Dear fellow servant leaders and friends,
Thank you very much for your prayers for the success of my daughter’s wedding last Saturday. The weather the past few days has been very unpredictable. Classes have been suspended twice recently because of inclement weather. But last Saturday, just before the wedding, the sky lit up, enough for the entourage to have a fine setting for their pictures in the garden and for the guests to have a pleasant trip. That was such a blessing. God is so good and he has answered our prayers for even the weather that day! We celebrate life together, and we rejoice, not just for the new chapter in our son and daughter’s lives, but also for Lulu and I as we enter a new season of our lives.
We continue to ask for your prayers upon Tim Avila (the five-year-old son of Ruel and Jing Avila, who are our servant-leaders in Sta. Rosa), who was hospitalized last week. Such a jolly child, he continues to be active, and cheerful even during these unpleasant circumstances of having Intravenous medication. We ask that you continue to pray for Tim’s full recovery.
Just before we left, I also learned of the death of Dr. Manzano’s mom, Mrs. Antoni Vargas Manzano. Dr. Jose Manzano is the assistant Area Superintendent for Bicol Region. We join Kuya Joe and Ate Ghie in prayer for peace and comfort during this time of loss. One of the things that our servant-leaders share is that many of us have aging parents. Some of our pastors are in their sixties and a few, in their seventies. We praise God for their continued dedication to serve our congregations. Our source of comfort is that even as our strength wane and our bodies begin to wear out, our faithful God sustains us and protects us, He comforts us. Isaiah 46:4 reminds us saying: Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. (NIV)
As I write, Lulu and I are waiting for our flight from Detroit to Ottawa, Canada. The trip from Manila to this point has been smooth. The 11-hour flight from Manila, in addition to the sleepless nights before this trip have been quite wearisome, but we are looking forward to joining our fellow Mission Developers in other areas of the world, Dr. Tkach and our leaders at headquarters. We will also have the chance to meet our Canadian pastors during their national ministers’ conference. One of the blessings we have as a fellowship is that we have a big church family, stretched over the globe. We see God’s work in different locations as well as the various opportunities to join him as a family of churches at GCI. As many of you know, our churches in other parts of the world especially our brethren in the United States, Canada and Australia have been helping us with summer camps, mission trips, medical missions, and relief efforts during times of calamities, and even supporting some special training events for our leaders in the country. We praise God for their support, even as they too extend support for my missionary care and training visits in the North East Asia and the Middle East.
This trip of ours, which includes visits to two or more churches here will be another opportunity to thank them personally, meet with other pastors in Canada and to share with them and the brethren God’s wonderful work in the Philippines and in Northeast Asia. We ask for your prayers for the success of the conference. We will be happy to share with you the highlights of this trip when we get home.
We praise God for His deliverance during these past few typhoons. The weather bureau says that we have at least 10 more coming this year. Other countries like Somalia need a lot of rain, and sometimes we need less. But just the same, we know that God is Lord of all circumstances. He is both Lord of the storm and He is the Lord of His children. Our special celebrations are coming up too. The nearest will be in Baguio City, from Wednesday evening, September 21 through Sunday, September 25, 2011. These are great opportunities to learn together, and in special fellowship opportunities with family and brethren, be occasions for building stronger bonds with one another. We will be happy to see you all there.
The rains have been pouring hard these past few days. HIs blessings even more. May these daily miracles of love encourage us as His children to live in confidence and hope.
Praying for you,
Eugene
