Banging! Banging! Banging!

Why all the banging?

It is the sound of building, building and more building!

Please PRAY for the ongoing building projects and PRAISE for the newly finished ones!

We built 2 covered assembly areas for the schools of Lapoc and 
Lirongan, which open onto a stage area with a back stage area 
as well that doubles up as a small classroom. The above is half way
 through building and the finished product is below. 
They were just completed last month.

Projects like these promote good-will

towards the Gospel in these remote

communities!

As a result of the relationships we have with the schools, we are able to teach almost 4,000 kids from the Word each week – HUGE!!! Many of these kids have been saved and many are now filtering into our church youth group and meetings. The kids also have infrastructure to learn in which is a real blessing to them. For example in these 2 schools they did not have much shelter or anywhere to have their lunches or hold assemblies. Now they do J.

As well as having recently finished these two building projects for the schools with the help of a work team from Australia (thanks so much guys!), Paul has also recently finished another school room for the school in Colawingon and he still has four major building projects currently on the boil – a new clinic in Cauyunan and three church buildings for the believers in Lantod, Masimag and Tinongtongan.

Phew! What a marathon! Four more major building projects to complete over the coming months and all the massive effort these take in terms of planning and getting the building materials onto the building sites over extremely rough and boggy (at times) roads.

Please pray for wisdom for Paul as he oversees these building projects, and also for strength because each building takes a chunk of his time and gives him its own unique set of headaches: like the vehicle delivering the roofing and cement to Cauyunan for the clinic getting stuck two days ago in the middle of the river crossing and in danger of being washed away if the rain came before it could be dug out. (Thankfully God held back the rain!)

Paul needs your prayers:

·         For wisdom and strength.

·         For safety for his teams of builders.

·         For safe delivery of all his building materials.

·         For rest and peace of his busy mind even in the midst of busyness.

·         For wise division of his time amongst his various ministries.

·         For freshness and joy in his leadership of our missionary team and discipleship of the church leadership team.

·         For time to play. (Mostly with his almost 14 year old son! Sometimes with the grandkids who will soon be 4!  Yes! Jen is expecting our number 4 grandchild!)

·         For refreshment from the Word.

·         For hours needed on the translation work.

I can SEE!!!

Recently we helped this lady, Lola, have cataract surgery and after years of blurred vision, she can now see.

When her eyes were first opened – after the surgery – she looked around in wonder and said, “I can see the mountains.....I CAN SEE YOUR FACES......I can see EVERYTHING!!”

What excitement!! What joy!!!

We can only imagine the difference this must mean in her life.

Next week there is another group of people who will
 be given their sight!

A group of criminals are hearing the Gospel for the first time!!

In a place called Talid-talid, a hide-out for criminals and one of the

furthest outreaches from Lapoc, this group have been listening

to the preaching of the Word since Feb 17, 2012.  

Truth after truth, verse after verse has been expounded to them,

replacing all the lies that they have been believing all their lives,

showing them that from the beginning, before the world was even

made, God had them in His heart and made a way so that they could

have a relationship with Him. They have gotten to know the 
Lord Jesus and have been learning about His life.

Next week they are finally at the foot of the cross and are 
ready to hear about everything that happened

 to Jesus on the cross so that 
He could pay for their sin.
 Some have already been able to see that Jesus is their

Saviour and they have believed. 
Others are just on the brink of being able 
to clearly see the truth.  

What a wonderful thing to be able to SEE!!!!

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate cake speaks volumes in any language – especially to kids!

These kids had never seen us before and they were scared of us at first but we won their hearts by taking them chocolate cake.

Now we are praying that Jesus will win their hearts with His love as His Word has just arrived in their village and their Dads and Mums are hearing the truth about God for the first time in their lives. Pray that light will flood their hearts and that these children grow up being children of light and not children of darkness.

These kids need something of far more value then chocolate cake. They need life without end, they need truth, they need to know that Jesus loves them and gave His life for them.

While my arms were wrapped around the little girl leaning on me in the above picture, I could feel the amulets that her parents had tied around her waist in a vain effort to ward off evil spirits. Their trust is in the powers of the witchdoctor and in their own efforts but we need to pray that they will be freed from this terrible oppression and darkness and will come into freedom and life!