (ALS). ALS is designed to help education available even to those drop-outs and in old age, ALS is non-formal education that we offered in the community. 

Rejel Simbulan begin his journey with his desire to learn about auto mechanic but he was not completed high school.  The Technical Education Development Authority (TESDA) certified only those who completed high school as part of the certification guideline. So Rejel is disqualified but he did not lost his hope.  He study in ALS every afternoon and attended in auto mechanic class every morning for one year. God bless his perseverance, he was allowed to take National Competency Test level two (NC 2) and passed the license and the same time was able to take equivalency test for ALS.  His journey doesn't end here. He will be send to Mitsubishi Motors for On-The-Job training.  If he displayed competency in the job, the company might hire him or if not it will be easy for him to get another job in the other car company. 


Ministry Updates

• We continue in visiting families in the community offering them simple prayer, we also share the gospel and invite them to join in Bible study. 

• Our kiddie Class was completed the program with 60 children. Ten (10) will be sent to leaders camp.  We believed that through the camp their faith will grow deeper.

• In automotive school, 10 trainees were completed their training and passed in National Certification for automotive serving level two. 

Prayer Concern:

• We are looking for a common place for our worship in the community.  Please pray for available and inexpensive place for us. pray also for the financial provision to purchase lot for the church. 

• Pray for our workers; pray for their health, provision for financial need for their families.