Imagine being a Christian and accepting a job in a Muslim country… and you can’t find a church anywhere. Thousands of Filipinos working in the Middle East are in that situation, and they are hungry for God’s Word! So every Wednesday I teach what is for me a 1 am Bible study, because for them it is evening.
See the “210” at the top of the photo? That means 210 people were watching at that moment.
Not only me, but others in our ministry are also teaching, because the need is great.
These are Christians who are in the countries where the Gospel is needed most! To feed them spiritually is to equip them to reach their Muslim neighbors!
North American Bible teachers and preachers, if you get involved with this, you wouldn’t have to wake up at 1 am. The time difference is better for you.
Please tell me (jgapinoy@gmail.com) if you’re interested in helping. Yes, they all speak English. 🙂

Talisay Bible study

Last week on Wednesday was such an exciting day for me!
First, I got to preach again to the Filipino workers in the Middle East online at 1:00 am. That was one of four scheduled opportunities to preach/teach that I had that day. But I gave the fourth to Marc, who translated for me during the second and third messages. By the time we gathered at the last location, Marc already knew my message, so I gave him my notes and told him to do it. And he did it well!
Another reason for my joy is that after months of being shut down (because of the pandamic), we were able to start our Talisay Bible study again.
It’s kinda tricky ministering in our Talisay spot. 😛 As the sun moves, so does the limited shade there, so we have to move with it. But there are coconut trees, so as we’re moving, we have to be careful not to sit under one of those living bowling balls. And while we’re shifting around, we also have to maintain social distancing. But we have a great time anyway. 🙂

During a certain July in the mid-1990s, I went to a Christian conference in Prescott, AZ, for a day—four sermons. Mark Aulsen happened to be preaching that night. He was a missionary then, and he preached on missions. It was amazing. I still remember several parts of that sermon, even though I have only heard it that one time. At the end, he said, “If you’re willing to go anywhere God sends you, stand up and tell that to the Lord.” I did that.
The next few years were the hardest of my life. Heavy emotional and physical sufferings of various kinds. I grew closer to Jesus.
In 2002, God began to speak to me about becoming a missionary in the Philippines.
The vision finally came to pass when Gina and I left in August 2013. Before we left, I called Aulsen to tell him how he inspired me, and to ask for his advice, which he graciously offered.
Today, he is pastoring in Tempe, AZ, which is right next to Chandler, where I lived in the mid-1990s. And I’m in Davao City, Philippines, where he lived in the mid-1990s. We traded places. 😊
BTW, at no time did Gina and I say or think, “Let’s go to Davao City, because the Aulsens were there.” We didn’t choose Davao City until (I think) 2012, and by then it didn’t even enter my mind that the Aulsens had been there. We simply chose Davao because it’s the largest city on the island of Mindanao, which is where millions of Muslims live. (I think that’s probably why the Aulsens also chose this city.)
Mark Aulsen and his wife Michelle

Analie and “BanBan” (one of her boys) with their “vendo”

Thanks to our generous donors, we are able to help friends in their time of need. This dear widow has been more than faithful to the Lord for seven years, but for months she has been plagued by many health problems–cataracts, diabetes, thyroid, asthma, liver issues… Her husband was murdered many years ago for attending a political rally, so she has raised her boys in the Lord as a widow, but not alone–we’ve done as much as we can to provide male love and leadership to the boys.
We want to do more for her–and for others–financially than simply hand them money. We have been looking into various ways to help them start businesses. For Analie, thanks to a donor, we got her a Wi-Fi vending machine, so that when her neighbors need internet for a while, they can just pop some coins into the “vendo,” as they call it.
We have other business start-up ideas, since people have different situations. But all these ventures would require capital. Money, that is. If you want to help, please click the donation tab at the top of this page. If you want more information about our ideas, jgapinoy@gmail.com.

A Bible study I was invited to speak at last month usually has about 12 or 14 people. But on that day they had over 25! I think all the first-time visitors were ages 11 to 17.
I believe the Lord had guided me to teach on Judges 2:10-19, which is a summary of the entire very-depressing Book of Judges. When I saw those teens, I thought, “Lord, is that the right message for them?” But our God helped me to alter the message as I taught, making it evangelistic. Everyone received the Word with great interest.
Unfortunately, after two well-attended meetings like this, they locked down this neighborhood (and many others) because of the pandamic. (None of our people were sick.) We’re praying for that lockdown to end soon.
A future church location…? God knows. Many Muslims live nearby, BTW.
Three photos of the scene cut-and-pasted together.

Our Garcia Heights location

Due to government restrictions, some churches in our city still minister online-only. We’re worshiping in-person in all three locations, and thank God, attendance continues to be pretty good. The elderly and families with small children are not able to join us, though.

Seeing recent financial scandals in some institutions has made me realize the need for more accountability. I know I’m not doing anything wrong, but how do I prove that? So we hired a part-time accountant, and an advisory board of independent and honest men (not chosen by me) was formed to ask tough questions, check the math, and hold me accountable.
If you ever have any questions about our financial dealings, please email me.

Why am I so happy? Because I get to do what I love often. Preaching and teaching, that is. Next month, I’m scheduled to teach or preach 23 times in 9 locations.

Mara Joy recently gave her testimony in church. I asked her to type it out to share with you all. It’s very long! And it’s so powerful, I don’t want to edit it for this format. So if you’d like me to send it to you, please email me.
Hmm… In this report, I kept asking you all to email me. Maybe that’s because I love it when I get feedback of any kind. 🙂

We really felt like celebrities here. 😆 Compass Christian Church AZ missions pastor Jeff Christian is a great interviewer! He needs to have a TV show. Here he talked with Gina and me just before we left the USA:

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

My brother Tim in Florida has inoperable brain cancer, so Gina and I used our stimulus checks to fly to the USA for 28 days. Tim is hanging in there. Please pray for him.

We also visited my son Isaac in AZ. He’s a huge source of joy for me.

While in AZ, we were busy testifying before people on many occasions about what God is doing through DCO. Everyone was so welcoming and kind.

THIS GIRL sat by my side for 25 hours (including layovers) from Davao City to Phoenix. Then we were pretty inseparable for a month in AZ and in FL. Then once again side-by-side on the flights crossing the Pacific. Now we’re stuck in a Manila hotel room for a week, quarantined, waiting to get back home to Davao City.
But we never get tired of each other. We never run out of things to talk about. We never stop being best friends. I’m blessed to have you, Gina. ❤

While Gina and I are away, the work in Davao City goes on.
For those who don’t know, 22 people (four families) whom we have gotten to know shared a house which was burned down. The fire also left 1000 other families homeless in an area called Agdao. The fire was tragic, but tragedies can bring out the best in God’s people. Our church is certainly not wealthy, but from their homes they donated several huge sacks full of items to be distributed around the area. (Reminds me of 2 Corinthians 8:1-5!) And later we received a large donation from saints in the USA to rebuild our friends’ house. Daghang salamat sa tanan (many thanks, everyone)!
Sadly, one of the 22 was an elderly lady who was recovering from a stroke when the fire struck. She has since passed away. You’ll see a tarpaulin in the video that was made to commemorate her (a very common practice in the Philippines).
My assistant pastor Oning made a video of our new friends saying ‘Thank you’ to those who gave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CftyII0_e8M

Yogi Berra is mostly known for funny, nonsensical sayings, but I found one that is quite profound.

On the night before we left to go to the USA, some friends threw an impromptu farewell party for Gina and me. Bee forced 😛 everyone to tell a nice memory they had of us. I was really struck by a teen girl who spoke of long ago, when she had not gone to church for some weeks. Through tears she told how she was touched by us messaging her, asking if she was OK, if we could do anything for her. It was such a little thing, but she was moved to tears describing it.
I resolved to do that kind of “little thing” more often.

Why am I so happy? Because I get to do what I love often. Preaching and teaching, that is. So in February—28 days—I scheduled myself preaching or teaching 18 times, and in March 17 times. For those who are curious as to how I am able to teach so often, one thing that helps is that we use STS (Simply The Story), which is a powerful Bible teaching method that engages the students much better than lectures. An STS takes me less than two hours to prepare.

STS works best in groups of 15 or less. It’s being used all over the world, especially in oral cultures (where illiteracy is rampant). But it works anywhere.

First, choose a passage that tells a story. From 8 to 12 verses is a good length. Have someone read it. Then challenge everyone to retell the story, bit by bit, with Bibles closed. Then ask a series of 10 to 12 leading questions that require the disciples to dig deep. (Jesus often used questions to teach.) I like to come up with my own questions first, then look at commentaries on the passage to inspire other questions.
I hope some of you teachers will prayerfully consider trying this method! Let me know if you’d like to know more about STS. Here’s a class that’s teaching the STS method:

One of Gina’s ministries is to oversee parents as they lead their kids in daily devotions at home. Jhong’s and Prescy’s sons Anzehl and Paul are two of the many kids who are learning to love Jesus. The boys call me “Lolo (Grandpa) John.” ❤ I like being a grandpa. 🙂 (Prescy has called me “Dad” for seven years.)

“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.” (Malachi 3:16)

While the world is out doing karaoke or parties or shopping, Oning and others spend Friday nights doing online Bible study.

I recently taught from Luke 7:1-10, where Jesus healed a man from a distance. I noticed that two of these ladies were missing from church. Mom Lilebeth said daughter Krissa had to stay home to care for her little sister Marian, who had a fever. So we prayed for Marian from a distance… and she was immediately healed! Hallelujah!

A prayer meeting in New Valencia, where our newest congregation is.

WHY MOST FILIPINAS NEVER WEAR HIGH HEELS
I just thought it would be interesting for my non-Filipino friends to see how much effort it takes for many millions of Filipinos to simply get from home to the main street, where they can access public transportation. This is a very typical neighborhood. Imagine carrying a baby and groceries through these labyrinthine paths during a rainstorm. Yet I never hear anyone complain about their homes or how hard it is to get around.
(Video is less than 2 minutes.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Lctb2kxHZs

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

This is mentioned several times in the book of Acts–

“The word of God kept spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase” (Acts 6:7).

Our passion is for that to also happen through DCO, beginning in Davao City, then in neighboring regions, and then tribes on our island and other countries. Thanks to our donors and prayer supporters, it’s happening!

Gina has always been very comfortable leading worship, organizing events, cooking 100 meals, hosting, doing kids’ ministry… But for years she wasn’t eager to teach the Bible to adults. I always knew she could do it, and now she’s doing it more often than ever. Here’s a ladies’ group that Gina teaches twice a month.

What a coincidence! Our congregations in Bacalso, New Valencia, and here in Garcia Heights all heard sermons about love on Sunday, 2/14. I wonder why. 🙂

We do birthdays! With Marc translating, I was honored to preach Jesus at a birthday party to about 20 in attendance (plus the neighbors who heard) for about 20 minutes. We appreciate this family in Agdao for inviting us.
As soon as Matthew (AKA Levi) started following Jesus, he threw a party. He invited all of his unsaved friends… and Jesus. We also like to bring Jesus to parties.

We thank God for Ebi! He’s a medical student from India who started hanging out with us in 2019. He loves to teach and preach–my kind of guy!

I offered to drive these four ladies to their ministry on the mountain in New Valencia, but they wanted to hitchhike. Climbing into the truck was almost like climbing the mountain! 😄 (Bee took the photos.)

When Bee was moving years ago, Gina bought her some new restroom accessories. But Bee thought they worked better as fashion accessories. 😀 Is her ministry going down the tubes? 😛

Bee has many gifts. As an effective public speaker, she’s the default ‘emcee’ whenever our church has a special event. Bee excels in kids’ ministry, in discipleship (she has disciples who have disciples), and under Gina’s tutelage, Bee has become a very good cook. But there’s one gift that she desperately wants that’s simply out of reach: Bee wants to be a singer. We know because she tries so often! 😮

Don’t get me wrong; her singing doesn’t induce pain or cringing (like many karaoke singers in this country), but rather laughs. 😛 It’s hilarious!

Some people sing off key. Others always get song lyrics mixed up. Still others have no rhythm, so they get off beat. Bee is all three! 🤣 Yet she keeps trying. You have to admire her persistence! 😆

Recently she happened to be on the stage when it was time for offering. I should have scheduled someone to lead the offering song. Bee did it! 😮
So this post is revenge. 😃 🤪
Keep trying, Bee! God loves persistence! 🙂

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

We’ll look back and look forward in this report.
But first I must ask for prayer for my brother Tim, who has a cancerous tumor in his brain, and my son Isaac, who has the Wuhan virus, as well as longtime friends Andrea, Stephanie, Steven, Lorenda, and Johnny who are also afflicted by that virus. Thank you in advance for your helpful prayers.

A year ago, one of the things we were praying for in 2020 was more weekly Bible studies scattered around the city. This year we added so many that I’m probably not aware of all of them! We went from I think 4 a year ago to about 15 now! The pandamic, which prevented us from having church services for months, forced our leaders to step up and do more small meetings.

And not just our leaders! Since Paul called Timothy his son in the faith, I’m blessed to be a great-grandfather in a discipleship sense. I’m thrilled to have disciples who have disciples who have disciples!

Also this year, by the grace of God, we have a third church location! We have Sunday meetings within the city proper (DABC is the place where we rent a large room), plus meetings in Bacalso/Pequeño and, as of a few weeks ago, in New Valencia! After a generous donation, we built a roof over Joel and Sandra’s yard, plus several benches, so more than a dozen folks come every Friday for Bible study plus Sundays for church.

In 2020, we have baptized 14 people, including 8 since our last report 2 months ago!
Here’s Cathy baptizing her Mom (Ling-Ling), her sister (Lovely), her cousin (Julie), and her aunt (Jevy) on the same day. Please pray for them, because the rest of the family is strongly opposing what God is doing in these ladies.

Also started in 2020: Do you know of any missionaries reaching out to the lost in Myanmar, in Cambodia, or in various Muslim tribes in the Philippines? We do! Davao City Outreach helps to support nine Filipino missionaries serving those peoples every month. When you give to DCO, you are helping missionaries to UPGs (unreached people-groups). UPGs are tribes and cultures that don’t have a witness of Jesus without help from outside.
Here is why this is important:
There are many Filipinos who would love to be missionaries, but they can’t raise any money. Having support from DCO can make the difference between someone spreading the Gospel in Tawi-Tawi or working a job here in Davao City.

I’m also praying that God would allow us within the next few months to send two of our own missionaries into such places. Please join me in praying for this, according to Luke 10:2.

Every year, Gina is very busy before Christmas. This December she and her helper elves 🙂 prepared several hundred meals to distribute at various occasions, plus 100 gift bags full of children’s books, toiletries, and other goodies provided by our generous donors. Once Gina got up at 2:45 am to cook!
Our lockdowns are more strict than in the USA or other “Western” nations, so the economy here–which was already bad–is really hurting. Hurting for several months. By the grace of God, we’ve been doing whatever we can to help, with so much support from our sponsors.

Cousins Jelian and Julie work on a paper together.

Several of our church members organized a study day recently to help dozens of poor kids who are falling behind in school. They rounded up some teacher friends to help. DCO provided school supplies, and for five hours the volunteers were tutoring, plus they fed everyone at lunchtime. Since it went so well, they will try to do this weekly after the Christmas break.

Remember in my last report mentioning our ministry in a mountain tribe that’s only accessible by motorcycle or horseback? A young man there broke his leg. Friends had to carry him for several hours down the mountain in a makeshift stretcher. They asked me to be his ambulance driver, so I met them at the main road (about 1 1/2 hours from the city), and then I took him and his mom to the hospital.
In the USA, no doubt a helicopter would have gotten him from the mountaintop to the hospital within 20 minutes.

There have been dozens of times when I have preached or taught while animals are running around. But this time (in Gem Village) I put one to sleep. 😀

2020 has been a bad year for so many people, but God has been faithful to bless our labors. We look forward to more wonderful blessings in 2021. (If you want to know more about our desires/goals for 2021, please write to me at jgapinoy@gmail.com. I didn’t want to make this report too long. Plus some things are best discussed privately.) 🙂

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

In Matthew 9:37-38, we read:

Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”

So Jesus wants his followers–including you and me–to pray for more laborers.

In the very next chapter of Matthew, his disciples became the answer to their own prayers when Jesus sent them into the Lord’s harvest.

We at DCO always pray for more laborers to reap the Lord’s harvest, and we also try to be the answer to our own prayers by preparing future laborers.

We believe Filipinos have a key role in reaching the unreached peoples of the world with the Gospel. For more on that, please click “What is DCO?” above.

…

When the stand on your fan breaks, you don’t need to throw away the fan. We used spare wood from some benches we are building.
With no air conditioning in a tropical climate, we thank God for fans!

Ministry in Talisay. Oning is doing a great job leading it every week. I am honored to teach there once a month.
It really seems like our church is transitioning to focusing on various smaller neighborhood groups rather than only the big weekly gathering. Of course I’ve been asking the Lord about this for many months, but now it seems to really be happening.

Ministry in New Valencia. We are still new there, since our plans for NV were put on hold months ago due to the pandemic. The people eagerly hang on every word we teach.
The community still has no electricity, no running water, and mostly nonexistent cell phone service.
The men all work during the day. We’re trying to figure out the best time to meet there when the men are available.
I’ll tell you at the end of this update about another new harvest field for us!

Gina hosted her Bible study group for the first time face-to-face in July (they had been communicating online). Most are new or somewhat new converts, so she taught the ladies how to meet with the Lord every morning through the Word and prayer. They had lunch together, too. Then Gina gave them devotional notebooks to take home…plus plenty of malunggay (AKA moringa), since our malunggay trees are so big and healthy. (I eat malunggay every day.)

This guy was guarding the restroom at our church building.
I asked him if he knew of any ducks in the Bible.
He said, “No, but there should be at least one. Goliath should have ducked.”

Because of where he is, I’m glad he’s not a Peking duck.

For about six weeks there were eight of us living in our house. Eight is enough, right? But the two youngest missed their mommies and went back home a week ago. Now I hear that they’re bored at home and want to come back. 🙂

We’ve been seeing 20 or more (not counting kids) every week in Catalunan Pequeño. It’s very hot under that low tarp, but the people don’t mind. We had a problem with the roosters crowing during our meetings, so I bought a small PA/speaker to keep there.
The big papers hanging down in the front are song lyrics.

Street preaching for the first time in months! Ebi has the ‘bullhorn,’ while Bee has the better-quality mini-PA for translating, since she’s the one speaking in their ‘heart language.’
Tom and I were also there, so we represented India, the Philippines, Australia, and the USA.

Years ago, Marites felt far from God. When our friend Prescy started ministering to her, she began joining Bible studies. Marites fell in love with Jesus and began doing ministry. For years she has been Prescy’s assistant leader for the women’s group in Pequeño.  Because of her prayers and faithfulness in the Lord, her husband Jerry has been attending the Sunday services lately.

Recently an impoverished pregnant mom asked Marites if she would take her baby when she gave birth (and also pay the expenses from pregnancy to delivery). Marites’ coworker had persuaded the mom not to abort* the baby girl, and he introduced the birth mom to the adopting mom.
Of course Jerry and Marites love little Jemari dearly. 🙂
Informal adoption is common in the Philippines; my wife Gina has a younger sister via informal adoption.
*abortion is illegal here, but many abortions happen anyway

I had a two-week missions mobilizing class with these good people a few weeks ago.
I’ve been studying that topic for years, but I still want to learn more. Especially because…

Bangladesh is the most densely-populated large country on Earth. Only 3/10 of 1% of its 164 million people are Christians. 

We have a young lady in our church who believes God wants to send her as a long-term missionary to a SE Asian country within the next several months. She plans on going with another young lady whom she befriended on a short-term mission to Myanmar.
Which country? They believe it will be either Bangladesh, Myanmar, Laos, or Cambodia.
Our friend is asking to be anonymous for now—she’s very humble—but when everything becomes clearer, we’ll introduce you to her and her companion. Please pray, and then pray, and then pray more for guidance and provision.
This is the number one reason why Gina and I are here! For more about that, please click on “WHAT IS DCO?” at the top of the page. 

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

Davao City was already on a tighter lockdown than anywhere in the USA, and a couple of weeks ago it become even more strict. Only two designated persons are allowed to leave the house for the coming weeks–or months–and only one person at a time. So, among the six who live in our home, four of us can’t leave home until the crisis is over (except for a medical emergency). And even the two persons listed on our ‘pass’ can only go out during certain hours, and only for absolute necessities such as for food or medicine.
Among the few professions allowed to continue is food delivery service, because they would rather people not go to grocery stores. Of course, going to grocery stores is not banned, because most can’t afford delivery services. If only there was a free food delivery service…with free food…
Thanks to Davao City Outreach’s donors, we have been distributing free groceries to about 90 households for once a week for four weeks. This is desperately needed because almost all our friends are unemployed, and there are very few social programs in the Philippines. I have read that the unemployment rate is now 20% in the USA. I believe it’s about 80% in Davao City.
(EDIT: One month later, we are still doing this every week, thanks to our donors.)

We’ll try to continue these distributions every week throughout the crisis, but that will require spending that is not in our normal budget.
We know that some of our generous donors are struggling, too, and some may not be able to continue donating.

We also drop off printed Bible studies to each family every week.

While Gina and I were in the USA (in January), I bought a bunch of books at a second-hand store. I want to see the kids here get better and better at English (plus other subjects). Knowing English can lead to a better job, and it could open doors for our future missionaries.
In the boxes that the books were shipped in, we also were blessed with donated t-shirts, costume jewelry, shampoo, toys, and toothpaste. We thank God for those who helped us by buying these goods, as well as those who paid to ship the boxes here!

Now that kids are stuck at home all day every day, I’m sure they will have all of their books memorized by the end of the crisis.

If you’re interested in sending a box, I think they are about 36 X 36 X 28 inches, and there’s no weight limit. It’s about $110 to send. It’s from your house to ours; you wouldn’t have to lift the box after you fill it. Please ask us for the details.

Every Thursday or so, I preach a sermon to my cell phone camera, then load it onto YouTube. Then my assistant pastor Oning studies the video. Then he preaches it in Visayan live on FB on Sunday.

The church really participates with our online services. They even join us in communion. Every household is ready with flat bread and cups at their homes each week.

It’s a struggle for some to get internet, so we provide for each of their cell phones a “load” to go online. (About $1 per person.) The loads are also enough for them to send photos.

If you’re interested in seeing me preach–sorry, no fancy recording equipment or lighting–here’s the latest:

I went on a part of a road that doesn’t get driven on much. There was some tall grass in the road. And there was a surprise in the grass: a big rock.
We’re using the spare tire and rim now, because every tire repair place is closed.

Before the enhanced lockdown:

Our Gem Village friends were forced to move about one hour’s drive away, to a place with no electricity and no running water. * And they have to build their own homes (the government gave them money for that). So, we’re doing what we can to help them.

* They will eventually get electricity and running water. It may be six months or a year or more, though.

Before the virus crisis:

Bee joined a team that flew to Myanmar for a 15-day mission to train city folks for rural ministry. She learned just as much as she taught, which was my prayer. Now she is even more equipped for future ministry.

Minda needed type A+ blood. I’m type A+, so I went to the hospital complex to donate for her. But they said since I donated to someone else in January, I couldn’t donate again so soon. Anyway, while we were there, we got to visit her (with hubby and son). Minda needed surgery on her arm because of diabetes complications–to recover from mistakes the hospital had made.

Thanks to two Davao City Outreach donors who read about the need on Facebook, we were able to give them $200 for their hospital bills. They were so grateful. Minda was crying for joy.

BTW, they found another blood donor for Minda.

Dozens of men were squeezed in this jail cell, plus seven women in a smaller cell next to the men’s. They were very hungry for the hope in Christ that we preached during our visit. Plus, we led them in worship, and we gave everyone a meal and a drink.
(We don’t want to show their faces, per the jailer’s instructions.)

Oning, my talented assistant pastor, knows how to illustrate the Gospel in ways that kids can understand. For example, he’s great at sleight-of-hand AKA magic (though it’s not really magic).

My Gina leads worship, she’s the chief cook, she excels in hospitality, and she oversees kids’ ministry. And she also occasionally teaches–here’s a women’s Bible study group.

Our friend Amy Kay visited again from Alabama. She worked side-by-side with us in our ministries (such as prison, orphanage visit, home visitation), and she generously gave, too. Amy had this to say about Gina:

This woman!!!!! She is kind and strong. She is compassionate and passionate. She is beauty and grace. She loves God and people with all that she has. Every year our bond grows stronger. Thank you, Gina Edrozo Allcott, for being the example of a godly woman to so many here in the Philippines but to me also. I’m so thankful to call you my friend and my sister. I love you.

Friends, I’m so grateful for your prayers. I was in a tough season for a while, but through your prayers the Lord sustained me.
My mother was near death for weeks. I tried to call her every day, but only I could talk; she was not strong enough to talk to me. She passed away on 2/28, her 81st birthday.
I had a painful condition in my jaw for some weeks. Dental therapy cost about $350. It’m much better now, but I’m still wearing a corrective mouthpiece.
Another doctor says I must protect my face, ears, forearms, and calves from the sun from now on because of possible skin cancer issues. My brother died from skin cancer, and I have had pre-cancerous lesions removed.
Plus other painful and ongoing issues that are too personal to describe here.

I was so touched and blessed by the kind messages so many sent after I asked for prayer on Facebook. Prayers, helpful suggestions, encouragement … This is the Body of Christ.

I just need to say something here about the very well-intended suggestions about returning to the USA. It’s true, some of the things I asked for prayer about (especially the unspoken ones) would become better or possibly even fixed if Gina and I moved back there. But I wasn’t necessarily asking for prayer to fix everything. I was asking for prayer for God’s grace to sustain us. We need God to help us to really, really believe–and live by–this verse:

“But my life means nothing to me. My only goal is to finish the race. I want to complete the work the Lord Jesus has given me. He wants me to tell others about the good news of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

Again, thank you all very much. I’m very encouraged.

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

2020 Vision: These are the new things that we are asking God for this year:

1) We want more Bible study groups, to meet in every area where we have church members.

2) We want our Bible study groups to look a bit more like church services. This will mean more responsibilities to be delegated, which will help more people to grow in character and especially in ministry skills.

3) We want to move out of the restaurant we are currently meeting in, which would save us $200 a month. We would eventually meet in our home instead. It would be a bit cramped, but eventually…

4) Within a few months we think we will have two Sunday church services in our house, one in English and one in Visayan. That would enable us to serve our members in the language they prefer, plus it would give us more space.

5) We want to send another short-term mission team to Luna, Apayao, Luzon (Gina’s hometown). We did that before about 18 months ago.

6) Lord, we want 2020 to be the year that CCC Davao sends out at least one full-time worker into the Lord’s harvest!!! We have done a lot for over the past six and a half years to help other churches to send out laborers. Lord, please, we want it to be our turn!
We have members who are potential goers, and we are asking for the Lord’s provision and direction.

We thank God for the strong young men who help us pack up and load equipment before and after church every Sunday. It’s a lot of work, sometimes stuff gets broken, and occasionally small stuff gets left behind or forgotten. Again, we’re asking God for guidance about having services in our home, rather than moving everything every week to our rented facility.

We recently had to visit several friends in Gem Village. First, we wanted to pray for little Marian, who was recently treated for chicken pox as well as a huge boil on the back of her head. We helped her mom (Lilebeth) with medical bills. We also wanted to talk to our other friends in the neighborhood because all the homes there will eventually be demolished. The landowner wants to develop the property. The government wants to move most of them far away. We’re trying to help our friends during the transitions to their new homes. Sandra (pictured, with daughter Liezel) is our Gem V. liaison. We have known and loved her since we baptized her in 2013.

Lilebeth and BonBon dedicated their kids Marian and Einstein to the Lord recently. They also shared their stories of how Jesus changed their lives, and they asked the church to pray for them and help them raise these cute little ones.
Marian was the one I mentioned having a huge boil on the back of her head. She’s doing well now. God is good.
Ronilo Oning, my amazing assistant pastor, helped us pray.

In the Philippines, if you need surgery that involves a loss of blood, most people have to recruit someone of their blood type to donate blood before they can get the surgery. That’s because few people donate blood unless it’s for a specific person.
A woman who happens to be my Facebook friend (but I don’t know her at all–I still have never seen her) needed surgery. Her husband got on her FB and started messaging people, asking for A+ blood. That’s my type, so I replied, and I was recruited. So, I spent about 4 hours at SPMC (the public hospital) for a 10 minute blood draw. There were a lot of other people donating in a very small facility with few staff members.
I ended up in the higher bed that’s under the yellow sign that says “Risk For Fall.” 🙂 I didn’t fall.

DCO gave these four GoTeam friends a donation for their mission trip “with no strings attached,” but out of gratitude they insisted on doing some chores for us. Bee, April, Daise, and Mary Claire will go to Batangas, Philippines in May, and they need to raise their own air fare. (Bee was raising money for a mission trip to Myanmar as well! But she reached that goal!) We are blessed by these mission-minded disciples! If you would like to give for that mission, please click the Donation link above, and let me know your gift is for them.

The first death outside China from nCoV was in the Philippines. We continue to be harassed by earthquakes. Manila was recently polluted by ash from a volcano (which delayed our flight from the USA by over eight hours). The Philippines is full of rumors, fake news, and fear. But we at DCO are not afraid. God is still on the throne. We believe our Lord has a special purpose for Filipinos in reaching unreached cultures with the Gospel (see here), so it may be that God is using nature to get everyone’s attention. We are continuing to do what we have been doing, and we’re putting the future in God’s hands.

Preaching outside a mall on a Saturday morning. Folks line up for at least 15 minutes, awaiting the mall opening at 10 am–captive audience. Bee did a great job translating. God is good! We’ve been going almost every Saturday.

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.” 1 John 1:4
While Gina and I were on the other side of the world, our dear friends remained faithful. Here’s the monthly prayer meeting.

From when we were in the USA. I never dress like this in the Philippines. If there’s a fancy occasion, I wear Filipino formal wear.
My jacket, tie, shirt, and shoes were from 2nd-hand stores. The pants? Dickies work pants from Walmart. Hey, it worked, right? 🙂
I only buy clothes while in the USA. Stores in the Philippines don’t have my size (except for the expensive stores that cater to foreigners). We hadn’t been in the USA for over two years, so I had to stock up, on shirts especially.

My favorite thing about being back in Arizona was hanging out with my son Isaac. He loves shooting, BTW.

Mom is not doing well. Because of her dementia, it’s difficult to communicate. Worse, she’s not eating enough. Her body is shutting down. But at least Gina and I were able to give her some smiles and some laughs while we were there.

Also while in the USA, Gina and I were overwhelmed by the number of folks who blessed us with a place to stay, a vehicle to borrow, and/or meals. We received some generous donations for the mission as well. And we had wonderful opportunities to share our vision at various meetings. We were so refreshed by all of your kindness!
When you help a mission, you are a part of that mission. Matthew 10:41-42

My phone was broken for months. It couldn’t send or receive calls, and it couldn’t take photos. But at least it could send and receive texts.
Then God blessed us with airfare to the USA to see my ailing mom. And then God blessed us with some cash to buy a phone in the USA (where electronics are much cheaper).
Then the Lord showed us a family in which both parents have physical problems. No one in the family had a phone at all. So they were very happy and grateful to receive the phone that I had considered too broken.
People tend to throw things away when they’re not functioning right. But we have a God who takes broken lives and makes them useful in his Kingdom. He looks not for the most able but for the most available…and he makes us able.

Davao City Outreach’s list of needs:
1)  Replacement for my assistant pastor Oning’s old van, which seems to be in constant need of repair.
That’s all. 🙂
Thank you for prayerfully considering us!

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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!

It was an honor to preach the gospel at the Obu-Manobo tribe’s women’s civic association in Ladian last month. It was totally unplanned. Our group was passing by, and a friend of a friend got us the opportunity. God is good!
The Obu-Manobo people are largely animist.

In October, we hosted an all-day seminar about ministry to Muslim tribes on our island. Gina fed everyone lunch and dinner, just as she always does. Four churches are represented here. We hosted another training 10 days later, and we just had a two-day seminar in our home this past week. Remember, DCO’s biggest focus is preparing Filipino laborers for the Lord’s harvest. After 2000 years, the harvest is still plentiful, and the laborers are still few.

Of course everything we host is free. Your donations help us so much!

My assistant Oning and I are honored to preach the gospel twice per month to these 80+ men as part of their rehabilitation from drug violations. After the message, we all get into small groups to discuss the message. Some of the groups here were led by Oning, Tom, Donna, Prescy, and me.

Three out of the four strongest quakes in the world during October were within 44 miles of us. We had dozens quakes or aftershocks of 5.0 or higher in October. Experts are saying a much worse quake may happen soon.

…So seven of us volunteered at a disaster relief center, unloading trucks and stacking supplies in the warehouse.
Due to a request from our contact in Mlang–one of the places where an earthquake hit hard–we will delay our relief work there until 11/19. Today we prepared and packed a load of goods to be distributed then.

I was asked to teach the youth at GoTeam recently. GT is an organization that works with churches around the Philippines to light a fire in the youth for missions.

We needed an organizer for folks to grab fliers at our meetings. So I went to a fancy office supply store and bought this expensive display rack. 🙂 Seriously, it’s a recycled Honey Bunches of Oats box.

I had several symptoms that I thought might have been indicating skin cancer on my legs, arms, and face.
My brother Larry died from skin cancer, plus I had some pre-cancerous lesions removed from my face 12 years ago, so Gina and I were concerned.
So I saw a dermatologist about a month ago. She sold me this soap and this lotion…for about $105! That’s over 10% of what Gina and I live on per month.
(Almost all drugs, medications, supplements, and toiletries are much more expensive here.)
Thankfully most of the itching, spots, bumps, lesions, bleeding, and peeling subsided after two weeks of using this stuff. This proved that those spots weren’t cancerous. But there are a couple of places on my face where the bumps and spots didn’t shrink, so I have to keep using the stuff and then report back to the doctor as soon as we can afford it (she said to come back after a month). If they still look the same, I’ll get a biopsy. But she’s confident that there’s nothing to worry about.

They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.
(Jesus, quoted in Luke 12:53)

If you’ve seen my reports of us preaching the gospel in public, you might assume that there is no persecution of Christians in our city. But that’s not true. The persecution here is almost entirely within families. We have had church members physically assaulted, mercilessly taunted, and/or shunned by family members who demand that these saints return to the dead religion they were brought up in.
Lately some dear friends of ours have been harassed by family members in the Quiboloy cult. Even a super-sweet 12 year old girl has been subjected to many verbal attacks from children of the cult members. What makes this kind of persecution worse is that many times, the family members doing the persecuting are next-door neighbors, or even within a household.

Please pray for the family now being harassed by Quiboloy members. If you’d like to pray for them by name, please email me at jgapinoy@gmail.com

Persecution here can also be job-related. We once had a bunch of people quit our church because their employer told them to (though some stayed with us).

God bless Tom and Donna’s weekly ministry to very poor people who live under a highway overpass.

Anything you did for one of the least important of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
— Jesus, quoted in Matthew 25:40

Gina and I would love to talk with your fellowship group, Bible study, or church via Skype. 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:

https://nations.ph/donations/

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!