For as long as we are able, Davao City Outreach will be sending monthly support to seven friends (some single, some in families) who are doing full-time mission work to Muslim tribes that have few Christians. Some are working in a 100% Muslim tribe where there is not one known Christian tribal member. Muslim extremists are very active in that place. There have been many murders and kidnappings, and even battles with Philippine military forces. Please pray for the safety and fruitfulness of our friends.
We are also financially supporting two Filipino missionaries to Buddhist tribes in Myanmar and Cambodia!
If I know you, and you would like to know more about any of these missionaries, please write to me at jgapinoy@gmail.com. Sorry, but if I don’t know you, I can’t tell you anything more.
I would be thrilled if some of you would support some of them directly!
One day we will send out our own laborers into the harvest fields, but at least until then, God willing, we will help missionaries from other churches on a monthly basis.
Viruses can’t stop the work of God!
Congratulations to Rodel, Yoligie, and Rizza, who were baptized last Saturday. Welcome into God’s family!
These were all touched by our weekly food distribution. They wanted to know more about our generous God.
Thanks to our supporters, we have been helping as many as 90 families each week with groceries. Most of our friends have been unemployed for months. They were already poor before the pandemic, and now they’re much more in need.
It’s such a source of joy to receive a tsunami of gratitude every week from these friends. We want our sponsors to share that joy as well, so I’ll share these photos.
In the last photo, from a few weeks ago, they’re holding P500 bills (about $10). We tried to do a little more than usual to help many of our friends.
A few of our friends are going back to work, so some families said they don’t need the weekly groceries anymore. I hope we’ll hear from more soon about that. Unemployment is still extremely high here (we’re much more locked down than the USA is), so the ones who still need help are as grateful as ever.
Cathy, whom we baptized in 2015, will do a four-month internship in Calinan. This is an important part of her training for future ministry, plus she will be a huge blessing to those orphans.
We recently lost Marc from our home when his job re-started and he moved back to the other side of the city. My philosophy is “I want my house to be full” (Luke 14:23). So Gina and I prayed about who to invite to live with us. Jessie and Lilebeth graciously allowed us to steal their daughter Kristine from them. She’s a 12-year-old sweetheart who is already very experienced in children’s ministry.
Now we’re back to having six in our four-bedroom house. The more, the merrier!
But will Kristine survive sharing a room with Bee?
In our home, we take turns teaching before our daily group Bible reading and prayer. Since we do this during early mornings, sometimes we do a quick ‘ice breaker’ first to wake everyone up. Since we were going to study Esther one day, we kinda-sorta had a beauty queen getting glamour treatments. 😂 But Kristine put on Gracy’s make-up from behind, with no mirror. I think King Xerxes would still choose you, Gracy!
Congratulations to Daise, Mary Claire, and April! They graduated from GoTeam recently (in an online ceremony). GoTeam is a program for Christian teens to educate, inspire, and prepare them for missions. The girls participated weekly for the entire nine months. God bless Bee and the other GoTeam leaders for mentoring the girls.
BTW, Daise got to share her testimony to the few dozen of us watching the proceedings.
A week ago, I was looking in the refrigerator for a snack. I saw some yummy siomai on a plate, so I put four pieces in the microwave and then ate them. They tasted different, but OK. Then Cathy said, “Kuya (older brother)! They were not cooked!” I ate raw chicken. So I got food poisoning, including the worst diarrhea of my life, loss of appetite, fever, weakness, nausea, and headaches. It lasted for five days! Lesson learned: Ask if it’s cooked!
They’re serious about curfews here. A good friend of mine went out 10 minutes early. He was hauled to jail, where he spent the next 11 hours. He also faces a fine and community service. 🙁 Others in our city were forced to swim in a filthy drainage ditch for allegedly violating restrictions. Pray that I don’t get into trouble like that!
The muffler on my assistant pastor Oning’s van had become disconnected to the exhaust pipe. No repair shops were open then.
Maybe you’ve heard an auto-repair quip such as “It was held together with duct tape and bailing wire.” Well, it halfway came true.
Oning cut up a big tin can. He wrapped the “sheet metal” around the disconnected parts, and he used wire to hold it all in place.
A month later, it’s still holding!
Then…
Someone donated money for Oning to get a newer van!
Since Oning was having mechanical problems with his Starex, we were asking God for another vehicle. When we received the gift, we hoped to sell the old one, then combine that money with what was donated to buy something much newer. But no one seems to be buying vehicles now, with the economy shot down by the Chinavirus. So we simply bought another used Starex. Now, when one is being repaired, he will still have the other one to drive. What a blessing!
Gina and I would love to talk with your fellowship group, Bible study, or church via Skype or Facebook chat. We could talk about whatever you’d like: the Philippines, our mission, our personal testimonies, or to urge folks to prayerfully consider serving the Lord in another culture. I think it would be encouraging for your group–it would certainly encourage us!–and it might inspire more prayer supporters and financial supporters for Davao City Outreach. And it would be a chance for us to “see” the US again for a while. The time factor should be easy enough to work out–in the US, your evening is our morning.
To those who give, thank you so much!
Here are the ways you can 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.
Please do not write to me here. Your message would get buried in the 1000s of spam messages. Please contact me via jgapinoy@gmail.com. Thank you!