An Opportunity Taken to Sow a Seed of Love!

Last August 13, 2011, 7 young people from two of YM's partner churches (5 from Family Christian Church and 2 from Hills of Savior Church) in Olongapo City, Zambales, together with their Senior Pastor endured an 8-hour drive to participate in our Mini Touch Trip in partnership with Pastor Junie and his Seed of Love Ministry.

The Seed of Love ministry launched a Medical and Dental Mission in Tiaong, Quezon that day to help another partner church of YM, the Lord Jesus' Bible Church Global Ministry - Tiaong.

It is really awesome to see when churches and ministries come together for a common purpose - to reach out to the community by meeting their physical needs and at the same time meeting their spiritual needs by sharing the love and Good News of Jesus Christ.  A wonderful opportunity taken indeed to sow a seed of love!  

More than 200 people came to receive medical and dental care.  This event will surely leave a great impact in the ministry of Pastor Ariel and his wife, Marlyn who have been ministering to the people of Tiaong since 1999.  YM has been in partnership with their church since 2008 and YM traces its early beginnings to Pastor Ariel's ministry when for the first time, YM held a youth mission trip in Tiaong, Quezon way back in 2002.  The couple's vision is to help kids and young people alike to reach their limitless potential and calling in Christ.  They can be reached through their email address - marlyn_danas@yahoo.com.ph.

On the other hand, Pastor Junie Antinero and his wife Dr. Aura (a licensed dentist) started the Seed of Love Ministry in 2009 after their youngest son experienced two life-threatening diseases - the Kawasaki disease and Dengue Fever.  In both times, their son almost died, and both times too, they experienced God's healing miracle and generous provision.  They also saw the plight of many poor Filipino families who unlike them had no means to give their loved ones proper medical attention.  Many die needlessly, hopeless and helpless.  Their experiences turned into a burden that pushed them to start the Seed of Love Ministry.  In sowing seeds of love, people will once again discover that there is hope, love and life in Jesus. To know more about Pastor Junie and his Seed of Love ministry, kindly go to http://seedoflove2009.blogspot.com/.

SEED OF LOVE MEDICAL AND DENTAL MISSION IN TIAONG, QUEZON

FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: MARLYN, DR. AU, SAM (PASTOR ARIEL'S SON) & PASTOR ARIEL

PASTOR JUNIE (STANDING) BRIEFING ALL THE VOLUNTEER STAFF

PASTOR ALDEN (FAR LEFT) WITH YOUTH FROM OLONGAPO AND CHE-CHE (YM'S TOUCH TRIPS COORDINATOR)

RACHEL ANN, ANOTHER YOUTH VOLUNTEER (FROM CHRIST TO THE WORLD CHRISTIAN CHURCH)

DR. AU WITH ANOTHER VOLUNTEER DENTIST TREATING ONE OF THE MANY PATIENTS

EACH ONE WHO CAME RECEIVED MEDICINE AND A BIBLE TRACT

NIKKO (FROM JKKCC), THE OFFICIAL CAMERA MAN WANTING HIS BLOOD PRESSURE CHECKED

CHE-CHE TAKING PART IN THE COUNSELLING

PASTOR ALDEN AND HIS TEAM MEETING THE SPIRITUAL NEEDS TOO OF THOSE WHO CAME

9 Waves Ocular (for the Leader Mundial Summit in Manila)

The Youth Mobilization today takes a day off from their usual Wednesday team meeting to visit Ciudad Christhia Resort 9 Waves.  Ciudad Christhia Resort 9 Waves is a refreshing resort in San Mateo, Rizal, Philippines, notable for their impressive wave pool, excellent accommodations, natural scenic landscapes and fun- filled recreational facilities. 

It will be the site of Leader Mundial (LM) Summit in Manila this coming October 26 to 29.  A total of 35 Filipino pastors, their spouses and other ministry leaders are expected to attend this wonderful opportunity to learn from leadership experts.  We’re blessed this year to have the following speakers: Russ Cline (Leader Mundial/San Juan Capistrano, California), Ellis Pitman (Orange County Southern Baptist Association/San Juan Capistrano, California), and Dan McCann (G E Foodland, Inc/Carrollton, Texas).  To learn more about Leader Mundial, you can visit the following websites: (1) http://www.leadermundial.com/; (2) http://leadonesource.org/.

Moreover, this summit is also an opportunity for pastors to relax and take some time off from their hectic and often times day-off-less schedules.  Lastly, one of the goals of this conference is to create a community – to deepen the relationship between each attending leader and at the same time learn how to network with one another.

Here are some pictures we candidly took while doing the ocular inspection:

YM Prayer Requests:

1. YM will launch its website soon!  Please pray for wisdom as we decide what information we will include in the website.  Please pray also for provision as we need approximately 300$ for the administrator annual fee and domain name.

2. Continue to pray for the additional 4  bikes we need for our staff and team members.  Each bike cost approximately 125$.

3. Please pray for the remaining 4 other young people who applied for a UK visa.  Of the 7 others who took, only Anne was given a visa, the rest were denied.  They were invited by Stospley Baptist Church for a 10-day mission exposure trip in Luton, England.

4.  Pray also for new team members and new supporters for the YM team.

Humorous Sunday - "I Didn't Recognize You"

A little of something from the lighter side of life.  This is one of my favorites!  Thanks once again Chuck Keortge for sharing this.

(I heard this on a Spanish language radio station recently.  Hope you like it. - Chuck)  

 A forty year old man was involved in a traffic accident and ended up talking to St. Peter in heaven.

 He was told, “You shouldn’t be here yet .  You have another forty years to live.”  A few days later the man awakened from his coma and made a speedy recovery.

He went right out and began to plan the next forty years of his life.  He bought a red Corvette.  He had a hair transplant.  He joined a gym and started to diet.  He lost 52 pounds and  gained some muscle.  He bought a new wardrobe and grew a moustache.  He started to apply himself at work and got a promotion and a raise. He began to attend church every Sunday and became much more considerate of his wife and would play with his children. He even began to regularly put something in the offering plate.

Six months later while down town for some business, he stepped off of the curb, was hit by bus and was killed instantly.  When he again confronted St. Peter the man was angry.  “How could this happen?  You promised me forty more years,” he complained.

St. Peter shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Sorry, I didn’t recognize you”.

BK Saturday - Market Day

Please pray for our upcoming activity for the street children of Makati!  Pray for God's provision and that we will be able to meet our target objective for this event!

Theme: "Buwan ng Pakikilahok" (Participation Month)
Objective: To encourage the children to recite and to participate in discussions, games, lessons and group activities.
Target # of Kids: 30
Estimated Budget: P10,320 (approximately 250$)

Most street children we have encountered since we started the Batang Krayola ministry are often shy and quiet.  This is due to low self esteem and lack of proper communication.  Simply put, they lack the social skills to be able to properly interact with other people.  This is evident even when they go to school and whenever we hold Bible lessons for them.  So our goal is to see them become an active participant whether in playing games or when studying.  We want to see them reciting with confidence.  We want them to understand that they can speak what is in their heart and mind and they will be listened to.

Bikes for Mission Outreach

Two weeks ago, we were able to buy two bicycles for our staff.  It is such a big help to our staff as they go to the office everyday and as they go visit church members in the community.  They can save money for transportation and at the same time get the much needed exercise.  They save time too as they are not hindered by traffic anymore especially when they go from one community to another for follow-up and visitation.

Thank you for those who supported us for this project and continue to pray for provision as we are still targeting to buy 4 more bicycles for 5000 pesos each (about 125 dollars each).

Barber Shop by Chuck Keortge

Barber Shop

by Charles Keortge (2011)

The town barber shop has long been know as a place to swap stories and to light-heartedly complain..  Two years ago after moving to a different house I found myself still in need of a new barber.  I set about looking for a new person who could meet or exceed the minimum standards that I had set.

 I tried a franchise shop. Hair Choppers, or something like that.  I think I went three times.  It was operated by young women with pink and purple hair who, in less than five minutes turned me around and pushed me out the door. 

I saw what I thought was a more traditional place but when I finally found him open I also found him basically disinterested in cutting hair. Just as the soldiers from WWII whose photos hung on his walls were now disinterested in fighting a war. Who could blame him after 60 years?

My hair got long and I kept up the search.  Then I found Get a Hair Cut.   Where are you going?  I’m going to Get a Hair Cut. It took me a while to catch on.  The first time I went was in October and I found it decorated in rubber heads with plenty of fake blood.  But I got a good hair cut at a fair price and so I returned.  I tried all of the three barbers and I settled on the tall one with the pony tail and tattoos.  He is one of the nicest barbers I have ever been barbered by.  He is pleasant, intelligent, knows how to listen, and knows how to talk.  He has to be excused for not using a razor but then no one does with AIDS lurking around the slightest scratch..

I always wait for him even it means 20 minutes extra.  I tip him more than most.  I enjoy my time.  Read a few magazines and listen.

Today was my day at the barber shop

When I arrived the place was full.  The three barber chairs were humming and clipping. The waiting customers wondering if they would get called in the order they had arrived.  I did what I usually do.  I found a chair next to the magazine rack and looked for something to read.  To my left was a young woman with sun glasses who didn’t look up.  On my far left was a man I really didn’t notice. 

But then it all changed.

The barber chair to my right finished with a little boy and the fellow on the left who had been on deck was up to bat.  As he moved toward his appointed place I couldn’t help but notice that he was a thin young man who seemed to be stripped of his muscles and that he was pushing a walker.   He climbed up in the chair and the woman manning the station

listened while she went to work. 

In a few minutes he was telling her, and that meant all of us in that small shop, about how he had found out that he had Lou Gerhig’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.  He moved chronologically from when he first had trouble moving and how he fell out of the bed of his pick up truck and finally went to the doctor and ended up in a research hospital and that he had about six months to live and that he had a wife and children.  He joked about how he had a celebrity’s disease but was no celebrity.  I had left my cap in the car and so he glanced at me and commented that he would much rather be bald than to have ALS.  I tried to smile back and said that I agreed.  It was a weak smile.  He made his way down from the big chair and walked his walker out the door.  His neighbor who had provided transportation stayed behind and told the barber that his friend was not expected live much more than two months.

The barber, who suddenly realized that she was one of the main actors in this drama, playing to a small audience, explained to us that we had missed Act One and that the young woman who had been sitting next to me, whose boy was in the chair immediately before the walker man, had given her a $20 bill in a shop where only $10 is required.  Peering from behind her big dark glasses the mother had thanked the barber for her patience with her young son and that the hair cut she gave was for the boy to wear to his daddy’s funeral tomorrow.  She had been crying throughout her son’s hair cut.

What I didn’t say was that I thought I knew the identity of the deceased father, a young man whose obit I had read in yesterday’s newspaper.  The cause of death was not given.  Later in the day someone had called me and told me about it and said that he was told it was a death by suicide by hanging.

Then it was my turn to step up.  I patiently waited while my barber swept the floor and cleaned the chair and at last gave me a welcoming smile. We chatted about the guitars hanging on the walls and how he thought they were like art even though he was a drummer. I said that I liked guitar music, especially acoustical.  He gave me a mirror and I complimented his work and gave him the usual tip.

It had been my day at the barber shop.

Training Day Friday - Walking On Water (Windows YP 2011)

Walking On Water
Windows YP 2011 (Youth Missions Conference)

Written by Anne Benavidez & Murray Melmick

Last May, we had a successful Missions Conference. Thirty one youth leaders attended the said conference coming from different churches in Manila, Olongapo, Bataan and Zambales. The Missions conference theme was “Walk on Water” because we desire that the youth leaders will dare to step out of the comfort of their “boats” to walk in the impossible in obeying the Lord for the work of missions.

While preparing for the Windows YP conference, I was facing a decision whether we will push through with the missions camp in the facilities of New Tribes Mission or we'll just do the conference at the YM office. During that time we only have one week to go and only a handful have registered yet. If only a few will register we were thinking of just bringing the youth leaders to the YM office. The only problem with the YM office was it was too small to accommodate more than 20 youth leaders and it was too late for us to look for a new venue. As I was asking the Lord for wisdom on what to do, the Lord impressed in my heart to push through with the original plan to hold the conference at New Tribes mission because it will be a prophetic gesture if we will do that.

The Lord reminded me of the 15 youth leaders who were mostly Aetas (a tribal group in the Philippines) whom we have invited for the conference to give their testimonies. The Lord impressed to me that He will have a new move among the Aetas that He will call His new breed of missionaries coming from these tribal group. With that word from the Lord, I finally decided to obey the Lord and “walk on water” trusting Him that he will be the One who will bring other youth leaders to attend our first missions conference. They did come, thirty one of them, thirty one youth leaders whose lives have never been the same after the conference.

The mission conference was an opportunity for youth leaders from different parts of the Philippines to establish relationships with each other and to encourage each other in the shared desire to serve Jesus Christ through the mission field. These young leaders experienced sessions, workshops, and team building activities to assist their personal development as young missionaries in an interactively fun way. The workshops and sessions played an important role for the practical growth for the individual experience, as well as creating a community among the young missionaries. As fruitful as the sessions and workshops were the real impact came from the testimonies, recreational time and time spent worshiping the Lord.

The last night we had a big bonfire and worshiped our Lord under the open stars. Worshiping Christ with these young missionaries around the bon fire, I will personally always hold this night in my heart. As two young tribal ladies' shared their testimonies, everyone listened with tearful eyes and joyful hearts. Many of the youth could fully relate to the trials these ladies have faced the testimonies, recreational time and time spent worshiping the Lord. The last night we had a big bonfire and worshiped our Lord under the open stars. Worshiping Christ with these young missionaries around the bon fire, I will personally always hold this night in my heart. As two young tribal ladies' shared their testimonies, everyone listened with tearful eyes and joyful hearts. Many of the youth could fully relate to the trials these ladies have faced.

The one problem with Windows YP that everyone could agree on was that it was not nearly long enough. In terms of touching the lives of youth and helping enable them to serve Christ through missions; Windows YP was a huge success.

Three weeks after the mission conference three youth leaders who attended Windows YP traveled to Muntilupa, Alabang to work with street children at the drop in center. God is truly on the move in the Philippines, it is encouraging to know that there are intelligent God fearing youth that are on the move with Him. Youth that responds to the call of Jesus and is willing to step out of the boat, with their eyes fixed on Christ showing the world that it is possible to walk on water.

(NOTE: Pictures taken during the conference were posted last July 16, 2011)