Hey friends,

We are at our halfway point now. Crazy how things progress. Anyways a lot has still been taking place. The week after we had all of our baptisms was pretty hard. The people who chose to be obedient started to hear a lot of feedback from other people in the village. Not so much focused at us but more that those people were just trying to act holy to impress us. Just a lot of gossip and comments from their own families and other people. We know that this all just spiritual warfare and there is usually always backlash when people make a stand for Jesus. But pray that they would stand firm under this pressure and it would only bring them closer to their savior.

This past week we took a little 3 day retreat with all of us missionaries how in this area. It was Jeff and Kim (the permanent missionaries here) Ronnie and Savannah (both part of the journeyman program, 2 years in the field, post college, they are doing college ministry), Ernest and Cecil (our two Filippino team leaders), Hannah (another semester person who stays in city and does college ministry with Ronnie and Savannah), then me, Dave, and Joey. So we had a good little retreat. We went to a small resort on another island. Nice beach, good food and beautiful scenery. It was a great time to recharge and evaluate for upcoming two months.

Well as always please please please continue to pray that God would move

Our group after baptism

Joanne about to be baptised by Cecil

Me baptising Morlan

Praise session on the beach

Night time bible study in our home

Well I don't feel like I have been putting up here the way God has moved, and how significant HE has been. So I have several stories to tell.

1) About 3 weeks ago on a monday morning we were up at 5 am to catch the boat back for our day off. Suddenly the early morning was split with screams. One of the older women we knew, and had been doing bible studies with us, was wailin. News had just reached her that very morning that her son had hung himself. I don't think ive experience anything more saddening than that woman's pain. It was terrible. For the next week the funeral preparations were begun. The lady had pleaded with us to pray for her dead son on several occasions. Cecil (our girl team leader) spent much time with her explaining that there is no point after death and he was in the hands of God now. She was very gentle and loving with her, and said we just wanted to pray for her. The past 3 weeks she has continued to meet in Bible studies and speak with Cecil. Yesterday morning(sunday) we had our little get together in our house and she came. Ernest asked the group if anybody to share something from God. She stood up, while crying, and told how much God had filled her up since the death of her son.
2) Also about 3 weeks ago we met a guy named Morlan. Morlan was a bacla (the philippino term for their gay/crossdressers). After that he started coming around more often and started to attend bible studies. After the 2nd week he professed his faith and christ and was with us constantly. He was very adament about studying the bible, taking notes and learning as much as he could. He also began accompanying us the different bible studies we were doing around the community. 4 days ago he told us he wanted to be baptised! When asked why, he knew it was because Jesus told him do it after he had placed his faith in Him.
3) We had also had two of our neighbors, Heidi and Marrianne, decide that they needed to get baptised. They had put their faith in Jesus and wanted to follow him in Baptism. So we planned it for all 3 of them this sunday following our service. When the time came to head down to the water not only were these 3 ready but also two others. Nanay Belin(the lady whos son committed suicide) and another girl named Joanne who had been coming to the bible studies for some time. So we ended up baptising five! It was pretty amazing......

Baptism is a very big step for anybody to take here because it very much goes against culture. Everyone has a catholic background and was baptised as an infant. Most people don't understand why they would need to be baptised again if they already have been. So these making their decision shows a lot of understanding and maturity which is truly from God!

So God has really been moving greatly in a short time! 5 baptised in the past month, wow.....

Please continue to pray for us and the people here. We are going to extend our stay in this community in view of what God is doing. Just taking it week by week on moving on or staying.......

I love all of you, and miss yall!

Me and Dave got taken spear fishing with some friends. It was incredible to watch them work. They can hold their breath outrageously long! Check out my videos on facebook http://www.facebook.com/video/?of=678772789#!/video/video.php?v=470084652789&subj=678772789 this is my friend Tyson diving deep!

It was a great time with those guys, and a crazy cool experience. God's nature is incredible!

Well the days have been adding up and this week saw us in the Philippines 1 month. God continues to work in the lives of the people here as well as my own heart. I have gotten to see two men follow Jesus in baptism in the past week which brings joy to my heart. We have still been meeting new families and doing Bible studies like crazy. Yesterday we had 11 adults in our small home for a sunday worship service and then almost the exact same group wanted to have another Bible study that night. Some of the people are really starting to thirst for the scripture.

We are also at the point where we have to start deciding if we need to leave this community and head for new territory. It is hard to know what to do. We have gotten to know so many people it is hard to leave, and to know if our work there is done. So be in prayer for us that we will know God's will in the matter......

Had a delicious meal of chicken fried squid for lunch the other day. Everybody this week has decided they want to feed us so we have been getting food from everywhere! Some good, some not good, but that is all part of it.

Be a people of prayer!

Jared