Today I went back to Lucena to visit the prison. About seven years ago two lay members started a weekly prison ministry there on Thursdays. Today there are about one hundred church members in the 1,300 inmate prison. Today I had the privilege of baptizing twelve more. One of them will be released tomorrow. I told him that tomorrow the government will set him free but today Jesus set him free. Others who have been baptized in the past have been released and are active members of the local churches in their hometowns.

Everything is great here in the Philippines. This morning Ramon Canals and I went on a run at 6:30a.m. and it was already nice and hot and humid. It was neat to run next to fields of palm trees. 

Our meetings have been going well. I have a wonderful translator named Vigie. She comes to the hotel each day to practice our sermon for that evening. My church is the Tiaong Church which is the closest to the hotel, 5 kilometers… so I think that is about 3 miles.

This photo set shows my wife, Veruschka, arriving at her site and my daughter, Shylla’s second night preaching and some photos from Sabbath. Shylla has about 20 girls that follow her around at the site and she faithfully practices her sermon several times each day with her 12 year old translator.  They really preach it!  Last night Shylla made a three part appeal and had every person on their feet, then she lead a trio in singing “Holy, Holy, Holy!’ to close the meetings.  I had no idea that they had planned to do that at the end. Shylla had 138 attending her site last night!  Attendance doubled from the first night to the second.

Just a quick note since it’s 11:45pm here and it has been a good but very full day. My days here are like that. My schedule looks like this–

6am Wake up/Time with Jesus/Exercise/Shower/Breakfast
9am Group Meeting/Devotional/Training
10:30am Study/Preparation for Meetings
1pm Lunch
2pm Preparation for Meetings
4pm Leave for Meeting/Supper with Church Members
6:30pm Meeting- Singing, Music, Jesus DVD segment, Health Talk, Bible Presentation
9pm Head back to Hotel
10:30pm Arrive at Hotel/Bedtime

We have almost 40 people here preaching at twenty sites. The youngest preacher is eleven with a twelve year old translator. The oldest is Sara Jane, a vivacious friend of the Patzers who is 86.

I preach in Lucena at a church with about 250 people attending, including about 80 interests. They are coming along well in attendance and decisions for Jesus and Bible truth. It is thrilling to see the light come on in their faces.

On Sabbath I preach my last sermon at Lucena in the morning and perhaps have a baptism there. That evening I begin preaching in San Pablo City at an auditorium that seats 1,000. This was the sight prepared for Jere Patzer’s meetings. They tell me they already have about 400 ready for baptism. There is tremendous preparation and lay involvement before the meetings start here. It’s the way it should be everywhere.

My series in San Pablo City will be titled “God’s Final Message to Planet Earth” and cover several aspects of the Three Angels Messages.  The welcome gate at the entrance of the city says “Welcome to San Pablo City” and has a picture of two angels blowing trumpets. I’ll have a take off on that as I talk with the people about the message that is going around the world to prepare people for the return of Jesus.

I’m eating lots of mangos, pineapples, cantaloupes, rice, stir fry vegetables, vegemeat, etc. much more than I should! Breakfast is at the hotel, which has learned to cook vegetarian meat substitutes just for us. Lunch is at a beautiful, garden like home about 1/2 mile from the hotel. Supper is with church members at Lucena.

Last night I ate with Brother John and his family and Brother Job was there as well. Brother Job has lived the life of Job. His first wife died while giving birth to their fifth son and his second wife died from a congenital heart problem not long after giving birth to her second and his seventh son. No daughters. He married again last April. His third wife is the principal of an Adventist school 350 kilometers (about 220 miles) away but she has requested a transfer to the Adventist school next to the Lucena church. In the meantime they spend the weekend together every two weeks as he raises his seven boys. But he is of good courage, serves as an elder in the church and is program coordinator for my meetings.

Brother Job rode his motorcycle to Cabuyao two days ago for his birthday. Cabuyao is the place where my daughter Danesa and I held meetings in 2004 as part of the NPUC mission initiative. Pastor Catolica (a “Catholic” Adventist pastor we met four years ago) used to pastor the  Lucena church but retired and moved to be with relatives in Cabuyao. Brother Job brought greetings from everyone there. If I understood right he said Brother Harvey married recently and is now living and working in Saudi Arabia. I hope to get to Cabuyao sometime while here but I’m not sure when I can.

Today is Monday and I feel that we are finally settling in to a routine. My church is in the little town of Liliu which is known for making shoes.  The church is actually a large open garage with a metal roof over it and it will seat many people.  The members rented a bus to go up to the nearby mountain and bring the people.

There are over 100 people attending and many stand outside and listen.  We have a young lady from the church who sings named Jen Jen. She has the voice of an angel.  The people sit in rapture and listen to her.  I am humbled and feel completely unqualified to be speaking for God, but I see the power of Holy Spirit working in the faces of the people.  I believe the majority of the people are from a Catholic background and are wanting to know God.  My translator tells me they are very interested in what we are teaching them.

March 14 was the beginning of the series of ShareHim/QuietHour/NPUC sponsored lay evangelism meetings in the Philippines.  It was exciting, yet scary, for I had never preached before.  Having seen ShareHim on 3ABN, I had a burning desire to be part of such a miracle.  Taking the ShareHim reports as gospel that anyone can do it, and trusting that God would work His miracles for me through the power of the Holy Spirit, I signed up for this Philippines trip.  Though the whole idea seemed impossible, I kept repeating to myself, “It’s about God, not about me.” and where the Lord guides, the Lord provides.”  But even then I had many second thoughts as  I was preparing for the trip

The flights were long- Portland to San Francisco to Tokyo to Manila- but gave me a chance to read 2/3 of Steps to Christ again, hand out lots of Zeke DVDs and literature, take lots of naps, jog in place a few times at the back of the airplane and eat more vegetarian meals than I should have. There were no real hitches along the way and lots of friendly people.

After clearing immigration and customs by 11:30pm Wednesday night

The Quiet Hour and ShareHim work in a very close partnership with evangelism meetings in general and these major date blocks there in Philippines in particular.The Quiet Hour is funding these blocks to the tune of nearly $200,000. The North American Division, NPUC and others are also putting in funding, but it would help us if you could INCLUDE THE QUIET HOUR IN YOUR UPDATE REPORTS AND E-MAILS to help in getting the word to folk who have and will support these meetings with their donations.

You may send blog links or copies of e-mails to your family and friends to evangelism@TheQuietHour.org, and we’ll edit/format them for our website. Then look for your reports at http://www.thequiethour.org/evan/philippines/2008/home.php. We already have e-mails from NAD president Schneider and The Quiet Hour’s CEO Mike Porter. Join them! You’ll be in good company.

Thanks for your help on this and please know we’re praying for the meetings - and for Pr. Patzer - every morning at our office worship.

Grace and peace,
Christy K. Robinson
The Quiet Hour Communications

Linda Shaver writes–

God is STILL always at Work!! A week and a half before leaving to speak in the Philippines, I agree with Pastor Dan Serns that when preparing to go on a mission trip, the unexpected is “All part of the training!!”

Here’s my story: On Sabbath afternoon (March 1st), a friend and I went on a hike called Angel’s Rest which is along the gorge on the Oregon side. After finishing the hike we went back to my friend’s car to leave only to discover that the back passenger window of her car had been busted out. Since she had a hatch back and no trunk we hid both of our purses under a jacket behind the seat. Now all that was left was pieces of glass scattered everywhere. For me it was a surreal moment filled with mixed feelings of vulnerability and gratitude. I was thankful that it was just possessions and could have been much worse. In my purse were my keys, brand new cell phone, new camera, wallet (including my social security card) and a check for over $1,000. My friend had her car keys, so in her purse was her wallet and cell phone. I found myself without a phone, and no way to get access to my car, money, or home.

Whenever you plan a mission trip you can guarantee that the unexpected will happen! Here are two major hurdles we have faced (and we haven’t even left yet!)–

• A few months ago we had to shift to an entirely different part of the Philippines (from the southern island of Mindanao to San Pablo City, a few hours south of Manila on the island of Luzon).
• Jere Patzer and wife Sue, who each planned to present a series of Bible meetings, had to cancel two weeks before the meetings started because of unforseen health issues. (see http://www.gleaneronline.org/news.html?wsnID=11210&cat=12)

But God has opened the door for this mission trip to go forward and for the Adventist message to be preached in twenty-one cities, towns and villages. Whenever the unexpected happens on a mission trip we like to say “It’s all part of the training!” What training? The training that the Lord gives us to prepare us for eternity with Him!