Hey Everyone... I'm Back!!

Hey everyone, Things have been pretty crazy here so I must apologize for not keeping up with this blog.

 Well, first off let me start with our church anniversary. We recently had our churches (Frontline Worship Center: aka. FWC) 7th year anniversary. It was amazing. In the morning we had a big celebration service with singing and dancing and just a great time worshiping the Lord for all He has done. 

We even put together a choir for this special occasion...

That evening, we held our very own 1st ever FWC Idol (pretty much our own version of American Idol) with both a singing and hip-hop dance competition. The contestants did an incredible job. They put a lot of time and effort into this competition. I was also one of the hosts for the evening. It was so much fun!! Here are a few pictures of our dancers... 

and here is our winner for the FWC Singing Idol... Billy Joe

It has been a great experience to be here and be apart of what God is doing. I have had the privilege of seeing this church grow and have an impact on the city. We have recently also opened a new campus site in the nearby barangay (city) of Santisimo. I will get some pictures up of our new site soon.

I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your prayer and support. You are all apart of what is going on here. Please feel free to comment as I would love to hear from all of you. God Bless!!

Good Times in the Philippines!!!

The Frontline Worship Center has effectively been reaching people and helping them find their way back to God. This has been witnessed in the baptism of 26 new believers! (Thundering applause) It was an exciting experience, and some in the audience were in tears. It’s truly wonderful to see people willing to make an announcement of their faith in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Twelve new believers were baptized at the Blubox, Frontline Worship Center’s main campus. Fourteen were baptized at the new campus, Santisimo.

We rejoice along with the angels!!! (“In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10)

"Linggo ng Wika"

     

No, we weren’t raided by tribesmen. These are our elementary student during our “Linggo ng Wika” which is a week-long national recognition of the Philippine’s national heroes. The students reenact a lot of different stories of the history of the Philippines.

The kids also did some more traditional dances for us as entertainment.

 

       

God has given me the awesome privilege of being able to have an impact on the lives of these kids. I have been given the opportunity to teach here in the Frontline Christian Academy (FCA). I am teaching Bible to the 3rd and 4th year high-school students and, as of tomorrow, I will also be teaching math to the 3rd year students as well. I might even be teaching P.E. soon to all the high-school students. It’s been a great experience getting to know each of the students. Being a teacher has given me a unique opportunity to get to know the lives of each of the students and I have been able to counsel a few of them. Here is a picture of my 4th year class. (From left to right, Jeff, Melissa, Me-anne, Emjo, and Joshua)

Please keep me in your prayers as God is really doing a work in the lives of these kids here and I am honored to be apart of it. God Bless!!

CCWC Short-term Missions Trip

We recently enjoyed a visit from the CCWC missions team. It was definitely an eventful 10 days. The team experienced what only a few have had the chance to see. We took them to the dumpsite in Balok, which was probably one of the most difficult things they had to witness. People literally live in garbage, sifting through the mountains of trash to find anything they can sell to earn a meager income.

They were also given the opportunity to accompany Jeff Rice on the street feeding program. At around 7:30 they hit the streets with food and a handful of stories. The kids, most of whom resort to glue-sniffing to kill hunger pains, loved  them. They crowded around the team and listened intently as Blanca Brown told them the story of the love of Jesus. Afterwards, they were given bread, juice and hugs. My mom, Debbie, couldn’t get over one small 6 yr. old boy, Junior, who sat quietly on the sidewalk looking unreasonably adorable. FTC (Face the Children) is currently considering adopting Junior, if he and his sister consent.

Another exciting event was the victory of mind over matter... conquered by Angi Magoulis. We decided that as a rite de passage into the PFM (Philippine Frontline Ministries), she would have to indulge in one of the Filipino delicacies... Balot. This is a fully-developed duck embryo, ready to hatch in a day or two, salted and flavored. (Anyone seen Fear Factor?) She passed the test with flying colors. (Way to go!)

All in all, we were truly blessed to have te team here. It was a home-run for both the “home team” and the “visitors.” Through the evangelistic tent outreaches, jail ministry, street feedings, FTC and FWC (Frontline Worship Center) ministry, we were thoroughly encouraged to see that not only the people in the Philippines have a passion for what God is doing through the PFM.

To those who have been here, a very big THANK YOU! To those who haven’t  been here, we hope to see you in the not so distant future.

Farewell.

Prisoners of Hope

The Frontline site at the city jail (BJMP) has really been flourishing. Because of the circumstances, it’s hard to judge whether the recent increase of members is actually good or bad. We do know, however, that each and every person at that campus is a blessing. 

Take Joel for example, an inmate turned Christ-follower. Behind bars for almost five years, he experienced a life-changing transformation when he gave his heart to Christ during one of church services. He is pictured here (in the orange t-shirt), newly released, testifying at the main Frontline campus during our Sunday morning service. 

Another previous inmate, Odie, was convicted and imprisoned numerous times over the span of 8 years. He is now an active Christ-follower who is involved in the outreaches. Since his release, he has been reaching others and helping them find their way back to God. We are expecting many more transformations... from prisoners of sin to Prisoners of Hope. 

Check It Oooouuuuttttt!!!!

God has been doing alot at the Frontline. As you all know, we were recently hit by Typhoon Frank and the most damage was felt by our kitchen tent.

God has never failed us and He doesn’t plan to start now. He has been faithful and has provided for a bigger and better kitchen area. 

Thank you for praying!

Apology...

Hello Everyone...

Real quickly I just wanted to apologize to those of you who are keeping up with my blog. I have not been able to get a successful blog up in a while now. I have been having some problems either with my computer or with the site itself. 

I just wanted to let you all know that I will be trying to regularly update the blog from now on every Tuesday (Philippine Time). I want to thank you all for you prayers and support and I hope to hear from all of you soon. God Bless!!!

David

Pictures of Typhoon Frank...

Hey everyone... I was able o find some pictures of the camp during Typhoon Frank. Thought this might help you understand, for those of you who have never been through a typhoon.. This is our Kitchen.....

This Jeff Abad literally trying to hold the single sisters dorm tarp from being ripped off the trailer... The winds were incredibly strong...

And through it all we still managed to have some fun... This is Ruel saving Jhay-R from drowning in the water basin...

I am trying to find some pictures of Ilo-Ilo so you can see what happened down there... I will update it when i am able to find some. Keep us in your prayers... God Bless!!!

Tyhoon Frank!!!

It's around 12:30 AM, pitch black, rainy, and cold. I'm running around on the porch outside, trying to help Max and Rhoda Beloso rescue their things from the rain. The wind mercilessly tries to destroy the parts of our camp that still have vinyl attached to them... and succeeds. After tying down their porch tent as best as we could, I run back into the trailer and receive a bunch of text messages from the director's daughter, Rhoda Lynn, asking for help at their place. Her dad, (Bro. Jeff) is climbing on top of their trailer with rope. She's hanging on to one of the poles on their porch and literally being lifted up off the ground. 

All this thanks to Typhoon Frank. Due to some information I received from a reliable source (name not included to save my personal life on the mission field, please note the sarcasm), I was under the impression that we weren’t going to be hit by the typhoon. That thought quickly scampered out of my mind at 12:30AM.

The typhoon impacted us pretty bad, but thank God no one was hurt, and there was not too much serious damage to our camp. The kitchen tent was not so lucky. Neither were some other parts of the Philippines. The death toll reached 622 , and some of our friends in Ilo-Ilo (a Southern island) lost almost everything. We had no electricity and running water for two days, but everything, here anyway, is pretty much back to normal now.

Please keep us in your prayers, because we know that there are “more to come.” The typhoon season has just started, and this isn’t the most pleasant time of year for us.

Stay tuned for more updates.

LDT Meeting

Hey guys, 

Well every Wednesday night we have what's called an LDT Meeting, which stand for Leadership Discipleship Training. This is where a lot of people on staff at the church and also from our team come and get some training. It's been going great!! But this last week was something special... Normally we have a very short time of praise and worship and then just go straight into the teaching. But this week God really came down and it was AWESOME!!! He really changed and challenged a lot of people. I was challenged. God has been pushing me little by little for a while now to get to know Him better but I hate to admit that I was hesitant. Sometimes, I resist getting to know God better because I know it will require more of me. I kept praying "God, I want more of You" but I'm not sure I really meant it with ALL my heart. I think part of me did, but part of me was scared. Not any more!!! That night God really opened my eyes... He showed me that He will require more of me but it is well worth it. Let me challenge all of you who are reading this. I know following God can be scary at times because we can't always plan it out like the rest of life. But when you give your life TRULY to God then you really have nothing to worry about because He is guiding your steps and He knows them better than you ever will!!! God Bless!!!

Busy...Busy...Busy...

Hey everyone, 

Things here have been pretty busy. We had a visiting team from Canada here the last two weeks and it was great! I don't have the pictures up yet for you to see because i still need to take them off of my camera, but I will get them up shortly. But it was great!! we ministered in Balok (which is the local dumpsite). We went to the jail and the hospital. It was great to see, not only the cell mates and patients get touched, but also the visiting team. You could tell that God was really opening up their hearts. I believe that most of them have been changed for life. For those of you who have never been on a short-term missions trip, I would challenge you to look into it. Your life will never be the same. I miss all of you back home and look forward to hearing from all of you. God Bless!!!

Stubby Crusader 

Pistang Kristitano

Hello again everyone, These last two weeks have been pretty crazy, but I am sorry that it has taken me this long to update my blog. Well, two weeks ago we had a three day long Christian Fiesta right in the middle of downtown San Pablo. It was right in the middle of the plaza where everyone could see it. There were churches from all over the city getting involved, which is really a big deal around here. For a long time there was no unity amongst the churches in this area. The event was called "Pistang Kristiyano" which just simply means "Christian Festival" It wasn't an evangelistic event but it was great to see the name of the Lord being lifted up right in the middle of the city. There was dancing and singing and just a good time celebrating what the Lord has been doing in the city.  I have been trying to figure out how to put a video clip on here, but I haven't figured it out yet. Once I do, I will put a clip up here so that you can see a little bit of what took place. God Bless!! 

Hey Everyone,

Well, I made it to the Philippines!!! It was a long trip but i made it. I am definitely jet-lagged, but will get over that soon enough. There is going to be some adjusting, but I am happy to finally be here. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you for your prayers and financial support. I would notbe here without you. I thank you for your continued prayers and support. You are all in my prayers. I look forward to hearing from all of you. Please feel free to email me at stubbyslam@hotmail.com or simply post a message on this page. God Bless!!!