The Lord blessed in many ways during the months of November and December. The total number of people saved was 1,061; 549 were saved during our Soul-Winning Marathon at a large cemetery. People all over the Philippines hold three day-and-night vigils for their deceased loved ones at the cemeteries. It is a tremendous soul-winning opportunity, as the people are not busy and have no place else they are going.
The year 2016 was a fruitful and exciting year for our church. We saw a total of 12,602 saved and 132 baptized. Many of our members have become more involved this past year, and a greater percentage of the church work has been done by lay workers. The men in our church have taken over many of the church responsibilities. One of the most exciting things of 2016 was getting work started on our new church property. Our goal is to have enough of our new building finished so we can move in by April of 2018.
Our attendance has been increasing, and our building is getting full. We’ve had to use our balcony each Sunday. There is a warm spirit and a sense of excitement about what the Lord is doing in our church and in the lives of our people.
We had our annual Harvest Campaign, with many saved and many new visitors. It was perhaps the most productive campaign we have had. Our church was divided into three teams that competed for bringing visitors. Each team raised their own money for promotions and for food for our annual Harvest Banquet, which takes place after our Harvest Campaign. Several of our members who have vehicles used them to bring people to church. One of the groups arranged for optometrists to come to the church and give free eye examinations. The optometrists sold glasses at cost, and the group that sponsored them subsidized the cost of the glasses. They provided free glasses to some of the folks who couldn’t afford them. One of the young boys had needed glasses for quite some time. He and his family were so happy. They also sponsored a dental mission, which provided free dental work to many people. It was so touching to see all that our people did for others. Many senior citizens were also helped with glasses and dental work.
Our young people go Christmas caroling each year to raise money for Youth Camp during the summer. They had an amazing season this year and raised $1,100.
Our Christian school has been a wonderful ministry. We have seen people saved and families helped as a result of our school.
We had a wonderful Christmas cantata this year with the theme “A Child Is Born” (Isaiah 9:6). The choir put in a tremendous amount of work. The music for the entire cantata was 64 pages!
Thank you all again for helping us to stay in this white harvest field. It is amazing what the Lord is doing with your sacrifice!
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe