Dear friends,
Lorrie and I are back in Alaska after spending most of the winter in the Philippines. Though we often miss our Philippine “home”, it is always nice to be “home” with friends and familiar surroundings and our culture of birth.
Most of us when we travel for business or pleasure, after a period of time have a longing in our heart to be home again. I believe there is a similar feeling for us Christians. Though we live on this earth, there is a feeling that we are really not home. There is an old song that says, “This world is not my home, I am only passing through….” There are familiar surroundings but there is a hope that one day we will be “home.”
We were blessed to have Pastor Will and Yvonne from Door of Hope Church in Alaska visit us in the Philippines this spring. They preached at three different churches, taught in the school, and spoke at our graduation service. We enjoyed introducing them to our friends and allowing them to experience some of the Filipino culture. They blessed the people during their brief time with us.
After much discussion, counsel, and prayer we decided to give up the house in Manila. Though we enjoyed living in Manila for the past five years, we felt we needed to spend more time at the Virac Bible School. In April, we packed up our house and loaded what possessions we had not given away into a large truck to be sent to Virac. It is our plan to spend more time teaching at the school this coming season and helping with some of the administrative load of Pastor Doming and Jennifer.
Pastor Homer just wrote the following update:
“We just arrived from Palawan last Saturday evening. The 3 camps in Virac, Leyte and Palawan were very successful. We baptized 50 young people and many were born again and others committed their lives once again to the Lord. Arian our former pastor who backslid for about six years was touched by God in the Virac camp and testified that the Lord is calling him back again. He asked our help to restore him in the ministry. He is now very active attending church in Summit and even helping Pastor Willy in the ministry. We have now a prospect of 10 new students for Bible school.”
Please pray for Pastor Homer’s health. He has been losing weight and having some issues with his throat as well.
We appreciate each of you. Thank you for standing with us in prayer and giving!
Blessings,
Nels and Lorrie