Gina & I had seen steady rain for days, but then almost no rain for a day. Then BOOM the Davao River overflowed & low-lying areas of the city were submerged. The floodwaters originated far upstream, so we were all surprised by the flood. Most people in flood-prone areas didn’t have a chance to prepare. Thousands of poor people (including many of our friends) lost everything to muddy water that reached their ceilings. We at DCO are helping our friends to recover.
Visiting flood victims, distributing water & food.
Our beloved friend Sandra & her family were devastated by the flood. We found her in front of a business, a few blocks from her home.
It broke my heart to see her sad. I’ve known her for over 4 years. I had never seen her sad before.
Buying stuff for flood victims. We turned several moms loose in a store & said get whatever you want within P4000 ($80). Then, as more donations came in, we kept buying more for them and/or distributing cash.
Oning & me visiting victims.
Stuck! After another long day, we didn’t appreciate the traffic jam that was moving about 10’ per minute for about 30 minutes … until someone suggested a shortcut … but there we became even more stuck! A previously decent road had been ruined by the flood. It took us about 15 minutes to get out. I haven’t noticed any damage to the old Toyota from this incident besides what was already broken.
Our last outreach to Bacalso before Gina & I planted the new church near there.
Thank God, though we have done many of these evening events at this spot, we have never been rained out, even though 4pm to 4am is the time that gets the most rain.
Now we’re able to meet in our house near this place.
Gina & me receiving prayer during our last service in the church we planted 2 1/2 years ago. Then we moved west about an hour’s drive to Pequeño to start a church there.
Leaving is always hard to do. The apostle Paul’s words to a church he loved reflect how I feel:
“… being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and … all of you share in God’s grace with me. God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6-8)
(The balloons are not ours. We rent a restaurant ‘function room’ there every Sunday. Apparently there was some kind of party right after our service.)
Ivy testifies how Jesus saved her from lesbianism.
Our new congregation is now only five weeks old, but we are averaging 36 in weekly attendance during those weeks! We already need more space. Also, we need to somehow buy a bigger screen so everyone will be able to see the sermon & song power-points. But those are good problems to have!
Prescy is a soul-winning machine! She’s the one who has been bringing the most people. We’re blessed to have her.
Praying friends, our brand-new church here in Pequeño experienced persecution already. About half of them live in a fiercely Catholic compound near our house. It’s mostly Catholic-in-name-only, wherein most of them forget God for 6 ½ days a week. But if somebody attends another church, apparently that’s worse than not going to church at all & openly living in sin. Please pray for that neighborhood, that new believers would be strong & even multiply.
We don’t want any conflict with other groups. We only want to help people to find & follow Jesus.
We so appreciate Compass Christian Church in Chandler, AZ, for donating the money to buy a 2018 Toyota Hilux! Gratitude for this is one of the reasons we decided to change our church’s name from Davao Bible Fellowship to Compass Christian Church. Now we have CCC Buhangin & CCC Pequeño–both within Davao City’s metro area–which are daughter & granddaughter congregations of CCC Chandler.
Oning, now the campus pastor of the Buhangin congregation, inherits the old 2003 Toyota Revo. Hopefully we’ll raise enough money eventually to replace that with something newer … hopefully before anything else on it breaks besides the a/c, speedometer, three window cranks, a bench in the very back, the oil leak, plus the floorboard, which is rusted throughout. 😛
Thank you so much for your gifts. Here are the ways to donate:
We could never repay you for your generosity to Davao City Outreach, but certainly “you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” (Luke 14:14)
Please forward this website to others who might be interested.
Please pray that God will send more laborers into his harvest field.