Metro Manila, Philippines
JANUARY 2006
Dear Friends and Family,
Happy New Year
to all! Alot has been happening in the past six months here in Manila. We
apologize for not communicating sooner. Here are the updates:
October 2005
EFC Evangelism
Team
A small but mighty team from Eastside Foursquare Church
arrived the second week of October. They visited almost all of the 2005 new
church plants. They were able to meet and visit 25 churches. Their focus was to
pray and encourage the Pastors, church members, and their communities. They were
also able to make house visits and pray for the sick. For pictures of the team,
click here.
November 2005
Miracle Made in Manila
Big news! Tina is pregnant! We call this our own miracle since Tina was diagnosed as pre-menopausal almost two years ago. After her check up in July the doctors assured her that she wouldn’t be ovulating anymore. We expect our new addition to the family to arrive around mid-June. If the latest ultra sound is correct we are having a girl!
UCPP Task Force Retreat
Pete works closely with the UCPP (Urban Church Planting Project) task force that is made up of the Supervisors and Superintendents of the metro Manila area. One of his roles is to encourage a long term vision of this project and make sure they have ownership of the project. To help enable this to happen they took a couple days away for a retreat to review the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. It was a very successful time and Pete was greatly encouraged by ownership and vision being developed. For pictures of the retreat,
click here.
December 2005
UCPP Preschool Bags of Joy
We want to thank everyone who contributed to the 1200 Bags of Joy our Bothell church and a few other local Foursquare churches in Washington sent as Christmas gifts to the preschoolers for our UCPP project here in Metro Manila. Each of these children received a gift which included toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and toys! While it is hard for us to comprehend, these Bags of Joy were literally the only Christmas gift most of these children received. The kids are truly overjoyed, yet it is their parents who are the most overwhelmed. They are so impacted by the fact someone cared enough to give such a great gift to their children - a gift they were unable to
provide. Words do not adequately explain the impact these simple gifts make on these families.
The bags were distributed at a sports arena rented out to host a Preschool Olympics. The kids came in sports clothes and enjoyed friendly competition between the preschools. It was a great event yet we felt that an Eastside Foursquare Church team personally distributing the bags to the preschoolers would be much more effective, impacting and meaningful. The children were delighted and blessed by your generosity. Thank you again for your genuine kindness toward these children! To view pictures from the Bags of Joy distribution, click here.
UCPP Christmas Party
The UCPP Christmas Party was held at Max's Restaurant in the Gateway Mall, Cubao. Over 200 workers gathered including all pastors, preschool teachers and spouses. Study bibles were given out as gifts as well as many donated items from the U.S. This annual event is a wonderful time for all workers and to show them how much we appreciate all their work towards the project. Click here for photos of the Christmas Party.
Family Emergency Trip to Japan
Our family cancelled our trip to Seattle and made an emergency trip to Misawa, Japan (northern Japan)where Tina's parents are residing. Tina's father became very ill as he had caught serious pneumonia on both lungs. He was rushed to emergency on December 11 as his breathing and heart stopped. They were able to revive him and was put under sedation due to a ventilator inserted to help his breathing. The whole family was present: Marissa from Hawaii and her son EJ from Los Angeles; Mark and Regina from Philadelphia; Ret and Jay from Guam and our family from Manila. Though Tina's Dad was unconcious for the first week we were there, we took turns visiting him at ICU and just talked and prayed with him. We had broken hospital rules and managed to sneak a camera to take pictures of Dad in ICU.
Knowing Dad, he would have wanted us to take his pictures anyway. As you all know, Tina's Dad is famous for taking pictures of anything.
He then underwent a tracheostomy on December 27 and was taken out of the sedatives after. He started to wake on December 28 but was still very much out of it. Can you imagine being asleep for 2 1/2 weeks? Although he couldn't talk, he was able to mouth his first words. His words were, "I'm hungry for Fuji apple." By then we knew God has miraculously healed him. At least his stomach. Everyday he got better and better.By the time we left for home, Dad was sitting up and was able to suck on a sponge tip with either water, iced coffe or iced tea. As soon as the tracheostomy tubes were removed on January 13, he was then able to have his first meal. Japanese miso soup. He was in heaven! The doctors were amazed how quickly he was recovering. We thought it would take another 3 months due to the damages on both lungs. God is so good! We thank you all for your payers! Indeed God has answered them. Now he is to be discharged from the hospital at the end of the month and will focus on just getting stronger due to muscles that atrophied. Click here to see photos of Dad and our trip to Japan.
We were able to also visit Tina's high school classmate and family (Yolanda, Leon, Haley & Cody
Bolithon) in Yokohama before returning back to Manila.
January 2006
CPI Training
The 3rd Annual Chuch Planting Institute Training was held in Tagaytay the first week of January. Twenty teams were trained on how to start a church that adopts their community and make a difference. Pastor Jim Hayford was able to speak, train and encourage the upcoming planters. For photos of the CPI Training, click here.
Prayers Answered
Prayer Requests