Update February 25, 2012

Greetings to you all from Baguio, it is so nice to be home.  I was quite surprised this morning when I checked my web site and noticed that I had not sent out an update since the end of December.  Things have been a bit hectic these last weeks and the time has just flown by.   
We spent last week in Manila while I taught at Special Studies at the Bible school in Malolos.  We are thankful to the Lord that the time seemed to be quite profitable.  There were some good times of discussion and questions regarding families and their responsibilities in the local church as well as the responsibilities of fathers and mothers in the discipline and raising of children in the home.  We pray that the lessons learned my have a positive impact on the biological families as well as on the local church families as the principles learned are applied.

Our car made the trip down and back, but there still are some more serious issues that need to be addressed.  Old Betsy, as she is fondly called, is in need of some rehab.  She has been a real work horse for us but she is beginning to show her age.  There are some reoccurring issues that need to be resolved and some new ones that came up during our time in Manila. We are so very thankful to the Lord that we were able to nurse her back home.  This week she will go back into the shop to have some things worked on.  Some things must be repaired before we can register her again in June or she will not pass inspection. Please be praying.  This car is so much depended on for ministry and right now my confidence level in her reliability is fading.  Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom as to what our next steps should be. 

This week I will be completing final preparations for the next Bible school session that will begin next Sunday (March 4) at the Navy Base assembly.   I will be preparing the student notebooks, printing all the handouts and outlines as well as finishing up my personal notes and reviewing all the material for this semester.  We will be taking up Eschatology this time around and it should be a challenging subject for all.  I am looking forward to teaching it.  Please be praying that this would be a profitable time for all.

This week we get back to our regular schedule of Bible studies and meetings.  Sunday we are at Navy Base, next Sunday we will be down in Baguio Gold in the morning.  We will have home Bible studies on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday these next few weeks with a study also on Wednesday nights at the chapel.  Continue to pray for the continued effectiveness of these studies.  We desire to see those who attend these studies in regular fellowship at the assembly once they have received the Lord as Savior.  We have been seeing some good fruit in the lives of many, and are thankful to the Lord.

            Thank you all for your prayers.

December 30, 2011 Pictures

Update - Dec 30, 2011

Greetings once again, to you all, in the precious name of our Redeemer;

                 Happy New Year to you!  Perhaps this coming year we will hear the shout and be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.  But while we wait to hear His sweet voice may we be about His business for His glory.

                  It is hard to believe that another year is about to close.  It has been a challenging year in many respects, but also a another year in which the Lord has blessed and encouraged our souls.  This time last year we were anticipating our trip to Korea to minister to the saints there.  What a blessing that was.  It was a year full year of conferences, home bible studies, speaking engagements, and bible school sessions.  I just pray that the Lord will used His word in the hearts of those who heard, and that genuine change for good will be the lasting result. 

                 This week I was given the privilege to speak at a youth conference here in Baguio hosted by the Navy Base assembly.  Eighty five young people along with several elders and workers from assemblies in the North were in attendance.  It was a lively group of young people and we enjoyed hearing their special numbers and presentations.  I spoke on the theme of “Looking unto Jesus”. They were such an attentive group and I very much enjoyed sharing with them a few thoughts out of Hebrews 12.  I trust the Lord will use it for the encouragement and challenge of these young disciples of Christ.  The message was followed by a nice meal and then fun and games in the afternoon  I am told by the time the conference was over it was like no one wanted to go home.  Such a blessing. 

 

                On Christmas day I spoke at the Navy Base assembly.  We met to remember the Lord, and then went straight into the preaching time after a few songs.  I was a nice way to remember the “Word which became flesh and dwelt amongst us”.  It is wonderful to remember that He still dwells in our midst.  

                The week before the assembly at Navy Base celebrated their 36^th year in the building they now occupy.  That was a wonderful time of celebration of the faithfulness of God.  The youth choir sang, the children performed special numbers and the adult choir sang the Hallelujah chorus and did a wonderful job.       Then we all enjoyed a meal together and in the afternoon met together once more for a time of singing praise unto our Lord.  A truly blessed day.

                This week I will be speaking at the Anniversary Sunday down in Baguio Gold.  I plan, Lord wiling, to share some thoughts on the Faithfulness of our God, out of Lamentations 3.  This will begin a short series on that subject for the two Sundays a month that I speak down there.   Then next Lord’s Day we will begin that last semester of bible school classes on Ecclesiology there as well.  Once that is complete we will begin all over again with a new series of bible school lessons on Eschatology, beginning Lord willing sometime in February at Navy Base.  So please keep these things in your prayers.

                May the Lord richly bless you in the coming year. May He comfort and encourage us all through struggles that will come, may He cause our heart to soar with delight at gems discovered in His precious word, may He teach us and train us in righteousness, may He discipline us when it is necessary, and may we by this time next year have experienced  real growth in our walk and relationship with Him.   

Update - November 30, 2011

Greetings to you all once again in the precious and peerless name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has “…ascended on high (and) led captivity captive and gave gifts to men”.  What a gracious victorious Savior we serve.

We completed the last local Bible School semester at Navy Base, a couple of weeks ago, on the Church.  It was a profitable series, for which we thank the Lord.  Next we will begin a new series on Eschatology which will deal with issues of hermeneutics as well as future events.  This new series of 40 hours of lessons will begin sometime in the new year, Lord willing.   We still have a semester  of Ecclesiology to teach down at Baguio Gold, which will begin in January.  This has also produced some good fruit in the assembly there.  It is such a blessing to see men and women following the written word with conviction in their hearts.

The weekly home bible studies are producing some long prayed for results as well, which gives us much to praise our Lord for.  In two of the studies those in attendance are now in fellowship at the assembly at Navy Base.  It is something we have been praying about for a long time.   These daily evening studies are a blessing, many of them are evangelistic in nature, and the remainder of them seek to build up the saints.  We are thankful for the opportunities the Lord has provided.

The women from the assembly at Navy Base enjoyed a women’s conference down in Malolos Bulucan last week.  One of the women who attended was from one of the weekly bible studies.  It was her first time to attend such a conference and she was blessed, as were the others.  We are just so thankful to the Lord for the fruit that His Spirit is producing in the hearts of men and women.  The men’s conference in Pangisanan is this coming Saturday and several of the men are planning on making the trip down.  We pray it will be a profitable time.

Thank you all so much for your prayers.  We believe in prayer.  We believe that the results and fruit that we have been experiencing lately are a result of your prayers.  May the Lord continue to bless you as you lift up His work here in Baguio.

Update - October 13, 2011

Greetings to you all, once again, from Baguio City in the Cordillera Mountains of Central Luzon.  I never tire of the beauty of the mountains here.  Often times the clouds are drifting through the valleys or covering the peaks of the ranges and providing wonderful scenery wherever you look.  It reminds me time and again of Psalm 121, “I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come?  My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to slip,  He who keeps you will not slumber….”  How wonderful to be reminded of His great faithfulness.  We have experienced His faithfulness over and over, as you all have.  It is wonderful to be able to lift up our eyes and call out to the LORD God Almighty and use the terms, Abba Father. 
     This past month we made two trips down to Manila.  Both were experiences we did not expect.  Most of you know that we were called down to Immigration for a hearing on the extension of our visa.  We travelled down the day before Typhoon Pedring crossed the Island of Luzon and dumped lots of rain which caused extensive flooding.  Well in the midst of that we were driving down to Manila in order to keep our appointment at immigration.  We got to within a half a block of Roxas Avenue on Manila Bay when the flooding became so great we had to turn our car around and begin to find another route to the other side of town.  Each turn we made put us into deeper and deeper water, at some turns we could see people walking in water up to their waists.  While navigating a road with water up over my wheels, we received a call saying that the government offices had closed.  So we navigated our way back toward high ground.  It was a good feeling to finally be able to see ground beneath my tires.  The following day we had to once again return to Manila where we were ushered into the room of an immigration attorney who asked us several questions, among them “What are the four gospels?, and name eight of the twelve apostles”.  I guess we passed the test, as our visa was approved.  We are praying that we will be granted at least two more years. 
     Following our interview at immigration we were able to travel home for a few days before heading back down to Manila once again to attend a CMPI retreat for expat missionaries.  This is held down South of Manila.  Between the time of our arrival home and our trip down another CAT 4 Typhoon passed directly over Baguio and dumped more rain.  The drive down to Manila took us over some roads that were completely covered with water and flowing rapidly like a river. But the Lord brought us safely through.  The drive from Manila to Laguna took us another five hours. But the time spent with our missionary colleagues, from Wednesday through Saturday, was a good time of fellowship and encouragement.  We arrived back in Baguio on Monday morning of the following week and this time all the roads were clear.
      The home bible studies are continuing along quite well, for which we thank the Lord.  The Go family really missed the study on the two weeks we were away.  They said; “It was too long, we really missed not having you over to study God’s word”.   I taught the Tuesday study, the Wednesday study and will teach the Friday night study as well this week, which is about normal for me.  This week I will speak only once on Sunday up at Mines View, it will be our last Sunday before beginning the bible school anew at the Navy Base Assembly.   So following this Lord’s Day we will have five consecutive Sunday afternoons of bible school.  This will be the final semester for the assembly there as we finish up our study of the church.
       My preparations for Special Studies are coming along slowly.  I will be teaching four sessions of two hours each on The Family in the Church.  I am praying that it will be a good series of messages that will encourage the saints who are able to attend.  I am also preparing for a youth conference that I will be speaking at in December.  So lots to keep me busy.  
      Thank you all so much for your prayers.  I do enjoy  hearing from you.  When you have a chance drop me a line on FB or via email.  It would be wonderful to hear from you and to know that you are praying.

August 29, 2011 Update

Greetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior.  I want to thank those of you who actually take the time to read through these updates and to pray for the Lord’s work here .  We covet your prayers.  Things at times can be discouraging and I believe it is your prayers that keep us focused on what things are of eternal value and what things are temporal and passing away.  The scriptures never cease to amaze me.  The portions that the Lord will use sometimes to encourage sometimes surprise us.  Recently the Lord spoke to my heart out of Psalm 73.  It was a good lesson to be reminded of.  The closing verses say:  “Whom have I in heave but thee?  And besides thee, I desire nothing on earth….but as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge…”

This past week a Category 5 super typhoon made a pass at the Philippines.  It skirted the western edge of North Luzon, the main island, and then made land fall on the northern tip of the island. We experienced strong winds and heavy drenching rains here in Baguio and as a result flooding, landslides, and some road cuts.  Electricity was out across the entire region for a while but was restored rather quickly.  Some of the saints from the assemblies here experienced some flooding in their homes, and a landslide near- by one brought some mud inside, but over-all it was not as bad as it could have been and we are thankful.  Some meetings and studies were cancelled as a result of the heavy rains so we hope to get things back on track this week.

The bible school classes down in Baguio Gold will resume again this Sunday.  We began a couple of weeks ago, but the storm caused the cancelation of this weeks class.  We are currently studying the roles of men and women in the New Testament assembly, then we will take up the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

The next couple of month’s schedule is rather full.  So please keep us in your prayers.  With the weekly studies, Sunday speaking, bible school and preparation for upcoming events I find myself spending many hours in my office in preparation, which I enjoy so very much.

There are so many needs around us. Please be praying for the Lord’s provision.  And thank you all once again for your prayers.