Thoughts from the Mallory Hearth

Thankful in Manila!

2009-11-27T01:41:00.003-06:00

Disclaimer: This is Jordan Mallory and NOT Jeff or Brenda…Somehow I missed out on the writing gene but here it goes!

Well, my parents and Pastor have left me and I am now on my own in Manila. I am staying with a great family! This trip really has been a GOD trip. From my parents finding Mark to the healing and revival that God is bringing back to the Philippines. Every service has had a purpose and has slowly given strength back to this nation. Bro. Keyes spoke that the revivals in years past are only the beginning and we have to continue to go beyond. I believe it so strongly that these next few months will be so powerful and important for the church. The time really is now! I am thankful that God has opened the doors to allow my family to have a small part in His work. I have always dreamt crazy dreams of going overseas on my own and doing something for God. Well I think that is happening. I am not there yet but the Filipino people won’t let me fail! Dreams that are kingdom minded can come true with faith and action!

I have spent my first Thanksgiving away from home in the Philippines! Now, I haven’t had any turkey, dressing, black-eyed cornbread or any other treat BUT I am still so thankful for this year. I do miss my entire family, the laughs, 5 hour-long monopoly games and puzzles that come with our Thanksgiving Day! My family here is taking such good care of me and I love you all so much!

I am already looking forward to coming back in February for General Conference. Whenever I go home there is an emptiness that comes over me. Not anything depressing, just a yearning to be back here. Say what you will but God’s hand is over Asia in a mighty way in these last days! I want to make sure I am in the middle of it! Now is the time to be involved!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Jordan Mallory

Crusade Sunday with Pastor Mangun

2009-11-22T13:34:00.005-06:00

Mark was a natural, worshipping with the best of them.

We are sitting in Guam airport waiting for our flight to Honolulu. Pastor got us in the President's Club so we have a few minutes of internet before we leave... this will be a fast post. More will come later.
This has been some of the best weeks of our lives. So many miracles, so many memories, so much is good in life right now. God is good!

Pastor preached 5 times in 3 days but you couldn't tell it tonight. He was on fire!

The man praying in the altar is Marino, our Catholic driver. We hired him to help us find Mark, and he just stayed with us when Pastor got here. Pastor told him, "Buddy, if you stay around us you will become one of us." He spoke with tongues and had the most wonderful experience. Captain Mayor, (Also Pastor Mayor, is laying hands on him. It turns out that Marino lives very near to one of Pastor Mayor's church's!)

The beautiful family you see is the Jhimmy Bautista family from Valenzuela City.

The three girls are from our children's service. They are some of the heart grabbing children from Tondo, who are being reached by Pastor Nomer Trinidad.

Now, don't worry too much... but Mark played with the Laker's basketball that we bought him so much that he must have dislocated some bones in his hand. His little hand was swollen and very painful, but he still worshipped with the best of them!

Breakthrough!

2009-11-21T19:32:00.006-06:00

In the world of the Apostolic church, the oxygen we breathe is unity. Unity is the atmosphere, it is the channeling current that drives us on, but the lack of it is death. It is that way anywhere.

The Philippine Apostolics are the most dynamic in the world. (My opinion) The Philippine Apostolics represent the largest constituents outside of the USA (Bruce Howell's, Feb, 2009).
With that in mind, any conference here is very important, but this one was billed as "Revival Breakthrough" by the District Board here. Their stated purpose was to go beyond the plateau they had reached in the past few years, and Breakthrough into a new dimension. Nearing the end of this conference I heard pastors speaking among themselves... "This IS the Breakthrough we have been praying for!"

Anthony Mangun and Randy Keyes spoke with passion and great anointing. They were sensitive to the needs of the church here and operated with precision.

I have loved this nation and it's people since 1969 when I was a boy of only 2 and I have loved it more with each passing year. The one prayer that has been consistent with me throughout the years has been very simple, "God unite the leadership in the Philippines." That is it.

Anyone who has prayed with such an abiding passion for a single request will identify with me when I say this; I could hardly contain myself when I watched these powerful men and women fall into each other's arms and weave their souls into one common tapestry.

There is no force that can stop such a spiritual fabric. It is the Kevlar vest of any Christian soldier, unity covers the vital organs, it shields the back from unseen ambushes, it turns the common ordinary human into an immortal instrument in God's hands... that is what happened this week.

The Kingdom is on the move!

Rev Randy Keyes, from Modesto California, preached like he was in his 30's, "To Go Beyond."

He told them that whatever they have experienced in the past... all the victories, all the miracles, all the blessings... were not as great as what is coming. He was a human wrecking ball to the fortresses of doubt, he pounded away with dogged determination and we watched as faith began to grow to the point that pastor's were rediscovering lost dreams for their local churches, evangelists were set on fire, and the collective minds of the leadership reached for God, then for their brothers, and united for a common purpose.

Pastor Anthony Mangun came prepared with messages that could not possibly be more on point, but it was his customary ability to flow with the Spirit and lead in between the messages, and in the altar... It was at these times that everything came together. All the ingredients were present, and as they combined, they reacted with each other to produce a new, living thing... Unity.

NCR Conference

2009-11-21T07:53:00.002-06:00

Busy In Manila

2009-11-18T19:16:00.004-06:00

We are busy in Manila.

Trying to find a Thompson Chain Bible.

Trying to find a nice Keyboard.

Trying to locate lost luggage for almost 2 days now.

Trying to find clothes and toiletries for the one who lost their luggage.

You may think that these things aren't a big deal, but they are. We have gone to 5 bookstores looking for the Bible. Several music stores looking for the right one. We have gone from one end of the Glorietta Mall to the other looking for stuff.

And the lost luggage has been a big deal. So Jordan being the good missionary that he is, said, "Hey, I'm jumping in a taxi and will go look these people in the eye at the airport and get the luggage", so he's on his way there now. This will probably take him about 4 hours.

Tonight starts the NCR District Conference. It's held here in Manila. Pastor Anthony and Randy Keyes are the speakers. They are expecting record attendance.

So far this trip has been a 'God Trip'. I'm sure it will continue to be for the next few days.

Thru all the busyness, I can't get away from going to Marks place. The sounds, the faces, the smells, the warm welcome will stay very near to my heart and my daily thoughts. I don't want to forget.

Another thing I can't stop thinking about is the service we had this past Sunday. We were in Valenzuela City. Our former Bible School students pastor there and are doing an incredible job. They had to relocate so a major highway can be paved thru their city, and as we sat in their church right off the main road, they began to sing the song, 'In His time, He makes all things beautiful in His time'.

This pastor and family, have had it hard. Flood, many people relocated because of the highway thru their city, church relocated, and the death of their son only a few months ago, and to hear them sing this song, touched me in a way that has changed me forever.

There are a lot of unsettling events in my life right now, but I am learning from these people.

I'm learning that no matter what happens, in His time all things are beautiful.

"It Is Coming Through Valenzuela City."

2009-11-16T17:09:00.013-06:00

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Valenzuela City

I think we can officially label this particular missionary trip as "Goosebump Tour of '09."

This Sunday at Valenzuela City was another experience in God's hot streak of revealing Himself. So far, this trip is batting 1000.

Our friend, Dennis Kniery from Alexandria LA, has never been to the Philippines but has been having dreams and visions about the Philippines the last few months. He has been hesitant to call them visions, but after what we saw this Sunday... Dennis, you had a vision.

He contacted us a few months ago asking about Valenzuela City. It was most unusual, as I knew Dennis could have no earthly knowledge of this place.

He said that he had been awakened in the middle of the night with a voice speaking in his head, "It is coming through Valenzuela City." There was more, but he said it was a realization that Valenzuela City was either a gateway, or a thoroughfare, or a bridge to what God was wanting to do. So we told Dennis that we would go to Valenzuela City this trip and see what we could find out. The goosebumps began as soon as we arrived.

Valenzuela City is about 1,000,000 on the northern edge of Metro Manila. The government has begun a 12 lane super highway, called the C5 to connect the center of Manila to the northern provinces of the main island of Luzon... it goes straight through Valenzuela City.

Not only that. When we arrived, the church was literally on the shoulder of the new highway and as we worshipped, tricycles, jeepneys and automobiles passed only a few feet from where we sat.

Not ONLY that! Pastor Jhimmy Bautista and his wife Rovelynn, who were students of ours at the ACTS Bible School, started the church here about 7 years ago and the highway went smack dab over the exact location of the church, and had to be demolished to accommodate the road.

This is a wonderful couple and all of Hell has come against them. As I already said, the church was demolished, but so was their house, as a result of this new highway. The government offered to relocate them but it would have been too far from their new converts, so they gave up the secured housing and took a step of faith.

8 months ago their baby boy died after living only 2 weeks. They have struggled mightily but have not given up. In fact, they have only strengthened their resolve and told the church, "We will meet for prayer EVERY DAY until we break this thing!"

That is what they did, and began to see immediate results. Visitors have been in every service, excitement is bubbling up out of everyone, and new converts are winning other new converts.

Rovelynn is still grieving over the loss of her baby but is faithfully fulfilling her role of wife, mother and pastor's wife. She played the keyboard (that is woefully inadequate) with gusto and her voice is beautiful and strong.

At the conclusion of my message I told the story of Mark. I did not know until later that many of Pastor Jhimmy's saints come from a situation similar to Mark's. EVERYONE was weeping.

I also noticed that the driver of our car, Marino, had come into the side of the church and was listening to me preach. He is a devout Catholic and is not familiar with Pentecost. As I began to tell the story of Mark, tears began to flow in his eyes.

Then they REALLY began to flow. He was using his tissue to wipe tears, then his shirt, then he had to go to the car and get a towel!

When we were alone with him later in the day he began to weep again. Marino has been a part of this story from the beginning as he has been the driver that we had employed when we began searching for Mark and was with us during all the remarkable twists and turns of this incredible story.

"I don't know what happened to my eyes whenever I think of Mark. I was like Mark. I was raised a squatter's kid. I lived in a place like Mark lives. No one believed in me..."

He wept for a while, while he was weaving in and out of traffic, never releasing the accelerator.

Brenda and I were very touched by his emotion but were also fearing for our lives.

He went on to say, "There is something special about that boy. He is not like the other squatter's kids. The other squatter's kids only care about the immediate, drugs, gangs, treating their bodies without respect. Mark is different. All the people I have talked to, the people at the bus station, the people in his village, they all say Mark is a good boy. He is a hard worker..."

Marino went on, wiping tears and narrowly missing a smorgasbord of vehicles.

After a while he went silent, then he added, "Thank you for helping my people. Thank you for helping Mark."

After the service, we invited Pastor Jhimmy and his family to eat with us. We had more to our plan than food so we suggested we go to one of the large malls in Manila.

Brenda and I knew a good deal about this family and could not get away from the idea that we needed to help them out.
So, after we ate, we took them into the SM Department Store and said, "Pick out the girls a nice church outfit. Don't look for the cheapest, but let's find something nice."
When we found out that Pastor Jhimmy had only one pair of dress shoes, and since that is what he wears almost all the time, these shoes needed to retire.
So, while Brenda took Rovelynn to the women's shoes, I went with Jhimmy to the men's.

What comes next broke our hearts!

I was sitting beside Jhimmy waiting for the next size of shoes to come so he could try them on. Jhimmy had been carrying his briefcase on his shoulder the whole time and set it down long enough to bend over and slip his foot into a shoe. When he straightened up, he looked down beside him and his case was gone.

He jumped up and said, "My bag! Where is my bag?" We frantically searched for it and it was gone.
"Jhimmy, what was in that bag?"
"My bible." That was a crushing blow. His personal bible, with all of his notes and years of markings and underlining.
Then he said, "My secretary usually takes the money from the offering but for some reason, today, she put it in my bag."
Today they had taken up the building fund offering, the tithes and... it was all gone.
The mall was over crowded from holiday shoppers and looking back Brenda remembered a lady had been following them all over the store, pushing a cart, acting as though she was shopping.
The cart she had been pushing was there, right beside us, with all the things she had put in it, and the lady was gone.
We went ahead and bought their items and left the mall feeling like we had been kicked in the gut.
Later, Jhimmy sent me a text message, "Sir, don't worry when we lost something God has a replacement that is more beautiful for us..." He then added some personal things.
Pastor Jhimmy and Rovelynn, I don't know why all of this has been happening to you but I know this... It is coming through Valenzuela City! Hold on to that promise faithful soldiers of the Gospel. Your reward is piling up in Heaven's treasure room.

Pastor Jhimmy points to the center of the new highway... "That is where our church used to be.

This bridge was destroyed in the recent flood and is a connector to two main areas of Valenzuela City.

The highway heading back in the direction of Manila.

The river that flooded this part of Valenzuela City.

Praying for strength for Pastor and Sister Bautista. Rovelynn wept in a travailing spirit when I told the church about the vision of Dennis Kniery... "It will come through Valenzuela City."

Rovelynn had also seen visions and they had dreamed dreams. This word confirmed what they had already seen.

Rovelynn on the keyboard that needs replacing. It has some sort of electronic Turret’s. She is playing it and it just goes, "Ngaaa! Bzzz! Plip!" Something like that.

Marino, the driver, just could not hold it together during the story of Mark.

Jeruzha Mae Bautista

Jeruzha Mae ran from rack to rack, we can't wait to see her in her new dress.

Jerahmeel has very good taste. She is a beautiful young lady who loves God. The Bautista's only have to pay half the regular school tuition because Jerahmeel is the top student in the school.

Notice in the picture above, the bag that is on Jhimmy's shoulder. That was to be stolen about 30 minutes later.

Jhimmy talking to the Manager and head of security about the theft.

Another Day at Mark's Village

2009-11-16T07:27:00.007-06:00

Monday after noon, at 4:00 P.M.
These two students from the ACTS Bible School have eagerly agreed to make Mark's village their priority. They are going to be teaching bible studies and this young man will personally escort the children to church every Sunday.

When we showed up Mark was playing with the village kids, and if you will notice, he is wearing the POA wrist band from the 21 day fast. He is so proud of it.

The look on his face when he opened up his backpack and saw his Kobe Bryant jersey was priceless.

He just couldn't believe it was his. This was a dream he thought would never come true.

It wasn't long and we left his home and followed him as he ran out to the basket ball court to try out his new ball.

There was a group of older kids who jealously watched Mark as he bounced his new ball. They didn't know I could understand them and I heard them say, "As soon as they leave we are going to take that ball."

That didn't set too well with us, and Brenda being so timid (NOT!!) walked into the middle of those boys and said, "You see this ball? It belongs to Mark. It is up to him if you play with it. Don't take it."

The boys responded pretty well to that sobering bit of news, so we decided to reward them. We told them, "If you don't take Mark's ball, then on Sunday we will give you a new basketball of your own." They actually clapped their hands and began to cheer.

(This place is breaking the bank, and I couldn't be happier.)

About that time a lady began calling, "Ma'am Brenda, Ma'am Brenda!!" It was a villager who has attended Pastor Caesar Pestano's church for a long time. She came running over to Brenda and said, "My granddaughter came running into my house saying, 'Sister Brenda is here!' I didn't believe it... but it is true." She was overwhelmed to know that we were interested in her village and in her neighbors.

Then this little girl (standing in front of Brenda in the picture below) walked up to Brenda and said, "Are you born again?" Brenda said she was and the girl replied in pure English, "So am I and I never miss church." It turns out she is a member in one of our churches also.

The thing is, she lives in what can only be described as a hole in the ground. It looks like a dog house, and a really bad one at that. Every time it rains, she said all of their belongings get wet.

Her name is Janice and she is going to be helping Mark and the whole family become more comfortable with church. This is SUCH a God thing.

Now we are thinking of ways to help Janice and her family.

Mark's Wishes Come True

2009-11-15T16:16:00.010-06:00

Brenda asked Mark what his hobbies were, what he liked the most in many different areas... In school, his favorite subject is Pilipino, which is the study of his own people. This is good because you can't be expected to lead people you don't understand and love.

The suite case was filled with all kinds of things. Toiletries, clothing for his sisters and brother, food, coloring books and crayons... it weighed a lot. Mark grabbed hold of that suite case and swung it up on the back of his Grandpa's tricycle like a pro.

Brenda went to the Mall and bought Mark a brand new outfit. Jeans, a nice shirt, and a reversible rain jacket with a hood. We will be giving this stuff to him today (Monday) after 5. Jordan and Bro. Bankens from Collins, Mississippi will be going with us.

He said his favorite sport is basketball and his favorite player is Kobe Bryant. So, we scoured the stores to find a Kobe Jersey, and we found one. It is a little big for him but it is the authentic NBA apparel, so he can grow into it. The Kobe basketball will go well with his new setup.

We just hope no one steals it from him because that is a real possibility. Gangs are operating in his village, and since Mark has stayed clear of them, he doesn't have any protection. Well, that is not entirely true, we will all be praying for him.

We found out that Mark's family has lived in this squatter's home for over 20 years. It is a shame that this is all that Mark knows. His world has about a 1 mile radius and is full of hardship and struggle.

Saturday's Kids Service - Tondo Kids to POA Kids.

2009-11-14T17:24:00.021-06:00

Tondo, Metro Manila, November 14, 2009
These kids come from the poorest of the poor area of Manila. A place notoriously called, Smoky Mountain, after the monstrous mountain of garbage that has been left from years of being the Manila Dump. These children's parents are scavengers, who make their living from pulling things from the smoking garbage heap. These children wear clothes from the dump, they live in shanties made from salvaged debris. And they are the cutest, smartest kids you have ever met.

We spent the day with them Saturday and it was so very rewarding for all of us.

Brenda is with Sister Sonja Trinidad, the pastor's wife. She is a tremendous leader and gifted in ministering to children. She is very organized, thorough and tireless. What a wonderful person.

Sister Sonja had a team ready, they had the children separated into classes, by age, and had detailed information about each of them. That helped greatly in knowing what to put in each child's backpack.

This young man is a bible school student who works with the children every Saturday.

POA Kids, get ready for a whole lot of really neat pictures. These Tondo Kids worked really hard on pictures for you.

It was so touching watching these kids working on the floor, on chairs, and anywhere. When they were done they would come up to us to show us, and then they would read what they wrote to us.

Some of these little guys needed help and the kids staff was so helpful and attentive.

Toothbrushes, toothpaste, clothes, coloring books, crayons... It was awesome.

Mark worked on his with great care. It seems everything he does, he puts extra effort into it. It was really neat seeing him fit right in with the kids. He was not intimidated in the least by the new surroundings and all strange street kids.

Mark, working on his picture, using a chair as a table.

Most of the kids got clothes, the ones that didn't were the bigger ones.

Everyone of the children said, "Thank you Ma'am Brenda."

They also said, "Thank you POA Kids!!" They said that all together and did it really loud.

The clothing sets were a huge hit! These little girls got in their backpacks and were holding them up, oohing and ahhing.

Thank you Little Treasures in Alexandria for donating these 65 brand new, complete outfits.

The hand towels were cherished by all of the kids. Even the boys seemed so proud to be getting them. Sister Sonja and her staff teach these kids how to take a bath, and by the looks of the open sores on some of them, this is a very important lesson for them to learn.

This kid shouted, "Tooth paste, toothbrush, soap, towels!!! Thank you!!!"

Mark with the kids, waiting for their "prize."

Mark's little brother and little sister hammed it up for the camera.

Mark's youngest sister shoes were too small for her feet, but this was the best she had. We are going to see if we can do anything about that.

This girl and her friend were overwhelmed with what they just recieved. Sister Sonja said, with tears in her eyes, "We just have to give them hope. If they have hope it can start them in the right direction. It can save their life."

They all shouted, "Thank you POA Kids!!"

Then they started waving them back and forth saying, "God bless the POA Kids."

The kids were a bit hyped up by all the gifts. We probably should have given them to them after the service. But in spite of that, they still went into prayer in such a beautiful way. I wouldn't trade a service like this for anything.

Mark is definately a thinker. He was listening intently during Sister Sonja's lesson about Jesus.

Sister Sonja walked down the aisle talking to the kids, and made her way over to Mark, and spoke looking at him. It was a real connection. She was telling him that Jesus was more than a statue, more than a God who makes stuff and controls stuff... "He is a friend that is closer than a brother, and He wants to live in your heart."

Mark watched her intently and tears welled up in his eyes as he was moved by what she said.

The Assistant Pastor praying with Mark and his brother.

I did not want to push Mark, or make him feel pressured, so I kept my distance, watching him. However, he looked up at me with tears in his eyes when I walked past, and he smiled, and nodded his head at me. I just felt it was right so I knelt down beside him and talked from my heart to him. Mark listened intently as the tears continued to fall.

Hamburger steak, with gravy and rice for everyone!! What a treat!

Seconds!! All the kids came up for a second helping of rice. I wondered how many of them had the privilege of eating until they were full.

I know... we just gave them toothbrushes and tooth paste but we HAD to give them candy. It was just the thing to do. They each took a turn around the table and got to get one of each.

As we went to drop Mark and his family off, it came a thunderstorm. Mark jumped out and ran to get a tricycle (motorcycle with side car). Brenda stepped out and these neighborhood girls came over to Brenda and asked if she wanted to be under the umbrella.

Spending POA Kid's Money!!

2009-11-14T01:31:00.003-06:00

POA Kids!!!

Your money was SUCH a blessing to the kids in Tondo. We didn't really know what to buy these kids, so we asked Sister Sonja Trinidad, the Pastor's wife. She said, "They all carry things to school and a backpack would be such a blessing."

So, we went to one of the BIGGEST malls in the world, the Mall of Asia, and thought we could find what they needed there.

Now, this broke my heart, but she also said, "The thing they would like the most..." (Now I would not have guessed this in a thousand years) "...they need a hand towel and a face towel so they can take a bath properly."

She said that they were trying to teach these street kids about things like keeping clean, and taking care of yourself.

"They would also love to have a bar of soap."

Oh my!

So, that is exactly what we did. With YOUR money, we bought each kid a really neat package. A backpack, a hand towel and wash cloth, and a bar of soap.

Our First Day With Mark

2009-11-13T17:39:00.006-06:00

We were prepared for a long search, but this lady recognized Mark instantly from the picture.

Randy's Uncle.

Mark leads us home.

Mark Shopping. Chocolate milk was a BIG hit.

Mark thought of his mom. He bought her a pot scrubbing pad.

Checking out.

The basket ball court near Mark's house. We want to hold a street service here.

He was so excited to show his family what he had got them. It was an early Christmas.

A thoughtful boy, he handed some of the things to neighbor kids.

The thing that Grandma was most excited about was the toothbrushes.

Mark Is Found!!

2009-11-12T02:48:00.009-06:00

Mark's Mom, Sister, and Grandma looking out
the window of their house.

Mark at his front door.

Many of you may be wondering who Mark is? After all, there are people talking about him on blogs, the POA has handed out pictures of Mark to thousands, and they are all praying for him.

This is one of the most wonderful stories you will ever hear.

Back in April of this year, Melani, Brenda, Kendra, Kori and Jordan were taking a bus trip up north of Manila and were waiting in the bus terminal when a young boy boarded the bus holding a stack of daily newspapers. A conversation began.

“What is your name?” “I am Mark.” He replied.

Since it was about 1:00 in the afternoon and he appeared to be young they asked of him, “How old are you?” His replies were always sure, with a quiet confidence and organic charm. “I am twelve ma’am.”

“Mark, do you go to school?” “Yes ma’am. I go to school from 6:00 am until 12:00 and then I go to work, selling papers.”

“Everyday?” The twelve year old replied, “Every day ma’am.”

That was about all there was to it. Just one of the thousands of people we pass every day, like ships in the night, not really aware that you just intersected another living soul… an immeasurable treasure we too often take for granted.

They sent him on his way after buying a paper, giving him a tip, and loading him down with some candy. And that was it… or so they thought. For some reason, none of them could get Mark out of their minds. Driving down the road, the country side passing by… the group was silent, as though something special had happened, but they weren’t exactly sure what.

Melani said, “That is Bradyn. My boy is 12.” They all let that sink in, and little by little it began to flow out of them. “When we go back, we need to find Mark.”

They didn’t know what they would do once they found him, they just all agreed they needed to.
Later, when Melani was looking through her pictures, she found a good one of Mark.

That was all there was too it, to the meeting that is. It began months of focused prayer for Mark and his family.

Brenda, Jordan and Kori and I were in that bus terminal back in May, we looked for Mark and he wasn’t there. Everyone told us that it would be almost impossible to find him. After all, what is one kid among 14 million people? After the four typhoons, the devastating floods, and the diseases that followed… what is the chances Mark is still… we didn’t want to think about that.

On the plane coming in last night, I looked out the window, over that vast ocean of lights that stamped the earth where the great city of Manila lay, I asked God out loud, “Lord, please lead us to Mark. I know it may be impossible for me to find him, but nothing is impossible for you.”

We left the hotel with a prayer for Mark, and headed out into the traffic and sea of humanity.

We hired a car at the hotel and told him what we were doing. He didn’t get it at all… he did later though. The first thing we did was go by the Philippine UPC headquarters office to enlist some help. We had pictures of Mark printed and distributed and told them, “Whoever finds Mark will get a 1,000 peso reward.”

Since that was worth about 4 days wages, there were many who were suddenly interested, very interested in Mark. Brother Don Callo said, “How many Marks do you want to find?” And everyone laughed.

Someone was going to go to the newspaper company pictured in the photo of Mark, and ask for help finding him that way.

Brenda and I went to the bus terminal, this was third time Brenda and I had been to this terminal, and the first two times had not been fruitful. But this time was different, we both felt it.

There were so many people praying for Mark. I would imagine there are literally hundreds of refrigerators with Mark’s picture on them.

When we were pulling up to the bus terminal Brenda said, “This has to be a God thing.” My heart was beating fast as I realized how close we were to a miracle, I could feel it.

The first person Brenda showed the picture to knew Mark. “That is my nephew. What do you want with him?” I didn’t blame him for being guarded as to our motives. Brenda drew a crowd and soon everyone wanted to know what was going on.

I felt my words were so inadequate in my attempt to explain why we wanted to see Mark, but I kept explaining anyway. “We are missionaries, and…” I did my best to explain how there was church back in America praying for a poor, squatter kid, living in a ghetto. I didn’t think I was doing a very good job but they had less guile than I must have because they accepted my story, and suddenly the whole nature of the crowd changed. They were all talking to each other, telling each other that the “Americanos are missionaries and God told them to find Mark.”

They all were so excited, the security guards began helping us, giving us advice, and talking a mile a minute.

Mark’s uncle, Randy, jumped into the front seat of our car and said, “Get in, I will take you to Mark’s house.”

Brenda and I were stunned. We just looked at each other shaking our heads. “I can’t believe we are going to Mark’s house!” Brenda whispered.

The story took an even more thrilling, and miraculous turn, when Randy took us in a direction toward the ACTS bible school. The place we have lived and worked out of for many years. We ended up just a few hundred yards away from the Bible school! We had passed this little shanty town literally thousands of times.

To get to Mark’s “house” you have to go down a small side street, past lean to’s and squatter’s houses. These were some of the poorest of the poor. We were so excited though because we would soon be seeing Mark.

People were so friendly and nice as we passed them. The little street cantinas with people sitting on buckets, or boxes as chairs, the kids taking baths in laundry pails, the old men flashing toothless smiles, the young men killing time because there was no job to be found.

Randy led us into a small opening in the endless shanties, and after a few turns in an even smaller alleyway, we came to an uneven ladder that led up into a dark, and confined loft.

My heart constricted and my eyes watered as Randy said, “Here is Mark’s house.”

He went up to knock on the “door” while we waited downstairs. The door opened and a woman came to the top of the landing and looked down on us with muted surprise. Her eyes did not have hope in them, rather, I felt she was looking down on us, “Good things don’t happen to us. This must be a trick.”

We were invited in and found that Mark had just gone to work not long ago. We visited with the puzzled mom and grandmother, and Mark’s two sisters and one brother, all younger than Mark.

Mark is the man of the house. This twelve year old boy’s father had abandoned them to start another family somewhere and so it was left to Mark to watch out for his family.

We tried to explain to Mark’s family what we were doing and the thing that got through to them the most was when I said, “God has heard your prayers. God knows your name.” A flicker of hope came into Mark’s mom, Tess, and a smile appeared briefly.

We gave Tess some money and told her to feed her family, or give them a treat of some kind… but we hadn’t seen Mark, so we headed back to the bus terminal.

When we got there it seemed like everyone was at the side of the street waiting for us. All of the porters, the vendors, the bus conductors and even some passengers were waving at us when we walked up. They were waving their hands excitedly and one of the security guards came over to us and said, “You missed Mark by seconds! He got here just after you left and went running home.”

They told us to wait for him that Mark would be back. It was quite a run to Mark’s house from the terminal.

Everyone wanted to put there two cents in on Mark while we waited. “He is a good boy.”

Someone else said, “Mark is a hard worker.” A guy standing by me said, “You are helping the right boy.” This little boy had the respect of a lot of people.

We went into a 7 Eleven and were going to buy a drink and some donuts for the people who had worked so hard to help us connect with Mark. I was standing by the refrigerator when I heard someone say excitedly, “Here he is!” Standing in the aisle of that store was a handsome, smiling Mark.

His back was straight, his head up, his eyes bright and what a smile! He was looking at Brenda with recognition and was not one bit shy. Brenda asked for a hug and he gave her the minimum, and stood back and smiled up at me.

I want to find out what this kid has been praying for the last few months because I got the feeling that he was not shocked by this at all. It was as though he was stepping into an expected destiny.

Strangely, it was not awkward at all. I had been wondering what I would say to Mark, but it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t just words, prayers go before you, I believe prayer creates and builds relationships between spiritual entities, and it felt like he was an extended family member, and it seemed he felt that way too.

Brenda and I were fighting back tears, Good Lord! The LAST thing we needed to do was go blubbering all over this kid! So, Brenda went down the chip aisle and squirted out a few tears and then regained her composure, and I was left to be the strong one, so I just said to Mark, “Let’s go shopping!”
“Get whatever you want, we are going to bring some stuff home to your family.”

After seeing where Mark lived and the obvious poverty of their family, I wasn’t surprised to see him carefully choose a single bag of potato chips and walk back to me with grateful eyes. I said, “Oh no, that is just the beginning! We are going to get lots of stuff!”

It took him a while to catch on. He always reached for the smallest thing, and would get one. One small pack of coffee mix, I went behind him and grabbed a handful. He just looked up at me with big eyes. This was not his reality at all.

A crowd had formed at the glass front of this 7 Eleven. The guard only allowed prospective shoppers in and Mark’s friends, and those who knew Mark were gathering around the windows as though the NBA Finals were being shown. From time to time he would wave at one of them and they would wave back.

A woman must have heard what was going on because she came into the store and walked over to Mark and put her hand on his head and looked at me and said, “You could not have chosen a better boy to help. Mark is a special boy. Thank you, thank you so much for blessing him like this. He deserves it.”

That little 7 Eleven was not used to be people filling up shopping baskets like that, and it took every employee in the place to check Mark out. We went down every aisle, except the booze aisle and the refrigerated section (because he didn’t have one at home) and had a living blast doing it.

As we walked through the crowd that had gathered outside they were patting him on the back, they were tussling his hair, they were saying things to him, “Mark, you are famous now!” “Mark, you are big time!”

We put the bags of groceries in the trunk of the car, and took Mark and Randy back to Mark’s little village.

As we walked in, the people were calling out to Mark, but they weren’t calling him Mark. They were calling him by his middle name, “Christian! Who are your friends Christian? What are they doing with you?”

He is known as Christian at home. Mark Christian DeLaCruz.

The family sat on the piece of thin plywood that served as the bed the six of them slept on and the bags were gathered around their feet on the floor. They just sat there looking at them.

We asked them to look through the stuff and it took them a while to get into it.
The first thing Mark did was take out a Coke bottle and walk over to Brenda, “Ma’am, are you thirsty?” Brenda declined and I looked at Brenda’s eyes and could see she was not far from losing it.

Mark, or Christian, began to go through the bags showing his family what he had brought home. There were more oohs and aaahs than I have heard in the last 5 Christmas’.

The first thing Christian’s grandmother got out was a toothbrush and she opened it up and began telling the little girl on her lap what it was. Demonstrating by pantomiming the brush stroke.

Christian began organizing everything in the bags. Candy in one, toiletries in another, chips in another, drinks and so on, until everything was organized.

We were driving away when our driver said, "I asked about this boy while you were shopping. Everyone says good things about him. I can tell by observing, this is a special young man." He drove for a little while and then he looked into the rear veiw mirror at me and said, "Thank you for doing this for my people."

Saturday Mark, and his family are going with us to a children’s service. He doesn’t know it yet, but I am giving him an iPod with some Christian music on it. I know that will blow his mind.
I believe that we will see Mark and his whole family respond to God’s touch this Saturday. Then we are connecting them with a great church that is very near to their home.

For all of you who prayed, for all of you who sent… you were there with us today. This is your deal too, and I hope you all pat yourselves on the back for a job well done.

A Large Crowd is Headed East

2009-11-10T18:59:00.003-06:00

11:00 A.M. Tuesday, November 10, 2009, cruising at 35,000 feet, somewhere between Houston and Honolulu… actually, passing over the Baja Peninsula.

As we head east, way east, to the other side of the earth, I am filled with the beauty of our adopted people, the Filipino and with the wonderful people who sent us to them.
Sitting on the plane, 22 more hours of travel ahead of us, I am not discouraged by the flight or any other sacrifice involved in such a trip as this, because we are going to the Philippines!
Just typing out that word makes my heart squeeze a little tighter.

The Philippines is the only Christian nation in Asia. We can’t wait to get there during this time of year. The malls will all be decked out with Christmas decorations, and everywhere you go there will be lights, and Christmas music playing. They actually started all of that last month. They go crazy over Christmas.

Though the average Filipino does not make much money, they don’t let that stop them. The atmosphere is festive; the creative talents of these people fairly explode in a flurry of seasonal energy and though it won’t be a “white Christmas” (actually, it will be a “hot and humid Christmas”) they always make it a wonderful Christmas.

They are making gifts and preparing the parties that will go on for up to three full weeks, they actually give gifts to each other for a couple of weeks. No last minute shopping for most of them. It takes weeks and even months to make the gifts they will give. I remember one year I got a hand carved top from a pastor there, complete with throwing string to wind around it, and I was as proud of that as any kid would be of a PlayStation today. It just meant more.

But, it is more than the parties and the gifts… the Filipino exist on a level of spiritual awareness that is unique the world over. God is a BIG deal with them.

The Filipino has a heart for God and it is on full display during this time of year. Sure, Christmas is commercialized, just like in America, but there is an undercurrent of religious passion that carries it all along.

I have never seen people who wanted to know about God like the Filipino. Jesus is a subject that is not off limits, like in so many other places, in fact, if you strike up a conversation with a perfect stranger it is usually not very long before you are talking about Jesus. They want to know more about Him, they are just waiting to be told more about Him. It is one of the few places on earth that if you hand them a tract they will actually take it, and read it. They might even stop to talk to you about it… “What does this mean?”

In times past, preachers and zealous saints, would stand up at the front of a city bus and begin to preach to the passengers about Jesus. Our preachers did that so much that finally the bus companies were forced to prohibit our preachers from doing so, because passengers would miss their stops on purpose… they just HAD to hear more about this Jesus!

That is why I love coming to this land of enchanting people. There are other places where the climate is better, the environment cleaner, conveniences of life more available… yet I have never found a place where there is more hunger for God, a soul craving for righteousness. A heart cry…

So, we head east.

Not to sound holier than thou, or some spiritual giant, because I am certainly not, but I can’t think of anything more worth my time than investing in people who are hungry for God. Any fisherman will tell you that if you have found a place where the fish are biting mark that place and keep going back until the fish move on. We are told to be fisher’s of men, and this is the best fishing hole in the world.

We want to share this moment with you all, because we only go because you sent us. I wish I could name you all, but since I can’t I will not name any. But you know who you are. You are heroes, you are missionaries, you are the hands and feet of God.

You are heading east with us right now! This is your trip too.

We are going physically, but you are going also, because whatever blessing God gives us for doing this, will be divided EQUALLY to each one of you who sent us. (I am so moved by your compassion! We do what we do because we know and love the Filipino, you are doing what you do without knowing them. I think that means your love is greater than ours.)

The people who gave finances, food items, toiletries… paid for rice, and the wonderful lady who is helping a bible school student get through school, and sent a special gift for that student with us. The couple who secured over 100 toothbrushes and toothpaste to give in the street kid ministry…

The prayer warrior who prayed for us the day before we left, gave us a word from God and promised to cover us while we are gone… (you ARE going, even though you told us that you thought you would probably never make a missionary trip. It is a matter of perspective.)

The guy who bought our family tickets to you know what… wow, that was awesome!

The man who has been dreaming of Venezuela City and found out there is only one in the whole world… we will be going there my friend. God spoke to you and while we don’t yet understand it, we are going there.

The lady who got turned onto missions in such a way that she went out and bought 65 children’s outfits for us to bring and distribute.

The other lady who worked tirelessly to coordinate the relief efforts and works on it still.

The church in Arkansas who had people come to the pastor and say, “We have just been feeling to help the people in the Philippines get through these disasters.”

The Sunday school supplies, books, crayons and teaching resources, thank you!

The young people who are saving their money so they can make a trip one day and who have been praying for God to move in the Philippines.

Our young friend who has committed to give up drinking sodas until we get back on American soil, and the young lady who lays awake many nights with tears pooling in her eyes because she hopes that one day God will allow her to go back to the Philippines. (Timing is everything, and right now, you are sending the best thing… your prayers.)

Change the World, (oops! Sorry, I wasn’t supposed to name names, but you will understand.) This is a children’s ministry who took on the challenge of raising money for missions… that ministry took weeks to collect all kinds of coins… the children who sacrificed to give… wow! You were amazing! So many of you did so much, like the little guy who emptied out his entire piggy bank and didn’t even bat an eye when it came to over $100!

Our own kids, who are without Dad and Mom for 13 days. We stocked the fridge and freezer, but they will miss mom’s cooking, cleaning, organizing, and stuff.

You are all heading east. Every mile this plane flies stretches your sphere of influence, your ministry is expanding, because you are sending and in God’s way of seeing things, sending is the same as going.

So, fasten your seatbelt, hang onto your passport, and take your motion sickness pills because you are flying right now! Your ministry has just gone INTERNATIONAL!

You will be driving into the ghettoes of Manila, you will be feeding street kids… you will be searching for God’s Will in Venezuela City, you will be praying for people to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, you will be clothing the desolate… I guess the easiest way of saying it is, you will be the hands and feet of God.

Oh, and one more thing you will be doing… you will be looking for Mark! There is something special about Mark.

Please pray that God leads us to Mark.

RICE 4 LIFE

2009-09-28T17:20:00.008-05:00

RICE 4 LIFE

We are trying to keep our brothers and sisters from starving in the Philippines.

It is that serious. Manila has seen many floods over the years but what happened last week was unprecedented. The rains fell at an almost unprecedented rate, 16.7 inches in less than 12 hours! The already flooded reservoirs, rivers and valleys just could not keep up.

In order to save the dams from bursting, the authorities released huge quantities of water creating the perfect storm of devastation. Eye witness accounts said the flood waters were coming in slowly for several hours and then without warning the waters rose 8 feet in less than one hour!
People scrambled to get loved ones up onto roofs and took what possessions they could put their hands on and retreated to the roof tops and second floors.

At least 18 churches are totally devastated and 299 of our member’s homes have been total losses. 53 families in the church of General Superintendent Alfredo Bodegas. Sadly 2 are confirmed dead, one of them a 43 year old man. That is only the tip of the iceberg as communication lines are still down and there are many areas still unreachable. (Another typhoon is headed their way and is expected to make landfall Friday!)

Food, clothing and water are desperate needs right now. We have over 200 churches in the city and tens of thousands of saints who are now competing with 10 – 14 million other residents of Manila for these basic essentials of life.

So here is what we are doing.

The Headquarters Office and Church was not flooded as it is on some of the highest ground in the city. This has become the distribution center. They have volunteers who are working around the clock portioning out rice and sardines into family sized containers and are getting them into the hands of our church members across the city.

1 sack of rice weighs about 110 pounds and costs about $55 (US dollars)

Compassion Services International is going to be able to help, but the need is immediate and it will take them a little while to spring into action.

We will begin helping immediately!

If you are interested in helping immediately please email me at bmmallory@aol.com. We will get the rice purchased THIS WEEK!

Disastrous flood in Manila

2009-09-27T00:07:00.003-05:00

Eating Sea Shells in Cebu, Paquiao fight.

2009-05-03T12:21:00.014-05:00

Imagine the hype and it's Superbowl Sunday, or you are in Louisiana and LSU is playing for the national championship... that is what it was like for the Filipino this Sunday. Manny Paquiao is the pride of Philippine athletics and might be the best, pound for pound, fighter of all time. When the "Pac Man" fights there is no crime on the streets even though you can't find a policeman anywhere, because everyone is watching the fight.

They said that even up in the mountains, where the communist rebels are fighting a bloody war with government troops, there is a truce while the fight is going on.

I wondered how the crowd would be at church since the fight was to be going on at the exact same time as Sunday Morning Service. It was happening while I was preaching. Yet, the place was packed out. They had Jesus on their minds, the altar service was great with people on their faces and I laid hands on many... as if this was the only thing going on today.

However, when the service was over, and the food was served and eaten, they found a place to watch the fight by tape delay. Though they already knew the outcome, they cheered with pride when the Pac Man knocked out his challenger's lights.

A few interesting things about the feast.

There was a whole roasted pig, slipper lobster, sweet and sour fish, noodle dishes, fried chicken and all kinds of deserts. The coconut macaroons were incredible! It was all so good.

In fact, there was sea food of all kinds. Cebu is located near some of the most plentiful fishing locations in the world and the church has some members who own fishing vessels, and one member is actually one of the main suppliers of the Cebu fish market. So there were things most people never see.

There was one thing that Brenda and I didn't try... we probably should have, but I am not big on fishy tasting stuff and... did these things ever look fishy. Not only that, they just didn't look like food.

Sea shells of all kinds. Beautiful shells of all color, shape and size. It was like a crawfish boil, only the bucket was full of boiled sea shells.

The animals came out easy once you grabbed hold of them.

Cebu

2009-05-03T11:59:00.009-05:00

This Saturday, Brenda and I boarded a plane in Manila headed for the beautiful city of Cebu, about 300 miles to the south. We had been invited to preach the 5th anniversary service of the church founded by the Henry Pestano family. What a great experience it was.

Cebu is the oldest city in the Philippines and is rich in history, beauty and resources. In fact, Asia Week Magazine ranked all the cities in Asia and gave Cebu the title as "8th Most Desirable City in Asia to Live in." It is also the place where Ferdinand Magellan was killed. (You know him, he is the guy who was given credit for the first man to go all the way around the earth. Only, he gained that notoriety with an asterisks, his ship made it, but he stayed in the Philippines with a chieftain's spear in his spleen.)

Pastor Henry responded to God's calling and left the church he had pioneered and pastored for the last 12 years near Manila, and came south to Cebu.

Thankfully God has given him a very talented family and the church has grown and matured much faster than should have been possible in 5 years. Thank God, their place was packed out, and they desperately need a larger auditorium.

All three of Henry and Filda Pestano's children are standouts musically. Their eldest daughter has a very special singing voice, the 13 year old son very well could be a prodigy on the keyboards, and the 9 year old daughter plays the drums flawlessly while appearing to be a little girl daydreaming in church. She fixed her pony tail, adjusted her head band, kept up with what her friends were doing at the back of the church, and never missed a beat.

Here are a few clips so you can see for yourself how amazingly talented these young people are.

Email address for posting a comment

2009-05-01T09:59:00.003-05:00

We have heard from several of you that it's hard to leave a comment on our blog. You may email us at bmmallory5@gmail.com to leave a comment.
Hope you enjoy our blog.

Kensie, College Students, Cupcakes, and Missions

2009-04-30T21:26:00.011-05:00

Kensie has never been to the Philippines yet she is making an impact over here already. In fact, she has never left the United States, but has ambition, goals and dreams that will carry her wherever she wants to go.

We honor you Kensie for your heart for missions! We were so moved by what you have recently done that we are copying the link from your blog so that others can see what people can do, if they just give it a try.

Kensie wants to improve the girl's dorm at the ACTS bible school campus and is doing so with fund raisers, her own funds and by getting others involved. What an inspiration you are!!

Check out her blog!
http://paintingherreverie.blogspot.com/

Tondo Young Person at Home- Day After Youth Camp

2009-04-30T11:22:00.010-05:00

Matt Maddix and Travis Worthington were in the Philippines preaching the North Western Luzon Youth Camp, where they had over 200 receive the Holy Ghost for the first time. It was a legitimate blowout.
They had street marches, and all the stuff normally associated with Matt's ministry. Of course, they have been invited back, only this time they think they will be ready for him.

We all went back to Manila Friday night and so when the camps were over, that Saturday we picked up Travis and Matt from their hotel and was going to offer them a bite to eat, and another plan. A plan we were sure Matt would go for.

"We can go to eat at Chili's or California Pizza Kitchen, or something else." Matt had at first said he was hungry, but the idea of having a mysterious option seemed to intrigue him.

"What is the other plan?"

I told him that Brenda and I would like to return to one of our favorite places in the city, Tondo, near Smokey Mountain, one of the most infamous concentrations of abject poverty in all of Asia. We have found these to be some of the most engaging, industrious, and resourceful people in the country. And we are determined to help as many of them as we can.

Matt jumped at the idea of going into this area and immediately lost his appetite for food. "This is much bigger here!" I have heard people say Tondo is dangerous for people like us, but then we have also heard that the people in Tondo who may wish us harm are kept in check by the decent and moral leaders of that ragamuffin community. The real word is that in Filipino culture, a guest is to be fed, protected and entertained before the other members of the house.

We ran into this articulate, intelligent young person, who let us know that he had attended our youth camp two days ago. Someone had gone into this very depressed area and invited him and then had paid his expenses. I don't know who did it, but I pray that God blesses that generous soul beyond measure.
Listen to the song he sings, then listen to the song next to the previous blog.

Party Time at NCR Youth Camp

2009-04-30T10:10:00.007-05:00

If you ever get a chance you have GOT to attend one of these youth camps!! Volleyball, basketball, badminton, campfires... but what everyone really comes for is to have church... and do they ever have church!

Thursday night the service began at 6:30 and the video below was taken over 4 hours later and, as you can see, they were still going strong.

Filipinos love to sing and worship. They would have done this all night except the guitar player broke 3 strings, the drummer could hardly raise his right foot, and the singers looked like they had just climbed out of a swimming pool.

I just love being in a place where there are NO excuses...

Hot? So what?

Tired? We can rest tomorrow!

Watch this little "taste" of what it was like at the Metro Manila (NCR) Youth Camp 2009.

An Example of Gratitude

2009-04-29T08:51:00.013-05:00

Sis. Jiji, Genesis, Jirah Jean, Jesrel, and Genrev Jemina

Gratitude comes from the word "grace" and is one of the most appealing words ever. True gratitude is hard to find, in this age of entitlement.

Tears come to my eyes every time I read these letters, so I thought I would let you read them.

(A little background)

Last year sometime, Brenda and I were privileged to visit the village of Handumanan near Bacolod on the island of Negros in the Philippines.

Handumanan is a place with very little in the way of material blessings and comforts, yet it has a high concentration of gracious people. Handumanan might very well be one of the last places you would look for anything beautiful... and yet, there it is like a single rose pushing up out of a barren landscape of hopelessness. A people with boundless hope, wonderful personalities, and grace... loads of grace.

Handumanan is populated by about 20,000 people that the government relocated from the provincial hub of Bacolod because many of them were living on the streets. The roads end almost as soon as you enter the village and yet it sprawls in every direction, a densely populated city without any of the things we associate with a city. No lighted signs, no grocery stores, no stop signs, no parks, no open spaces, no sidewalks, well, no roads really, just paths... and yet, a million smiles.

Mother's Day we will be in Handumanan for their Anniversary Service and will say more about the church later.

So, back to the letters. As I said, we had been able to visit this village and our hearts were stolen by so many, but especially the pastor's four children. Brenda had given each one of them a little over $10 each. The letters they gave Brenda when she returned to their village last month were the perfect picture of gratitude. The children are from about 6 to 12 years old.

It amazed us what all they were able to do with the money and we were touched by their words of grace back to us. I don't think I need to say any more, the letters speak for them selves.

(If you click on the pictures they will enlarge.)

Breakthrough Youth Camp

2009-04-28T09:22:00.009-05:00

The Vice President of the UPC Philippines, Art Martinez, said, "This year's youth camp was a breakthrough camp!"

204 received the Holy Ghost during the last night and, for a Manila District, (NCR) that is the most ever.

Tim Rutledge was the night speaker, and he did something no one had ever done here.

He called the pastor's kids to the front at the conclusion of his message, and had the audience move toward the middle of the auditorium.

Rutledge then had the pastor's kids begin to march around the audience of young people. He told them to be silent, just like Joshua and the Children of Israel when they marched around Jericho. The first few rounds, they were able to contain themselves, but as the 4th time around came, the trembling, silent storm began to build. It was all they could do to keep silent.

When the pastor's kids rounded the 7th turn, the young people erupted in a focused voice of praise to break the chains of bondage. It was thunderous!

Pastor's kids getting in line to march.

The Filipino youth look forward to these times getting together rejoicing, and encouraging one another. They don't waste a single moment and it seems like EVERYONE comes with one main purpose, WORSHIP!!

Pastors C. Ompad and A. Martinez, invited those who had not received the Holy Ghost yet, to come to the front. Chairs were put in the altar in a very organized fashion and soon more than 200 young people were seated in these chairs.

In the very center of the altar area one girl began to act in a strange manner. Kori came to me and pointed her out to me and instantly I knew she was possessed.

Brenda and Pastor Ompad are two very stubborn people and it was a good thing because this girl had some very stubborn spirits.

The close proximity of bodies, the tropical climate and the tension, caused this to be a long 25 minutes. She was a small girl but she was incredibly strong. It took almost 10 people to hold her down so she would not hurt herself or others near her. At one point, she collided heads with Brenda, and Brenda just hung on, determined to see it through.

Pastor Ompad was talking to the spirits and he knew when one would leave. He did not stop until he saw the last one leave. He said, "That last devil was a stubborn devil." There were three of them.

These two young guys are pastor's sons, and they moved through the people in chairs like they had been doing this their whole lives.

After the service is always picture time. You have never seen so many smiles. Maybe that is one reason why Filipinos are loved in almost any culture. They just are fun to be around.

The service ended at about 11:30, they sang and danced for a solid two hours after the service was over! How they did it... I have no idea, we were worn out.

But we were loving it.

Party with the ACTS kids

2009-04-28T07:02:00.009-05:00

When we were instructors here back in the late '90s the ACTS bible school compound was quite a lively place. It still is, but back then there were about 10, very energetic, (although well behaved) children that ran from the top of this place to the other.

Back in those days you could always hear the sound of children playing... and so we invited them back for a party, and the noises are the same, laughter, friendly competition, and just general liveliness from happy people.

To make the party even better, the Rios kids joined us. The Rios family is a major blessing to the work of God in the Philippines and has been like family to us for many years.

8 Large Pan pizzas, hot wings, a bucket of KFC with all kinds of dessert... then a Wii tournament to follow. Little David had limited experience with the Wii, but he and Brenda gave everyone a run for their money.

We need more food!! Thought I had enough... but they were hungry... typical young people.

Missing Morgan though. Wish he was here.

Jordan's thoughts

2009-04-27T09:31:00.005-05:00

Well I never thought I would be writing in a blog. I never thought I would be living in another country. I never thought that I would get the chance to travel and just help churches and encourage them by just smiling. I never thought I could have something to say to a youth group. My whole way of thinking has been taking a beating the last 2 months. My little box of comfort has been smashed and burnt. The Philippines has given so much to me, much more than my family could ever give to them. Bro. Tim said it right at camp, “America needs Filipino missionaries!” God has chosen these people for something special in the last days.

Pastor Terry preached a message maybe 2 years ago about worship and I haven’t been able to forget it. This last week I found what he was trying to show us. About 1,300 campers worshipping God every night in a university gym with no air conditioning and focusing on God alone. Freedom filled the place and worship exploded! The last night of camp we sang for over 2 hours at the END of service. The kids didn’t want to leave, so we kept on going until almost 11:30; They would have still been singing and jumping there if we didn’t stop playing. I’m pretty sure that God was happy that night with His CHOSEN.

I love love love my friends here. They have believed in me, loved me, laughed with me/at me, and accepted me. I will always love Alexandria, LA but the Philippines will always be in my heart.

Maybe my other entries will make more sense, I hope, but that is my heart right now!

Missions Project at ACTS Bible School

2009-04-20T18:54:00.021-05:00

When we talk to people about missionary work we always hear, "Oooh, I would love to do some kind of missions work!" Then, as you get talking to them you realize they really don't think they will ever have an opportunity to personally being involved.

They usually end up saying, "I will just help you go, 'cause I can't."

That is NOT true! This blog is for anyone who ever said, "I would love to do some kind of missions work" but only thought it to be a distant dream.

Announcing: A hands on missions project that ANYONE can find a part in! (It is not just about your money, it is about you being PERSONALLY present.)

The best money in missions is the investment in national leaders. With that in mind we would like to introduce you to the Apostolic Center for Theological Studies, the flagship Apostolic school of the Philippines.

The ACTS Bible School in Manila, on the C. P. Kilgore Memorial Complex, has been called "The most important facility in Asia." Though that statement may be debatable, what is not debatable is that this institution has been steadily producing quality ministers of the gospel for over two decades. Graduates from this school are now pastoring all over the world, not just in the Philippines.

James Kilgore is now the president of this fine institution and has contributed immeasurably to its present condition.

Brother Kilgore has given almost all he has for this school. Last week he spoke at the graduation service and told the audience, "I go home broke and happy. I go home broke and you also go home happy." And they laughed.

It is true. "Pappa K", as he is affectionately called here, has given, and given, and given, until there was nothing else to give.

So, that gives the rest of us an opportunity.

Kensie's Korner

Kensie is a college student in Ruston, Louisiana, who has already jumped at the opportunity to make a difference in this school. She is a close family friend who surprised us with a cash offering last month, "I want this to go to something in the girl's dorm. I want them to have something nice, something that I would also want as a college student."

Kensie, we have been talking to the staff there, and we have a proposal. (At least a start to what you want to do.)

The picture below is a private veranda off of the girl's dorm. It is on the second floor and is totally shaded by a large mango tree most of the afternoon.

How about we buy some outdoor tables and chairs so that the female students can have a beautiful place to study, or to just visit with each other? The dormitory is so hot that some students sleep outside because they are stifling in the unventilated confines of the dorm.

(View from "Kensie's Korner")

Kensie's Korner is still in the planning stages, and everyone is thrilled with some of the possibilities.

So, while the girls have a nice view and a pleasant place to retreat to... this is just the beginning.

There is one window in the girl's dorm and one ventilation fan. The problem is, the fan does not bring in fresh air because there is a wall on the other side of the fan. The humid and stifling climate is oppressive even when ventilated, however, when it is closed up, this place is almost unbearable. Because of this, mold and mildew is a constant problem.

We need ideas, and someone to sponsor the solution so these young women can have a place to sleep with at the very least, some fresh air.

(The "Fan to Nowhere!")

Here is where the girl's hang dry their clothes and the roof is an old metal structure that leaks badly in the rain.

Jordan was amazed that 30 - 35 girls lived in this very small, and sadly inadequate space. There are many more that would like to come to this school, yet can not afford to commute to school daily and then live off campus. We need more space.

Brenda, along with Nellie Gallemit (Dean of Women) explore some possibilities. Presently, the girls have no shelving, no lockers, no shoe racks, and do the best they can to organize their clothes in piles. They manage without complaint, but from our way of thinking, we just don't see how they can get by. We wouldn't last in these conditions one day, much less one year.

It would be so easy to put shelves and build an organizer system in their "laundry" room.

The two racks, (Pictures above and below) behind us, are where up to 35 girls to hang their clothes. The only way this works is that most of these girls don't have a whole lot in the way of material things.

There are two toilets and both need to be replaced. There are some real plumbing issues that need to be worked out. Also, there is no door, only a piece of fabric hanging over the opening. A door would be most appreciated.

There are two of these showers in the whole dorm.

This is the ONLY mirror in the girl's dorm. That they all look so neat, and all together, and have such a great attitude is a miracle that happens every single day.

The sink above and the area below is where the girls wash their clothes and brush their teeth...

Did you catch that? They wash all of their clothes by hand, in these sinks, while using them for the normal uses of a vanity.

The small shelf above serves as the only place they can store their toiletries.

The white bunks to the left are only plywood beds. Last year Melani, Brenda, Andrea and Becky put up the money to buy foam cushions for the girls to sleep on. Before that, they were sleeping on hard plywood.

We are pictured with Nellie Gallimet, Dean of Women

A student washing clothes.

Brenda is with a long time friend, Carmen Martinez. She is given the nearly impossible task of feeding the students on less than .50 per day. That's fifty cents!

There was a time when the students were asked to fast Saturday and Sunday, not for spiritual reasons, but because the budget wasn't there to feed them the whole week.

It is not uncommon for a 20 year old student to have a heart attack, or other serious illness, during exam week because they just do not have enough nutrition in their diets to sustain them.

Thankfully, "Pappa K" has done so much to help in these areas. However, there is a limit to what he can do. So there is an opportunity for others to step in.

Can you see why missions work is so rewarding? It is sooo easy for us to make a MAJOR difference in some one's life over here.

You can too.

Experience with 120 Inner City Kids

2009-04-19T09:15:00.051-05:00

(There are 2 videos to the right)

This was a day of 120 Cinderellas, and we didn't truly realize this fact until later. We have never posted this many pictures on one blog and I think you will understand why when you see them.

This story takes a heart wrenching twist at the end, so be sure to read all the way through.

It is said that Manila has almost 1,000,000 kids that roam the streets on any given day. Many of them malnourished and far to many orphaned. So we found out that a church in the inner city had a vision to reach out to these children and we asked if we could participate.

The church is in the densely populated area of Manila called Tondo. Pastor Nomer Trinidad and his wife Sonia have a special burden for these children. When we walked into their neat, and air conditioned church, we could hear the children singing upstairs in the sanctuary.

Their voices were strong and beautiful. In fact, we were amazed that these were "street kids" and not the normal Sunday School crowd, by the way they sang.

Sister Sonia Trinidad, the pastor's wife, has a real gift for leading children and we were amazed at how orderly and behaved the children were.

After all, these were "street kids" weren't they?

They all had name badges so that when the church bus goes into the neighborhood not just any kids can get on and score a free meal.

I spoke for just a few moments and used the story of David and Goliath.

To illustrate the story, our son Jordan, who seems like a giant to these kids, played the part of Goliath. A small, little guy named Anson, played the part of David. (Remember Anson, he comes back into the story later.)

These children are faithful, they come every single Saturday.

They are taught things like, honesty, self esteem, personal hygiene.

In fact, one of the lessons they teach them is how to brush their teeth. This is a new concept to these kids who live on the street.

They are taught practical, as well as biblical principles.

(We are hoping to be able to come back and give each one of these kids a tooth brush and some toothpaste.)

After I spoke, Sister Sonia invited the children to pray, and did they ever pray! It just flowed from them like water from a spring.

No one was disorderly, the Children's Staff didn't have to spend their time coercing, or corralling, they just went into a place of brokenness.

Little hands raised, and eyes welling with tears... they prayed.

They prayed for a good while, and we tried to touch every one of them.

We asked if there were any sick among them and several came to the front and we anointed them with oil.

We prayed for God's protection over everyone of them too.

Then it was announced that "Brother Jeff, Sister Brenda, Jordan and Kori, have sponsored a meal for ALL of you." The kids were overjoyed.

They were getting a hot meal, a full meal today! (Morgan you are in on this too).

So, while the very efficient and organized staff was getting the meals served, the kids sat orderly, awaiting their turn with patience. I guess being familiar with hunger teaches them that, because they didn't even begin to resemble some kids I have seen in America when they wanted something.

The staff brought out plates to the smallest children, and the bigger kids formed a line and picked theirs up from the ladies at the front.The Tondo church is divided into four ladies groups and they take turns each Sunday staffing the children's ministry. No one gets weary with well doing this way. Even the smallest children ate the entire meal. I mean, they cleaned their plates!

Jordan made friends with so many and was used by God today. Exposure to things like this a few times is the cure for the common teenager!

Anson, (above) the little guy who played David in our illustration.

Pastor Nomer said that most of these children wore clothes that came from the dump. Their parent's made their meager living from rummaging through trash.

Tim Rutledge was able to join us for this deal. Tim and his wife Kim have felt that they need to adopt a child from somewhere in Asia.

He had traveled 26 hours from Alexandria to Manila, arriving last night, but when he heard what we were going today he said, "Shoot yeah I'm going!"

A Staff member with a child.

This little girl (below) stole our hearts... ok, they all did, but she was just so cute, like a china doll.

After they had eaten each child received a few pieces of candy and immedialtyl began to trade

Picture time!!!!!

When Sister Sonia announced that it was picture time, these kids came out of their chairs. They had been so calm, and organized until now, and then happy bedlam ensued.

Kori was joyfully mobbed and was loving every minute of it.This little girl grabbed her and would not let go.

Any of you that know Tim knew exactly where he would be.

The little girls seemed to gravitate to him.

They were all competing for attention.

Tim and Kim are personally sponsoring the next three dinners for these kids. He gave Pastor Nomer the money on the spot.

The combination of a full stomach, a touch from God, and a whole lot of love from people caused these children to light up like the sun, moon and stars.

If you want to have a lift to your day... no your month... no your life... get in on something like this! These kids will change your life!

This one, like so many, was cute and had loads of personality.

Then, it was time to go home. They didn't want to go, and we didn't want them to leave. It felt like OUR kids were going, and we didn't know where.

They boarded the church bus with smiles, cheers, and "Thank you!" shouted out the bus windows.

They reached for Tim out the window and with misty eyes, Tim reached for them.

We watched them go and everyone of us said, "I want to see where they live."

We had been told they were "squatter" kids and that they lived in poverty, but we had no idea what we were about to find.

We waited until the bus was out of sight and then followed them.

As we drove our driver pointed to a hulking mountain in the middle of these concrete government housing units and said, "That is Smokey Mountain."

A chill went down my spine. The infamous Smokey Mountain! The place where the first saints of Manila were won from back in the early '70s. It was the Manila dump for many years. So many years that a "mountain" had risen from the years of trash.

Thousands had built shanties on this mountain until there were "cities" all across this smoking, pile of rotting debris. Fidel Ramos, when he was president of the Philippines, closed it down as it had become an iconic symbol of third world poverty in the Philippines.

He had built all these concrete apartment buildings and moved the population of the shanty towns into them.We watched as the children disappeared into the cavernous, dark opening of one of the monuments to poverty.

"Our" children, the children we had just held, prayed with, fed, become friends with, laughed with...

How was it even possible that "our" children could be running into one of these terrifying places?

After they disappeared I went into the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of one of them, but they were gone. In their place was a scene from my nightmares.

There were no lights visible anywhere. Clothes were hanging all throughout the spacious inner court. Children were everywhere, as were adults. Some were taking baths in buckets, some were cooking on fires, some were in groups talking.

They all stopped to watch me when I walked in. I didn't feel threatened, even though this area is known for its high crime.

I just felt so out of place. I had shoes on. It was obvious that I had eaten well, perhaps too well.

I put my camera up to take a picture, then I stopped. I was in their home, uninvited. This was not a zoo! I put the camera down and said a silent prayer for them instead.

We left that place and drove by a part of Smokey Mountain. It's ragged cliff face was visible from the road, and you could see the layers of the the filth of ages.

Strata's of waste, generations of people living on waste, a legacy of outcast.

No wonder the Trinidad's teach these children self esteem.

We didn't go far when our driver, a church man, said, this is where some more of those children live.

I took pictures here because I was out in the open. Children were everywhere you looked.

And here we found Anson.

He had played the part of David, and now my words echoed in my ears, "You can beat any giant. God wants to be your partner." Things to that effect.

But now we were staring at Anson's giant face to face, things seemed a little different now. It isn't just up to God, it is also MY responsibility too!

We fed him once. That is great. But what about shoes?

He doesn't have any.

What about a tooth brush?

He probably doesn't have one of those either.

What about clothes that DIDN'T COME FROM THE DUMP?

I remembered Anson when he came up to quote his memory verse. That was great, but I am compelled to go beyond the words of the bible and actually BE the bible.

We are going back to Anson's world and we are going to invite anyone else that wants to come also.

It is easy to be a missionary. You can be one for a week. Don't think you can?

Can you help feed a child? Can you give a pat on the head? Can you gather clothes from your church, box them up and send them over? Can you take your family vacation to a place like Anson's world just once, instead of Mickey Mouses'?This is not just a thing to feel good, this is bible... remember that thing about doing stuff for the least of these? If you think this is for you, please let us know. There is so much that can be done, with so little.

Our family spent about $100 of our personal money today and it was one of the greatest experiences of our entire lives. Can Mickey beat that?

With the Captain and former cult leader

2009-04-14T08:46:00.006-05:00

Few people know how to show hospitality like the Filipino and did we have a good 'ole time today!

Green mango, rice, jicama (white root), watermelon, and the king of all fruit, the Philippine mango were only part of the feast today.

It was Sunday and we were privileged to be in a brand new church that was full of great stories.

The pastor, Captain Noel Mayor (pictured in the purple barong below) is a captain in the Philippine police force. He is head of security for the Manila Airport complex, which is a job with great responsibility. Many of you who have visited the Philippines have been greeted by the Captain. It is quite an experience to walk through the airport with him and have dozens of people salute as you pass.

Pastor Mayor has only been a pastor for 3 years but is about to start his fourth church! He is a man of a driving passion, a natural leader of men and a lover of truth and righteousness.

He could not do what he is doing without his wife, who is a realtor. She laughed as she commented on her husband's plan to start his fourth church, "Again? Starting churches cost so much money!" She works so hard to help provide the necessary funds to open up all these new works.

Another great story in this church is Assistant Pastor Condicion (in the salmon colored shirt).
Just a few years ago, Pastor Condicion was the second in command in a local Philippine cult that operated north of Manila in the mountainous area of Dona Remidious.

Just a few years ago he renounced the cult and became a Pentecostal bringing about half of the cult's members with him. Brother and Sister Condicion have 6 talented children who are an invaluable part of the church.

We were so impressed by the spirit of worship this church had and the surprising number of talented members in a church so young. It seemed like everyone could either sing or play some sort of instrument.

Jordan and Kori pictured with some of the young people of the church.

The Condicion family. The youngest son is the drummer, the other son is the keyboard player, the youngest daughter, (to the right) was the bass player and the three other girls were the singers. Not only did they sound great, they were true worshipers.

We had planned to go the the location where the former cult was today, but it was deemed to dangerous for us to go at this time. The area is known for its communist rebel activity so we will have to go to Kalawakan in the future.

Mom found her way HOME today.

2009-04-12T19:17:00.003-05:00

When Mom's feet hit the ground today, she knew this was her day to come home.

Mom's life came unhinged 7 years ago when Dad passed away, and in many ways I understand because his passing rocked my world too.

But in Mom's case, how can life NOT be wrecked when your childhood sweetheart since you were a little girl of 13 is suddenly absent.

Kenny was gone, and in her grief, she lost her moorings, and began to drift away from the safe harbor they had enjoyed together for almost 40 years.

Through the motions of pain, she left what she once knew, and when she finally became fully aware of her condition, she didn't really know how to get back.

Mom found something that would pass the time away, but in an ever increasing slide her activities took her further and further from His house and the things she once knew.

My mom and dad were always anchors in the churches they attended. They were friends of the pastors and their family's. Dad was always a head usher, or played some sort of key role, mom was always joined with the pastor's wife in almost every church activity. Praying people through in the altar, serving food, decorating the church, caring for the pastor's wife when she was ill.

I just never got used to mom being so far from all of that.
So many times, Mom would call me, "Bren, don't stop praying for me. I miss the presence of God!" And each time my soul would rend from top to bottom, wishing there was something I could do to help her get back. Prayer was all I had, prayer and a "never surrender" attitude that refused to let mom go. It turned out to be enough.

I just knew that one day she would make her way back home, to a familiar place. You see, she's been a stranger in a far country. She couldn't fit in. I remember telling her that I pray that wherever she is and wherever she goes that she would still feel God's presence and feel His arm around her.

She would try to have a good time, and I'm sure at times she was enjoying parts of it, but then a song would come to her and before she knew it, she was humming a tune from her native country and the sweet presence of God would surround her.

I'm thankful for that because that was one of my prayers. Prayers that she would never be able to get away from the presence of God.

I have prayed and fasted for her many, many, many days. Even when I wouldn't understand the choices she was making, all I could do is love her and pray for her.

Beverly Brady has prayed whole prayer shifts praying for my Mom, and we've had many chats about her.

Terry and Melani have taken her in just like family. They have loved her unconditionally.

Sis. Vesta has prayed and talked with her many times about coming home. If any of you know Sis. Vesta, you know that when she prays for you something 'will' happen.

To all of the old friends that I would see at BOTT or somewhere else, thanks for always asking about my Mom and praying for her.

I thank God for old friends in Sacramento who welcomed her back this past Sunday.

We can NEVER give up on people. We have to love them. We can't judge them. We have to try and understand them.

I'm so thankful today that Mom has come home. I knew she would someday. She is an anointed handmaiden of God, possessing many talents and abilities that are so useful to God's Kingdom. She can give a awesome bible study and she knows THE WORD.

I can't help think about Kenny Mabrey and what he saw and felt today.

Dad, by God's grace we'll all see you soon.

There was a time in my life when my life came unhinged and I left the church. Mom, you never gave up on me, it was your love, prayers, and advice that made me crawl into that closet and stay there until all the pieces came back together, and I came out of there with a made up mind to never leave Jesus again. Mom, you have thanked me for not giving up on you and for praying for you, well thank yourself because I was just doing what you taught me to do.

I love you Mom.

Fox News coverage of Good Friday

2009-04-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,340218,00.html

Who Met Him On That Hill?

2009-04-11T02:16:00.005-05:00

My eyes turned away involuntarily as he passed. I had seen too much already.

It wasn't all the blood that caused a revolting shiver to pass through me, it was what all this meant. Conflicting feelings such as anger, compassion, nausea and a real desire to get as far away from this place as possible, were all taking turns leading my emotions.

Anger because, someone, probably a religious leader, had told him this was the Way.

Nausea, well, that was obvious, and so was the desire to escape this place.

But it was the compassion that began to exert itself over the rest. I felt so sorry for him.

I turned back to him after he began to make his way up the "Hill." Staggering, he knelt in front of that center cross.

He is devout, no one can question that fact.

He is not afraid of sacrifice, the blood flowing down his back was crimson testimony to that.

He had just endured one of the world's most extreme religious rites, willingly.

I watched him there for a while and a question began to take form...

Who met him on that hill?

Was it Jesus, or something else?
What do you think?

Crucifixion Friday

2009-04-10T05:50:00.012-05:00

Warning! This posting is not for the squeamish.

Crucifixion Friday

"I think Jesus is sad today."
These were the words spoken by Kori, our 17 year old daughter after witnessing the events of this day.
Good Friday dawned in Manila with an eerie quite in the normally bustling city.
Ayala Avenue, the "Wall Street of the Philippines," was devoid of cars and we drove out of the city headed to the site of the crucifixions.

Our destination was in the province of Pampanga in the city of San Fernando and the barrio of Cutud.

It was here we found the people and for the next 4 hours found it hard to navigate in the crushing crowds and stifling heat.

I will probably never do this again. There really is no words to explain the spiritual oppression. The closest I can describe it is to say, this must have been a similar atmosphere as in times past when they beheaded people in the town square or set the condemned aflame in a bonfire of public judgment.

The scenes were gruesome yet the crowd was festive, almost giddy with the sight of so much blood. Vendors were selling balloons and other party wares, baby chickens were painted bright colors and were for sale everywhere you looked. People laughed, ice cream trucks played carnival music, and cameras and video cameras were in almost every hand.

We were trying to find a parking place when they first started coming past us.

I jumped out of the vehicle and began shooting pictures.

This was to be the first of many groups of staggering, bleeding, suffering, misguided souls.

Their backs had been sliced in ribbons and then as they walked, they swung whips with a clump of wooden rods tied at the end, to keep the blood flowing.

When they walked by, we lowered our umbrellas to shield ourselves from the splattering blood.

There was blood everywhere they went, covering the village's walls, cars, and people who lined the way.

Their faces were covered to hide their identity, and also to mask the grimaces of pain.

As they walked by, I wondered what their individual penance was. Each person had cut a deal with God, "If you heal my mother, I will do penance 7 years." Or, things like, "I am sorry for the crimes I have committed, so I will do penance 3 years."

The wooden mallet in this man's hand was one of the tools used to cut the initial wounds. It was embedded with rows of razors and was plowed down the backs to get the blood flowing.

They stopped at each Catholic church and laid down to receive more wounds, and more beatings. In this church the flagellants appeared to be children, just small, frail bodies. They laid down and children began to beat them with sticks and with whips.

It was particularly disturbing to see just how much they allowed the children to take part.

Here are more children beating the backs of the men. They swung the whips and sticks with a pronounced sense of accomplishment.

The children seemed mesmerized by what was going on.

Instead of playing "Cops and Robbers," the children of this village play "Crucified and Soldier" with every child desiring to play the part of the one crucified.

We don't know for sure, but these children seemed to be following their father. They were walking between the crowd control rails which were reserved for the participants and family. They were not enjoying it as much as the others, they were crying.

They need to be freed from this sort of mental bondage. Jesus doesn't want this boy to grow up thinking he needs to suffer to get God's attention.

This man collapsed from the ordeal.

No one stopped to help him, they just walked by.

He eased back against the barrier, cameras clicking, and sat for a long while.

The loudspeakers were playing praise and worship songs, songs we sing. Yet no one was worshipping.

The flagellant's path made its way up to Golgotha, the hill with the three crosses. They prayed at the crosses for a time and then headed back down, whip coiled in hand, wounded by a religion that failed to tell them about the amazing Grace of the Cross.

After the flagellants passed, wave after staggering wave, here came the 16 volunteers who would be crucified at this place for the 2009 season. This is only one of many sites across the Philippines where this scene was being played out.

They called it a "Passion Play." Yet there was no play to it.

Roman soldiers, carrying real nails made their way up to hill and got ready for the crucifixions.

Here was the first to be crucified. These people gain great notoriety from doing this and are quite popular in this country.

Strangely there was no music playing during this critical time. There was no reverence. The public address system kept asking people to respect what was going on, yet they never did. Notice the Roman soldier with the video camera; they kept asking cast members to stay in character and to quit filming and taking pictures.

The bright polished nails were pounded into his hands, and he was raised to the sky.

They couldn't wait for the crucifixions to begin. The heat had subdued the crowd as we stood there for hours past the official start of the crucifixions. However, when the hammer hit the nail, they came alive.

The "thieves" did not get nailed to the cross, just the center one, and 15 more were to follow.

Kori was standing beside me, leaning against the railing and I heard her say, "I think Jesus is sad today."

One was enough, we didn't stay for the other 15, instead we went to one of our nearby churches.

Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!

We went from that horribly oppressive experience to the exact opposite.

These children are being raised by apostolic parents who sheltered them from what was going on just outside.

We laughed and smiled and let these children lead us back from where we had just been.

We sat with Pastor Sam, his wife, and some of the saints and they told us stories of people who had been rescued from what we had just witnessed.

Here I am with Pastor Sam and a key member in the church, Brother Rolly. Rolly lives in the exact place where we had just witnessed the crucifixion and has been instrumental in bringing scores to the Truth.

In fact, he owns a fish farm where he raises tilapia, and in his holding tanks they baptize person after person. They baptized several this week, in fact.

Jordan with Dugong Go and Aaron, with Mt. Arayat in the background.

It was so refreshing... Brenda asked little Aaron if he had the Holy Ghost and he said, "No." She asked him if he wanted it and he said, "Yes!"

As saddened as Jesus must have been by all the people hurting themselves to gain His attention, he must have been just as happy by little Aaron so easily believing he could get the Holy Ghost.

Kori was tired from the day, but so glad to be with our brothers and sisters who made her feel like family.

The day was long but it is people like Aaron who make it all worth while. When you look into his eyes you see the incredible potential of a people who are willing to do ANYTHING it takes to get into the kingdom.

2009-04-09T18:13:00.005-05:00

Crucifixion Friday

My first thought when I opened my eyes early Friday morning was, “I am going to watch someone being nailed to a cross today.” The thought sent a chill through my soul, it isn’t something I will enjoy. In fact, it is something that NO ONE should have to see, so much less, actually participate in.

As I sit here grappling with this, the rest of the family is asleep, worn out from the church service and hours of driving last night. I am awake because I was driven into consciousness by an echoing cry for grace. "God, dear God, you did this already so we wouldn’t have to!"

Thankfully the Spirit is sweeping through this country and so many have moved from Penance to Repentance… but their own religion is working so hard to blind them from true repentance. Their spiritual hungry is ravenous, and puts mine to shame it seems, and they will do anything in the name of salvation.

Last night as we drove through the countryside to the venue of the conference, we were delayed at every town or little village by crushing crowds gathered around the Catholic churches. The city of Manila is almost a ghost town. Normally a bustling bee hive of chaotic activity, it is now eerily still and silent, malls closed, restaurants closed, businesses of all kinds close, it’s more than 14 million people have headed out into the provinces to take part in the national pursuit of getting God’s attention.

They feel they must bleed and they must suffer, before God will turn a reluctant eye on their pitiful plight.

If any one of them could experience, just one minute, even 30 seconds, of true grace, they wouldn’t be doing this, they would be dancing instead. “God loves me! God thinks I am special!”

I think of all the times I have spent in an Apostolic altar, weeping, shouting, dancing, quietly embracing and being embraced by God’s Spirit and wish the whole world could know what I know.

So, as I sit and watch the sun creep onto the tops of Makati’s towering skyscrapers, I am committing myself all over again to telling these passionate people about God’s Grace. I know there won’t be much grace where we are going today, so we will have to be islands of grace.

“Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.”

Today I will be singing, and at times, humming under my breathe the lyrics to this song;

OH THE BLOOD… REDEEMING BLOOD
JESUS BLOOD… SHED FOR ME
OH THE BLOOD…SAVING BLOOD
CLEANSING BLOOD… FROM CALVARY
OH, OH, LAMB OF GOD, CRUCIFIED FOR MY SINS HE BLED AND DIED
AND OH HOW PRECIOUS IS THE BLOOD

Sunday in Cavite

2009-04-06T03:37:00.012-05:00

A Wonderful Day.

Today, we were privileged to visit four churches in the province of Cavite, which is south of Manila. It was quite a schedule, but we were refreshed at each new church, because God met with us in different and wonderful ways in each place.

Marycris, Cavite - Pastor Art De Leon

Pastor Art De Leon is seated next to me. He recently started this church in Marycris, Cavite.

He is also the personal body guard of the President of the Philippine Central Bank. This man he protects, is the Philippine counterpart of America's Ben Bernake, Chairman of the Federal Reserve. He is daily put in contact with the most powerful and influential people in all of Asia.

More and more God is elevating our Filipino ministry into places before unthinkable.

Anointing Pastor De Leon with oil. This young church got behind their pastor and are eager to see God move in mighty and great ways.

Marycris church presently meets in the clubhouse of a residential subdivision.

Molino, Cavite - Pastor Diamante
This is a young person in the Molino, Cavite church, Jose.

Jordan and Jose took turns playing the key board for an impromptu concert.

When we arrived at this church the young people were waiting for us. They were so excited to have visitors from America.

We asked them to sing, they laughed excitedly and got everything set up for a mini jam session. (Filipinos are always ready to sing and worship.)
They knew all the songs that we sing, yet they did not have the written music to play along.

Jordan is going back to the Molino church for a day here and there to work with these beautiful and talented people.

Of course, they were asking for "Mommy Amy." Amy Adams from Alexandria communicates with this church on a regular basis. Their relationship mean so much to the entire church.

Amy, they love you!

Anabu, Cavite - Pastor Borneo
The next church was in Anabu, Cavite. A few of the leaders met with us there and we had a wonderful time talking of the things of God and getting excited about what God is doing in the Philippines, and more specifically, Anabu. The church is looking to blow out the walls, as their present facilities are just too small to accommodate the growth. What a great problem!!

The beautiful presence of God moved into that place, and we all felt a witness and began to pray. We joined to pray for God to provide for this growing church.

We won't soon forget these wonderful people.

Anabu church with Pastor Borneo, wife and some church leaders. Pastor Borneo is the man in the white barong beside me.

Jordan and Kori with some of the Anabu young people. As with every place we visited today, the young people asked to be linked to the kids on Facebook. It is amazing how much these young people know about what is going on in Alexandria. The world is a very small place now.

Anabu Church

Imus, Cavite - Pastor Abs Gamayon
The Gamayon Family

Pastor Gamayon is the long time General Secretary of the UPC Philippines.

Pastor Gamayon surprised me after the service by asking for my shoes. He put the shoes on the altar and asked his people to bless us with an offering.

Cash is so hard to come by and I could hardly watch as I saw people put money in my shoes. I knew that, in some cases, this money was to be their eating money, or their fare for transportation.

Kori with some of the Imus church children.

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Imus Church.

More of the "Shoes Offering."

Jordan felt moved to go up into the balcony and anoint the sound man with oil.

When I finished preaching, I invited only those who wanted to step into a personal apostolic ministry. I told them that I would anoint every one of them with oil but had I known how many would come forward, I might not have said that. I was overwhelmed by the response.

Thankfully, Jordan and Brenda helped me, moving through the congregation anointing every one.

Imus church is a powerful church.

As every single child, and young person came into the church they got their names and ages. Their organization was impressive.

This child wanted to write his own name.

The store next door to the church advertised a very apostolic bottled water, "Acts 238"

The music minister and his son arrived on a motorcycle.

What smiles!

Four churches in one day. We are worn out, but feel very rewarded. 3,996 more churches to go, (give or take a few)!

Corrigedor

2009-04-04T04:04:00.013-05:00

Corrigedor Island

When I, (Jeff) was in high school we spent time on this island. One time was a week long camping trip in which we lived in tents, and roamed the island like natives.

It was a kid's dream come true. This island has a magical and tragic past, with literally miles of caves and tunnels, old cannons, and war relics.

Many things have changed since I last visited this island, some 25 years ago. The island now has a resort hotel, paved roads, and lots of "off limits" signs that were not there before. The things that remained the same were the ghosts of wars gone by. The bombed out buildings that give testimony to the violent motions of war.

General Douglas MacArthur moved to this small island at the mouth of Manila Bay as the Imperial forces of the Japanese Army advanced on the Philippines. MacArthur loved Manila and had lived there for many years, so he declared Manila an "Open City" so as to spare it from bombings. The Japanese proved to be merciless and unimaginably cruel in spite of MacArthur's efforts to spare the city.

It was from this island that MacArthur reluctantly left the Philippines under Executive Orders to do so. This was the site of one of the most famous 3 word speeches of all time, "I shall return."

MacArthur believed that whoever controlled the Philippines archipelago controlled Asia and Corrigedor was the key to the Philippines.

Maybe that is why it is the most bombed real estate in all of WWII.

Kori shot this picture through a steel door that was full of holes from 50 mil. bullets.

The Japanese took this island from the Americans. But when the Americans took it back the Japanese refused to surrender, so the American soldiers had to hunt them down in every cave, and inside of every of every building.

This impressive, three story building, was known as "One Mile Barracks." It was actually a 3rd of a mile long, but if you ran all three floors it was a full mile.

See the caves? Today, most of these caves, and tunnels are off limits, deemed to dangerous to enter.

25 years ago they were too dangerous NOT to enter. We explored tunnels and caves for days. We found bayonettes, helmets and mortor shells.

Thousands and thousands of silver coins were thrown in the water to hide them from the Japanese and only about 25% of them were found when the Americans retook the island. Storms would wash some up on the shore from time to time.

These particular caves were used by the Japanese to launch suicide attacks at night against US war ships.

Our boat from Manila's harbor to Corrigedor Island.

While we were waiting for our boat in Manila, we were provided amusement from about 100 aerobic participants.

Manila's harbor.

Jordan and Kori up on the lighthouse. The highest point on Corrigedor Island. We were hoping to see one of the many Australian monkeys, but did see one here. Jordan spotted one later.

Another bombed out US building, with the Bataan coast line in the back ground.

You may have heard of the Bataan Death March. It began here on Corrigedor, when the US Army surrendered, and the Japanese ferried them across to that coast.

The lighthouse.

Kori and Jordan tried to imagine how it must have been manning the anti aircraft guns with hundreds of Japanese war planes bearing down on them.

This signpost shows just how far, and in what direction, certain cities are from this point.

WWII doesn't seem so long ago when you look on these bombed out ruins.

Kori standing in the middle of one of the island's famous batteries that controlled the entrance to Manila Bay.

The gun standing at Jordan's left was the last gun firing before the surrender.

Brenda sitting in a trolley car made in Japan, listening to a tour guide speaking into a mic made in Japan, riding on roads that were made with concrete from Japan. Looks like Japan didn't TOTALLY lose the war, did they?

Kori in front of one of the barracks.

Manila's skyline.

Our Condo and Friends

2009-04-01T06:04:00.002-05:00

Our Condo.

Abigail Pestano and Kori. They are childhood friends.

Sam Go, Mischel Pestano, Kori Mallory, Abigail Pestano, Joyce Pestano, girlfriend of Michael Pestano, Michael Pestano, and Jordan Mallory at Burger King in the Mall of Asia.

Our Kitchen

Just a piece of "home'. Thank MBS & KJS!!!

Lobby of Condo

Happy Hippo on the ground floor of our Condo. The short 5 days I have beeen here these ladies have become my friends. They pick up and deliver, wash, dry, fold, and press. I've kept them busy!

Kitchen Bar

Another piece of home. I LOVE LOUISIANA!!

Where's Jeff?

2009-03-31T02:54:00.003-05:00

Many of you have asked where Jeff has been.

Well here's the story.

Jeff and I were here in the Philippines for General Conference in February. We were here to try and find a place to live for our family and then planned on coming back in a few months to stay. Well, little did I know I would be returning 2 weeks later with Melani and Kendra. My friend Melani was asked to speak at a Ladies Conference in Iloilo City. To make a long story short, I just couldn't let them come here all by themselves. I just had to come with them. So I did. That was on March 10th. We travelled to Manila, Bacolod, Iloilo and back to Manila where we met Jordan and Kori. Then we all went up to Baguio to spend some R&R time.

The reports that are coming in from the Ladies Conference are so incredible. I will be posting them shortly. There were miracles of all kinds. God surely met us there. They had a record crowd in that region. It was good to be with them all.

So, I left Jeff at home in Alexandria on March 10th. That was 3 weeks ago. I know they say to never say never, but I can safely say, "NEVER" again will I be gone from him 3 weeks. I miss him. It doesn't help that I'm in a country that loves him very much and everywhere I go they ask me, "When is Sir Jeff coming?" You see this country is where Jeff has spent most of his growing up days. He loves it here and so do I. Tomorrow is the day that Jeff arrives. I get a special pass to get into the airport, thanks to our friend Captain Mayor!!!!

We will be very busy the first couple of months here. We have a lot of ground to cover. We are scheduled to go from the North to the South in a very short period of time. We're excited though. Jordan and Kori are ready to go with us. I'm thankful that they are here with us. Morgan will be one day. He's starting to feel what we've been feeling for some time now.

So that's the answer to your questions regarding why Jeff is not in any of our pictures. Keep checking back, he'll be in pictures soon.

More Random Pictures

2009-03-31T02:32:00.006-05:00

Jordan taking picture of place where youth camp is at in a few weeks and the speaker is Matt Maddix. Kendra, what were you saying???????

Jordan-the official photographer.

They always had time for smile. Keep smilin girls!

Jordan and Kendra having a heart to heart conversation.

We were sitting at a rest area McDonald's and in walked in about 30 church people, and instantly Kendra's table was full of "new" friends. She never met a stranger.

I think there were praying over their food at TGIF'S.

K & K--always friends.

Farewell hug.

Our last day in Baguio and some random pictures

2009-03-27T06:15:00.010-05:00

Baguio City

Wood Carver

Kori and Kendra-K&K-

They always have the best times together

K&K on Jeepney

Riding a Jeepney was a highlight for all of us

Then the flood.....

Eating Strawberries from Baguio. They came straight from the patch.

Kori, Kendra, and Jordan at Starbucks at Robinson's Mall in Manila.

Me and my Doll Kori.

I love this picture. They always smile.

Kendra, Kori, and Melani at the American Cemetery in Manila.

Kendra, Kori, and Jordan at Krispy Kreme in Manila.

THEY SAID this was their scared face. We left them alone in the van to buy bus tickets.

Greenbelt in Manila.

Melani and Me in Manila.

Jordan and Kori at bus terminal in Manila.

K&K on bus to Baguio

Peter Rabbit the Porter

Mark and Kori. Read about Mark on Melani's blog at questmiles.blogspot.com

Melani checking in one of our hotels.

Wherever they are, they will be having fun and taking pictures.

Jordan at breakfast in Baguio

Church in Baguio. Pastor Eugene and Jimma Banez. Great people!

Kori, Kendra, Jimma and Eugene Banez

I love that girl!!! She is missing her dad....she said so tonight.

Strawberry patch in Baguio

The Manor in Baguio

We didn't even have to tell the restaurant we were coming they would just reserve us a table

Working thru computer issues together

Kori and Melani in the Strawberry Patch

Things I saw on my 6:45 a.m. walk today. Jeff wrote some things about this area.

2009-03-26T19:26:00.031-05:00

The Manor at Camp John Hay - Baguio, Philippines

From WWI to WWII to the Korean War and the Vietnam war, Camp John Hay was the oasis of peace in the wilderness of war. This Mile High retreat in the northern mountains of Luzon island is now the summer vacation spot of the Philippines. The typical heat of this tropical country is left behind the further you climb until you get the sense of Colorado in summer time. Cool evenings and glorious days.

Really cool chess set in lobby of hotel

It seems everything grows here. A walk over the rolling hills is quite a work out but well worth it for the views you will see.

Simply beautiful

When I was a boy growing up, this was the one place my family was able to truly escape to for a vacation. When the sun came up, it was father and sons, headed for the golf course. There was always a heavy morning dew on the ground and many days, fog blanketed the lower lying areas. It seemed impossibly calm, quiet and cool, to this lowland, city slicker raised in a city of 14 million.

Jack Nicklaus' Golden Bear International redesigned this course a few years back and everyone says it is awesome. However, I will miss the old layout that I knew so well. Back in those days they would let us bring our two German Shepherds, Apache and Raider, to run while we golfed. On holes 8 and 9 there were some agressive blue birds that didn't like our dogs and without fail, every day, they would swoop down and peck our dog's heads while screeching out a warning.

And... I will miss the 3rd hole, the infamous, dastardly, diabolical "Cardiac Hill." The green was at least 400 feet ABOVE the tee box! It was so steep that there was a large hemp rope that wound around pulleys and would literally pull the golfers up the hill. In those days there were no golf carts either. They would not have been able to navigate the extreme hills. Good thing Cardiac Hill was early on in the round because if it were later, I am sure there would be some that would have just said, "Forget about it!! I ain't doing that!!!"

One day my dad and I were on the tee box waiting for the sun to come up and we finished out 54th hole of the day as the sun was going down. What were we thinking?!!? 3 times up Cardiac Hill in one day?

I remember that one day my brother Gerry had an errant shot and it skipped across the road at a high rate of speed (maybe this very road) and smacked into the back of an unsuspecting jogger. "Wack!!!" We could hear the sound of that ball hitting the poor lady in her back from a long way off.

When we got to the lady, she lay on the side of the road, in the grass, writhing in pain. I heard Gerry say, "Shoot!! That's my math teacher!!"

And it was. Gerry has some 'splanin' to do.

On the way up the winding road to Baguio you are greeted by many sights. One of them are waterfalls. (Not like this man made one, but real torrents spouting out of various mountains and cliffs.

I'm so glad they posted that sign....

Also, on the road to Baguio, you look over the edge, (no guard rails in many places) and can see the rocky ravine so far below. You can see the mangled, rusting remains of buses, jeepeny's and cars that sure would have appreciated some guard rails.

Brenda literally anointed all four bus tires with oil before she got on. She also found a way to sneakily anoint the bus driver with oil. He didn't know what that oily spot on his back was, but vaguely remembers a white lady clumsily tripping over something and her hand hitting his back. He thinks to himself, "The weird thing is that she said, 'In Jesus Name.'" as she stumbled.

There are many legends of Japanese gold bried up in these far,
blue mountains. In fact, as legend has it, President Ferdinand Marcos,
(husband of the woman with all the shoes) purchased his way to power
in the early 1960s with some of this fabled treasure. It does make sense
since this former WWII solider, who had no great political connections,
family wealth, or power, could suddenly, one day have enough money to
do ANYTHING he wanted.

I heard from an old man who claims to have seen that very treasure
with his own eyes that there was a solid gold Buddha that must have
weighed a ton or more and gems and artifacts from all over the South
Pacific.

In the closing months of World War II, in the Philippines, several of Japan's highest ranking imperial princes hid tons of looted gold bullion and other stolen treasure in caves and tunnels, to recover later. This was the wealth of 12 Asian countries, accumulated over thousands of years that they had robbed in the early years of the war. Expert teams accompanying Japan's armed forces had systematically emptied treasuries, banks, factories, private homes, pawn shops, art galleries, and stripped ordinary people, while Japan's top gangsters looted Asia's underworld and its black economy. When American tanks were close, the chief engineers of those vaults were given a farewell party 67 metres underground in Tunnel 8 in the mountains of Luzon, stacked with row after row of gold bars. As the evening progressed, they drank great quantities of sake, sang patriotic songs and shouted banzai (long life)."He went on to say, "At midnight, General Yamashita Tomoyuki and the princes slipped out, and dynamite charges were set off in the access tunnels, entombing the engineers. Their vaults would remain secret."
Apparently the young Ferdinand Marcos was watching from his hideout as this drama was being played out, and years later, it financed him to power.

Now imagine a young boy, (me) growing up hearing of stories like this, from old men
over faded and worn chess tables, on countless evenings... oh yea, when I looked out
cross those mountains I wondered every time, "I wonder if I am looking at one of those
sights right now." Gold. What an allure it has.
I must admit that at time I might still might wonder if I am looking at the very spot
where those treasure tunnels were.

The history between the Philippines and America is long and complex, like crazy

cousins who love each other but at times, MAN do they bug each other! For the most

part, the love between the Filipino and the American is strong. WWII saw some of the

greatest stories of loyalty and dedication being on exhibition between the Filipino and

American soldier. Their mutual respect was high and the Filipino Scouts were some

of the most courageous fighters in the entire war, according to those who fought beside

them.

Statue of Abraham Lincoln

Manuel Quezon

The path I took on my walk this morning.

Thank God for a Condo!

2009-03-24T05:32:00.018-05:00

Pool on the 2nd floor

View from Patio

Another view from patio

Melani in living room

Kendra and Jordan in dining room

Brenda and Kori in Kitchen

I know it's been a few days since I have posted anything on this trip. So here I am.

The plan was for Melani, Kendra and me to fly to Manila last Sunday night after a service in Iloilo. Jordan and Kori flew into Manila on Friday night. On Saturday I rushed to catch the 11:00 a.m. flight back to Manila to be with Kori, she was not doing good. Melani and Kendra followed me on the afternoon flight, you see we HAVE to stick together.

I got to Manila, hugged Jordan and Kori then found a pharmacy, bought water and juice trying to get Kori better. She's better now. Thank you Jesus and thanks to the POA for all the prayers.

Sunday was a day of rest for us...WOW..what a change that was!! Jordan and I did look at a Condo in Makati.

Monday we got up and I felt a little urgency to find my family a place to live, since we needed somewhere to go this Saturday. Jordan and Melani thought I might need a chill pill. But I survived the day. After looking at many places, I didn't have a good feel about any of them. None of them gave me that feeling like, "Oh I can make this cozy".

I felt even more uneasy last night (Monday). Then I talked to the love of my life, Jeffrey. He seems to make all things better. He told me that God has a plan and it will all work out. I believed him. He not only makes sense most of the time, but he can make me laugh like none other....and for that I am grateful. As I fell asleep last night I told God, "It's in Your hands", and went to sleep.

When I woke up this morning I felt a peace about the very first one I looked at. I texted (that's what they do here more than anything) the man and told him we wanted it if it was still available. He told me it was. I told him OK, then we want it. I told Jeff and he felt good about it also. He and Jeff talked a few weeks ago on the phone and really hit if off. Come to find out the man likes missionaries. So I told the group that we were going to see our new home.

We met Johnny at 1:30. The condo is on the 10th floor in the very area we wanted to live all along. It has a laundry place that will pick up and deliver our laundry, it's located on the first floor. Since we won't have a washer and dryer, this will come in handy. It also has a barber, a travel agent, rental car place. Jordan and Kori are pleased with it, Kendra thinks it's cool, and Melani likes it.

SO, after a few days of being unsettled, I have a peace about it. Jeff is going to love it. He knows that area like any local here. I feel safe there. There is everything we will need, because at this point we don't have a car. We can walk to just about anywhere we will need to go. And it's within our budget!!!

Tomorrow we get on the Deluxe Victory Liner Bus Line and drive north to Baguio, it's a 6 hour drive. The drive will be an adventure. We have our Dramamine and motion sickness bracelets ready. I hope we make it without anything major happening. I will enjoy being there with our friends the Banez's. Just wish Jeff, Morgan, Terry, Bradyn were with us.

Right now me, Kori, Jordan, and Kendra are sitting in Starbucks so we can have decent internet service. For the last 3 nights this has been our hang out. When we come in all the Barista's call us by name.

I thank God for leading us to the right condo. As long as I have a cozy place to retreat too, then I can handle just about anything.

It's along way from 4800 Whitehall Blvd......but I think it'll be just fine.

Thursday Night of Ladies Conference

2009-03-19T18:35:00.015-05:00

Pastor Nonato, wife Jenimar and girls. They both were our Bible School students at ACTS in 1996. They are doing an AWESOME job in their city! God has given them favor. He is close friends with the Mayor.

Kiesha Tenefrancia, daughter of Pastor Nonato and Jenimar. There is a special anointing on this little 7 year old. She stood there for 15 minutes worshipping just like this, tears streaming down her face. It was sweet. In their family devotions she is the one to lay hands on her parents. It was so fun talking with her. You can't imagine you are talking to a seven year old. She is very bright.
VIDEO COMING SOON

WORSHIP! It's ALL about HIM.

Kendra doing the Revelation Song. The worship was so powerful, she just fell to the ground in the middle of the song.

2 sweet ladies from the POA gave Melani money for ladies to be able to travel the boat ride to this conference. The fare was $2 each. These are those ladies!!!! They are SOOOO thankful. Thanks Mom and Nan. Money well spent.

Pastor Tom and JiJi from Handumanan. I LOVE them!

2 of our students from 1996. They are so happy!

A visit with Danny-click on video to the right

2009-03-17T05:37:00.009-05:00

Danny's house

As we were leaving the last church, the pastor's wife, Rita asked if we would pray for a man that lived across from the church. He had heat stroke and was not doing good. We walked in the door and there he was, lying on the concrete floor with a small pillow and a sheet.

Melani knelt down and asked for some oil and the only kind they had was what Rita used in Reflexology. She put some on his head and hands and we began to pray. It was so powerful. The presence of God was there so strong. Melani said he would look up and say, "In Jesus Name". It was truly an amazing experience.

A trip to the country side

2009-03-17T04:59:00.017-05:00

Melani with pastor's wife, Rita

Next to the church

Kendra with the Pastor's kids.

The pastors son made this drum set. The silver one is literally an oil drum, and the gold one is a bucket. They are so resourceful.

The Pastor and his wife with Melani.

Another church we visited. POA bought them a sound system and linoleum... that they laid over a dirt floor.

Sunday School room to the right and the restroom is to the left.

One of the churches we visited today. The POA helped them with their building.

Bacolod Philippines

2009-03-15T05:17:00.029-05:00

Kendra oh Kendra. I LOVE HER!!!!

Melani, Pastor Jethro, and wife

Handumanan lovin on Kendra

Melani, Pastor Ramos, his wife, and Teena

At Handumanan on Sunday

Pastor Tom's wife, Jiji and their children.

Baptism at Handumanan

Pastor Jethro's church. Every friday night they start their prayer meeting praying for the POA. POA-we are blessed and loved.

A welcome sign in one of the 4 churches that we visited on Saturday.

Pastor Ramos and church

Kendra and some village boys

Arriving in Bacolod, the city of smiles.

Desperatly seeking an activity at 39,000 feet

2009-02-24T01:08:00.004-06:00

We have just had our lunch, well, they called it a lunch but Brenda and I find that these things are always more of an activity than a lunch. I will explain.
The very fact that we are so excited for them to start the in-flight service proves that we view this as as an activity and not lunch. We know it is food, and though we are absolutely positive we will not like any of it does not quell our excitement. There isn’t many things to do sitting around for 25 hours, so any distraction is welcomed.
But before the real activity gets here, they come by with a drink cart. Now at home, my drink selection varies between lemonade, water and sprite, sometimes tea. But since I am bored out of my mind, I never order the ordinary.
“Tomato juice please.” She hands that thick red substance to me. “You wan Sal and feffa”
“Salt and Pepper? Sure why not?” This sounds interesting. The fact that I probably won’t like pepper in my juice only makes me even more interested. “Good, an activity.” I think to myself.
I found out that pepper doesn’t stir into tomato juice with much ease at all. The little black bits have tremendous floatation properties and the stir stick they provided for that purpose was planned perfectly for the “activity.” It is aerodynamically designed to pass through liquid without so much as causing a ripple. I had nothing else to do so it became my mission in life for the next 15 minutes to sink each and every one of those little black specks. They were determined to float, but I was more determined to blend them evenly throughout that beverage.
I was glad Brenda was asleep because she would not have understood the importance of this activity. I felt eyes watching me and looked around. An elderly Asian man one row back, across the aisle was watching and I suddenly saw myself from outside eyes.
I had my tongue protruding out the corner of my mouth and I was hunched over my little tray, and had been that way for much too long. I smiled at him and he didn’t return the favor. Cabin fever is an ugly thing I admit but I had to do SOMETHING.
I am happy to report that I was successful in spite of it all.
I took a few sips of my very well blended concoction and confirmed what I already knew, I didn’t like it. I don’t know if it was the “feffa” or if it was the thinly sliced lemon wedge that kept trying to sneak into my mouth when I took a sip. Even though I did not like the taste I came away from the experience with a measure of satisfaction. We have another flight from Tokyo to Houston and since it is a whopping 14 hours long, I think I will enjoy that activity on that flight as well.
Then the big activity is shortly following the drink activity so I am alert and eager.
I already know what they have to serve but before I tell her what I prefer, I wait so that she lets me in on the whole experience.
“Herro. You wan pish or beef? Da pish have rice and the beef have noodle. Wa you lie?”
“I like beef please.” In my sensory deprived condition, this is absolutely riveting drama. I eagerly watch as she takes that tray out and begins to add all the various “activities” to the tray. For the briefest of moments I forget that I am trapped in an aluminum can at 39,000 feet with about 20 more hours of travel time ahead of me. My painful behind briefly loses its preeminence because I now have an activity.
Whoever designed these Japanese meals really knew what they were doing. Everything is packaged individually for our added recreation.
My first activity is to get the silverware out of the industrial quality packaging it is in. The first thing I try to do is to push the knife up through the plastic and thereby creating a weakness in the plastic from which, my experience teaches me, it will easily tear from there.
I am sad to say that I had underestimated the craftiness of these Japanese people. I am used to opening a bag of potato chips in the States and if you weren’t careful, the bag would just keep ripping all the way to the bottom. Not this stuff.
That knife was made of stainless steel but I could not get a good enough hold on it to get it pushed through the plastic. So I tried the next familiar tactic. I bit a small tear in the side of the bag and then proceeded to tear it along the minor incision I had created with me teeth. No luck there. This was turning out to be a great activity.
The plastic was stretchy and surprisingly stout. I looked over to see how Brenda was doing with her activity and she already had hers out. “How did you do that?” I asked impressed.
She showed me that on the other end, there was a flap that was folded over and stuck and all you had to do was peel it back and walla, that activity was finished.
I won’t tell you about the activity of trying to spread rock hard butter on surprisingly delicate bread but kept me entertained for a while.
The next container was a real puzzle. I never did figure out what was in it. I saw raisins and corn, but there were these vegetables that had eyes. I looked at them, and they just looked back at me. There was also a single piece of vary pale meat sitting beside the vegetable with eyes, and for the life of me I just couldn’t identify that either. In fact, I am not sure it was meat at all, come to think of it. But with the vegetable keeping watch, I decided not to try it.
I opened absolutely everything. It was great. I opened and studied every package trying to figure out what the activity was with that item.
By the time I handed that tray back it defiantly looked like it was an activity for a very bored person.
Oh, no, they are telling us to put everything up, because there is turbulence ahead. After hearing about the NW flight that had such a bad experience over Japan.
I had better heed the warning. That is an activity I can do without.

2009-02-21T17:28:00.005-06:00

I have a thing about my feet. I just don’t like people touching them, boy did that little boundary get trampled on today.

We have been on our feet for endless hours, you know, church, walking through malls, going up and down stairs and walking through airports. So as we are strolling through the mall Brenda’s eyes are drawn to a sign, “Foot and leg massage.” It was about 3 dollars for 30 minutes.

Without knowing what I was about to get myself into, I said, “Sure, we can afford $3.” Thus began one of the most hilarious moments I have ever experienced.

Brenda talked me into getting the massage also and I consented, because my feet really were very painful.

They lead us back into, what I thought would be a private place, so my ugly feet would be seen by the least number of people possible. Oh no, they lead us into a circular shaped room, lined with chairs all around, filled by bare foot women and about 10 uniformed feet servers.

As I settled down into my chair I realized there was only one other male in the place, and it is possible he would have been offended if I called him one.

In spite of this, I think, “I will just close my eyes, endure this foot rub and then escape with my dignity intact.

Brenda leaned over to me and whispered, “They are all looking at us.” It was true. I mean, we are all in a circle and we were the only Americans. It was though they were telepathically communicating with each other, “Say hello to the freaks.”

I leaned over to Brenda and quietly said, “I am doing this for you my love. Appreciate is deeply. Cherish this moment because it won’t ever come again.”

Brenda giggled. I should have known right then and there that I was in trouble, but I had forgotten the fact that when Brenda knows she is not supposed to laugh, and something strikes her funny, it is all over. There is something about that dynamic, the attempted repression of laughter just makes things funnier. It was a quite as a library and there was just no place to hide.

The guy sat down at my feet, (yes, the guy) and pulled off my shoes and took off my socks. I actually tried to get them off first, and we had a brief tug of war over my second shoe. He finally wrested it from my hand, with a look that said, “Dis is my peet.”

So I sat back and tried to relax. I asked for a magazine to read, but thumbing through the stack of mags they handed me, it only added to my growing knowledge that I was so totally out of my element. Since I was not the least interested in “Ten Ways to Know Your Man is Cheating” I put the pile of magazines down and laid back with my eyes closed. That lasted about 3 seconds.

That first touch almost weirded me out. He was putting his fingers between my toes! “Why?” I thought, “Why does this guy need BETWEEN my toes?”

He washed my feet in a trap door and dried them off.

After he washed my feet he put them in a vibrating foot bath and then dried them off again. He set them up on a little bench and to my horror, brought out tools! I didn’t sign up for tools. I just thought it was a foot massage, not all this. First the between the toes thing, then this?

So I hesitantly said to the guy, “What is all of this? I don’t want all of this. I just want a foot massage.”

The giggles from the chair beside me were getting a little louder. Brenda could see how uncomfortable I was and for some strange reason this made her merry.

“I just want a massage.” I repeated and the guy just smiled at me and with his eyes locked on mine, “This IS a massage.” And pulled out some sort of paddle. It looked like a small ping pong paddle with sand paper on it.

Now, my toes are very sensitive. They jump when they are touched, especially by a piece of sand paper. He would drag that paddle across my toe and it would jump. I tried to keep it still, but that little booger was twitching with every stroke and this guy had a pretty fast pace, so my toes, they were a dancin’.

A few of the foot people started talking in the Filipino, snickering. They didn’t know that I could understand what they were saying. One of them said, “This must be his first time.”

Brenda was watching my toes and still giggling. I even chuckled a little bit, it was kind of funny.

It wasn’t long and the guy with the paddle stopped and said to the girl beside him. “This won’t work for him. I need …” I didn’t understand the word he used, but she looked at me and smiled. I didn’t like that.

The guy got up and in a little while returned holding what I swear was a cheese slicer, or chocolate shaver, or a potato peeler. Brenda whispered, “That is a razor blade on that thing.”

I started sweating. What an unpredictable little place this was.

He put that thing to my heel and started shaving. Now friends, I have Man heels. Hoofs are close to the truth. I could hear the chunks falling on the floor.

Men are from Mars, women like cheese graters on their feet.

I thought of just calling the whole thing off, but all those women were just sitting there, pretending to read a magazine but apparently magazines are used in foot places like a lion uses tall grass. They can see you, but you can’t see them.

They could sense there was blood in the water so they began to circle me with their periodical stares. I couldn’t quit now, they would all know I was a coward.

I would have given up government secrets if it would have gotten me out of there.

I should have kept my mouth shut but I leaned over to Brenda and said, “I am already the shortest one in my family. If he keeps that up, I am going to be an inch shorter.”

It just struck her funny. I mean real funny. The laughter passed from her to the lady doing her feet, then the guy doing mine, and then some of the others in the room. They were really laughing.

“One inch! Ha, ha, ha!” The Filipino lady said. “Dat is berry punny!” She said holding up her fingers about an inch apart.

I said, “My shoes won’t fit if you keep that up.”

The guy doing my feet let a finger slip between one of my toes again and I pulled my foot back and gave him a stare.

It didn’t even phase him and he picked up where he had left off. My toes were still jumping and the razor was slicing. I looked over at Brenda, “What have you gotten me into?”

Folks, things just went downhill from there. Brenda laughed herself right into a Depend’s commercial. “I wear depends because you never know when you will be in a foot place with your husband.”

I told the guy, “Really, you don’t have to get my feet smooth. That is already good enough.”

The lady doing Brenda’s feet said, “No sir, he will not stop. He is a ferfectionist.” And then took a break from Brenda’s feet to enjoy the humor of her statement. And he didn’t stop either.

When he had carved the corners off of my feet he started with a series of files. I was praying that eventually my feet would get used to the handling and would stop jumping, but they were apparently in on the joke too.

I didn’t feel like it, but I started laughing too. By now Brenda was coughing with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“I am going to have to learn how to walk again on these new feet.” I said. “ I am used to flat heels, but these new round ones… how do you stand on round heels?”

How women enjoy such an experience is beyond me.

When we finally walked out of that place I really did feel shorter. I didn’t tell Brenda about that, but at the shoe store today, Brenda held up a pair of shoes and asked how I like them.

I just said no. She put them down and showed me a few others. She finally held up some flat ones and I said, “Those are the ones baby.”

I guess I have a thing about feet.

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2009-02-21T09:22:00.008-06:00

Two of my heroes. Bruce Howell and Carlos Ecle. Carlos Ecle is a pastor in the Philippines who broke his back when he was twelve and has not walked since. That has never stopped him. He is a church planter and a great soul winner. Ecle actually builds his churches with his bare hands even though he is paralyzed from the waist down. Brother Howell was challenging the ministry to sacrifice and preached a great message about "Nevertheless..." No matter what my obstacles, I am going to keep on going on.

The platform is quite high and Ecle tried to "walk" up the stairs by himself. He puts his hands on his feet and is actually walking on his hands.

In this photo they are both screaming, "Nevertheless!"

Then with the entire General Conference looking on, he refused the men who stood ready to help, and by himself walked down the steep steps illustrating for all of us, "Nevertheless."

2009-02-20T20:10:00.020-06:00

ACTS compound.

The concert had all styles of music. This group is made up of pastors sons and the lead singer is in white and he is rapping. It was really neat. The crowd didn't know what to think of it. We will post a video of them later.

This is Jose's family, friends, and Pastor.

This is Jose. Amy Adams friend. He was overjoyed to hear that Amy sent a little care package for him and his church. We are giving it to him Sunday. The thing he wanted the most was a picture of Amy and her family.

Good ole Manila traffic, can you believe this is a major improvement from the way it used to be?

Ely Go from ACTS and Jiji from Handumanan, they were headed to the market and were stopping by Dunkin Donuts for coffee. They are childhood friends.

This is the house we lived in 1996-1997, on the ACTS compound.

That's not a vase, that is thousands of fresh red roses.

Our students from 1996

Thursday night at General Conference

STUFF

2008-12-24T09:42:00.005-06:00

There is nothing that distracts Americans more than stuff. We live in the land of stuff. Never before has a people had more stuff than we do, and there is nothing that competes with Jesus more than stuff. Stuff is the anti eternity. Stuff is instant, it is now, it is touchable, tangible, and controllable.

We learn about stuff at a very young age. People start getting stuff as soon as their little, dimpled hands can clutch something and it doesn't stop until their hands no longer have the strength to clutch.

They have wills written so that other people will know what to do with their stuff.
This has to be done or else the people who are left behind will fight over this stuff.

Moms and Dads watch their children’s eyes closely to see what stuff makes them smile and do their very best to put that stuff within reach starting the first rules of the “Game of Stuff”.

“Reach and grab until you die.”

Some people have one pocket in their shirts to put stuff in but others have four because they need to put more stuff in them.

Pants have pockets to hold stuff also because some stuff has to be close to us at all times.

Most women have purses so they can carry stuff with them. Even some guys have begun to carry purses for their stuff.

Cars have glove boxes so they can hold stuff and trunks are much bigger and hold much more stuff.

Suite cases are getting larger and sturdier so that they can hold more stuff. Airlines have to impose weight limits on stuff, or the planes would never get off of the ground because of all the stuff we would take. We have to take as much stuff with us as we can before we feel comfortable leaving our homes behind that hold all of our big stuff.

Even as children we get so much stuff that by the time we get ready to start our own separate stuff pile we have to leave some of our stuff with our moms and dads.

We first get a small box to put our stuff in but as we get more stuff we need a bigger box to put stuff in and so we build a bigger one and then a bigger one. These boxes are called houses and some boxes are bigger and better than others but they are just boxes to hold stuff.

These boxes have doors and windows that lock. Why? Because there are actually people who want our stuff and will steal it.

They don’t ever steal our junky stuff but always take our new, shiny or electronic stuff. This leads to a business called security and a field of medicine called psychiatry to keep unwanted people out and to get other people’s heads straight that worry about things like that too much.

Some people don’t have enough stuff so they actually go to other people’s houses and buy some of their stuff in garage sales. They get so much stuff that they need more closets and shelves to hold all their stuff. They put stuff in basements, stuff in attics, stuff under stairs and stuff in drawers.

There is actually a booming industry based on the idea that people have too much stuff called “storage.” Big hollow boxes with locks to hold stuff that people just can’t seem to let go of.

People have stuff that has absolutely no value to them but they know that it is coveted by someone else so they keep it with the intention of trading it for other stuff that they covet later.

At first garages were to park the family car in but now they just mostly hold stuff.

Boxes get bigger and the stuff continues to pile up.

Do you know that stuff even gets old or that there is a term applied to stuff called “out of style?”
This is stuff that works fine, but it has become the wrong color or shape. We get bored with this stuff and so they have businesses that will take that kind of stuff and give it to people that don’t have much stuff like Goodwill and Salvation Army.

Stuff that people finally thinks has absolutely no use to anyone gets put in a stuff graveyard called a dump.

Would you believe that even there you can find people, who have a lot of stuff already, digging around for more stuff? A kind of stuff reincarnation.

People dig in the earth for stuff. They drill holes hoping that they hit a hidden pocket of black stuff down there so they can translate it into other stuff up here. Stuff can also be found on the bottom of the ocean and so you find people who risk their lives to go down there hunting it.

There are different seasons for stuff. Some stuff can’t be legally used until certain times of the year. So it sits in storage until that stuff can be used for a few short months. People practice with this stuff a lot and talk about it a lot but most of the time this expensive stuff just sits unused. Stuff to hunt with, stuff to fish with, stuff to be on the water with, stuff to fall down in the snow with, stuff to hit, stuff to catch, stuff to swing, and stuff to throw.

It has been said that “Americans have lost their souls so now they are trying to save their bodies.” Exercise stuff, diet stuff, tanning stuff, curling stuff, tucking stuff and lifting stuff.

Christians like stuff as much as sinners do. They call it, “Blessing.”

They have stuff in storages and stuff in closets. Stuff in basements and stuff in attics. Then they go to church and sing, “This world is not my home, I’m just a passing through.”

They bow down at the altar with all sincerity and ask God for more stuff. “Bless me Lord.” When they lose some of their stuff, they think God is mad at them, “Why did you take my stuff?” “Please show me that you aren’t mad at me… by giving me more stuff.”

We honor the ones with the most stuff, and we pity the ones with the least amount of stuff.

And then we get to the stuff season, (This is it) Christmas… Jesus used to be the reason for the season, but Santa Claus brings the stuff, so … “Santa’s the man!”
We wildly dive into the pursuit for “Holiday” stuff. Stuff in stockings, stuff to wrap, stuff to eat, and stuff to decorate with. Admittedly fun stuff, I personally love this stuff… but stuff can’t crowd out Jesus… stuff isn’t the reason for the season, is it?

I wonder what it is going to be like when the Archangel blows his trumpet. Is there going to be a groan from the American church, “So soon? Now what will we do with all of our stuff?”

I wonder if Peter and a crew of angels with hammers and chisels, squeegees and scrapers are going to be ready for us?

I don’t want to walk through the gates of pearl and hear the angels say, “Can you believe that they have names for all this stuff that is caked on them? Yuk! What a mess some of these saints are. Do they know that they can’t take this stuff with them into heaven?”

A question begged to be asked.

Do Christians think like they act that God is going to hand out rewards to the guy with the most stuff? I know it is called “blessing” down here, but is stuff always a blessing by heaven’s way of seeing things?

Do some think they are going to walk up to the throne with a great sense of accomplishment and point back to a burning world and say, “Lord did you see all of my stuff before you burned it?”

God might say, “Yes I did. To whom much is given much is required.”

Written by Jeff in 1997
Copyrighted

Thanksgiving at The Homeplace

2008-11-28T17:06:00.010-06:00

There is no place like The Homeplace. We have special times there all throughout the year but Thanksgiving Day is always a favorite. We all know what we are to bring, and do the same thing every year. The turkey, ham, dressing (in the famous dressing pan, but that is another story), sides, deserts, cassaroles... what a smooth operation. It always works out just fine. It usually starts Thanksgiving Eve Night. This year we all played a game of Scrabble and it was a blast. TS & MBS were winning until Jordan and Mom soared ahead. I think Jeff and I would have won but he was doing something else the first half of the game. It was a good game. I don't think koy is a word, is it Kori and Reagan??? Then came 'the' puzzle. The yearly puzzle is always a highlight for my family. We LOVE to do puzzles.

Thanksgiving day is always sweet. We are surrounded by people we love. Memories are being made. I'm thankful for my Alexandria family. I will miss the 143 steps to The Home Place.