The Big Five

April 3rd, 2018 marks the big five – our 5 year anniversary of us living and serving in the Philippines! Can you believe it? Wow. It’s a really big deal! Many missionaries do not make it past the 2 year mark. I’ll never forget that moment while riding my bike in Oregon when the Lord said so clearly “You’re going back!” I knew the moment I heard His voice, that He was calling us to move to the Philippines! There was no funds to move here, and no monthly support, but God said “go” and we said “yes!” It has been a wild journey of trust and miracles! When we moved here, it was just the two of us. Now we are a family of four! Looking back, God has done so many miraculous things, and we believe that He is just getting started. I want to share some exciting testimonies of what the Lord is doing.

Shortly after we moved here in 2013, the Lord gave us Four Key Areas that we are to establish.  

The big four are:

Church

Outreach/Orphanage

Safe House

Training Center

Here is a quick update on those four key areas:

Church – Life Church

Every week Life Church is growing and hope is rising throughout our corporate gatherings. We can feel the expectancy that God will move in our people’s hearts and on their behalf in our church services. It is very contagious! Hope is the birthplace of faith. And when hope is present, faith follows. When faith is evident, the impossible happens easily. Last Sunday we hosted a small team from BSSM in Redding. It was so powerful. Many people were impacted by the love of God in a big way. A few people were healed and a few people were saved as well! With 7 different nations represented in our service, it is beautiful to see how God is impacting the nations through us with His love! He is so good!

Outreach – Feeding Program

In our Life Church Feeding Program we are currently feeding anywhere from 25-46 children each week. We are taking the opportunity to tell them about God’s love for them, pray for them, and show them how to value themselves and everything that they have. Our desire is to expand this to feed more children (100+) 3 days per week, ultimately leading up to 5 days a week. We have been using our personal vehicle to transport the kids to and from the church each week. It takes several trips every Saturday. Please pray with us as we are believing God for a ministry vehicle that can be used to transport the kids and also for various outreaches and crusades.

Safe house – Destiny House

At Destiny House we have resumed our weekly worship nights and we are growing in numbers and in depth, intimacy, and worship together as a community of Jesus lovers! We now have 13 people living in Destiny House full time and 3-5 others part time. It is for sure a work in progress.  It is not without it’s difficulties and challenges, but we know it is worth it to see God’s goodness manifesting in people’s lives. We see Him moving in hearts and changing people through His presence and through community. We would love to have the finances to be able to either renovate the house or to upgrade to a nicer place that doesn’t deal with flooding, but we are thankful for what God has given us!

Training Center – DSSM

We are so excited to see the fulfillment of our next dream that God has placed in our hearts. We have begun to lay the groundwork / foundation for starting DSSM (Davao School of Supernatural Ministry)!  God dream is big! During our very first planning meeting, one of our leaders received a message from someone who said they wanted to donate land/property for our school! How awesome is that?!? The Lord is beginning to draw and gather an incredible team of people who will help us make this dream a reality! So far we have 3 different churches represented on our planning team, and we are believing for more! Please pray as we continue to sow and plant seeds in the hearts of those whom the Lord would draw to Davao to be a part of this nation changing movement! I know in my heart, without a doubt that once this school is established, we see not only people from all over the Philippines, but from many other surrounding nations, come and be a part of what God is doing here!

Our Boys

Jonathan will be 1 year old on April 26th! He is a big boy and is growing like a weed. Jonathan is about ⅔ the size of Joshua and can actually wear his brother’s clothes! He has 12 teeth now, can easily climb up the stairs (eek!), balances all by himself, and loves to rearrange our chairs quite regularly by pushing them around. Hahaha! He is very strong, patient, joyful, and observant.

Joshua Jr. has been homeschooling with Brandie and can spell lots words. We are practicing writing letters, making fun alphabet crafts, and learning about different animals. He loves trying to read with Brandie during their bedtime story-time. Joshua is also a fantastic “kuya” (older brother). He is always trying to redirect his little brother, protect him from strangers, or teach him how to wrestle. He loves Jonathan so much. Sometimes when Joshua has gotten hurt or gotten in trouble, he just wants to snuggle or be close to Jonathan. It is the sweetest. Thank you for those of you that have given for the purpose of blessing our sweet children. It is so incredible to watch our boys learn and grow.

In Closing

Looking forward to returning to USA this May for about 10 weeks altogether and hope to visit about 10-15 cities during that time. We are excited to visit friends, minister, and see family. Mid-May we will be visiting the place we both met, married and grew up – Alaska! Josh has recently had a few dreams about going back to Alaska, so we are taking a risk and following the Lord’s voice.  It has been about 17 years since we have been back to Alaska! If you would like to see us and connect, please contact us so that we can meet up. If you would like us to speak at your church, small group, or anything of the kind, please message us as well. We will have a short time in each city and we would love to connect and share what God has been doing here in the Philippines.

Be sure to check out our newly updated website at loveintl.org. Here you can see some great photos in our gallery page or find specific ways to pray for us and our ministry and much more! Or perhaps the Lord is calling you to Visit Us on a short-term or long-term trip. Take a few minutes and browse through the site and let us know if you have any questions!

Thank you for making this all possible with your continued prayers and support of us and of Love International!

 

In His service,