Pastor Lew reports from Palino Pugo

Tuesday report from Pastor Lew: We had a good day today. Our team of 3 people One Bible study with 3 adults, 3 kids. The topic was 'Bible-Based Belief'.  The next 2 days will be 'Repentence' and 'Salvation Through Jesus'. At the end of the third lesson we ask them to make a decision to follow Jesus and start the discipling process.

Some of the team played basketball with about 10 teens from 5-6pm, one was from the Bible study. Tomorrow we hold a Vacation Bible Study at 4pm for all the children we have met.

Today we also met an American who lives here with his Filipina wife 4 months of the year, then is in Oregon the rest of the time. Nice couple, really unchurched, both professionals retired from Hewlett-Packard in California. Her mother is 89 yrs old, a local, but has dementia and is bedridden. We are asking Linda's permission to pray for her mother.

Our results from Monday's activities: our teams met 108 people, of whom 64 agreed to have Bible studies. The Palina Pugo area has about 2000 people total, so we are making an impact.  Praise the Lord!

Pastor Lew, Herman and Steve - in Palino Pugo

An Aguilar Afternoon - Trevor Phillips

With Wilfredo at local 'Baranguy' house

Jenny & I (Trevor) are getting used to life in Aguilar, our target town. As I write this the team is enjoying afternoon siesta to escape from the heat of the afternoon sun, a couple of dogs are wandering around our yard, and a gentle breeze is blowing through our rest area.  It is also election time here so every so often a bus, van or tricycle goes past on the main road blaring campaign music or slogans for their favourite candidate, Filipino style!  Yesterday we walked the busy main road into town to seek contacts for bible studies.  We are teamed up in pairs; I am with Pastor Russell who is staying on as the pioneer pastor for the new church. It was a special time to be asked to pray for healing for one of our good contacts Wilfredo, who was experiencing extreme pain and swelling in his hand and up his arm.  Wilfredo has invited us to come back to his house on Saturday to meet and conduct bible studies with his wider family; amongst his children he has two sons who are seafarers and he expects one to be at home on vacation by then.  Please be in prayer for the many religious people here to meet and experience Jesus truly in their hearts.  Thank you!  

House the team is staying in (behind tree, to left)

Meeting the people - in Palino Pugo

Pastor  Lew from Indonesia reports: 

Update for Monday morning, 15 April: My Filipina partner, Mary Jane, is a 21 year-old children's pastor. Together we walked up and down mountains and valleys to meet people and invite them to study the Bible with us. We approached the first house with fear and trembling--but no one was home! At the second house we met a woman with 7 children, whose husband was working out of town.  We introduced ourselves and started talking. It seemed natural to ask if she had a Bible in the house, and if she would allow us to come back and study it with her. She said yes! Then two of her children spent the next two hours taking us to every house on the mountainside. No one else was home until the last house. The lady was related by marriage to the children's mother, and agreed to join the Bible study as well. The result of our first 3 hours: 1 Bible study with 12 total members in two related families (and about 7 houses to follow up on later). The first lady also suggested that we gather all the children in the area for a Vacation Bible School program, since the children are on summer break through June. We will try to schedule that to start this week also. Praise the Lord!






The Peioneer Pastor at Palino Pugo - Pastor Paul Santos & wife & 11 month old baby.

First day of Field Work

Breakfast is being prepared for the team. Diced potatoes and egg, fried together ... very tasty ... plus rice.

Mitz is a pedicab driver who we met on the roadside. A young pastor from Manila, Pastor Rey, is on the left. Mitz shared with us his many poblems and wept openly. He confessed that he turned to alcohol for comfort. We prayed for him as we stood on the roadside, and agreed to meet later in the day before he starts his nightly drinking. We know that God loves pedicab drivers! We even believe that Mitz will be in the core-group of believers in the newly planted church - he has many friends and contacts in the town. The only problem is he still a drunkard and not yet saved. But this will change, and we need your prayers for Mitz. Thanks!

In the mountains, and in the towns

The mountains of Palina Pugo - where it is a mountain-climb to the target houses ...

The streets of Aguilar, with the Spanish-built Roman Catholic church in center of town. The team is walking in the town to introduce ourselves, to pray over the town, and to get the lie-of-the-land. Trevor is wearing his Aussie Outback Spectacular hat - quite a hit with the locals!

Newbie's on Mission: Update 1

As newbie's to the mission field there are so many things I could talk about but Neil and I are so thankful for God's provision and protection.  We are blessed by the people we are traveling with and the amazing Filipino people.  Their hospitality and humor is truly awesome.  One experience we had was what Anne has termed a "newbie blessing" and this beautiful man of God Pastor Saul drove us the hour from Agoo to Dagupan City in theair conditioned comfort of his car whilst the rest of the team traveled in a bus. 

The place we are staying in is a Children's Shelter and the kids are lovely.  They are at bit uncertain about us but are starting to become more friendly -- apparently the power of the camera phone brings out even the most hesitant of child.  They were very curious about all our baggage and bedding when we were unpacking.

We are so blessed to be here and so thankful to God for bringing us even when it seems so different and strange.  Each time we are felt out of our comfort zone God has rained down his mercies even in the smallest of ways whether it is a cool breeze or a cold drink but we will continue to rely on him as we do his work on earth.

Its\ is very hot, slowly getting well after bronchitis. Very one has been looking after me well. It has been very interesting being at the beginning of the SOS experience and meeting the full team, hearing their enthusiasm, and witnessing, and watching their energy.
Here is a photo of part of our team
Maree

We have arrived in Dagupan, a large fishing area of North Luzon.  They are the milk fish capital of Philippines.  We are staying in an orphanage/boarding school.  The children here with us are intrigued with us.  Some are quite shy and we look forward to getting closer to them over the next week. 
I sit in my room with the young people worshiping outside my room. 
We were woken at 5am with the Catholic Seminary across the road ringing the bells for early morning prayers.  That was a good reminder for me to pray for these next days as we start our evangelism.   We pray for open heaven over the target area.

International Team goes to 4 Target towns

The Indonesian Team led by Pastor Lew Belcourt has been assigned to two towns - Palino Pugo and Bagallon.

Pastor Lew reports:
Today Steve, Herman and I (Lew) arrived with our team of 20 church planting volunteers and the pioneering pastor in Palino Pugo, La Union, a remote area of northern Philippines on the way to Baguio City. We will reach out to the 1500 people who live in the mountains here. Unfortunately no signal here at the base camp. I have walked up the mountain a little way to get signal and check messages before going to bed. The two houses that are our base camp are the only ones for about 1 kilometer. I can see the lights of houses at the top of the mountain-that is our target area.  I have been invited to preach in a local church, will travel 30 minutes by motorcycle to get there. Livia and Venus arrived safely in Bugallon this afternoon, and after cleaning the school classrooms in which they are sleeping, were resting. Please pray for us--this will be challenging! God bless you.

Venus reports thateveryone had good sleep last night. The boys and ladies have separate classrooms at the Bugallon Elementary School.

Venus and Livia

The Aussies are in two towns - Dagupan City and Aguilar. Anne Cock reports|

Dagupan is a well established orphanage / boarding school with many inroads into the community already. We woke at 4am with the Catholic call to prayer broadcast from the seminary across the road. I'm excited to be here and start our time with worship today.  (Neil & Kim and Marie are together with Anne)

Jenny and Trevor Phillips are together with David at Aguilar. 21 team members are living in the various rooms of this house, seen in the early light of dawn

Filipino SOS Volunteers learn from the manual what is expected on an SOS team. Then they are tested on their knowledge. Here are the winners of the test.

They are given a USB drive loaded with resources for pioneer pastors, and Bible helps. The USB drives were prepared from Pastor Rey Calusay's library, with the help of the Gateway Baptist Church Life Group that meets at John & Jan Manning's house.

Now they are on the road by bus to 5 different target towns - to put it all into practice! Stay tuned ...

Aussies & Indonesians ... in the Philippines

 
Five people from Indonesia and seven from Brisbane met for the first time on April 11. Pastor Rey Calusay was our teacher, and we learned the basics of SOS church planting. We talked about the structure of the SOS teams that we would be joining, and the principles of spiritual warfare. We ate Filipino food in the food court at the mall and we started to adapt and acclimatise.

  On April 12 we rode the bus for 7 hours to La Union province to one of the training venues in the town of Ago-o. Zenadia Calusay is training 100 people of all ages. On April 13 they will go out to 5 different target towns where churches will be planted. We will be going with them - another bus ride!
 
We will be assigned to one of the towns in the province of Pangasinan. Everyone is waiting to know their assignment. Watch this space...

Team training in Manila

We have arrived well and are now getting ready to drive to Agoo. a 7 hours journey north of Manila. Yesterday we had some team building time and some great teaching from Pastor Rey about spiritual warfare. Luke 11:14-22 and Ephesians 6. A good and timely reminder of who we are in Jesus and the battle that He has already won in heaven. We are excited and anticipating open doors for meeting and teaching and leading people to know Jesus. This is so different from our everyday lives.... Thank you God. Help this experience to rub off on us and inspire us as we return to Australia.

Preparing for SOS 2013

Preparing to help plant a church in the Philippines in April 2013.

A Filipino meal in Brisbane Australia helps to set the scene.

Pastor Rey Calusay comments: "Fantastic.. there is nothing more inspiring to see than the koinonia/partnership in the furtherance of the gospel.. praise the Lord."

God's Word speaks !

Isagani and Victorina are the parents of nine children, at leat four of whom are university graduates (including doctorates) and with successful careers with one in the US. But they live in humble circumstances. They had been catholics all their lives but realise how shallow it all was because they were never encouraged to read the bible for themselves. In fact they were discouraged from picking it up because the church could tell them all they needed to know. They had bibles, but for them it was an unread book just sitting in their house gathering dust.

The SOS team arrives in their lives and talk about the real value of bible reading for the christian as a great source of encouragement and comfort, truth about beliefs,  clarity about the level of obedience and responsibility God requires of them.  They started on the path of the team's bible studies and were unpleasantly shocked to discover vital things they had not realised before. A sense of urgency followed, driven by this wonderful discovery and conviction about what they need to do to obey God, as well as the realisation that they had being misled all their lives.

Their study was intense and they have come to the realisation that they need to be water baptised by complete immersion. Their new convictions about their new faith runs deep. I can see the impact their new found faith will have in the near future on their children, grandchildren and their neighbours and friends. God has been preparing this lovely couple for years for this moment.Praise Him.

- Leo

Made clean !

Guillermo is 56 and is suffering from paralysis and hypertension. He has lived a hard life, but played hard and became so dependent on the bottle together with his mates. He came to realise that he was living in a condition of hopelessness and didn't know which way to turn. He knew one thing very clearly: that he felt heavily burdened and guilty because of his past life.

Then the SOS team comes into his life. Just another contact visit by the team not knowing what God had in mind for that day. God had something dramatic to do that day. As Guillermo listened to the team and participated in bible studies, everything fell into place. He came to realise that the cause of his hopelessness was not confessing his burdensome sins of his past to His God and not knowing of the forgiveness available to him which comes because of the sacrifice of Jesus the King of kings and Lord of lords. As soon as he completed the bible study on water baptism, he desperately wanted to be baptised that day. The team said they would organise it for 3pm that afternoon. They then continued to see other contacts in another area (Puruk). These visits also inspired strong interest, with people gathering around the discussion and asking questions. The interest was so intense that the team forgot about their 3pm appointmnet with Guillermo. They raced back to his place to find that he had been patiently waiting for 2 hours...no complaints, but desperate to be baptised that day. He wanted those sins washed away asap.

The team began to organise a suitable time for the following day but he pleaded for it to be done that day. It was too dark for the river, and not quite appropriate at the resort. Someone suggested one of the blue plastic 44 gallon water drums back at the school where the team was accommodated. Perfect solution. Guillermo couldn't get the smile off his face. He was so excited that it was really happening. The baptism was performed. Total immersion was achieved, and he rose out the waters of baptism smiling and relieved that his sins were now washed away and that he was obedient to the Word of God. After prayer for his healing that night, he felt a relief of his medical condition and had this amazing feeling of being cleansed by the blood of Jesus, and the burdens of sin lifted.

In days following Guillermo intoduced the team to his five friends and accompanied the team to invite other contacts to the GOS. His presence endorsed the work of the team and gave them more listening ears. Guillermo insisted in helping the team invite contacts to a special seminar to be held in his area. At the seminar, he gave his testimony to his friends and neighbours of what God had done for him. This encouraged many of them to come to the Grand Opening Service. He has been working intensely in The Lord's vineyard ever since. He is so very much aware of God's grace to him that he wants others to hear what God can also do for them. He is a shining example of a disciple of Christ and has impacted many lives already for Jesus. God be praised for working so beautifully in this one life.

- Leo.

Stephan - the healing process

18 Year old Stpehan was bed-ridden. A kind of muscular dystrophy robbed him of mobility. When the SOS volunteers found him, he had not been outside his house for years.  The team prayed for him, and encouraged him to try moving. Tim helpedhim to stand up (Tim is the right size for that), and encouraged him to exercise his muscles.

By the 3rd day Stephan was able to go outside and view the sunset and the moon for the first time in 3 years.Praise God.

Imagine the scene...

The four Aussies sat under the evening sky, looking at a crescent shaped moon. We spoke prophetically that the work of the Lord we have seen already will be grown and developed by the Holy Spirit in the lives of the new converts - as surely as the moon will grow to a full-moon.

The Filipino team was singing in the classroom nearby "You are God in the City". Listen to the audio  captured on camera as we sat there. GREATER THINGS ARE YET TO BE DONE - in the city. (Enjoy the audio - with a slideshow of events in the city this week)

Pray with us over Santiago City that God will 'hasten' the greater things that He will do. Pray that the new converts will be sharing the gospel with their own friends and contacts - starting this very next week.

First Assembly Metro Evangel

F.A.M.E. is the name of the new church. First Assembly Metro Evangel - FAME! Preparations are almost complete for the Grand opening Service at 4pm on Sunday. The new converts will become the new congregation of FAME Church.

Many have been praying for the new church location in the city. We have had confirmation now from trusted advisers, and the building mentioned earlier in the blog will become FAME HQ. Here is the roof top suitable for childrens' activities, with a small flat for Pastor Jean. There are two floors below for congregating the church, and running seminars, etc. It is ideally located close to schools and colleges. Praise God.

More fun and more baptisms

Thursday was Fiesta day in the city. All the contacts would be celebrating and watching the grand parade. So the SOS Volunteers took the day for R&R. We went swimming. Tim met one of the locals (a python).

Later some of our contacts arrived at the swimming pool, to be baptised. They testified of their new faith in Jesus, and were baptised while everyone was still in the pool.  Praise God the church in Santiago City is growing!  

Friendly Filipinos

Its been a privilege to present Bible Studies & observing the positive exciting response to the message. As if it's new information for them. They become enthusiastic about the gospel and want to know more. This often leads to water baptism.
I am captivated by the intense interest that these beautirful Filipino people show in the Bible Studies. This is what God intends to impact their lives.  We witness 1st hand the power of the word of God and the power this has on a life that responds to God for the first time.
They love our testimonies, and those of team members. They love seeing photos of our family and hearing our story. The children are either beautiful or cute (!) and very friendly and love to follow us around. They love having their photo taken, and its so easy for us to oblige.
Riding on the motorised tricycle is an experience! But we survive!
-Leo