Changes

We've had a few changes around our place recently. One of our roommates, Brett, got married on the 13th so obviously he has moved out. Also his brother, Mike, who was staying with us left to go back home to Canada last Sunday. So our house of 5 shrunk down to 3 in a blink of an eye. So needless to say it is a lot quieter around our place now. I hope to get a lot more reading done now.

On the 20th I went to a missions conference the was held by the Church Of God (the other church I attend) which was really good. There were speakers from China, Canada, Lebanon, and of course the Philippines. They all shared about the ministries they are doing and it was a huge encouragement to me. One to hear about other people's ministries but also to get the passion back of why I am here. Sometimes it gets routine and just feels like any other job, so it is great to get the joy of the Lord back and be rejuvenated. The Chinese man who shared in living here in the Philippines because last year he got kicked out of China for 5 years due to preaching the Gospel. The man from Canada was actually the man who planted the Church Of God in Makati but now is the over seer of Church Of God in all of Asia. The man from Lebanon has been working with Muslims here in the city been teaching some of their kids Arabic and through that has been able to start a Bible study. He has gained the trust of the Muslim community and they go to him for many of their problems and he has also been able to send some of their children to school. Another man has been working in a small rural town and has been able to transform the poor community into a God fearing community through the power of the Gospel. It was a great conference and I was very happy to have the chance to go.

John and Toph, my 2 roommates had started a daycare a few months back and they had their graduation on Thursday which was really awesome. First you will have to understand they graduate from EVERYTHING here, they have a small graduation for every grade they pass. They also get to graduate from a 3 day vacation bible school. Their summer vacation here is April and May. So the students are between 2-7 and and they all came in their Sunday best and brought their mothers for the grand occasion. We had a award ceremony, a meal and a cake to celebrate. It was so well done and a lot of fun.

IT Tender ministry is going really well. That is the place I go to on Tuesday and Thursday's. They have just started a feeding program for the one of the squatter communities that have been involved with. So on Thursday we brought a small meal and vitamins for 60 kids (or was it 80?). I forget all I know is that it was a lot of kids. The program will run for 6 months because that is how much food was donated. They do it 3 times a week. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I am hoping to get down there more often to help. It will be difficult in the summer months because we have many DVBSs that we are running with the YM team which the first one starts April 5th.

This past Saturday we rented out a basketball court for the youth and about 25 youth come out which was great. I feel we are really starting to build relationship with them. They aren't coming to our Sunday morning service yet but we are praying that they will soon.

This week John and I are having a friend visiting us. She is teaching English in Hong Kong and decided to come visit us so we are going to go to the beach for a few days. Hopefully it can be relaxing.

I think that is all. Thanks again for everything. Take Care and God Bless. Psalms 51: 10-12

Jared Peter