May 20 -VBS Graduation

Today we had a huge ceremony to recognize all the hard work of the students...and with 300 kids who all worked hard, well..needless to say, our ceremony was LONG! but, we were so proud of the kids. All their Scripture memory and hard work, it was so rewarding to see them enjoy it so much. Each group ( we had 4 groups) were awarded with 3medals and 1trophy per group. And tons of certificates! Each kids got something.. it was so fun to see the pride in their eyes!

May 19, Gospel Presentations!

Today was a very important day! After their last lesson( all lessons presented the Gospel in a clear way).. we divided the kids up into groups of 10-15 and assigned a VBS worker to share the Gospel with them in a more personal approach. I am very comforable sharing God's plan of salvation in Tagalog, but today I was way out of my comfort zone!!! We have had a deaf girl named Danica attend each day and our Sign language group has tried our best to communicate with her. Well, the Lord laid her on my heart and I took her into her own personal circle with me and tried my best , with the Lord's help, to share Salvation through Signing. I have been doing the sign language class with the Singles, but I am still very new at it. So, it was a little scary. However, the Lord brought all the words to my memory and I was able to share with Danica. She signed back to me that she understood and believed and wanted to accept the Lord!!! YAHOO!!! YAY!!! Thank You Lord!

At the end of the day, we had 58 sincere professions of faith! It was worth the whole week of hard work to know that these preciuos souls know the truth!

May 17-18, VBS continues

Even more kids...there has to be 300 by now!!!All the kids want to hug me, hold my hand, sit on my lap and feel and play with my hair. I love these kids and want them to see just how much I love them too!!! I am holding up quite well, even though the heat is unbearable. I am covered in heat rash..huge whelping sweat bumps that are so painful. Sometimes, I have to step aside and just get a big drink of water and fight the feeling of fainting. It is extremely hot..words can't do it justice!! Plus, we have had some bumps along the way ( and not just my heat rash).. One girl just sprayed vomit all over the place during opening exercises. It was everywhere all over everything. That was an ordeal. .. then, we had a girl who came sick with diarrhea..and just pooped everywhere. All over her seat in the class room, all the way to the bathroom, all over the rug, the floor and toilet! It was horrible!!

Since I wasn't a teacher this year, I was able to spend time with the mothers that came with their kids while the teachers were teaching in the classrooms. I was able to sit and really share the Gospel with some of them. One lady pictured above beside me, named Nancy, REALLY listened and I shared the Gospel with her. She wants to come back to our church and promised me she would be there next Sunday!!

Really, the Lord is blessing our efforts. We are building up the message of salvation clearly each and every day so that by tomorrow, they will be ready for the Evangelistic Circles. We will be breaking the kids up into small groups and sharing the Gospel more intensely with them in small more intimate groups.

May 16, 2011 - First Day of VBS

WOW..we had 250 kids today! We got up at 5am, and the kids started rolling in around 6:30am! It took us a while to register them all and organize them into their groups. But, we had amazing control this year. The Lord just really gave us a great first day! The kids were behaved ( most were anyway) and we had more than 30 VBS workers, so we were prepared.

There are so many kids, so many faces..but each are individual souls..souls that will spend eternity somwhere. So, through the intense heat and noise, I just smile and hug them and try my best to show the Saviour's love. I want to be that person that they look back on in life and remember making an impact in their life..hopefully, an eternal impact!

VBS Visitation and Inviting!

We minister to 6 different villages here in our 2 church plants..so we have alot of inviting to do! We printed out invitations and went out on foot, inviting kids to the SEA QUEST! This may be the only time these children will hear the Word of God, so this is a HUGE opportunity!

Getting ready for VBS!!!

We have been working so hard getting ready for VBS all month. Pheww..it's hard to believe it starts this week! All the work..we have really worked our fingers and bodies to the bone! It will be worth it if one child accepts the LORD. I am not about " Repeat after me" salvations. To many people are given a false assurance through easy believe-ism. Even though it takes MORE TIME and energy, I make sure that I share the Gospel to folks over and over clearly..so that they understand. Then, as the Spirit leads, they are the one to pray from their heart and it's up to them to recieve or reject the message. I am not about lying to people and telling them they are saved because they repeated a prayer after me. I'd rather have 10 souls sincerely accept the Lord than 1,000 that just did a ritualistic prayer just so I can write a good prayer letter to my supports. Everything I do here, I do from a heart for souls. I want to see people come to know Christ, and I truly doing my best. I hope and pray that God blesses our efforts next week through souls that truly want to accept the Lord!!!

Bangus Festival

Each and every year, the streets of Dagupan are totally engulfed with people as we celebrate our beloved Bangus! Bangus is our livelihood here in Dagupan...it's a fish that we not only eat ALOT of..but it supports so many families here as many men are fishermen. If you don't like bangus, you should not live in Dagupan. Thankfully, I happen to love it. It is delish!

So, this week, we celebrate through parades, lots of grilling and activities, etc. It's fun and exciting till you want to get out and the streets are too crowded with dancing and parades.. Thankfully, it's only for a week!!!

May 8- Mother's Day

Each and every Mother's Day I reflect on how thankful I am to have Sean. I have been cursed with severe Endometriosis, which has robbed me of my fertility. So, the gift of Sean is even more treasured as I know he is my one and only. I can't imagine how God felt when He gave His ONE and ONLY Son to die for wicked sinners. I could never give Sean up like that. I just can't fathom the love of God. He is so good, so just and so amazingly gracious.

Today, all the mothers were recognized and given a rose by their babies. Sean will always be my baby. I love that child more than life and am so blessed to have him. Thank you LORD for allowing me to be his mother!

May 2, 2011- My Girls!

My Singles class is my passion. They are so close to my heart. I love them and enjoy the opportunity to disciple them, train them and work side by side. They are bold in their witnessing and faithful in the service. They are such a gift to me. I feel like each of them are my younger brothers and sisters.

This year, I had 4 girls graduate from college... Each with totally different courses and degrees. In stead of trying to find a gift that could never say how much I love them or how proud I am of them..I decided to take them up to Baguio Mountains for the day and just spend time with them, bonding..and making memories. It was the most fun I have had in a LONG time. I love them..sooooo much!!!

April 30, Ladies Circle friends

Once a month our ladies break up into groups and have Ladies Circles. Our mission each month is to bond together, grow in the Lord together through prayer and Bible study, visit new attenders and soul win to unsaved neighbors and then have lunch or dinner together. We usually are in a group of about 5 or 6 ladies. I love this time together with my sisters. We went to the home of a lady who is unsaved but has been attending for 3 or 4 weeks. We also visited my little friend Greg, who is handicapped and can't get up. We had to have our Bible study and prayer time in the van since it was raining so hard outside and we couldn't get out after visting..Then, we went out for a nice dinner.

CHURCH Anniversary!!

Today we celebrated our first church, LBC's Anniversary..I can't believe it's been 4 years since we merged from a Bible Study to a church. Time sure does fly!

We had a wonderful time of celebrating. We played games and had a competition where we set up an obstacle course... had a tug of war...everyone loved it and we just rolled in laughter! I am so thankful for this church and proud to be part of it here

April 24, 2011 -Easter Sunrise & Baptism

Today was awesome...tiring ...but awesome. We didn't sleep at all last night, preparing the food, equipment, activities, etc. Everyone was pitching in getting ready for the BIG day today. We had to leave between 3-4am to pick everyone up from both church plants and make it to the beach by 5am. That is when the sun rises here. So, we were all very sleepy..but it was such a great day. We had a beautiful service with music and Ferd preached a great message. Then, we went to the ocean where both church plants had their baptisms. Our church had 7 new converts and the our other church plant ( where Pastor Ronald is the pastor now) had 5 converts. SO, 12 new Believers!!! It was incredible. Some of these are my converts from my Singles class, some are from my Patch kids, and Ferd had an older man who is his convert. Plus, many others...it was just wonderful to witness.
Then, of course, we had a delicious meal of sinigang baboy, giniling, mechado, and grilled bangus. Yummy!!!

April 23, 2011 - Happy Birthday Noah

I absolutely love Filipino food..I guess that is why I don't lose weight over here like normal Americans would (-: Today I was invited to my best friends son's birthday party where I got to eat some more good food.

Plus, Leah is like the best cook too. She fixes the best stuff! Her son Noah is adopted, but you would never know it. He just fits into her life so perfectly.. I am so blessed to have seen God's hand in this child's life. He was taken from the lowest level of sin and depravity and placed into a Christian home and into our church. Just love this family...had so much fun today too!

April 18-22 - Camp Week

The Campers had a great time... Ferd brought them back today. I only stayed at the beginning of the week due to responsibilities here. But, they are just so pumped right now and ready to serve more in the church. What a blessing to see them grow like this! I am so thankful that they had this opportunity..especially the new kids from our

2nd church plant.

April 17, 2011 - College CAMP!!!

So, we are jumping right out of Revival and straight into a week of camp...but that's ok, because I am so pumped up from Revival ( and so is everyone else)!!! We had an AWESOME service today, just so filling. Ferd is an amazing speaker and I enjoy his approach to sharing God's Word. He definitely knows how to get your attention. I love that man!

Well, right after the service, we packed up our stuff and loaded up all the College aged campers ( 33 in all) from both TBC and LBC and headed up the mountain for camp.

A little excitement along the way...the TBC van which Pastor Ronald was driving, ran out of gas in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!! We thought he filled it,but he didn't!!!! So, we were stranded for a while until Bro Dany could come back and help! Oh, the joys of ministry and working with other people (-:

Anyway, we all finally made it up to the middle of the mountains where it was nice and cool.. The camp will last the whole week and the kids always come back to on fire for God..ready to work and serve in the next project- VBS!! WOW , it truly is NON stop around here!