Flight No. 1 - Macau Trip Pictures

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT, TOP TO BOTTOM: (1) Just before entering the airport, Terminal 3 Ninoy Aquino International Airport; (2) At the gate, minutes before boarding our flight to Macau; (3) Our team's first day in Macau - going out for lunch after the first session of the conference; (4) After a sumptuous lunch (actually we just ate noodles - all kinds - fried noodles, noodles with vegetables, noodles with soya sauce, etc); (5) Sightseeing #1 - Hotel Lisboa - No one went inside and gambled, we just admired the outside lights and design; (6) Sightseeing No. 2 - Wynn Hotel where we spent considerable time watching the dancing fountain; (7) Group picture at the Vasco de Gama park - the park just outside the conference site. In front of the park is the Hotel Royal where we stayed for 5 days; (8) The missionaries and leaders of IT Philippines who attended the conference; (9) Sightseeing No. 3 - Ruins of Saint Paul; (10) Inside the Ruins of St. Paul; (11) Our team ate dinner together just before the conference ended, this time we said no to noodles and opted to eat what the hotel offered ; (12) One last group photo inside Hotel Royal hours before our flight back to Manila.

2009 - It's Time To Fly

(Joshua in Lancaster, California - February 2008)

After a year of seeing God’s faithfulness and awesome display of His power through the wonderful things He did in and through us, the YM team looks forward to seeing more of God’s glory and power in the year 2009. Everyone in the team agrees that the year 2009 will be the time to fly. Time to see great opportunities unfold before us, like an eagle effortlessly scaling a high mountain.

Just like what the we have declared during the Thanksgiving Dinner, YM is pursuing the goal of empowering 1000 churches in 5 years. Now, to start it off, YM is targeting to network with 200 churches and to have formal partnership with 50 churches. The initial plan is to use the connection we have with our present partner churches which now stands at 7.

YM’s first step is to offer Overnight Modular Training for youth leaders to do groups of not less than 10 churches. The training will be twice each month starting February until November. Right now, about half of the year have schedules already for the said training. This will just be a platform for YM to encourage more partnership and more opportunities to work together and to reach out to their respective communities, especially to the poor and the needy.

Aside from that, we are pursuing the goal we set last year of sending the youth leaders we have trained to missions. So we have 4 mission trips this year, 1 local and 3 international.

With regards to our outreach ministries, we are pursuing our goal of building up our drop-in center for the rugby boys, which hopefully soon will become an operational orphanage. The Mercy Ministry now has licensed social workers working voluntarily, one of the requirements set by the government. It's a small start but we believe God will provide for the other requirements too. We're also looking at starting a day care center for our Batang Krayola ministry and we're inching closer to our dream of having a rehabilitation camp.

There's just so many dreams we have for this year, and a huge task ahead of us for sure but everybody is really excited. We know of the hindrances and road blocks ahead, but we will continue to trust in the Lord and hold on to His promises, just like what He said in Isaiah 40:31, “Yet those who wait for the LORD will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary.”

More Pics From the Thanksgiving Dinner

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM: THE THEME AND TITLE OF THE THANKSGIVING NIGHT; SOME OF THE PASTORS AND LEADERS OF THE 130 WHO ATTENDED; ROMMEL GUEVARRA AND HIS WIFE RENDERING A SPECIAL NUMBER; PASTOR GANI SISON, ITP DIRECTOR GIVING A VERY INSPIRING MESSAGE.