Wednesday Morning, September 19th
Greetings from Manilla! I already have great news to bring you. Before our plane hit the ground, my new friend Jin, at age 62, received Jesus Christ as his personal Savior. I arrived here at 3:00 am Thursday morning, which would be 12:00 noon on Wednesday, Las Vegas time. I never thought the airplane ride would end. I am in Manilla waiting on my connecting flight to Iloilo. It will not take off until 9:30 am over here. I am excited to see what God is going to do with this trip. I have already noticed how we take for granted the things we have in America. Just the luxury of our airport compared to theirs is so different. I hope you will pray for me as well as the others over here ministering to these dear people. I miss everyone already. God has been so good to us at Oasis. Let’s keep being faithful to Him. I am praying for our services tonight and I pray it will be used by God to strengthen your walk with Him. When I arrive later today, I will give you another update. I love you and I am praying for you. Now I am going to go buy the only thing I recognize for breakfast, a box of Pringles and a Diet Coke! AMEN!

      

10:55 AM Thursday, September 20th
I finally arrived in Iloilo. It did not take long to see that false religions are everywhere. Before I could get out of the airport, I watched as they witnessed to people in the airport. I was taken from the airport to my hotel and I believe I had one of the wildest rides of my life. It was better than any roller coaster I have ever been on. No stoplights, everybody just kind of tried to read each other’s minds and they were not doing a good job of it. As soon as we left the airport the poverty was right outside the gate. We are truly blessed to live in America! We will be going to Pastor Rick Martin’s church here in Iloilo for his National Pastor’s Conference tonight. Please pray that many decisions will be made. I will post after the service.

9:45 PM Thursday, September 20th
Thursday evening. I just got back from an amazing service. Thousands of people came. It rained very hard. We got there an hour before the service and the seats were already full. Many slept outside all week around the property. Many decisions were made at the altar. I am going to bed for the first time since leaving. It is 6:50 a.m. Thursday, Vegas time. Please pray for us as we will be traveling and speaking in several churches deep into the country. I will not post until about this time tomorrow because of getting back so late from this trip. Talk to you soon!

      

8:30 PM Friday, September 21th
Wow, what a day! I can honestly say today was a life changing day for me. The missionary is going to give me the exact location and Pastor’s names we visited today, but I do not have them yet. I wanted to post the pictures tonight so you could see them today. I have never seen anything like it. I am still trying to process it all in my mind. We traveled a couple hundred miles today. Our first stop was a village of six hundred people. This is a brand new church and they had fifty people there, and remember, it was not a Sunday. It was pouring rain and we walked down a trail to an open air auditorium. The people were anxiously waiting for us. It was amazing to hear them sing “I Serve a Risen Savior” and “How Great Thou Art.” It really put life into perspective for me. Vons grocery store would be Disneyland to them. Things we think are so important, really do not matter. I will try and post more in detail tomorrow. The trip has really gotten busy. Please pray for all the traveling we are doing. I love you and I am praying for you.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
      

9:00 AM Saturday, September 22th
We started the day going to ministries around the city of Iloilo. The first place we went to were the Bible clubs in homes in their neighborhoods. They would gather the children and have Bible studies in the home. It was amazing to see the living conditions of these children and the joy that was on their faces. I believe they ministered to me more than I to them. After the Bible clubs, we went to what they call the dump ministry. There is a community that actually lives in and on top of the dump where all the trash is stored. This broke my heart. I met a man there that was born and raised in the dump and he is now 35 years old. We passed out candy to them and you would have thought it was fifty dollars. It broke my heart to see how these people were living.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
      

12:00 PM Saturday, September 22th
We started out on our journey to Bakyas Village, which is deep in the jungle on Negros Island. We traveled by boat to the island, which was an hour long. Once we arrived, we were picked up by a Pastor who wanted to show us his work. We could only stay for a couple of minutes, but yet he was so excited to spend those minutes with us. His church’s name is Cubay Baptist Church and his name is Pastor Ernie. After spending some time with him, we went to a bus stop and bought tickets for a bus ride that was three hours long. Once we got there it was dark. They would not go by vehicle all the way to this village so we had to walk in the rain, at night, and that was an adventure. Once we arrived, there were over a hundred and fifty people from the village waiting for us at about nine o’clock that night. They had waited all day long and they asked us to give them a church service. I believe at that moment this was my breaking point. After the service, I could not hold it in. I had to get away for a moment and just thank God for the blessings in my life. They prepared food for us, which was a feast for them. As we ate, they stood around the table and watched us. Some of them have never seen an American or ever left that village. This was one of the biggest days of their lives. We stayed in their Pastor’s hut. It was about the size of a walk-in closet with a dirt floor and there were eight of us who slept there. Their Pastor just passed away a month ago and you could tell they loved him dearly. They have a new Pastor and he is a wonderful man. There was a chicken who was outside our hut that night; about 3:00am we heard a lot of commotion. Later we found out that this chicken became our breakfast. That morning we had another service and then headed back on our long journey back to our hotel. That was an experience I will never forget.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    

Sunday, September 23rd

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  

5:00 AM Monday, September 24th
We started our day bright and early. I definitely needed a Starbucks, but they did not understand that! Ha

We drove about two hours up into the mountains to minister to teenagers in the public schools. What an experience this was. We arrived at the first school, and we were greeted by 1,100 high school students. I had the privilege to preach to them. I preached, “Let Me Introduce You to My Friend.” We were told by the local Pastors that over five hundred received Christ as their Savior. They let us in the classrooms; it just amazed me how open they were to the gospel of Jesus Christ. We went to two high schools all together. The principals in both schools stood with us and thanked us for coming. I believe America’s schools need to wake up. I could not believe how modest the teenagers were dressed and how respectful they were. I guess having more may not be better. These teenagers have hardly anything, but yet so much joy.

We went to another Pastor’s work on that side of the country, then headed back down. Please pray that we will have traveling mercies tomorrow as we will be traveling back to Manilla for Tuesday and Wednesday. I will be preaching in our friend Ed Laurena’s church. By the way, I also wanted to tell you the Pastor’s names we visited on Friday. The first name was Pastor Donny and his church’s name is Gift Baptist Church and that afternoon it was Pastor Jojo and the church’s name is Fundamental Baptist Church.

I have heard great reports from our services at home. I praise the Lord for the salvations and people that joined. Thank you for being in your places and staying faithful to our Lord. I can’t wait to get home and tell you, in detail, about my trip. Thank you for letting me go. I miss you and I love you.

     
     
     
     
     
     
  

Tuesday, September 25th
We started our day at 5:00 AM. We flew from Iloilo to Manilla. What a difference in the two cities; Manilla is a little more modern. Around lunchtime, we had a meal prepared for us at a nearby house. What a feast it was. Pastor Laurena’s son, Meljun, picked me up at the hotel and we drove for an hour to their church. What a great work they are doing! I was privileged to preach in their church and we had a wonderful service. I am looking forward to coming back to this ministry next year. I arrived back at my room at 9:00 PM and I must say, I was ready for a good night's sleep. Tomorrow, I start my long journey home and I am looking forward to getting back to my family and our church. I can’t wait to see you all on Sunday. Let’s be faithful to the Lord and have a wonderful day. I love you and thank God for your faithfulness.

     
     
     
     
      

Wednesday, September 26th
Travel Day! My favorite thing to do, NOT!

Thursday, September 27th
Arrive home. AMEN!