Greetings Prayer Warriors,
“We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
Jinky and I thank each of you as well for your prayers and partnership in the work of the Lord. Your place in the Service of the Lord is both needed and greatly appreciated as we lift up the name of Christ.
As we are now full swing into the New Year we have much to report.
First, 2018 ended with us and EFM in the Black financially. God has moved mightily to provide all the needs for His work. Purihin Ang Panginoon! Praise the Lord in Tagalog.
Our current outreach to Purok Uno has continued to move ahead as new doors are being opened. Recently we were taking the children on a walk as part of an English lesson through the neighborhood. The Housing Association where most of our children live had just held elections for new officers. They were meeting outside when we walked by and they stopped us to ask how things were going. This meeting was not by chance, but the results of our prayers asking God to bring us into contact with the Gate Keepers of the Community. We got to meet the new Imam and the new officers. They were very excited about our work. They also know we are from Silangan Evangelical Friends Church and it didn’t seem to bother them at all. In fact, we had a very good discussion with the Imam and it appears we will have further talks about Faith.
We are getting ready to have our first ESL graduation and the Housing Association has offered their meeting hall for this event. So, on March 23rd we will see our students receive their first-year certificates which will indicate their individual level of fluency. This will be a community event and we will invite but Ptr Manny and the Imam to pray for the students. Pray this will continue to open the door of revelation about the truth of God in Jesus Christ.
Our FEAST residential students are also finishing their first year and are doing very well, although sometimes it is information overload. They like the faculty are looking forward to the summer break. Our Distance Learning student are also doing well. This group are all Pastors. All six are in varying levels of the Recording of their Ordinations. We expect to see four of them complete this process by Feb. 2020.
FEAST will also host training events each year for our Pastors in Samar, Palawan and eventually Capiz (a new Church Plant). These intensive sessions will last 7 days and will cover areas of training that the Area Leaders need and desire. Mostly these will cover practical courses in Preaching and Teaching, Pastoral Ministry, Counseling, Theology, Church Administration, etc…. We will hold our first sessions in Samar in June and Palawan in Early August or early Fall.
We are headed to Palawan on March 29th where Ptr Cris (PEFIM National Director) and I will visit a new possible church plant. Tabon Evangelical Friends Church wants to sponsor a plant in Tagnipay about an hour ride south of Tabon. There are about 5 families that belonged to a church that was abandoned 2 years ago. Ptr Pedro the Senior Pastor at Tabon has an Uncle who has been visiting them during this time. They have recently asked for help to become a Friends Church. What is also very good is that it is a mixed Christian and Muslim community. We are going to be there to meet and pray with these families. Please pray that we will see through God’s eyes and have His wisdom and will for us in ministry to the Tagnipay community. One other good piece of news for this community is that a Nipa Hut Church building already exists, although needing some repairs.
We have been blessed by the response for the EFM Christmas Program on behalf of our projects. All three projects: Dental Kit, Hygiene Kits and Bible Craft Kits were fully funded, plus some extra.
On some personal notes. Jinky and I will take some vacation in Australia in May. We are looking forward to some downtime in the land Down Under. In August we will be in the USA to attend our son and daughter in law’s formal wedding celebration- Christopher and Nathalyd.
Please continue to pray for us in the above ministries and travel. Pray especially for God’s protection for Roy and Ptr Cris as they travel.
In Christ’s Service Together,
Roy and Jinky
Spanish 
English (United States)