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June 28, 2005

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your continued faithful prayers. We haven’t been able to write for a while (we’re in the city now following up on our satellite internet connection—no conclusive word yet on when it will be available). But God is doing great things through your prayers!

• Forty students have enrolled at Maranatha Bible College. No one was expecting such good numbers! At the conclusion of the conference we held when we first arrived we challenged people to take a more active part in reaching the lost in Bohol. Several responded by committing to go to Bible college to learn how to plant churches. We are amazed at the passion and sense of calling in these students. We’re teaching classes and training other teachers to teach their classes. We have a few experienced pastors who are great assets to us. They teach some of the Bible subjects. Please pray that we will teach these students well! They are committing years of their lives to learn—we are also learning how to lead a college (if you didn’t know, Jean and I met by starting an elementary and high school together in one of the slum areas outside of Manila). There are challenges, but great opportunities for us to recognize God’s greatness. We didn’t advertise but a lot of people showed up! We’re planning on actually advertising next year. We spent a few weeks repairing the school’s dormitories—they were long abandoned to disrepair—but they aren’t adequate for the students we have now; we don’t want them to be a hindrance to growth. Please join us in praying for God’s solution to our space problem in the students’ housing.
• Along with classroom training, we’re requiring all our students to participate in some outreach. Pray that they will see success and God’s hand in what they do. A lot of them are new at this level of commitment; it would be great for them to see several early victories to keep them aflame with the passion God has given them.
• We had another God sighting! For about six months there was no rain in our part of the Philippines. This opened a great opportunity for us! We were told that we should dig the wells at Village of Hope before the rain comes. By digging after such a long dry spell we’d be certain to hit a low spot in the water-table. Our team was digging two wells on the property. They had to dig further than planned, so they were taking longer than planned. Weeks went by. We had many people praying that the wells would be done before the rains came back. With many farmers in the community a six month drought is a big problem. We got word Wednesday afternoon that there was water in both wells now. Thursday it rained hard for hours! There was more rain in two hours than there had been for the previous six months. The roads were a mess, but everyone was happy. And we knew that God made a way for us to finish a weather-sensitive project before the weather changed drastically. A creek defines most of the boundary of Village of Hope. With no rain the creek had dried, so we were getting gravel and sand from the creek bed. These would be used for building. We got as much as we needed just before the creek was flowing again. God does amazing things!
• One big adjustment we’re still getting used to is an almost non-existent sense of privacy. The building we’re staying in has this bamboo walls. During the day there are 160 kids running around outside (and down stairs) during Christian school sessions. Then during the afternoon and evening our home doubles as a hang out for Bible college students and a place for the kids that Village of Hope is taking care up to do their homework. Sometimes we also teach classes in our living room! It’s great to have company, but eighteen months in America taught us the value of Alone Time. We’re eager to build our own home (and praying hard about it), but we want to build the first home at Village of Hope before we build our own home. Please pray for our adjustment and God’s speed (in His timing, of course) for the building of the first Village home, and our own home as well.

We’re doing well. Jet lag is a thing of the past. We’re well acclimatized now. God has us ready to join Him in amazing things! Thank you for joining us in these exciting Adventures!

“God will bless us, not for our own benefit, but for the benefit of those we'll minister to.” --Jeanette Propp
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