Another session of PAFCOE has begun!

And so, it has begun!

Another session of PAFCOE has begun!

And our hearts are full of gratitude and praise to God for bringing us another great group of students to work with!

The days and weeks that preceded PAFCOE’s starting date of August 8, 2013 were filled with preparing many things. The jobs the staff were involved with ranged from cleaning the kitchen, to making bunk beds for the men’s dormitory, to fixing up a room for a new classroom, to printing textbooks and syllabi, to taking care of the student’s applications and so much more; each of them had their assigned tasks to ensure everything would be in readiness for the coming of the future students. Everyone pitched in and worked hard and praise God, it was mostly done when the students started coming!

As the students began arriving, our staff were busy picking them up from the airport, boat dock and bus station at all hours of the day and night, finding places for them to stay and getting them settled. Most of our 36 students came from different places around the Philippines, but one student came from Botswana (Africa) and one came from the US. We are so thankful for each one God has sent us!

As we interacted with them, learned their names and found out more about them, we began to realize that most of them shared a common problem.

Most of them came by faith.

This means they have little to no money and are simply trusting God to provide their tuition and other expenses here at PAFCOE. All of them have a desire to work for God and are praying that He will provide all their needs. And He will! Let me share with you a story of one of graduates from the very first session of PAFCOE. This is his story in his own words:

“I’m Jeremiah, an ordinary boy, a sinner saved by God’s grace.

I was raised in the Philippines by parents with very different religious views and grew up in a very different way from what God intended. But when I reached my 15^th birthday, I was baptized and committed myself to the Lord. As I was growing in Christ and learning new things from His Word, God touched my heart to follow His footsteps and reach out to others. I saw how His love for me and everyone else is so great!

As I studied the Bible and the book The Desire of Ages, God showed me what He wanted me to be – a worker for Him. I really struggled with this, because I feared being rejected and despised by others it I shared Jesus with them. I became even more troubled when I started to see that I didn’t know even how to start in reaching my neighbors for the Lord. Many times in my prayers, I cried, pleading with the Lord to teach me and use me.

Then one day, an answer came!

A friend told me about PAFCOE. I immediately thought this would be a great opportunity for me to be trained, but I hesitated due to the $600 (25,000 pesos) tuition fee.  So I started asking God, ‘If this be Your will for me to go, I know you will provide.’

My friend urged me to send in an application, which I did and was soon accepted. But day after day went by and I still had no money for the training. I began to think that maybe God had a better plan for me and just kept praying.

A month before PAFCOE started, I still had no money.  PAFCOE’s program coordinator called me and said this, ‘Remember, if it’s God’s will, He will provide – so just take the step and believe by faith!’

His words touched me so much that I was encouraged to take the step and go to PAFCOE and trust God for where the money would come from. Then I began praying that God would provide the money I needed to get from my home to the training (about an hour’s plane ride away). I told Him, ‘If it’s Your will, then please provide me the money to travel there.’ In just a few days, some friends helped me with that very need and I knew God wanted me at PAFCOE!

But money wasn’t my only problem… I needed the Lord to work in my parents’ hearts to allow me to be gone from home for 4 months. As I shared with my Mom about my future plans, amazingly, she gave me permission to go! A few days later, I talked with my father and he also gave his permission and this encouraged me even more to go forward, knowing this was God’s will for me.

So I prepared to go to PAFCOE. One week before classes were to start, I still didn’t have the money for the tuition. I continued praying for God to provide for me. However, classes started and for the whole 3 months of the training, there seemed to be no answer to my prayer. I had no close friends to ask for help, nor a rich relative to provide my needs, but I kept believing God would do something for me!

When the time came for us to go out and do our own seminars, I wondered what God had in store for me. I kept praying and claimed the promises that He is able to provide and do miracles – even today. I felt peace in my heart.

Just before we left the class for our own seminars, Mrs. Hargreaves told me one night that someone from the US had stepped in to sponsor all my expenses. I was so overjoyed! God really does do miracles today! I was so thankful to Him!

Today, after graduating from PAFCOE, God has placed me in a position of great trust. I am currently the president of a campus ministry, where I am seeking to reach students and young people like me with the skills I have learned during my training. PAFCOE has helped me to reach more souls, but it has also transformed my perspective for my whole life.

Even though I was the youngest of our class (only 17), in God’s eyes, I was never the least. He always cared for me as if was the most important!”

My friends, most of our graduates have had stories like this of coming by faith and God providing their needs. Now we have another group of dedicated students who want to be trained to be effective soul-winners for Him. If you would like to help out in sponsoring a student or helping to be part of someone’s miracle, just let us know by emailing my Dad’s email: lowell@amazingfacts.org

Next week, I will be updating you on what else is happening here!

God bless! :)

Another exciting update!

Pastor Joel, a graduate and Pastor Mangiliman - the Conference President

June 3, 2013

Dear Family and friends:

PAFCOE batch three, as the Filipinos refer to this last graduating class, ended Tuesday night, May 28.  Thirty-seven participants, aged nineteen to seventy-six, marched down the isle of the Manila Center Church to receive their certificate and smile at the camera.  Participants had more than graduation to smile about.  Click here for more pictures. All had recently returned from OJT, which is part of their evangelism training.  On-the-job-training (OJT) had just ended with nearly 500 baptisms in thirty different sites in the Philippine Islands! 

Batch three has been a memorable class in many ways.  This was our first session of PAFCOE in Manila, as the result of the invitation of Pastor Joel Sarmiento and the staff at Manila Center Adventist Church.  And what a supportive church staff they have been!  Years ago, Manila Center was built and pastored by Royce Williams, as a Center of evangelism for Manila and Quezon City.  Now, the current leadership is working hard to make Manila Center again a “Center” of evangelism for Metro Manila.  PAFCOE is helping them to realize that goal!

The graduating class with Pastor Mangiliman and Pastor Joel in the front.

Also during this session, Pastor Doug Batchelor fulfilled a promise made more than ten years ago, to “return” to Manila to finish an evangelistic series which was tragically cut short by the death of his eldest son.  This year, PAFCOE students and staff alike were thrilled to have Pastor Doug and his wife Karen and son Nathan, with us in Manila for more than a week at the end of March! (See older posts for more info on this.)

It was during one of Pastor Doug’s open-air meetings in the evening, that we experienced another “memory”—an unexpected rain-shower.  For more than an hour it poured, finally forcing the cancellation of the evening program.  What a “memory” it was for about a hundred of us, huddled together under the canopy of the stage roof, trying to stay dry while listening to the local choir sing amidst the roar of the storm.

Then there was the memorable final weekend of Pastor Doug’s series, when nearly eight-thousand Adventists and their friends, gathered in a large sports complex for Sabbath worship and a mass-baptism.  This time many used their umbrellas again to avoid the falling sunbeams! 

After Pastor Doug left, we began in earnest the preparation for OJT—more than thirty sites of evangelism, where our students would preach a one-month series of prophecy lectures.  The day the students left for their sites, our family flew from Manila to Bacolod City, to conduct our own OJT. 

Working together with Elder Carpena, the Division Health Director, and the local Adventist Hospital (Bacolod Adventist Medical Center), we conducted a 4-week series of meetings combining a nightly health expo and health lecture, followed by a prophecy presentation.  The average attendance was around 500, with many church members bringing their friends.  The retired local conference president brought a neighbor each night, and at the conclusion of the series, saw his neighbor baptized!

But perhaps the best memories were the ones from the Children’s Evangelistic meetings, conducted at most of the OJT sites.  For example, at the Chinese Adventist Church in Manila, attendance at the adult meets was rather disheartening, but the number of children attending the Children’s Program, grew to around 200!  The lady leading out with the Children’s Program, is a local attorney, a member at Manila Center.  She had helped out in our evangelistic meeting with Pastor Doug, and had brought her son to the nightly children’s program conducted by Sandra and the PAFCOE student assistants during the Revelations of Prophecy series.  When she heard that the Chinese Church had no one to conduct the children’s evangelistic meetings, she volunteered. 

Using her law-office staff as assistants, Attorney Gizelle (pronounced G-zil) prepared the nightly crafts, and taught the nearly 200 enthusiastic street-children that attended.  Near the end of the meetings, sixty of the children decided to get baptized!  The rather inactive Chinese Church hardly knew what to do.  “Who is going to follow-up on all these children” they asked attorney Gizelle? 

Of the sixty children, twenty were able to get permission from their parents to get baptized and join the Adventist Church.  Many are having a profound influence upon their parents, as they strive to live the faith they have accepted.  Attorney Gizelle and her office staff are holding weekly follow-up meetings for the children, to nurture the interests.

Among the personal memories from this past session, is a note from one of our graduates, a lay-pastor who is now returning to raise up a new church in his assigned district.  He writes,

“The very thing that I wanted to learn before coming to PAFCOE was how to improve my personal evangelism skills.  Finally, here at PAFCOE, I learned more than what I had expected—the techniques, factors, and how to witness. Another thing that I wanted to improve was my public evangelism.  Here at PAFCOE, I learned things that I never learned in college—how to preach with PowerPoint, how to use my diaphragm in speaking, practical ways to write sermons.  But PAFCOE has changed me, my diet, dress, time management, music, the ways that I approach evangelism, and most importantly, my personal devotions and personal relationship with Christ. PAFCOE showed me the right way, the right principles for a Christian in doing evangelism.” 

Of the thirty-seven students that came through the PAFCOE training this “batch,” only one paid their own way!  The rest were sponsored.  On behalf of the graduates who are now “going forth” to work for the Master Soul-winner, and also on behalf of the PAFCOE staff, we extend to each of you our “thanks” for your faithful prayers and support!

Your friends,

Pastor Lowell & family & the PAFCOE staff
www.pafcoe.org

Joan's story

It might seem to be a bit late to be giving you a story from the 2nd batch/session of PAFCOE, but a good story is never "too late!"

Joan Buncad

The following OJT Report is from Joan Buncad, a graduate from the last session of PAFCOE, who together with a previous PAFCOE graduate, Joefer Soliman, conducted a one-month evangelistic series in a town in northern Mindanao, the big island in the south. She conducted the evangelistic meetings for the children, while Joefer conducted one for the adults. Joan begins by telling of their travels from Iloilo City to their site.

Travel
We arrived at the airport more than one hour before our flight. First, we went to the cargo office to ship our heavy stuff by air-freight, but cargo processing took so long that we finally left Joefer to finish the process and payments, while Jasper and I rushed to check in our checked baggage [Jasper was another PAFCOE student also traveling to Mindanao for an OJT meeting at a different site]. It was now just 15 minutes before the flight! However, we couldn’t check-in because Joefer was not yet done with processing our cargo.

Ten minutes before our flight, the counter staff checked us in without the ID and without Joefer! Our excess baggage fee is supposed to be 2,000+ pesos, but we only paid 750 pesos because the agent was in such a hurry to get us checked in and allowed us to hand carry some of our luggage.

After paying our terminal fee, Joefer came running. Over the airport intercom, we heard the announcement, “Calling Mss. Joan Buncad and company... Calling Mss. Joan Buncad and company—please proceed to gate 2......” Three times we heard the announcement. We raced to our gate, and boarded the plane just before they closed the doors. We were the last ones to board! Praise the Lord for all His providences and goodness! He allowed the delay and long process in cargo for us to be able to pay less in our baggage!

After spending the night in Cagayan de Oro [the airport in northern Mindanao], we left the next morning at 6 am by bus, heading to our site. When we arrived at the town where our OJT meeting was to be held, I was expecting someone to be waiting for us at the bus terminal to pick us up. What a disappointment! We waited for 30 min in the bus/van terminal. Finally, an elder driving a motorcycle pulled up. Without any smile or expression of friendliness, he asked us if were the ones the district Pastor had agreed to conduct the evangelistic meeting. When he saw our luggage, without a word he sped away!

Again we waited, all the while trying to reach the local pastor by phone or text. After about 10 minutes, the same unfriendly elder returned, this time with a truck. He took us to the church which we discovered was very close to the bus terminal! If only we had known how close we were, we would not have needed to wait for nearly an hour at the terminal. It reminded me of the text, “Knowing this that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” James 1:3.

Meeting the church board, members and missionaries
The first Sabbath when we talked with the church board, there was a bit of resistance and prejudice. But when they saw the quality of the presentation, they became more supportive and respective. We
began Sunday evening with a four-night revival series for the church, ending with a communion service during the midweek prayer meeting. Then we started the Revelations of Prophecy seminar on Friday evening, Nov 9.

When I opened the box of children’s crafts that had been shipped, I wondered how I could finish all the work of cutting and organizing. But praise God, He sent some of trained missionaries to help out in the meetings! We really enjoyed working with them.

Food
With regards to our food, it was overwhelming! The church gave us 800-1,200 pesos weekly for food, but we could only buy 250-300 pesos worth of vegetables in a week! Besides that, the church members brought us fruits, vegetables, rice cakes, bread, and other foods from their work and businesses. Still others gave us money. We praise God for all the providences and the cooperation of church members in the work of evangelism!

Accommodation
The local church had planned for us to stay in the house at the back of the church. I was so disappointed because there is only one bed in the house, and a missionary couple was already using it! I had expected that since this is a big church, they would provide us a house to stay in. Again, my patience was tested!

The first night, one of the church members invited us to sleep at their house. They took pity on us since Joefer was supposed to sleep in the church which is open on both sides, and at night and it’s actually cold! He could have also stayed at the church school, but we had no sleeping gear. Anyway, God provided us a comfortable place. We loved it there. Not too big and very simple! Brother Edgar and his wife Lorie have been happily married for 10 years, but they don’t have any children. They were so hospitable and kind, and also responsible church members, happily serving God in the church. They became our loyal helpers during the seminar, for the whole four weeks. They even cooked for us, we sometimes we took turns cooking for them!

Nightly Meeting
Every night during the meeting, we had a consistent team, helping with the equipment, registration, and row hosting. Of course there were some nights that we started late because the participants were not informed or forgot their parts. For example, the first night—for me, I think it was the worst.

In our pre-meeting practice before opening night, we explained everything and all agreed that they clearly understood what to do. However, opening night, all our helpers came late! We didn’t know who to call on to set up the equipment, and worst of all, even the prayer team didn’t come on time! The second night we still started late, but there were a lot of improvements.

My favorite night was the fifth night. The topic was about the Second Coming. After praying as a team in the children’s program, I was about to say, “Good evening children” when the lights suddenly went off! I praised the Lord that night, that I had 2 netbooks with me. One was borrowed from a friend in Iloilo and the other is the one that I used nightly in the meeting which was owned by one of missionaries. I used one netbook as a monitor for the children and the other I used for my notes. It really went well. The children even finished their crafts in the light from the netbooks. It was amazing!

Since we ended our children’s program early that night, I was able to peek in on the adult meeting. The crowd sat in absolute silence [a rare thing in the Philippines] attentively focused on what was been said. Joefer looked funny as I saw his face glowing in the light of his laptop, and wearing a headlamp to read the Bible. The most amazing thing happened after the meeting ended. We gathered for prayer as a team, and as we were praying, suddenly the lights came back on! From then on, I heard from the brethren and guests that there is an enemy who is angry and unhappy in what we are doing. The church members began to pray a lot, as they say that the meeting is really God’s work. Praise God for allowing that blackout!

Testimonies
One old lady told me one night, “Ma’am Joan, I invited a non-SDA neighbor girl last night. After the meeting, I asked her how it was. She told me that she likes you because you just keep on smiling. She said that she loves to hear the stories and wants to learn more about Jesus. Now she always wants to attend the meeting.”

When I called for the children to come back on the final Thursday for clearing visits in preparation for baptism, that same old lady doubted that the children really understood enough of our doctrines to be baptized. She was especially concerned when she learned that four of the children requesting baptism were her neighbors. This elderly woman decided to attend the clearing visits herself to see if the children were ready, and she was amazed at how much the children understood and even Scriptures they had memorized.
Our 7 year old neighbor, Hazel Heart, the daughter of the head elder is one of my five smartest students in nightly meetings, with only two absences during the entire month. Her father told me one time, “PAFCOE really has provided a wonderful training. Just imagine, my daughter is now reminding me to always choose Jesus. She’s always telling me what she is learning from the stories. It’s really amazing! The impact of this program is great for their little minds. My daughter always wants to hurry up and get ready to go to the nightly meeting!”

Another 7 year old smart girl, Davie Mae, the daughter of the district Pastor, also was a great witness of God’s power. Her mom told me, “When she saw her father watching TV and talking about Pacquiao [world-famous Filipino boxing champion], she told us, ‘Isn’t the message in the seminar enough to make you want to change?’”

Krislyn, an 11 year old girl, and her sister Meirevonne, were baptized together at the end of the meeting. They talked to me about their non-SDA father and lukewarm mother. We visited their house and their mother was so happy that her children understood the Bible doctrines and the love of Jesus. They were just sad that the father, due to his work, didn’t have an opportunity to attend the meeting. He actually wants to be with his family in going to church and wants to be baptized. But so far, no one has had an opportunity to study with him. He is happy about his daughter’s invitation to study with them and would love to share to their dad what they’ve learned when he’s at home. I’m praying that this dad will give up his work on the Sabbath and accept Jesus as his personal Saviour. His sweet, lovely daughters, by God’s grace will be a great witness to the family.

Baptism
By God’s sustaining power, everlasting arms, far reaching mercy, never ending grace, and unfathomable love, 29 souls were baptized. Eleven of them were children from the children’s evangelistic program!
There are more than 10 other children who really want to get baptized, but their parents won’t allow it. About half of the children baptized, have one non-Adventist parent.

There are a lot of souls to be followed up. There is just not enough time, and workers are lacking. Truly the harvest is great, but the laborers are few. Let’s pray for more laborers, and I am one who is willing to be sent

Joan receiving her diploma after graduating from PAFCOE.

Epilogue
Joan Buncad was indeed willing to be sent. Since graduating from PAFCOE, she has accepted a call to work for the East Timor Mission Conference as a Bible Worker, and to train local church members in witnessing. On April 22, Joan left the Philippines for Timor Leste to fulfill her call to mission service.

OJT trials...

Here is an update that my Dad wrote recently:

Dear Family & friends:                                                                                               May 9, 2013

Last night while I was preaching at our evangelistic site, my phone vibrated.  After the meeting was over and the guests gone, I checked my messages and read the following from one of our PAFCOE students, preaching at another site:

“Saturday night my AVR (automatic voltage regulator) burned and Joy’s computer was not working [Joy is the PAFCOE student conducting the children’s meetings].  Tonight I was in the city for printing, and the car overheated and would not start, so I had to return to my site by bus.  Then the electricity went off 20 minutes into the program, and it was still off when the meeting finished.  The enemy is mad for the last two topics, but God helped us all the way!”

Several of our other sites reported problems on the same night.  Michael our son, had a very large UFI (unidentified-flying-insect) come sailing into the large church where he is preaching, creating a flying distraction as it buzzed over people’s heads.  What was the topic last night?  Spiritualism!  In a very real sense here, we know that we are not “wrestling with flesh and blood...” (Eph. 6:12). 

Currently, our PAFCOE students and staff are conducting forty evangelistic meetings throughout the Philippines, with just over two weeks left of their one-month seminars.  This is OJT (on-the-job-training) time!  For the past three months, we have had 37 students at our school in Manila, and 12 at the one in Iloilo.  In Manila, we even had the privilege of having Pastor Doug Batchelor, president of Amazing Facts ministries, join us for ten days the end of March.  You can read more about that on our blog -  http://www.pafcoe.blogspot.com/

Our family is currently conducting evangelistic meetings in Bacolod City, on Negros Island which is in the central part of the Philippine archipelago.    We have two sites here in the city, and a student from Africa is at a third site about a half-hour away.  Between the three sites, we have nearly a thousand people attending!  For Michael, this is his third evangelistic meeting, and largest attendance.  On weekends, he often has over 500 attending.  This is an Adventist “center” with hospital, nearby college, etc., so we have many members coming, but still a large group of guests as well. 

We are almost half-way through the 4-week series.  May 25^th is our scheduled baptism in the various OJT sites, and then, we return to Manila for PAFCOE graduation on May 28^th.  We’re looking forward to sharing with you the exciting reports and stories that our students will be bringing back for graduation later this month.  Until then, “Salamat” (Thank you) for your prayers and support!

Your friends,

Pastor Lowell & family & the PAFCOE staff
www.pafcoe.org

25 Happy Years Together! :-)

On May 1, 2013, our parents celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary!

25 years of being happy married!

25 years of following God's leading in their lives.

25 years of being missionaries in many countries around the world.

25 years of watching God work in and through them to many others.

25 years of forming (and still forming, with God's help) a Christ-centered family.

This poem is dedicated to them and given on their anniversary:

Today, of all days, is a time to reflect
On times gone by, and those still to come yet.
You both deserve medals for a service so long,
Though it's fairly obvious that you sing the same song. 


All those years ago, you committed to each other
Became a unity together, not just a friend or lover.
And still you'll say the same today and say it to the end -
The reason you survived is that you married your best friend.

Well, congratulations to you both, on getting it so right,
On filling your life with love, laughter and delight,
On never becoming "normal" - always appreciating what you've got
Never tiring of each other, or veering from the plot.

Twenty-five years is quite a stretch, but one thinks it's fair to say
That you'll be holding hands together forever and today.
Happy Silver Anniversary; it's true you've had many before,
But you're congratulated on reaching so far and wished so many more!

Still happily married!

Thank you for being such godly, caring parents! 

May God continue to bless you with many more years together! :)

March 30, 2013

The few days (from March 20-31) that Pastor Doug and his family were with us here in the Philippines flew by much quicker than we liked. Days were filled with classes with our students in the mornings, appointments with important people, and the evening meeting every night at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

All too soon, March 30, our last Sabbath of his time here arrived. It was a bright, sunny day with only a few clouds lazily drifting by.  The day started early with our team and us arriving at the Amoranto Sports Complex at 7:15 am. There we joined the many other helpers who were busily preparing for the day's events.

We rented the Sports Complex because we were unable to find anything else available for a good price and that could accommodate the large influx of people we were expecting for that last Sabbath. It was an old stadium that would be able to seat up to 40,000 people, if necessary - though we weren't expecting that many!

I was very surprised at how early the people starting coming! Everyone was running around, doing last-minute things to make sure everything was ready for the starting time of 8:00 am. A number of different choirs were scheduled to sing and they were changing into their choir uniforms and practicing their songs.

One of the many choirs.

At last everything was ready and promptly at 8:00, the service began with several beautiful choir pieces. The main part of the Sabbath School program was the PAFCOE promotion led by Kevin, our outreach coordinator.

During this promotion, 3 of our graduates shared their testimonies of how God had blessed them in coming to PAFCOE, how He had provided all their tuition and needs and what they had been doing since their graduation. These are their pictures and a little about them:

 Maya - she was a 2nd session graduate who came to PAFCOE from the LIGHT training school and had no way to pay for her tuition. Yet she stepped out in faith and came anyways, and about halfway through the session, she found a sponsor who paid it all, praise God! When she went out for her OJT, she had some amazing experiences in seeing how God could overrule the devil's plans to stop the work of God and since her graduation last year, she had done several more evangelistic meetings and been very successful in her work for the Lord.

Joefer - he was a 1st session graduate who also came to PAFCOE without knowing where his tuition would come from. But praise God, by the time he graduated, his whole tuition bill was gone!  Though he had been a Bible worker, yet he still appreciated learning more tips and techniques for making his work for God more effective. During his OJT, he reported that while out visiting, preparing people for baptism, there was heavy rain in his area.  He knew that whenever there was heavy rain, the house that they were staying in, flooded.  He and his wife 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! Since his graduation last year, he has continued doing Bible studies and has been teaching others how to work for God.

Romelyn - she is a current student from this session and yet another of our many students who also came without her own way to pay for her tuition. Yet again, God covered everything she needed while being here. For about a year, she had been wanting to come to PAFCOE and praying about it and finally God worked everything out in His way and currently she is doing her OJT right now.

After their amazing testimonies, the children we had been working with came on stage and sang several of their favorite Scripture songs, including the whole 10 Commandments for the audience. Most of them were just street children, but all knew the songs very well and sang enthusiastically!

Then the Conference President gave a short sermon to close the Sabbath School and the church service started with a mass choir of several churches combining to sing the music. And what lovely music it was! Filipinos really know how to sing!

Before Pastor Doug's sermon, Dad had the privilege of introducing him to the audience.

Pastor Doug gave a very inspiring message about Mary Magdelene and shared how God can transform anyone into His likeness.

The stadium was very full! Though we don't know the exact number, most people estimate that around 7,000+ people were there! Several of the churches in the area closed their doors and posted signs that their service would be in the Amoranto Stadium that Sabbath.

After the service, everyone ate their lunch and gathered at the nearby swimming pool for the baptism. We praise God for the 143 precious souls who were baptized and added to the kingdom of God!

To end the Sabbath, Pastor Doug did one last sermon on heaven and inspired everyone to be ready to be taken there with Jesus very soon! After the closing remarks, many hundreds of people came to take pictures with Pastor Doug and his family and our family too.

And about 6:00 pm, everyone was gone, everything was packed up and put away and we praise God for what He did during that memorial Sabbath of March 30!

To see more pictures of Pastor Doug's time here in the Philippines, click here.