Barrio Obrero...

Dear Family & friends:

Barrio Obrero.  We had never heard of the place till earlier this year when discussing where to conduct the evangelistic series for our fall session of PAFCOE.  The local brethren decided to do a church-plant there.  We later learned that the place is considered one of the roughest, low-class areas of Iloilo—known for drinking, gambling, and evil.

The barangay, or suburb as we would refer to it, has a massive Iglesia ni Christo church, whose towering spires can be seen from many parts of the suburb and beyond.  The Iglesia ni Christo (Christ of Christ in Tagalog, the local language here in the Philippines) church was started back in the early 1900s by a former Seventh-day Adventist who became embittered toward the church, and left to start his own.  Today it is one largest, most influential churches in the Philippines, next the Catholic Church.  When we started outreach in Barrio Obrero, we quickly learned that the vast majority of its inhabitants belonged to the big Iglesia ni Christo Church.

Our only option for a place to conduct the meetings, turned out to be a large covered gym near the center of the barangay.  This was where the street kids hung out, to play basketball or other games, or worse to smoke and socialize.  Teenage mothers are quite common, and we met many children 10 years old or less, who were already smoking.  Safety was a prime concern of the local brethren, since stealing and other crimes are part of the sub-culture of the suburb. 

Barrio Obrero lies along the sea, and is bordered on one side by swampland.  Many squatters live in the area, their bamboo shacks clinging to the banks, or built over the swamp edge. Poverty is the picture in these areas, and the only escape from the misery is alcohol, gambling, or sinful pleasure—or so it seems to the locals.  Our “Revelations of Prophecy” seminar offered something better!

We began the meetings with a Health Expo which attracted only a small group, since the word had spread around the suburb that “the Adventists have come to our barangay, and if you join them, you’ll have to give up your gambling, drinking, and your pork!”  The group who did come were those who needed help—stroke victims, and those unsatisfied with the low-life of the street.

On the night that we began the Prophecy Seminar, there was a brown-out (black-out as we call it) in the area, so with nothing else to do for entertainment, curious residents wandered into the gym to see what “Revelations of Prophecy” was all about, in spite of the rumors.  Since we had a generator, the lights and sound blazed out the open sides of the covered-gym until there were over a hundred-and-fifty sitting inside listening, with many more outside.

The next night, Saturday night, things did not go as well.  A tropical storm blew in that evening, and the driving rain watered our attendance down to around fifty.  Since the sides of the gym are open, even those inside struggled to stay dry.  Many put up their umbrellas and the site from the stage was unforgettable!  The was camera crew huddled under umbrellas, trying to keep themselves and their equipment dry; the sheets of rain blowing in on one side of the open gym, illuminated by the stage lights; the water spreading out over the concrete floor, unable to drain away fast enough in the downpour; the electrical and microphone cables suspended on plastic chairs above the circulating water; and the audience, seated under their umbrellas in the driest side of the gym—how could we ever forget that night!

Just as memorable was the noise!  Since the covered gym has a tin roof, the tropical downpour sounded like a million tiny jackhammers above our heads.  Even with our speakers at max volume, it was difficult to be heard.  The noise grew so loud at one point, we simply had to suspend the meeting and wait.  In the din, we prayed with the mist blowing in our faces, that God would still the storm.  As we prayed, and watched, and waited, gradually the noise decreased as the rain started to let up, until we were able to begin preaching again (I say “we” because I had a translator).  The rain continued throughout most of the meeting, but with less intensity so that we could be distinctly heard.  We had a “captive” audience since no one wanted to leave the gym during the storm!

Later in the series, we had a rainstorm during a Sabbath morning meeting that was even worse.  It rained so hard that we actually had water flowing across the floor of the gym like a river, and the water was nearly six inches deep beneath the stage that we were preaching from.  Again we prayed and waited for the noise to lessen, and although we had to wait longer this time, God did answer our prayers and still another storm.

The meetings in Barrio Obrero were unique in other ways as well.  It was the first time in all our years of evangelism, that we parked our car inside the meeting hall!  Since it was considered unsafe to park outside on the street, we parked inside the gym along one wall. 

The gym has walls that are about eight feet high, with another fifteen to twenty feet of open space between that and the tin roof.  We would drive in from the street through the same entrance that our audience would later walk in.  On weekends when more church members from the city would attend, we had a parking lot along one wall of the meeting hall!

One night while I was preaching I saw a transformer across the street latterly explode in a fireball of electricity, and then the arch danced back along the wires till a main breaker somewhere tripped and ended the fireworks.  Instantly, one section of the suburb was in complete darkness.  For several moments, I lost everyone’s attention, and part of the audience rushed outside to see what had happened.  Thankfully, the lights stayed on in our hall.

There were other unforgettable events during the evangelistic meetings in Barrio Obrero, but most memorable were the lives transformed by the power of the gospel.  We’ll share some of their testimonies in our next report.  One lady, a stroke victim said to me, “Pastor, God sent you here.  Of all the places in the Philippines that you could have gone, and of all the barangays in Iloilo that you could have held meetings, God directed you to Barrio Obrero so that we could learn the truth!”

Yes, God sent us to Barrio Obrero, but He used people like you to support the work of evangelism with your prayers and funds.  We, together with the little church that has been “planted” in the rough suburb of Barrio Obrero, say “Thank you so much!”

Your friends,

Pastor Lowell & family & the PAFCOE staff

What's happening at PAFCOE?

Here's an update Dad wrote:

Greetings from the Philippines!  What is happening at PAFCOE?  You’ve probably wondered on several occasions, and the silence from here may have heightened the mystery.  Yes we have been busy, but in a busy world, that seems like a poor excuse.  So we’ll just have to say politely, like they do so well here in South-east Asia, “We’re sorry, we’re late!”  Being late is much more easily forgiven here, than in the West.  Filipinos smile shyly and say, “We’re on Filipino time.”  That is considered an acceptable excuse for tardiness, but at PAFCOE, our students are required to be on time...  Looks like my PAFCOE journalism is hopelessly late!  Permit me to borrow another Asian expression – “Kindly forgive me!”

Our twenty-three students are on OJT.  That is short for “On-the-Job-Training” – which at our school of evangelism means a one-month evangelistic series in a local church somewhere in the Philippines.  Our students and staff are in 19 different sites scattered throughout the Islands of this tropical paradise, with a combined total attendance of over one-thousand adults in the adult evangelistic meetings, and even more than that in the many children’s meetings. 

Some students are thrilled with the numbers attending, some discouraged with smaller meetings, but all are facing the usual challenges of doing evangelism in enemy territory.  Last night one site sent us a message to pray that the pouring rain would stop so that people could come to the evening program.  About an hour later they sent another text, “Thank you for the prayers.  The rain has stopped, but now there is a brown-out (black-out).  Please pray that the power will come back on.”  We learned later that they had to conduct the meeting in the dark since the power remained off, but even that difficulty turned into a blessing, since the people were very quiet and attentive. 

This is the first week of meetings for our students in their sites throughout the Philippines.  For us, classes ended Oct. 31, and most of our students departed the next day on busses, boats, or planes, for their OJT sites.  For all of them, it is their first 4-week evangelistic series.  They had worked with us in our “training series,” and taken classes on public evangelism, but “on-the-job,” doing it “yourself,” is still the best training!

We conducted the “training meeting” from August 31 – Oct. 6 in an area of Iloilo where there is no Adventist church.  This was a 5-week evangelistic series, with our students as helpers, learning the art of public evangelism.  The meetings were in a covered gym with open sides, in what is considered one of the “roughest” and “poorest” neighborhoods of the city.  Now, praise-the-Lord, there is a new group of Adventists meeting in that district of Iloilo, and the little group of new believers is praying for God’s direction in building a church in their area.

The weekend that we finished that series of meetings, an American friend of ours started a four-week evangelistic series in another district of the city, and before he finished, his brother and family came to conduct a two-week series in yet another area.  When those two young men finished, a beautiful beach baptism brought more souls into the family of God!  Planning, preparing, and coordinating those meetings in addition to teaching classes at PAFCOE during the day, kept us “running” up until the time our students left for OJT.  When Jesus said, “Go,” I think He meant “run,” to save souls! 

Now we are on break—sort of.  We are back to “walking” and our students are “on the run” for soul-winning!  During this month, we will be traveling to Manila to lay plans for moving the PAFCOE school to that metropolis next year.  One of the central churches in Manila has invited us to come hold PAFCOE at their church, and conduct evangelism in metro-Manila.  We have seen God’s leading in that move, and are stepping forward with plans.  We believe that this will broaden the influence and opportunities of the PAFCOE training considerably.  When we initially started PAFCOE here in the Philippines, it was our vision to make the school “mobile” so that different areas of this country could take advantage of the evangelistic training being offered.  Now we are seeing how God is fulfilling that vision.

That is a “little update” from a “little country” in South-east Asia, but we extend a BIG “THANK YOU” to all those of you who have supported the evangelism work of PAFCOE!  “Thank you” to those of you who have sponsored worthy-students.  “Thank you” to those of you who have sponsored this school.  The average cost for all 22 of the evangelistic meetings this session (including our main meeting) was just over $1000 per meeting.  We’ll update you when our students finish their meetings, what the final outcome of souls is.  At any rate, even one soul is an investment that heaven paid the “highest price” for.  “Thank you, and thank the Lord!”

We’ll share some stories about our training meeting in that “rough” district of Iloilo, in our next report.  It won’t be next year either—I promise!

Best wishes for now!

Your friends,

Pastor Lowell & family & PAFCOE staff

Be not weary in well doing...

I smiled as the students filed in the church for another amazing night of Week of Prayer. They had just returned from outreach. I should specify that this was not just any outreach, but it was literature evangelism (selling books door to door). 

"How many books did you sell today?" I asked one of the girls when she went by. "Only one," she said quietly, "today very few were interested."

•  Sometimes the going (the witnessing) is tough.
•  Sometimes the people aren't interested.
•  Sometimes it rains (and rains hard!).
•  Sometimes it's exceedingly hot.

 And yet the students are going out day after day, searching, seeking for those who are interested in God's great message of truth.*

As I sought to encourage the students to keep trying and to persevere, the verse my brother and I had learned at AFCOE last year came to my mind.

"And let us not grow weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap if we faint not." Galatians 6:9.

How encouraging is the promise that though it's tough sometimes as we witness for Christ, yet He promises that we will reap if we don't faint!

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

* Now, of course, the students have sold a good number of books in their time of outreach! But of course, some days are better than others!

PAFCOE has begun again!

(This post was written earlier this week, but due to the busyness of life, didn't get posted until now.)

Praise God for His blessings and leading in the guidance and direction of the second session of PAFCOE!  :-)

We arrived safely here in Iloilo near the end of July and have been very busy preparing for the second session  of PAFCOE. 

And now, today, (Sunday, August 9) I sit in the classroom of PAFCOE and listen to the orientation of Dad to the new students who have come from all over the Philippines and one from Indonesia. Most of them come from other places other than Iloilo, but all are excited to learn how to become better soul-winners! We have around 25 students and they are such a nice group!

Classes have begun this week and so has the week of prayer. The latter sets the tone for the students to keep their spiritual experience alive and growing while studying how to be effective workers for the Lord.

The students went out to sell books yesterday and today and definitely had some divine appointments! They also sold some books, of course! All of them are excited to be involved in God's work!

We are looking forward to seeing what God will do with this second session of PAFCOE!

Thank you for your prayers! :)

Leaving Home; Going Home

“Flight 024 bound for Seoul, South Korea is now ready to board!”

Picking up our carry-ons, we joined the waiting line.  Soon we found ourselves boarding the plane for our first segment of the journey back to the Philippines.

After our first session of PAFCOE was finished in the middle of June, we flew to the US for a few weeks. Since we are American citizens, it is always wonderful to be back in our own country!

We enjoyed our time here and were privileged to share mission reports in various places about what God has done and is doing for PAFCOE.

Now we are on our way back to the Philippines for the second session of PAFCOE which will start on August 9. After living in the Philippines for 5 months, we have come to call Iloilo our home. And so though we are leaving our home (in America), yet we are going home to our mission field in the Philippines!

We are looking forward sharing with you more stories and experiences of God’s working through PAFCOE!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

"OJT" - What's that?

Here's an update that Dad recently wrote:

OJT – What’s that?  When I first heard the term “OJT,” it took a moment for my western mind to translate its meaning.  “On-the-Job-Training” (OJT) is so common in South-east Asia, that virtually everyone understands and uses the expression “OJT.”  For PAFCOE students, “OJT” means an evangelistic series that they are assigned to conduct on their own, as part of their training experience.  Some students opted to do an evangelistic series for children; others put one on for adults. 

When the PAFCOE students returned to our training center at the Riverview Adventist church, after four weeks of evangelistic meetings, they were all fired with evangelistic zeal because of what God had done through their efforts.  For all of them, this was the first time that they had ever conducted a month-long evangelistic series.  It turned out to be a “life-changing” experience, not only for the coverts baptized, but for each of the students conducting the meetings.

Our oldest student, Jovita,  a 66-year-old church member from Baracay Island, reported that many at her site doubted that she could do the series.  “This senior citizen will never make it through four weeks of meetings,” they said to one other, as they listened to her wavering voice.  But amazingly her voice held out, and she reported that her voice was stronger when she finished the series than when she began, and a dozen new souls were added to the little church where her “OJT” took place!

Many miracles happened during the student’s OJT training.  Perhaps the most amazing was of the two projectors that stayed dry during a flood!  One of our student teams reported that while out visiting, preparing people for baptism, there was heavy rain in their area.  They knew that whenever there was heavy rain, the house that they were staying in, flooded.  Then they remembered that the two borrowed projectors they were using for the children’s and adult meetings were both sitting on the floor in different parts of the house.  Earnestly they prayed that God would work a miracle, and save the projectors from getting wet.  Upon returning to the house after their visits, they found the water was ankle deep in some places, but when they picked up the projectors, they found them completely dry, and the flour under them also completely dry!  After recovering the projectors, they proceeded to mop up 50 buckets of water from the rest of the floor!  God still works miracles today.

At the end of PAFCOE “OJT,” two-hundred-and-sixty-three people were baptized, with approximately another 100 preparing for baptism in the future.  At one of the OJT sites, the student evangelistic lectures were broadcast on the local radio.  Because of prejudice in that area against the “Sabbatistas” (Seventh-day Adventists), many were too fearful to attend the live event, but in the privacy of their home, they tuned into the Prophecy Lectures on the radio to learn the truth.  Now some of these are calling the local church and requesting baptism!  One of our PAFCOE graduates has been assigned to follow up on the interests.

Here is a video that HCBN made up for the first batch of PAFCOE.

Perhaps the most “Amazing Fact” about the PAFCOE “OJT” was the cost.  Each of the PAFCOE student teams was given 25,000 Filipino pesos (about $600) or less, for their one-month evangelistic meetings!  Of course, the local churches were responsible for covering the costs of food, housing, and transportation for our PAFCOE evangelists.  But imagine doing a one-month evangelistic meeting for $600!  And what is even more amazing is that when we first started classes at PAFCOE, we had NO MONEY for OJT!  God sent the money at “just the right time” so that our students could conduct their “on-the-job-training” (OJT).  Praise God!

For those of you that have helped to support the evangelistic work and training of PAFCOE with your prayers and funds, thank you so much!  As we say in Asia, “Thank you kindly!”

Your friends,

Pastor Lowell, family, and team,

PAFCOE (Philippine Amazing Facts Center of Evangelism)

PS.  For approximately $1,500, you can sponsor a student AND an evangelistic series (their OJT), at PAFCOE.  If you would like to help out, email my Dad at: lowell@amazingfacts.org.

Come to PAFCOE!

The first session (batch) of PAFCOE ended on June 5 with 23 graduates who were sent out into the Lord's vineyard!

Our family flew back to the US for a few weeks before returning to the Philippines next month.

Now we are taking applicants for the second session starting August 9, 2012 - it will go until December 11, 2012.

God is calling you to be a witness for Him wherever you go! A great way to be trained to be an effective witness is to come to PAFCOE and learn for yourself!

Our course is not limited to students just from the Philippines; it is open to anyone from around the world, from Africa to Nepal from Thailand to Indonesia or South Korea or anywhere else!  As long as you can speak English!

Below is what the President of the Southern-Asia Pacific Division said regarding the second session of PAFCOE.

We welcome you to come and participate in learning how to be a worker for the Lord wherever you go!

For more information, go to http://www.pafcoe.org/wp/ There you can find all the details for how to enroll and other things.

God bless! Keep working for the Lord!  :-)

PAFCOE Graduation!

June 5, 2012 was a day, long to be remembered in the history of PAFCOE and its students and staff.

The day when our students received their hard-earned diplomas and were dedicated to God’s service. 
The day when first session (batch) of PAFCOE ended.  It was such a special service!

Michael and the men who graduated

The ladies who graduated and I.

The preceding two days before graduation, all the students shared their reports from their OJT (On the Job Training) and told us how it went. All of them had many challenges and trials, but many rich experiences, too!

And yet above all the problems and trials that took places in the various places, the students persevered and came back rejoicing that God had used them in winning souls for Him!  Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not be weary in well-doing, but in due season, we shall reap if we faint not.”  And this is what they did! God did so many miracles for all of them – so many that it would probably take a book to recount them all!

Since their seminars were during the rainy season, pouring rain throughout the day was a common occurrence. In one place, the student and his wife were out of the house at the church, helping to prepare people for the baptism that Sabbath. While they were there, the rain started. Sometimes when it rained, the house they were staying in got flooded. Suddenly they remembered that their 2 borrowed projectors were sitting on the floor in their house. The student’s wife was worried that they would be ruined if the house had water in it. So she started home right away and prayed all the way there, “Lord, please save the projectors and help them not be ruined. Do a miracle for us!”

When she arrived at the house, sure enough, it was flooded with water up to a person’s ankles. Everywhere it was wet. But when she came to the places where the 2 projectors were, she saw that the areas around the projectors were totally dry and when she picked up the projector bag, it was not even damp! God had done a miracle and kept the projectors dry in answer to their earnest prayers!

But of course, the highlight of the whole month of OJT was the last Sabbath when people gave their lives to Jesus and were baptized. Over the whole country of the Philippines, 260 people were baptized on June 2 and joined God’s true church! Seeing people that they worked and prayed for made everything they had experienced so worthwhile!

We asked the students if they would like to do another evangelistic meeting and each one of them said, “Definitely, yes!” Many of them are going into full-time ministry work in some area of the Philippines, praise God!

The first batch of PAFCOE ended in the evening of June 5, with the students’ graduation. Twenty-three students graduated and were sent forth into God’s vineyard to work for Him! Numbers 23:23 sums it all up when it says, “What hath God wrought!”

If you’d like to see more pictures of graduation, click here.

Praise God that every student’s tuition is paid off and now we are looking forward to the next session – starting August 9. Thank you for your prayers and support!