Dear Praying Friends,
Praise the Lord for answering prayers and giving fruit to our efforts. The first two months of 2014 have flown by quickly as we strive to redeem the time and accomplish as much as we can. It is exciting to see our people get involved and be used in the work of the Lord. During the months of January and February, we have seen 877 people profess faith in Christ and 6 follow the Lord in believer’s baptism.
On Saturday visitation and soul winning, I usually visit a different jeepney route each week. Our jeepney workers are avid soul winners, but they love to take me around to different homes so I can share the Gospel with those they haven’t won yet. They always have several people lined up. Boy, the fishing is great here!
One of my recent highlights was the privilege to preach at a missions conference in the Northern Luzon town of San Mateo, Isabella, for Pastor Vic Padayuman. The conference was from Friday evening until Sunday morning. On Sunday afternoon we drove to Iligan, Isabella, where I spoke for Pastor Cabajar during the Sunday evening service. I was greatly moved by the profound gratitude of both pastors toward America and American missionaries. They were both led to the Lord by men who were led to the Lord by American missionaries. As they expressed their gratitude, I thought of the many people who pray and truly sacrifice to send missionaries to the field. I also reminded the people in their churches that many people around the world are grateful for Filipino missionaries who came to their countries. What a thrill to see the far-reaching fruit of our sacrifice! Can you imagine the time we’ll have in Heaven as we meet people from around the world who have been saved and whose lives have been changed as a result of our efforts?
We have been raising money to buy property, and it’s very touching to see the sacrifice of our people in order to contribute. One family stays at church on Sunday afternoons instead of going home for lunch in order to save money on gas and give toward land. Another lady has a small baked-goods business and gave her profit: she was able to buy a square meter ($55). I asked our youth director to have our young people contribute one square meter per month. They worked really hard, collecting and selling recyclable materials, having food sales, and doing whatever else they could do, including actually donating. They just made their first monthly commitment! They are very excited and have been a great stimulus to the rest of the church. We really appreciate your prayers for property for our church and are grateful for the folks who have helped us. If you would like to give, we would really appreciate any amount.
One of the highlights of the year is our annual Valentine Banquet. We have many couples from our church and other churches who come each year. I believe God has used the preaching and the activities during the banquets to strengthen many marriages. Ester is in charge of the decorations; she and her helpers did a tremendous job. Please take a look at facebook.com/pbcdasma to see pictures.
We would appreciate your prayers for the following needs:
• Finances for our ministry
• More young men and women to surrender their lives to reach the Philippines and the unreached billions in our hemisphere
• Property and facilities for our church and its ministries
Thank you again for your sacrifice and prayers to keep us in the white harvest field.
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe