a blessing that will forever cherish.

i am so overwhelm to see my little one moving inside Lerma's womb. I am so excited. This is so precious for a soon to dad like me. A gift from God that I will cherish forever.
he/she is 14 weeks and 2 days. we dont know the gender yet. but i am very excited and honored to be his/her dad.

Thank you Lord for a great and wonderful blessing!

a great treat

Joshua, our YM team leader treated us for a great fun with giant slides outdoor. We enjoyed our time in Splash Island together with his family and a couple friends. We didn’t mind the heat of the sun rather we enjoyed pools with waves, giant slides and delicious food. I can say, Joshua spoiled us to the max. He paid for all of it.

My wife and I are very grateful to know that we have friends who are so good to us. They are huge blessings from God. I couldn’t imagine myself to bring my wife in a water park like Splash Island. That’s a way over to our budget. But God knows how to treat us by using people like our friends to rejuvenate and to unwind from our stressful work. Out from all of it hard days to enjoy a relaxing yet full of fun times.

A big thank you to Benavidez family from the bottom of our hearts!

HARDSHIP

"I didn’t read the bible, nor pray. I didn’t even look for God. I am looking for my son."



Last May 9, a son of a pastor died of an internal hemorrhage. He dived into a river, but it was a bad dive that caused him his life. He was rushed to the hospital but was dead on arrival. Pastor and his family were greatly distressed and in so much pain in losing a son.



We (the YM Team) went to visit the family to extend our condolences. We heard the story straight from the pastor. As he was telling it, he seemed so meek and discouraged as he described how the incident cost his son’s life. The whole team felt his agony in losing a child.



He was honest in telling us, “I didn’t read the bible, nor pray. I didn’t even look for God. I am looking for my son.” We knew, out of the abundance of pain in his heart that he intended to let us know actually how he felt in still looking for a chance to see his son. It is so hard to let go, most especially when it was your son. We comforted the pastor, but we know words are not enough to cease the pain cause by losing a love one. Before we left, we prayed for peace and comfort for his whole family.



As we were all thinking about it, we arrived at the thought of allowing the pain to take it's course. Sometime we just need to get through all the pain, hardship and trial. Those times sometimes compliment the joy and let us appreciate the help and comfort from God. Just like a caterpillar needs to go through a painful stage inside the cocoon, we endure the hardship, because after that a beautiful butterfly will soon come out and will enjoy flying high.



God didn’t promise smooth sailing in our ministries or even in our personal lives. However, He did promise that He will be with us through tough times in our lives. And that will ensure a great life ahead of us, because being with Him through all of it surpasses all kinds of hardships.

VBS in Kanawan is awesome!

I’ve been in Kanawan for 3 three times, but, still it was an awesome experience everytime I go there. It seems I couldn’t get enough of fun, excitement and touching experience of being a blessing to kids, to church and to the community of Magbukon tribe on the top of the mountain.

Last April 5-9, BK ministry of Youth Mobilization(YM) together with 9 youth leaders went to hold a VBS for kids in Kanawan Christian Church. It is located on the top of the mountain in Bataan (4 hour drive from Manila and an hour hike). A week before, the Training Department of YM held a training for youth leaders who will join the VBS. Youth leaders shown excitements as they prepare for VBS. They were all excited as they made crafts for kids, lesson plans, and materials for the entire VBS.

The VBS theme for this year is entitled, “HOME PLANET”. It is about caring for our planet, nature and communities. It is fun to see kids learning how to care for our environment.

I was the host of every session. I love doing it. I love seeing kids enjoying, shouting, singing, dancing and learning from the lessons we prepared. I even lost my voice in the last day. It was painful yet I love do it again and again. I love firing their excitement up and making them ready to sing, dance and listen to bible stories. It was totally fun!

What touching part of the trip in Kanawan is when we had a farewell party in our last night because we will be heading home (Manila) in the morning, both kids in Kanawan and youth leaders are crying while saying goodbyes to each other. That is a big proof that we made big impact in the lives of the kids. We made long lasting impressions, built relationships and communicated a very special message. Kids gave many souvenirs to the youth leaders and wanting to get connected with them as much as possible. The 9 youth leaders we brought there were all blessed. They gave testimonies to church and the church were blessed by their testimony their experience in VBS in Kanawan.

Me. I have great stories to tell but to be honest until now I am still mesmerized by my experience there and I don’t know where can I start telling those great stories. I can let pictures to tell you all of it.


making their ID's before the session starts

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youth leaders telling bible story


telling story of Joseph the Dreamer


pledge allegiance to the filipino flag, christian flag and for the bible

we mobilize youth!

Why mobilizing youth is important?

It is a great investment for ministry to train, mobilize and equipped youth to do ministry! Being part of the Training Department of Youth Mobilization, I am thankful for a privilege to see youth from different churches joining themselves to missions. It’s either volunteering themselves to different ministries or fully grasps the call for a short-term mission, it’s very fulfilling to see their desires to help out ministries. Not only me, one of their trainors is happy, but also the ministry, itself is benefiting from their commitment to serve. That’s why we see great potentials to the youth we are training because we know, in time, they will become great leaders who will take lead of the ministry.

What are advantages of equipping the youth?

There are many advantages of equipping them. Two of them are:
1. We want to see ministries still running in the future.
I saw, personally, ministries who died or stopped because of the people leading it are old enough to go to another journey. Off course, we are growing and changing. We cannot deny it. God call them for another purpose and let’s face the truth that we are getting old. Some things we can do will someday we just can’t do because we are getting old. That’s why, if we love to see the ministries running still because we believe to the purpose of the ministries, it’s a good call to train future leaders who have potentials to lead or even level up the ministries. Let’s pass the baton to them, trust them, train them, and support them, for we know God will enhance them to be great leaders. I am a big testimony. If there’s noone invested to train me, I would never be what I am right now. I owe a big one to people who are training me, mentoring me and equipping me. I thank God for their commitment to the ministry by investing in my life.

2. Not only one but many.
By investing to the lives of the youth, we are not only helping one specific ministry but different ministries that a youth can help. Most of our youth today are blessed to have technologies that they can use to do multi-task works, involved in different ministries and get connected to many kind people. Not only that, they are also very gifted (like music, theater, writings, teaching etc.) that they can use to blessed ministries. What a nice way to support ministries. We are not only blessing ministries but we also investing to lives that will eventually continue to works of the ministries in the future.

Why we need your support?
Mostly of our partner churches that we are helping came from an urban community and have self-supporting ministries. We are challenged to see their church grow to their full potential that’s why we are training and equipping their youth to respond to the call of service and be a blessing to their churches. The task is great and we need all help we can get. Your help is a blessing not only to us but to the youth and their churches.

In what ways you can help?
You can support us thru prayers. Time to time we are sending prayer letters. And if you want to pray with us, you can email me (mackie_youthmob@hotmail.com) and I will get back to you and put you in our prayer partner list. Your prayer is a big encouragement to us, let us know your desire to pray with us.
You can support us by being a Training Department worker. If you have skills, talents or gifting that will blessed youth, come and be part of the training team. We are in need of volunteers/intern/full-time workers. If you want to take part, please contact Anne Benavidez (open_heavens777@yahoo.com). She is the Training Department Director and the best person to get connected if you want to be part of us.

You can also support us thru financial giving. Training Department is geared up with trainings, seminars and workshops that will surely blessed the youth and their churches. We are in need of fundings and resources. Any amount you can give is a great help and will be highly appreciated. Send Anne or me an email if you are interested to support us thru financial giving.

Imagine numerous youth getting trained, equipped and involved to the ministry, their lives changed because of your investment, and imagine how far they can reach, WOW! Surely countless results and many lives will be touched thru their lives. What a great way to support ministries!

Windows YP 2010 - be a blessing!

I am excited for this windows yp! whoooo!!!
This is a youth missions conference and I will be one of the teachers.
Please pray with me for wisdom and may this conference move the hearts of the youth to response to the call of missions work. Please also for the provisions of the youth so that they attend to this conference.
Thanks and God bless!
To God be all the glory!