Praise the Lord for a productive two months! We are grateful that God is willing to use us as part of His Great Commission. We saw 807 precious souls receive Christ as Saviour during May and June; 475 of those were won to the Lord during our soul-winning marathon.
We celebrated the 10th anniversary of Providence Baptist Church on May with 452 in attendance. God has been so good to us and has done so much in the city of Dasmariñas during these short years. We have had many victories and blessings and some trials. We have seen thousands saved and hundreds follow the Lord in baptism. We have done what we can to see people saved and help them grow in the faith. If I could point to one prominent thing that I have seen during these years, it is that we can work hard and do our best, but it is always God Who gives the increase. The most important thing in any message preached or in any endeavor is the power of the Holy Spirit.
I would like to highlight one of the lives God has touched here in the Philippines. Ana Mangana is a precious young lady who comes from an upper-middle-class family in our city. She was brought to church by one of our college graduates and staff members, Miss Aiza Dacillo. Ana had her choice of colleges to attend but chose to give her life to God. She graduated from Providence Baptist Bible College in 2014. She now teaches in our Christian school and has many other responsibilities. She is a competent, trustworthy, and hard worker with a cheerful personality. What a joy it is to have her on our team! She is another product of your prayers and sacrifice and of God’s great power.
As our church enters its 11th year, our Bible college enters its 10th year, and our Christian school enters its 5th year, we realize how wonderful it is to be in God’s great plan of reaching the world. We see how He uses each of our efforts and puts them together to accomplish His will. Many people give and sacrifice to keep us on the field. We work on the field, and God takes our giving and labor and puts it all together and does miraculous things. What a joy and privilege it is to see God at work and to be used in His great plan.
And, last but not least, we have finally realized our dream of having property for our church! We were able to buy a 700-square- meter lot about a mile from our present location. Thank you so much to those who prayed and helped financially to get the property. We are so excited and are looking forward to building our own facilities on it as God provides the finances. With the Lord’s continued blessings, we plan to eventually build a four-story building. We are renting our present facilities for about $1,500 a month. As soon as we can get the foundation and first floor done, we plan to move out of the facilities we are now renting and use the money we would be paying for rent for the ministry. The cost of the foundation will be about $20,000, and each of the four stories will be approximately $20,000. If you would like to give towards the building, especially to help us get the foundation and first floor completed, it would be a tremendous blessing. I believe the heavenly return on investment will be great.
With grateful hearts, Ester, I, and the people of the Philippines thank you for your prayers and financial sacrifice to keep us on this great white harvest field. We will rejoice together through eternity at the mighty things God has done.
Courtney Godsoe