Faith In Action: Ministry Updates From The Philippines

Greeting mga kapatid (brothers and sisters),

Here is a short update from me here in the Philippines. I've become busier in recent weeks with more ministry opportunities. Most Sundays I am preaching at various churches both near and far. Some of my travels require overnight stays as the distance may necessitate. On the less frequent situation when I am not scheduled elsewhere, I minister at a small home church near where I stay in Solano, Nueva Vizcaya. There are about 15 children there whom I've come to know well. Most of them are living in poverty including Alesha, an honor student to whom we provide support. Two young brothers, Jonas and Johan, have arisen to my challenge (the 4- fold challenge to love Jesus, study/work hard, brush your teeth, and hugs for me) and achieved honors this school year. I plan to reward them with a Lego set, something they've asked about in the past.

Sunday preaching is far from being the only ministerial engagement I'm involved in. About twice a month we have inter-church gatherings, some for only the pastors and some for entire congregations. That is a unique quality of the Filipino people; something we almost never see in the U.S., especially among denominations with differing doctrines.

Our annual convention with Kingsway Fellowship, my ordaining organization locally, was held last February in Baguio, the Philippine's Summer capital. Pastora Sally from my Filipino church in L.A. was here for one month. We ministered together several places. She was with me at the convention and assisted with the medical/dental mission on February 7th.

Besides all this I have had the privilege of teaching a seminar on two occasions. An all-day event, I taught about evangelical versus Catholic church history to gatherings of church leaders at no cost to them. This is an important subject in a nation that is 80% Catholic.

Among the donations Daddy's Hands received there was a girl's scooter and a tricycle. These were given to Atasha and Athena at my friend Kay's orphanage nearby. They currently have just four children living there: a 6- month old girl who was dropped off newly born with the umbilical cord still attached during typhoon Uwan, the two sisters Atasha and Athena, and Angelito (Angel). Angel is a 14 year old boy with a developmental disability, functioning at about the level of an eight year old. Since we brought the scooter and trike for the girls, Daddy's Hands purchased a new bicycle with training wheels for Angel.

The school year in the Philippines wraps up at the end of March and that's when we'll find out about Francheska's test results regarding the science high school.

All throughout I've continued to endure challenges with electronic devices - status quo and discouraging. Therefore, I am not able to share any photos or videos at this time. It is really not my calling to become so tech savvy so as to overcome these things in such a manner. Furthermore, it is not a wise allocation of my time, attention, resources, and energy. The best answer seems to be to hire a webmaster who may maintain DHM's website, keeping our supporters up to date.

That's all for now. Thank you for your support, prayerfully and otherwise; I sincerely appreciate all of you. Much love and many blessings to you and your loved ones.

-Mark