May and June were busy months as usual. It was a joy to see 958 precious souls profess faith in Christ.
God blessed our annual Vacation Bible School. Our teams went into four different villages on Monday through Thursday to teach and then brought the children here on Friday for the graduation. They are required to bring their parents or an adult in order to receive their diplomas. It’s a wonderful opportunity to present the Gospel and a blessing for the parents and relatives who are so proud of their children receiving diplomas and awards.
We had a follow-up Youth Retreat in June to help strengthen the decisions our young people made during our May Youth Retreat. It was a blessing to observe the lasting effects from the first retreat and to see our teens drawing closer to God and exercising more initiative and leadership in encouraging other Christians.
Our church celebrated its ninth anniversary in May. God blessed with a good crowd. Our outreach celebrated its second anniversary with a full house and many saved. Providence Baptist College started its ninth year, our evening Bible institute its seventh year, and Providence Christian Academy its fourth year.
One of our favorite events is our annual music workshop. Many of our musicians began playing instruments and reading music during one of our music workshops. It’s amazing to see them begin playing instruments in less than a week.
Typhoon Yolanda has not been in the headlines for several months, but there is still widespread damage. We are very grateful for several people and churches that gave $3,200 to help the victims—a special thanks to Multilock USA for their generous donation. We had a team, consisting of a married couple and two other men, go to an area affected by the storm. Our main focus was on helping people with their livelihood. We distributed piglets, egg-laying chickens, chicks, and a goat (all with feed); we also distributed 3 pedicabs, 1 bicycle, and basic medical supplies. We also gave school supplies to several hundred children. When distributing the school supplies, our team preached evangelistic messages and saw over 500 adults and children receive Christ as Saviour. One person, led to the Lord during personal soul winning, was baptized in the ocean.
A great source of joy is to see more of our laymen taking responsibility in the church. We have two jeepneys (one named Daniel and one named Robert). One of our men asked if it would be all right to raise about $355 from church members to replace Daniel’s transmission. They are making excellent progress, and hopefully it won’t be long before Daniel is up and running.
Please pray for finances for our ministry, property and facilities for our church and its ministries, and for more young men and women to surrender their lives to reach the Philippines and the unreached billions in our hemisphere.
As a reminder, Aizabelle, one of our staff ladies, posts pictures and updates on our church’s Facebook page, including our Yolanda Relief Project. Please see facebook.com/pbcdasma when you have time.
Thank you again for your sacrifice and prayers to keep us in this white harvest field. May God richly bless your investment in His kingdom.
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe