Most of the month of April, Susan & I spent in the Philippines, leaving the day after Easter/ Resurrection Sunday. We primarily came to visit the ministry of Rainbow Village, but there was also the CCOF-Philippines 17th Annual Senior Pastor’s Conference. It’s been a great time of fellowship & ministry this month! When we spend time at Rainbow our goal is to review the progress of the ministry, but especially to spend time with our great staff. One of our missionary staff (Karen Tellefson) is on furlough, but we were able to meet with Mike & Sheryl Yost, our program directors, to review the ongoing work and see how they’re doing themselves. The ministry of Rainbow can get somewhat overwhelming at times, since it is a 24/7 operation. We also like to help provide some break-time for our missions staff while here, so they can get some valuable time to recharge a bit.
We were able to see some really great blessings while here this month. Our first weekend here was the annual end-of-the-year program for our School Sponsorship program. It was great to see the students & hear their testimonies. We celebrated our first ever college graduate, yehey (Filipino for yahoo)! One of our Agape girls, also in college, received the only honors award in her program. We have several high-school graduates, so we will also have several in college (8) this coming school year (which begins in June). It’s summer break for them right now, but in only a couple of months they’ll be back at their studies.
We were also blessed to see the bonding of another child with their adoptive family. This is a wonderful time when, once again, we see how the Lord places a child into a family in such a special family. Now we have another Rainbow family in the Netherlands! April was also a time of celebrating several birthdays within our Rainbow staff, who do a great job caring for the children in many ways. We were also able to fit in a Rainbow board meeting. We have a wonderful board who serve with Susan & I in overseeing the ministry of Rainbow Village. 
Of course, we were also able to visit our home church here, Calvary Chapel of Dumaguete City, and enjoy fellowshipping with our many friends there. A real treat was being able to attend the Acoustic Night fund-raising dinner there last Sunday evening. Not only was it a great time of music & worship, it was a blessing to see the team from the church preparing to head to Thailand for their 3rd mission there. I had the opportunity to share about the ministry I was involved with last month in Thailand (where this team will be going). Also, one of our Rainbow staff, Joy Gayaden & her husband Jing (director of CCTC), are also on the team, so a part of Rainbow is heading to Thailand! Jing was one of the musicians who led the “Acoustic” evening which was patterned after a similar dinner for the first team sent out to Uganda in August, 2004. Our daughter, Becky, organized (with help, of course) & led that first team to Uganda, and.also organized & led the first mission trip from CC Dumaguete to Thailand. It’s really kind of a big deal that a church that was founded by a missionary & has had many missionaries serve there over the years, is now sending out their own missionary teams & missionaries. Currently there are 3 missionaries sent out from CC Dumaguete & CCTC, serving in Thailand.
It’s hard to believe this was the 17th pastor's’ conference for the Calvary Chapel pastors & ministries in the Philippines. The early ones were very small, as were the churches themselves. But nowadays it’s a very different story. There are many CC churches throughout the Philippines, so much so that this annual conference is limited to senior pastors, and there was still a pretty full conference. It was a great time catching up with many pastors & their wives whom I had not seen for a few years. I was also privileged to share one of the messages at the conference. Things have changed & grown so much over the last 17 years! What a blessing to see many of these churches sending out people to plant their own churches, as well as sending out mission teams within the Philippines. It’s a great sign of both growth & maturity!
Another blessing was being able to see one of our former Agape girls and assist her towards the process of getting married. It is often a very difficult transition for our Agape girls when they go out from the protective shelter of Rainbow Village. But this is a story of redemption, where we see a young woman who has had a difficult time, seeing the need to making things right with the Lord in all ways. Unfortunately, because of the time needed to process documents, we won’t be able to be here for the wedding, which should take place in the next couple of weeks. But we are thanking the Lord for this unexpected blessing of seeing God’s redemptive hand in our this young woman’s life. Thank you Lord!
It’s also hard to believe it was 20 years ago this June when our family moved from the So California desert (where I was pastoring) to Dumaguete City. The ministry of Rainbow Village is also nearly 20 years strong. Of course, when you have your own site with buildings, more years means more maintenance. But the great blessing for us is seeing the Lord’s provision for a much needed re-roofing of one of our buildings. Also this year, an overdue repair of the termite-eaten posts of our multi-purpose patio was accomplished. Part of the great blessing is having our dear friend Pastor Elmer Bungcasan, of God’s Will Be Done Ministries, along with his ministry team, do the work for us. It helps their ministry out while helping us out with a good price at the same time. They’re blessed & we’re blessed, it’s truly a win-win situation.
As I write this post, we are due to head out this weekend, back to the US. It’s always a bittersweet thing. In many ways, it is still home for us here. But we are looking forward to seeing our family back home & arrive back in FL on our grandson’s 6th birthday! It’s been a good, but short trip, and we’ve enjoyed some real blessings during our time here. We’re thankful for our great ministry supporters, who are truly partners with us in this ministry. Thanks Lord!
