Fish Port of General Santos

Heads up people.  A couple of days ago I received notification from YouTube that the National Hockey League was claiming the rights to a video I created and narrated years ago.  I was very surprised they wanted to do that because the video has absolutely nothing to do with the NHL or hockey. Of all things it is a video about tuna fishing in the Philippines, and as far as I know no one likes hockey in the Philippines. I contested the claim and apparently they backed off.  Thank God.  I still do not know why they did that.  But this has been a very good lesson for me...Stand your ground and truth will always prevail.

The Bible Tract

Dear Brother/Sister,

Thank you for visiting this blog. The bible tract you hold in your hands is no coincidence. God has reached out to you to offer you comfort and peace. God does not want you to continue to suffer and live a life with guilt and doubt.  God wants to rescue you from where you are at, to offer you eternal life through Jesus Christ---His Son.  God also wants to set you FREE because you are HIS child and because His love for you has no limit.  Please pray that God continues to minister to you.  SEEK his Word.  MEDITATE it day and night.  Repent of your sins. ACCEPT Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior and pray this prayer:  Lord Jesus Christ.  Come into my heart. Forgive me for all of my sins. Become MY Lord and Savior!  Amen.

After you do this please find a bible believing church in your area.  Know and believe that God has forgiving you and you are saved. He will be with you all the days of your life.

Mission Accomplished!

With layovers, our trip to General Santos took a total of 25 hours. 

My wife and I had been talking about visiting her family in the Philippines for sometime.  The last time we visited her country was four years ago.  General Santos City is 8522 miles away from Chicago. For this trip we also wanted to impact more people by sharing the Christian gospel with them.  After much prayer and contemplation as to which method would be the best, God answered our prayers with a very doable plan.  The plan would be to make rice packages, pass them out to the poor, and include several bible tracts in the Hiligaynon language, which is one of the main language spoken in Southern Philippines.

Bobby's tricycle he rents from his brother and makes a living transporting passengers.

In preparation we bought a 50 kilo sack of rice, 100 food grade bags, and noodles.  On August 5^th we went ahead to Yusaville and Lanton to deliver 70 gospel rice packages.  The content of each bag had two cups of rice, noodles, and two bible tracts from the World Missionary Press.  To do this successfully we enlisted the help of our family.  Our daughter and niece helped us prepare the packages and kuya Bobby, who is also my brother-in-law, helped us deliver the goods.

We loaded the tricycle with the help of our daughter and niece.

We first rode to Yusaville in Bobby’s tricycle.  Bobby did all the talking because unfortunately, as was the case in Manila, I do not speak the language.  As we rode through the dirt road you could see the small homes made out of palm leaves and bamboo.  Most homes do not even have a livable area of 8X8 square feet.  I thought that we were going to be searching for people to pass the food out, but we didn't   As soon as one person took the food, people started coming out of their homes to get one.  How did they know?  I suspect that many were watching us from inside their homes---when they saw that it was good, as the Good News is, they sprung out!

At first people could not believe rice was being given away for free.

As the people received a bag they expressed great gratitude.  They all had a very big smile on their face.  When the rest of the family members heard the excitement they too came out to see what was happening. They would look at me and say “salamat.”  Others said “thank you” directly as they found out I was from Chicago.  Bobby told me, “They are very poor, they have no food and job.  This little rice is a big help for them.”

Bobby taking rice to an ailing neighbor.

At Lanton, the reception was even greater.  We were going to recruit two other people to help us.  But we didn't need to because as soon the residents heard we were given away some rice with bible tracts they came to us in droves.  Uncle Sadam, whom we met in front of his house, cheerfully repeated to the gathering crowd that the donations were a “Christian service.”  The people told us that they were looking forward to reading the Word of God.

Lastly, we had four remaining bags of rice. I asked Bobby to drive us to a small house church around the corner of Chico St. called the “House of the Lord”.  There we met a young pastor named Nasar.  He told us that our visit was unexpected, but greatly appreciated. I gave him the remaining rice, bible tracts as well as my contact information.  He told me that during their prayer meeting on Wednesday he would ask the church members to pray for our family’s safe return to Chicago. When he said that it really touched my heart.

We got a real warm welcome in Lanton.

This trip was very affirming. The Philippines is a very beautiful country with equally beautiful people. Filipinos are friendly and kind.  They are also very helpful--quick to accept you with a smile. Despite some hardships the country has been experiencing for many years, it has not change their heart. In America for example, people tend to be bitter about their circumstances rather than be thankful to God. I have never seen a Filipino being spiteful or mean. They are also open minded and not critical. This is key for accepting  the Lord. (When I gave a bible tract to a senior citizen, Juanine, she grabbed it and kissed it.)  Filipinos are looking for hope that only God can give.

Fathers taking a bag or two to their families. Uncle Sadam in the background.

There are so many people to thank for helping us on this project---but we would like to especially thank World Missionary Press for the donation of literature. Thank you pastor. To use a very popular phrase often used here in the Philippines, “to God be the glory.”

A young man shares a bag of rice with his next door neighbors.

Planting Seeds in Manila

On July 9th, with our two children en-towed we finally departed for the Philippines.  Our trip is serving a double purpose.  My wife is visiting her aging parents and we also thought we can do some work for the Lord in bringing more people to Christ and live up to our obligation of the Great Commission.  Thanks to the great folks at World Missionary Press we packed several hundreds tracts in the three main languages of the Philippines---Tagalog, Cebuano and Illonggo.  When we got to Manila I did not know how to get the first part of the work done.  I prayed in my heart for guidance and God answered my prayers in the form of my wife's young niece, Cherry Ann.

As we were unpacking our luggage Ann-Ann, as she is affectionately known, saw the tracts and asked my wife what they were.  She was surprised to know that I was very religious---which in fact I am not.  I'd like to consider myself more spiritual than religious, but that was beside the point. I took the opportunity to ask her if she would be willing to help me pass out the tracts and she happily obliged.  But first we had to come up with a plan.  The plan was that as my wife stayed in the hotel taking care of our two children, Ann-Ann and I would walk the streets of Manila and give the bible tracts to the people.  I was told to keep quiet, and let her do all the talking.  My task was to walk right next to her and keep watch for signs of trouble. What transpired was eye-opening.

Our first distribution was on the 10th.  We took 25 samples and walked about two blocks.  Ann-Ann was a natural.  With her kind voice she asked the people in the street if they wanted to read what she was passing out.  We ran out of the 25 booklets in less than a five minutes!  I could not believe how fast the people willingly took the tracts. Some people even called us from across the street wanting to see what we were passing out.

On the 13th of July we would try it again.  This time we would try to pass all of the remaining Tagalog tracts. Again I was a bit nervous because I did not know how the overall population would react.  Now, I need to clarify that Manila is a very large city that has many homeless people living in the streets.  The things I got to see where totally heartbreaking.  I saw mothers sleeping on the streets with their babies---one child had no eye.  I will never forget this. Others are living in cardboard boxes.  While others are living in their cars.  All the while gray water is running in streams along the city curbs.  The sights and smells are very vivid to say the least.  There are also many ran shacked buildings  were the homeless have taken up residence.  And mind you, this is in a major metropolitan city.

On our second day, we started slow.  In the beginning, the first few people we approached did not want to take the booklets.  But as soon as we crossed the street, people started to take them again.  One by one people readily accepted the word of God.  Many of the people said thank you.  Others that were sitting by the curb, quickly leafed through them wanting to read about how God could help them.  One man that was sitting read the title of the booklet and shouted out to us in Tagalog "Thank you for saving me!"  Another woman that was going to work and stopped to buy a street snack, took a booklet from Ann-Ann, read what it was and turned around to ask me for another one!  As they spoke I asked Ann-Ann to translated for me what they were saying. What did I realized in this venture?  That people are hungry for the word of God. People are looking for hope.  Who else can give them that hope?  Jesus Christ no one else.  On July 14th we are slated to go to General Santos---the heart of Mindanao.  Once we get to this city we will once again distribute more booklets to the people.  Once we start and finish our short term mission I will post how it went.  Please pray for us, the safety our family and that we are successful in sharing the word of God.

Exercising for the Lord

U.S. Marine Corps

NO, the picture above is not me.  But it is someone I aspire to be--fit and healthy.  Today marks my third week of exercise, non-stop, for at least three to four times a week.  Two months ago when I went to my doctor, she told me I had slightly high cholesterol.  I was shocked to say the least.  No wonder I was feeling weird.  I had stopped exercising for more than a year because I went through bilateral hernia surgery.  I was afraid of ripping my insides again.  But a year is long enough.  I came to weigh 169 pounds.  I am down to 160 and I hope to drop a few more pounds.  But today, I felt a little bit tired.  I did not want to exercise.  But then I thought of the following Bible verse which motivated me to get up and finish the week:

 

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, And he will direct thy paths."

Proverbs 3:6

 

I hope to continue to workout, putting God first in my plans so they will succeed.  I have eight more weeks to go...I'll keep you posted.