April 2014
Dear Friends,
Paul says in Romans we are to be “living sacrifices, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” He goes on to say, “do not conform to this world, but be transformed….” One definition of conform means to take on another’s pattern in mind and character, whereas, transform means to change into another’s form. The Lord is exhorting us through Paul to not be like the world, but rather be changed by the infilling of His Holy Spirit.
In II Corinthians, we are told we are new creations through Jesus Christ, the old has passed away and He has given us the ministry of reconciliation. In other words, we all have been given the ministry of sharing our faith with others.
With this in mind, Lorrie and our daughter Amy, were asked to share at a weekend graduation retreat for the Criminology class of a local college. The retreat was held at a beach. Amy encouraged the young people to remember it is the duty of the strong to protect the weak. Lorrie exhorted the students that they can be life changers in the Philippines. God has a purpose for each of them and they need to surrender their lives to Jesus. Lorrie was able then to individually talk with many of the young people. She found many of them lacked direction and purpose and needed healing from their childhood hurts. She challenged them to receive Jesus into their lives, the one who could touch them and change their hearts and lives forever.
For the last months Lorrie has been teaching the Book of Genesis at the Bible school in Virac. Amy has been teaching English as well as some art. I have been teaching the Book of Acts. It has been a pleasure to share with these young people that have dedicated their lives to the Lord.
This month we enjoyed having an old friend, Bob Nath, visit us. He was a blessing to the Filipino people and us as he shared and prayed for many.
Because of your generosity, we are able to continue to help the people of Leyte that were hit by the devastating typhoon last year. We bought a long-bar chainsaw enabling them to make lumber from the fallen coconut trees. The lumber is being used to build new simple homes for those that were completely destroyed. We were able to give extra money and materials to some widows. We also are helping on a new water system for the village and a new well. Our latest project is to build a classroom for their school. Two of the three school buildings were completely destroyed.
Please be in prayer for our May camp in Virac. Lorrie and I will be part of the speakers this year.
You can now go to our website, www.reapint.org and give donations using PayPal.
In His service,
Nels, Lorrie, and Amy