Tuesday, January 31, 2012

God's leading us to the Philippines

As the bright morning sun rose over the hills of the nearby island viewed from my window, I sat on my bed, thinking and not only thinking, but praising the Lord!
The view outside my window
Many thoughts ran through my mind, but I began thinking back to how God had led us here to the Philippines.As I did, I was reminded of the words of a favorite Bible verse, "The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad." Ps. 126:3.

When I was about 13 years old, I had a dream in my heart to someday go to the Philippines on a mission trip and help to share the gospel of Jesus' love there. For awhile I prayed that we would be able to come here, but after awhile gave up, as there seemed no possibility of this dream coming true.

In 2010, our family was invited to do an evangelistic meeting in Iloilo, the Philippines. I was excited and remembered the dream I had had! God was working it out for us to go to the land of my dreams! That November and December found us here in the Philippines, holding a seminar. All of us fell in love with the people here and as we were leaving, we prayed God would open the doors for us to return.

While we were here in Iloilo, someone inquired about the AFCOE (Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism) and how much it cost to be a student there. When we told them, they said it was far too expensive for an interested Filipino to attend. Then they asked us what were the possibilities of starting an AFCOE here in the Philippines. We thought about it and prayed much about it and saw God opening the doors for our family to start this school of evangelism here in Iloilo!

Money came in for some of the school's expenses and God provided a way for my brother, Michael, and I to attend the last AFCOE session. So this last fall, our family was at AFCOE, learning the principles we would be sharing in our own school. What a blessing it was and we learned so many important things!

Applications started coming in as students were enrolling. We arrived here a couple of weeks ago and are finishing the last-minute details for the school. In two days, all the students will be here and we will have registration.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we work hand in hand with the Master soul-winner in sharing His principles with our students!

Monday, January 30, 2012

First post

Welcome, everyone, to our blog! Here is where we (the Hargreaves family) will post the stories and experiences of our life in the Philippines as it relates to the school we are starting - PAFCOE. You can read more about this school on our website at: www.pafcoe.org.  May you be blessed as you follow our experiences of God's blessing here in the Philippines!