“Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” (I Corinthians 15:58)
Seeing God’s work grow is an exciting experience. We praise and thank God that the church is always full; sometimes it is hard to move around and shake everybody’s hand whenever we sing our welcome song. With the consent of the owner, the church decided to tear down the main entrance to make more space. Still, we are praying that in God’s perfect time, He will allow us to have a property of our own where we can build our church.
Last August 18-19, we celebrated our church’s 19th anniversary. A lot of preparations were made for this special occasion. It was an exhausting weekend but, nonetheless, a blissful one for us. Pastor Adam Pierce from Liberty Baptist Church of Callahan, Florida, was our main speaker. His messages were simple, yet very encouraging. Pastor Howard Wynn, Pastor John Wynn, and Pastor Lito Dave (our missionary to Vietnam) also delivered great messages.
A week later, Jason and Jolisa, two of our young people, were baptized. Jason lives in Lapaz, a town approximately 20 minutes away from our place. Lito, one of our men, picks him up every Sunday so he can come to church with one of his friends. Jolisa is a college student. Rea, one of our young people, invited her several months ago. She has been faithfully attending our church services and is now a part of our church family.
Our young people are always ecstatic, to say the least, to have fellowship with other fellow believers. On August 16, we were invited to Grace Baptist Church, Tacloban, by Pastor Alfred Cabrigas. They enjoyed the afternoon playing volleyball. The fun continued, playing basketball late into the evening. Another activity they had was at Grace Baptist Church, Tolosa. Pastor Samuel Tecson organized some games for them.
The world may think that investing time in young people’s lives is nothing but nonsense. On the contrary, being around our young people is the most sensible thing to do. Most of them practically grew up in the church. Every day we are blessed to see them grow spiritually. We pray that they would continue to be faithful in the Lord’s work.
Thank you for your continued support and faithfulness.
God bless you!
In Christ,
The Javier Family
Missionary in the Philippines