The Lord is My Shepherd

Three days before we hadn’t the slightest idea that we would be in the Philippines attending the funeral of Gavs. We were all shocked by his “untimely” death caused by brain aneurysm. He was a funny and humble man, a good father and a loyal friend. He was our nephew but more than that he was like a son to us. He never knew his father and her mom got sick when he was little. We took him in our young family then. He spent many years of his life with us. He was 30 years old.

Just before his body was put into the ground, the Pastor recited Psalm 23 and uttered a comforting prayer for the bereaved family.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Although this Psalm is considered to be part of the funeral liturgy, we believe that God’s promises in this passage are being fulfilled in our lives on daily basis.  Thank you for being part of God’s fulfilled promises to us and our children. We are thankful to the Lord for using you in our ministry to help children, youth and women in the community.

English Camps

It is a joy to watch a group of young people sharing the gospel to more than a hundred of students through songs and Bible Story in an English Camps. We thank the Lord for the YWAM team composed of youth members of Faith Family Church (Illinois) who came last week that helped us in a 3-day English camp at Tesaban 1 Wat Proweehan School. These young people shared God’s love to the students.

We have another YWAM Team that came last Friday and will help us in another English Camp in Suntard Village School. This is a small village school that the government is planning to close down if the student population will not increase. We want to help the school to have more students next year so that it will continue. Together with our friends who live there, we are praying that the presence of the YWAM Team teaching at the English camps will help the school. We also hope to get volunteers to teach English at the school on regular basis.

After helping the school, we are praying that we can start the ministry with young women in the area with our friends. We also hope that we can share the gospel and a community of believers will gather to worship in the village. Please pray that God will use the English camp as a channel of God’s blessings in that village.

Visa Extended For Another Year

As far as I can remember, this year holds the record for the smoothest visa extension we ever had. We drove to Chiang Mai to visit the immigration office to have our visa extended. We noticed right away that there were fewer people at the immigration office even though we went there on a Monday. We learned later that the place is being used solely for visa extension and the 90-day appearance, re-entry permit and such like transactions are transferred to another location. We are thankful that we don’t nee to come back after a month. The office granted us one-year visa in just one visit. Thank you for including this concern in your prayers and for your contribution to our visa expenses.

Little Family Update

Although we are mourning, our visit to the Philippines also made us happy. We were able to spend precious time with our own children for 4 whole days. Those days were the happiest days for us in a while. We have many wonderful things to be thankful for. Jared is already working as teacher in a private school. Jillian defended her thesis last week and she will graduate next year. Reuven will be enrolled in college soon. Please pray that the certificate from Philippine Department of Education for his passing the ALS Test will be given soon. We are praying that he can enrol this August. Thank for helping us in praying for our children. Please pray for God’s provision for their studies.

More Prayer Concerns

• Please help us to pray for the following concerns:
  Pray for the ministry in Suntard Village. Pray for our friends, Wayne and Jeen, who live there and want to spread the gospel to their neighbours. Pray for Larry as he works out the details of our plan for the ministry to the young women that will be based in that village.
• Pray for our ministry at Pantamit church. Preaching, training and teaching children in Sunday School.
• Pray for Jennifer, our friend from Ireland who has been helping us immensely with English teaching ministry, English Camps, music and caring for the children.
• Pray for good health for all of us specially the children during this rainy season.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. We sincerely appreciate your love and generosity. We pray that God will continually prosper and bless you. The Lord honors the sacrifices you made in helping us in our ministry.