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September 15, 2011 From Pami Ellis ...a time to weep "For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2a). I love the first part of the second verse, "a time to be born." That is what our work at the birthing home is all about. We help during that time to be born. But we really dislike the second part of the verse, "a time to die." There aren't supposed to be deaths at a place where life is introduced to the world. And yet it is inevitable. The maternal mortality rate for the Philippines according to the World Health Organization is 1 for every 500 deliveries. And Antipolo, the city where we serve, has an even higher rate than that. If Shalom were in keeping with this statistic, we would have a death every 2-3 months. Last week, we had our 3rd maternal death in over 19 years. The fact that we have such an incredible track record doesn't make the few deaths we do have any easier. It is still unspeakably difficult to have a mom die. Taken from Pami's blog found here. September 8, 2011 From Carl Loewen I recently celebrated one of those "big" birthdays that seem to creep up on us unexpectedly. It really was not as bad as people say turning 40 might be, as there were so many celebrations and fun times both with my family and the Honest Hands staff and students. They invited me over to the Discipleship Home one evening and I brought my four sons along for a fun and crazy night with some guys who really know how to have fun. They cooked up a big dish of Filipino style spaghetti and decorated it with cheese letters wishing me a happy birthday. Of course almost everyone had prepared songs and we enjoyed listening to this. Our current group of students are doing great. Click Here to read the Loewen's August newsletter.
September 3, 2011 From Ron Homenuke Now I’m spending my last ten days in Canada visiting consecutively with my three brothers in the Lower Mainland. I’ll be meeting with two of my supporters and on the 10th, in Surrey, I’ll be sharing at a Christian men’s breakfast with usually between 60-75 attendees. Your prayers will be appreciated as many of these will be pastors. My two major goals were to raise financial and prayerful support for our exciting ministry. The monthly $ support has risen consecutively each month and I’m trusting that our required amount will continue when I return to the Philippines. Read Ron's Newsletter that can be found here. September 3, 2011 By Jim Craig My second week on the job one of the ladies in our church committed suicide. She was very active and a tremendous blessing to the church and it took everyone by surprise. You talk about knowing your theology; a Christian suicide will truly test what you believe and your ability to articulate it. Having to answer the question “where is she now?” being asked by all the believers in church is not an easy experience. As for the culture that we live the Catholics have no problem with this issue as it is an unpardonable sin and the Priests won’t even conduct a Mass for anyone guilty of such. I was My dilemma is that my theology does allow for a Christian to commit suicide. But how do I teach that without appearing to condone the action and giving justification to disheartened believers. Not an easy task to say the least. If you are curious as to how I tackled the issue you can click here to read my message; names being changed of course. Taken from the Craig's newsletter found here. September 3, 2011 By Matt Beack Since our last update email, we have felt our adjustment to the culture has been much smoother. We have a fairly regular routine now, and have not had as many situations where we've gotten frustated with the culture. Thanks so much for praying for our cultural adjustment! Our kids are enjoying the schools they go to; their schools have been such a blessing to us! We're continuing the hard work of learning a language. We are very thankful for our teachers, who are excellent at teaching and have become good friends to us as well. Matt has a major test coming up in Tagalog on Monday and Tuesday, so you can pray for him about that. The Beacks' newsletter can be found here. August 26, 2011 From Jeff Anderson Dear Praying Friends,
Taken from the Andersons' blog found here. August 17, 2011 From Jeff Anderson Our return to Manila was originally scheduled for June 14, but was delayed due to a third eye surgery on June 8 to remove clumping on the macula. I was not allowed to fly while I had gas in my eye that was inserted during the procedure. Following the surgery I had two follow-up appointments with my doctor and she said the retina is fine but it could take six months for vision to improve to whatever grade it will be. Pray for healing because I see double sometimes with distortions and depth perception is off so reading is difficult and I can't drive. Pray also that we can find a retina specialist in Manila whom I'll need to see for ongoing care. Excerpt from the Andersons' 3rd quarter newsletter found here. August 16, 2011 From Pami Ellis Must be some sort of record! I don't know the record for how many prenatal check-ups Shalom has done in a single morning, but we must have been close today. 141 ladies. That's right...141 blood pressures, 141 fundal heights, 141 fetal heart tones, 141 weights...yikes! Praise God we had some very welcome guests to help with the blood tests of about 40-50 of those ladies so I could go and help check these ladies out to speed things along. And then of course we had a delivery of a sweet new life in the midst of it all. :) Taken from Pami's blog found here.
August 3, 2011 From Ron Homenuke
Read the complete story here.
August 1, 2011 By Sharon Germaine I had a wonderful time in Europe. It was a dream comes true that I was able to go to Europe again. Last time I was there was in 1982. I enjoyed seeing many of the sights in Brussels, with my friend, Lynnette, who lives there. It was a bit of an adventure getting to Lynette, though. She had emailed me directions to get to her office, which involved taking a train from the airport, then a bus, and then walking to her office. However, I failed to print out the map to her office from the bus stop. I didn't realize my blunder until I got off the bus, in a city I'd never been to before! At least I had the address to the office. I then showed the address to 6 or 7 people, but they didn't know where the street was. I was very tired, and started crying, though I really didn't want to be so emotional. Read their newsletter found here to discover how the story ended. July 31, 2011 From Carl Loewen
Honest Hands Discipleship Camps went very well, and we had a good time with seventeen new guys. They were interested in the sessions, and were challenged as we taught and discussed core topics like basic discipleship, assurance of salvation, worship & fellowship in a local church, purity, and prayer & devotions. After the camps our staff spent time discussing and praying for each camper, and we selected ten young men for Batch #9. Pray for us as we have just opened our doors for the long term discipleship program on July 11th. Pray that the new students would continue to be hungry for the Word of God, and that they would bond well with their sending churches. The Loewens complete newsletter can be found here.
July 31, 2011 From Jeff Anderson While I'm thinking of it I just finished studying 1 Corinthians and as I worked through 16:15-18, I thought of and praised the Lord for all of our partners both in the Philippines and worldwide who make all of this work possible by God's grace. I would like to highlight verses 15 and 18 and commend them to you for encouragement because I see this in you, "Now I urge you, brethren (you know the household of Stephanas, that they were the first fruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted ('addicted' in KJV) themselves for ministry to the saints), ... For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men." (NASB) Thank you for refreshing our spirits by addicting yourselves to the service of God's people worldwide. To find out why Jeff chose the KJV wording in the last sentence you will need to read his newsletter found here. July 10, 2011 August 17, 2011 A missionary friend is trying to teach the locals about crop spacing by carefully spacing corn in order to yield larger crops. One local said, "Wow! Those ears are HUGE," after seeing the beautiful results. After explaining why they were so big, she just shakes her head and says, "Just imagine how many you could have gotten if you'd planted more in that space!" Sometimes you just have to laugh and say, T.I.P. To learn what T.I.P. stands for then read her blog here. July 7, 2011 From Ron Homenuke Dear friends, From Oswald Chamber's My Utmost for His Highest, the title is self-explanatory. There are valleys that we must go through and thorns that scar us but His way is not only the best way, it's the safest way! This morning in Burlington, I shared for fifteen minutes with Ron Mainse of 100 Huntley Street. (Thanks, Paul!) Lord willing, this will help in raising financial support for Lifehouse Center. It was taped and will be aired this coming Monday (11th) at 9:00 AM. For those of you who don't get Canadian TV, it will also be put on the Internet later in the evening. Read more of Ron's newsletter found here. June 25, 2011 From Jeff Anderson Feed My Starving Children Update For several months I worked on a meeting between the coordinator of Grace Church Eden Prairie and another FMSC food champion of Maple Plain Community (another supporting church) to see if the two churches could work together in sending us more food. This meeting took place June 14 and the two churches, along with a possible third, will work together in getting us more food. The leadership at FMSC agreed to this increase because they are very pleased with the reports they are receiving from our team along with several photos which you can see on our online photo album here. Currently our Fish and Bread Feeding Program is ministering to 2,814 children and 60 elderly inmates at 33 sites. We are also in discussions with Child Evangelism Fellowship about using their age appropriate Tagalog Bible study materials. Read all or the Anderson's June report found here.
June 23, 2011 From Pami Ellis Urgent Prayer Request! A couple of weeks ago, we submitted a funding request to a large church in Manila where several of us attend. This was specifically for the building project (I hate that word, makes me thing of yet another mega church building an even bigger monstrosity!) Anyways, it was very well received and two of us (Ruth Ortiz and me) have been asked to speak in all four services THIS SUNDAY, inviting the congregation to join our project through funds, volunteers, and of course prayer. We'll be showing a video and then speaking for about 3 minutes. This is incidentally missions Sunday as well. I'm really excited about this opportunity because it's Filipinos helping Filipinos. I love that... Read more on Pami's blog found here. June 21, 2011 By Matt Beack In relation to those verses that we listed above, God has been doing difficult but amazing things in us. One thing that both Becki and I have experienced since arriving in the Philippines is how incredibly weak and vulnerable we feel in relation to all the adjustments to culture and language that we face multiple times on a daily basis. We cannot begin to describe how utterly useless we have felt at times with the language, with not knowing how to do things, not knowing how to figure people out because of the barrier of culture and language. I don't think I realized how difficult it would be in making all the adjustments, but it has been the hardest thing by far that I have ever done. Read the whole story on he Beack's blog found here. June 20, 2011 From Jim Craig Recently I was approached by an elder of the church where we fellowship who asked if I would be willing to apply for a pastors position that the elders have recently created. I submitted my resume and lo and behold the elders contacted me for an interview. One thing lead to another and now today I sit in office typing this email as a fulltime time Pastor at Greenhills Christian Fellowship - Batangas. My responsibilities include Missions and Outreach, Christian Education ministries, and Worship Team coordinator. The Worship team coordinator will be a challenge as I have no musical ability but the church currently has a strong and talented music worship team lead by lay-men. I am also on the rotation of teachers for the English service. The best part of all of this is that what perked the interest of the elders was my proposal last winter of incorporating the work of the evangelist into the dynamics of the church. They want me to pursue this as a part of the Missions and Outreach aspect of my position. Click here to read the complete email or to view a photo album of the church go here.
June 6, 2011 From Erin Johnson Hello everyone! I don't have time for a long message, but I just wanted to report that school started today! We have 24 scholars who are enrolled for this year in two different schools. I apologize that I don't any pictures recently, since Krista has been gone so I'm too busy to take many pics. Quick requests: please pray for RJ, IN, JV, DX, AG, AB, ST, and EA as they are starting first grade for the first time! That can be quite the challenge, especially when you are much older than your classmates like almost all of these students are. Please also pray for AR, JB, GL, TH, SA and AM who are all repeating grades that they had to drop out of in the past due to poverty. There is some shame to get over in those situations. Another 7 students are continuing their studies from last year, and the remaining six are or will be in the ALS class (Alternative Learning which is for teens). I think that covers everyone (plus a couple)! Please pray especially for the ones who are making a radical lifestyle change in order to sleep at home for going to school, instead of staying on the street. Many of them have a long way to go to be reconciled happily with their families. But nothing is impossible with God and we are seeing him move! To read the rest of the story go to Erin's blog found here.
June 6, 2011 From Pami Ellis Suddenly one of the 2 Filipina midwives on duty cries out, "There's a mom in the driveway who's baby's head is out!" The other midwife took off out the door and after fumbling around to make the delivery table ready (we use it for prenatal check-ups when no one is delivering), this poor lady is carried in by two men, one presumably her husband. Her hand is between her legs, holding what I thought was the head. They maneuver her onto the lithotomy table, pull the curtains shut, and get ready to deliver the rest of the baby. Suddenly the midwife bursts out laughing, "She's only 1cm! This lady needs an Emmy Award!" Read more on Pami's blog found here.
June 3, 2011 From Ron Homenuke Dear friends, Into my third month of home assignment, I've been made aware of this sobering fact. That many of you are forgetting Who Jesus is and what He wants of you. I've been sharing from my heart, in picture and in words, the desperate needs of our Lifehouse Center and our fifteen dysfunctional children. Yesterday, I received my Canadian May donor list and coupled with the US list.... Read more of Ron's newsletter found here.
May 30, 2011 By Jeff & Mary Ann Anderson We've seen over and over again that for ministry to be accomplished it always takes a champion for the Lord and His cause. Being a champion means being an advocate, a mobilizer and a networker in the kingdom of God for His glory, the spread of the gospel, prayer, sending missionaries and materials and raising funds for the edification of His people both locally and globally. Recently we ministered in a meeting that was initiated by an elderly woman who is mostly bed-ridden but got the momentum going for a missions meeting in her country church which eventually involved two other churches in her area. Read their newsletter that can be found here.
May 13, 2011 From Barbara Burchert Dear praying friend... My journeys continue in Canada! It has been a busy and full time in these weeks home. My time here has been full of visiting with friends, meeting new ones and sharing the ministry of Mustard Seed at a number of churches. I have just about reached the midpoint of my travels, which I cannot believe! I do wish that the weather would warm up just a bit! It is sunny today, but there have been reports of snow on the high passes. I don't think that I will put on summer tires just yet on my car. Read more in Barbara's newsletter found here. May 11, 2011 From Carl Loewen
It is exciting to see our partner ministries like Kanlungan come up with innovative ideas like the coffee shop and help former street boys start to work at meaningful jobs. Continue praying for Anthony and David as they work hard and learn what it means to serve others, rather than just hanging out and getting into trouble. Pray as well that they stay involved in their churches and grow closer to Jesus. It does take some sweaty days in traffic to do proper follow-up with our grads, but it is always worth the time as we reestablish connections and encourage our graduates. Read more in the Loewen May Newsletter found here.
May 6, 2011 From Mike Gingerich, Though being a missionary is a calling, and a job, it is also a lot of fun. Life here in the Philippines is not without stress and uncomfortableness, especially during hot season, but in serving Christ there is refreshment and an underlying joy that overrides the difficulties. One big joy for ACTION Philippines during the past months has been welcoming new laborers into God's harvest field. Matt and Becki Beack along their sons Isaiah (5) and Elijah (2) joined our team in late February. Becki grew up as a missionary kid here in the Philippines. Matt also comes from missionary roots and spent his childhood in Indonesia. They are currently in Language School here in Manila. After conquering the difficulties of Tagalog, their desire is to be used by the Lord among Manila's approximately 70,000 street children. You can keep up to date with the Beacks by reading their blog here. It is always fun to see how God uses his willing children.
Some additional fun for ACTION Philippines is to see how the Lord is providing for our new birthing center building project. Construction began in January of 2009 and has been going steadily since then. On Easter Sunday we held a Sunrise Service on the newly poured flat concrete roof deck above the third floor. The completion of this roof in late April marked the end of the structural phase of the project. The new building has 450 square meters (4850 square feet) on each floor. The first floor will be mainly used as a garage and work area and will also house a Pastors' resource center. The second floor is actually at street level on the front of the building and will be the new home for the Shalom Christian Bahay Paanakan (Birthing Home). Plumbing, electrical and finish plastering are underway on this floor which includes two large delivery rooms, a postnatal family room, a prenatal check up area, an overnight room for midwives, testing rooms, and a large waiting area. The third floor has offices and a conference room as well as a couple apartments for short term visitors. You can follow updates for the new building through Facebook by searching for: Birthing Home (Shalom Bahay Paanakan) Having Fun Serving in the Joy of the Lord, Mike Gingerich
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tasked to preach the memorial service that would be attended mainly by non-Christians. Is this an appropriate time to preach an evangelistic message? Sure!!! Without the Gospel non-Christians have no opportunity to place faith in the Gospel and without faith in the substitutionary work of Christ they are doomed for Hell! What about the believers? Do we just write off the young lady and say that she was not a Christian and is now in Hell? Only if we want to concede that salvation can be lost if we fall to sin! Yet this barks in the face of faith all together. One would be better suited to say that she had no faith and was never a Christian. But this still does not answer the question “what about a Christian who commits suicide?” Can they? Or do we simply just take the stand that the Catholic Church takes?
Visiting with my sister and her husband, I received three super days of old-fashioned relaxation. That Saturday included catching my first salmon, a 20 lb. Spring caught in a river with fairly high waters. It came only minutes after praying for a confirmation from the Lord that our Lifehouse Center was going to experience the Lord's "fullest blessings"! "Whatsoever you pray, believing, you shall receive." (Matthew 21:22). Incidentally, that was the only fish caught by the three of us that day. And is my sister ever a good cook!
Screams, yells, and gasps fill the air.
I always enjoy a good cup of strong, black coffee, but it tasted even better when two of our former Honest Hands students served it to me at the KSEM Kafe on Taft Avenue in downtown Manila. Jacob came along for the day of follow up, and so he felt quite lucky to have a giant frappuccino prepared by his friends. Anthony has been working at the Kafe for a few months, and it fits his outgoing and fun loving personality. David graduated from the Wood Tech program after Honest Hands and was able to use his skills to build some of the shelving and other woodwork in the restaurant.
Our Manila ACTION team also had the joy of welcoming Pami Ellis back to the Philippines in February. Pami is the daughter of ACTION missionaries Paul and Pat Ellis. She is a nurse who will be working just outside of Metro Manila with ACTION's birthing center in Antipolo City. Her desire is to help with educating poor mothers and networking with local churches to follow up on evangelistic contacts that are established during clinic days at the birthing center. Pami also has 
