This morning, Bro. Apusen preached at the alumni meeting of Iloilo Baptist College to hundreds of preachers who have graduated and are now pastoring churches. We were able to meet about forty of the fifty-seven pastors North Valley has fully supported through our Philippines 400 church program. These men were so grateful for the leadership of Pastor Trieber and the generous giving and sacrifice of our church.

 

Following a fast food lunch at Chowking, we split up into two groups to go out and visit four different churches that have been funded by our missions program.

 

The first group traveled more than an hour to a remote village in Western Iloilo. There, we met Pastor Danny Capilitan and the kind people of the fledgling Gift Baptist Church. As we arrived, the trail was muddied from the constant rain, and the people were so kind to share their umbrellas with us as we walked to the church building which our church helped to build. The village where this church is located has a population of around 300 people, and nearly fifty of them were in the service this evening. Several of their children sang a special number, as did Mike & Jennifer Strouf, and Eliud Romero. Then, Pastor Mark Neal brought a Bible message for the people.

 

This group then traveled another hour or so to another church, which is approximately three months old. Pastor JoJo Deocampo and his members meet in a vacant house right off of the main road. This house is currently for sale for 1.8 million pesos ($36,000), but he is able to rent it all month long for a mere fourteen dollars. Please pray that this building will remain available for him to use until God opens a different door for their church. We enjoyed another service with these people with our people singing and Pastor Mark Neal preaching once again. Following the service, we made the hour drive back to the hotel.

 

The second group did not have to travel as far to visit the churches on their schedule, but they did have to drive through flooded streets to get there. First, they visited Pastor Ernelito Ajito and the Fundamental Baptist Church in Santa Barbara. This is one of the first pastors that we supported, and we have been able to visit him three times, seeing the great progress of this work each time. The first time we visited, they were meeting in a house. They outgrew that location, and last year, they were meeting in a school building. Now, God has provided the land and the funds for a two-story church building which is well under construction. Our church has given $4,000 to this project, which should be sufficient to complete the first floor, which is the portion that they are building right now.

 

Pastor Aurelio Solis and the First Baptist Church welcomed our group to their church. Pastor Solis was once an angry, drunkard who drove a whiskey truck. One day, he was in an accident in that truck and lost his left arm. Since then, he has been saved, gone to Bible school and has now started this church. Many of their members walked several miles in the rain just to get to the tricycle transportation which would bring them to the special Friday evening meeting. The building was packed with around eighty adults and children in attendance. Bro. Tim Trieber preached an encouraging message on prayer to the people. Many came to the altar during the invitation and several came forward for salvation!

 

Truly, we gained a better understanding of the words of the prophet Jeremiah when he said, “Mine eye affecteth mine heart” (Lamentations 3:51). Our hearts were truly touched by the people we met and the things we saw today. Words and pictures cannot convey the heart of the people and all that God is doing here in this land.

 

Tomorrow, weather-permitting, we will be visiting the extension ministries of Iloilo Baptist College, and one of our groups will be traveling by boat to Negros Island, where they will spend the night on Saturday.