We took some of our Luna folks to observe our friend Jordan’s ministry to Agta tribe members in Cagayan. He’s planted many churches among the tribe, so I’m trying to learn from him. The Agtas here in Apayao are a key reason why Gina and I moved to Luna Apayao a year ago.

Valentine’s Day celebration. After church, we served the couples a lunch, plus had games and a short marriage sermon.

Go, Lord! We had 18 baptisms within January!
This dear lady named Incarnation is handicapped–she uses a walker to get around. But we helped her climb into the tank. I love her zeal for Jesus! She’s in church every Sunday, though it’s difficult to get from the parking lot to her seat.

Here are small groups in our Luna church discussing the sermon.
“But John, the groups are not small!”
Well, we don’t have enough mature saints. Almost all are new in the Lord.
Please pray that God would raise up more leaders, and that God would save more men.
The church in Acts 2 was able to disciple 3000 with only 120 leaders. May the Lord help us to disciple these dear souls.

A mother bird and her chicks roam around the restaurant, looking for crumbs that fall from the tables. They especially enjoy the morsels of chicken that they find.

Is there an animal more macho than this dude? That makes it all the more amazing that mankind has tamed it and put it to work. Because God said he gave us dominion over creation. Of course much of that was lost after Adam and Eve fell into sin, but still elephants, horses, and even killer whales are tamed and trained. This makes no sense in an evolutionary worldview.
This beast seemed to pose when I got out my phone. It’s a carabao, which is similar to Africa’s water buffalo. But while water buffaloes are dangerous to people, carabaos are very tame.

It was a delight to see much gratitude from so many people as we distributed the donated building materials around our town. And it was just as joy-inspiring to see the many volunteers who worked hard for many long, very rainy days, never asking for anything (though we did pay them well at the end).

And we’re all grateful for IDES, the charity that donated so abundantly!

We were so blessed by the Marquez family’s visit. Their acts of service, encouragement, missionary stories, skills, generosity, and faith helped us so much. Our young people love their kids—we’re so glad they brought them.

Shania had been feeling intense feminine pain for several days. Medicines did nothing for her. On Christmas Day, she decided to go to church anyway. Her best friend Keisha asked me to pray for her. I saw her bowed over in pain. I prayed over and over, but nothing happened. Prompted by the Holy Spirit, I asked her if she was bitter against someone. I have learned that bitterness can prevent healing. Shania confessed that yes, she had withheld forgiveness from someone who had hurt her very much. I gently preached a mini-sermon to her about forgiveness. She agreed to repent. I prayed with her about her bitterness. She said that while she was forgiving the one who had hurt her, all the pain left her instantly. The pain did not return. But a couple of days later she was tempted to be bitter again. She was told that the person who had hurt her before was spreading lies about her. By the grace of God, Shania chose peace with God and man instead of bitterness.

Incidentally, Jezzel was also miraculously, instantly healed in her left arm three years ago. It runs in the family.

With Jezzel, Gian, other kids from that Bible study group, and Marc, one of our leaders

I love teaching! And I have never enjoyed teaching more than the joy I felt on this Sunday afternoon. I was so blessed to see the hunger for God’s word among these Davao City youths. To see that they are all doing so well despite Gina and me no longer living here. Because they are cared for by some amazing leaders.

After I preached the morning sermon for the whole church, for this youth meeting I gave two more messages! They gave me two hours, so why not? One was a sermon about dating (Valentine’s Day was approaching), and the other an interactive Bible study on Luke 24, one of my favorite chapters.

After you go to India twice on short-term missions, you get a halo.
Pictured: our Buhangin, Davao City youth, whom Bee teaches every Sunday afternoon. On this occasion, they’re welcoming Bee back after serving for three weeks in India, which has more unreached tribes than any other country on our planet.
Pastor friends, would you prayerfully consider investing in that desperately needy country?

INDIA REPORT
Times of evangelism, worship, and teaching from our dear friends Bee and Prescy in India! It’s so good to see in the many photos they sent our Indian friends whom we got to know while they were attending college in Davao City. Especially Ebi, whom we still consider to be one of our Davao City church leaders.

Lord, may Gina and I visit India one day?