Wonderful gifts!

Christmas is such a big and long celebration for Filipinos. You can hear Christmas songs as early as September and you can see Christmas lights and trees up as early as November. All proofs that Filipinos love festivities and signs that we are really looking forward to Christmas.

I received a very special early Christmas gift. Last November 21st, Lerma (my wife) gave birth to our second daughter. We named her Ruth Allison. It was an answered prayer that she had a normal and healthy birth. No complications whatsoever. Ruth Allison is a healthy and cute baby girl. We are full of joy when we see her. She looks so much like our first daughter, Micah. We are happy that God gave us another very wonderful daughter.

 Ruth Allison first picture

 Our first family picture with Ruth Allison

We also consider Micah’s 2nd birthday last December 5th as a very special early Christmas gift. She is growing so fast and is a very wonderful girl. All of the people who see her quickly agree that she is a jolly and lovable little girl. She loves to dance and that brings joy to people who see her dancing. Time flies so fast that we didn’t know where the two years had gone. Seeing Micah growing is a gift to us and we enjoyed every single day of those two years of her life. We are excited to see what she will become in the following years.

Micah with her cake.

As for Youth Mobilization in partnership with Extreme Response, we are happy to see the team coming from Sacramento, California, helping us in bringing the good news of Christmas to 1,500 kids amongst our partner churches. We are giving away gifts, playing games, showing magic tricks and presenting a Christmas skit to urban and rural poor kids. To see them with their big smiles as they enjoy their time playing and receiving gifts, I consider this a very special early Christmas gift. Every year, we are fulfilled by witnessing kids participating in our Christmas parties. They bring so much joy to us. Christmas is a very happy season in the Philippines.

  

As I am thinking about what to preach on at our church about Christmas, I remembered the passage mentioned in Matthew. It mentioned there that people will come to call Him Emmanuel which means, “God with us”. I am so overwhelmed by how God, who created the heavens and the earth, an unfathomable, all-knowing, wonderful and indescribable God, chose to be with us. Like in the book of Job 11:7-9, it says there, “who can fathom the mysteries of God? Can you probe the limits of the Almighty?”. And like what we read in Psalm 8:4, “who is man that you are mindful of him?”. And to know that God chose to be with us, is a mind-blowing grace.

We are full of joy because we have received many special early Christmas gifts. We are excited for what God will bring on the coming year for my personal life and for the ministry.

PERSONAL

Praise Items

1. Praise God for giving us a new baby girl. Ruth Allison is a healthy baby. She is a cute and wonderful gift from God. We are happy to have and to hold her.

2. Praise God for another year the Lord brought to our daughter Micah. We celebrated her birthday with her cousins. She enjoyed her day. She is growing fast and we enjoy every moment of it.

3. Praise God for Lerma’s strength. She recovered fast from giving birth to our daughter.

4. Praise God for the provision of a laptop I could use. The team from Sacramento brought two laptops with them. One for my co-worker and the other one is for me. I am using it now while typing this Prayer Letter.

Prayer Requests:

1. Continue to pray for the provision of rent for a house. We still feel like God is leading us to a new house. Since the place where we are staying has health issues because of cases of Dengue Fever, Lerma and I want to move to a new house. And the fact that our family is growing, it is timely for us to find a new house that suits our growing family.

2. Pray for our personal support. We are still personally raising 50 percent of our budget. The family is growing and our needs are growing as well. Please pray that God will bring more donors to support us financially.

3. Pray for our health. Ruth Allison will have a series of vaccinations. Please pray that these vaccinations will be available for her in our local clinic. Micah is adjusting from being breast-feeding to bottle feeding, please pray that she will adjust easily. Lerma and I have sleepless nights because of Ruth Allison. Please pray that God will give us strength to help us cope with our work.

MINISTRY:

Praise God for…

1. Bringing the team from Sacramento, California here to the Philippines safe and sound.  They are a blessing for our team and community. And praise God for blessing 1,500 kids who will receive gifts in our Christmas parties.

2. Providing all the needs for the Christmas parties for our partner churches. This will certainly strengthen the partnership of Youth Mobilization with our partner churches.

3. God’s faithfulness to the Youth Mobilization throughout the year. We have seen His’ direction, grace and provision. Even in every member’s lives in the Youth Mobilization team, we have witnessed His’ faithfulness.

Prayer Requests:

1. Pray for God’s leading and direction for the Youth Mobilization team, IT Tender Ministry and Jesus King of Kings Community Church. We are excited abour what God will bring next year to our teams. Please pray for us to have unity in our diversity.

2. Pray for provision for our rent for the YM office, Daycare Center, Student Center and for the church. We are raising funds for us to be able to rent a building that is near the community. Please pray that God will lead us regarding where and to provide for the provisions we need for the place.

3. Pray for provision for our YM team members and church staff. Most of them are receiving less than what they need. Please pray that God will increase the harvest for us to be able to cope up with the budget we need.

4. Pray for the approval of the Project Proposal we will pass to Extreme Response. ER is coming alongside with YM to empower churches. We have a series of meetings that give us a clear direction of the project we can do next year. Please pray that the ER board of directors will approve our Project Proposal.