Greetings from warm and humid Manila!
We have been here now for 2 weeks and would like to update you on what has happened thus far.
We arrived safe and sound in Manila on Oct 9th, about noon, and got to our apartment that was full of our boxes!
Praise the LORD!
Our friend Lani Mangaring was anxious to see us and came all the way from Romblon Island by boat. She has been helping us with unpacking and organizing. This has been a challenge, since we do not have any furniture, yet. Lani has been a great blessing to us! She is such a hard worker and has such a wonderful servant’s heart. Keep in mind, that life here moves much slower and accomplishing common tasks takes much longer. For example: purchasing some cheap cell phone’s took almost a whole day. Buying groceries takes about a half of a day. We always have to take public transportation and the traffic is also very slow moving.
The first week, Patrick was asked to help with a translation task, so he met with Maila, a lady who comes to the office every other week . Patrick’s job was to explain the English meaning of Scripture, Commentaries and other selected text to Maila, who then translated it in to the Filipino language. Patrick enjoyed this task very much!
The first Sunday here, we visited the San Juan Gospel Chapel, and we had a blessed time of worship & fellowship with the saints there! Of all things, the first hymn was one of our favorites: “Man of Sorrows”! This certainly warmed our hearts! The meeting was a mix of English and Tagalog, so we could understand most of it.
The second Sunday we visited the Berean Gospel Church in Quezon City, where Karen went when she was a single missionary, back in 1990-95. Sadly, since then they have hired a pastor, probably due to the lack of male attendance, and therefore the lack of male leadership (which is a common problem here in the Philippines!). Patrick was asked to share God’s Word and he spoke on Eph 1:7 “In Him we have the redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin…”. There are many young people in attendance and we certainly enjoyed our time there.
Also, next Tuesday we have an appointment with a language tutor to find out more details and options, and we would like to ask for your prayers in this regard.
Lastly, just today, we received our second shipment, undamaged and complete!
Praise the Lord!
We both feel wonderfully blessed by our God and Savior!
Prayer Request
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- please pray for us as we are adjusting to high heat and humidity
- pray for continued good health
- please pray for our visas, for a smooth process and quick approval!
- please pray for us, as we look for a vehicle
- please continue to pray for Aunt Rose, as her hip seems to be healing very slowly
- please pray for Lani’s family on Romblon, as a strong tropical storm is approaching the island!
- please pray for our language study
- please pray for the translation efforts at RBC and the BSA Correspondence School
- please pray for the completion of the new BSA building, which has stopped construction due to lack of funds. BSA annually grades over 2 million correspondence courses for Asia.
PS: We miss you all very much and think of you often!
In Him,
with much love,
Patrick & Karen
“Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ . . .” – 2. Cor 2:14
