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San Isidro is one of the sites in Iloilo where hundreds of families have been relocated. Most of the families were moved there after Typhoon Frank flooded areas of Iloilo in 2008. Since that time, Go To Nations  missionaries have been working in San Isidro to help the families in the community. I have been blessed to join Natalie Mattes every Thursday in the community. We spend much of our time walking around the community meeting people, praying for families and tutoring some of the children.    This past Sunday I was able to join the CHE visitor graduation ceremony and Christmas party. CHE stands for Community Health Evangelism- it is a program designed to educate the community on healthy living and growing spiritually. The great thing about the program is that it is organized and run by the people in the community.    Ma'am Rose is a CHE trainer and pastor of a weekly Bible Study in San Isidro.  She has been faithfully serving in San Isidro since the work started there. ...

In about two months, the next Timothy Internship Program (TIP)-Iloilo, Philippines will begin. This is one of the most rewarding and challenging aspects of our missionary life. To refresh your memory, TIP is a ten week internship where we train future full time missionaries. We have directed four internships here in Iloilo so far. Of the interns who have participated in these four internships, many are now full time missionaries with Go To Nations, currently serving on the foreign mission field. Natalie Mattes serves with us here in Iloilo. She has a heart to reach the people of the San Isidro Relocation Village. She labors there weekly, doing community development, a livelihood project, and she is also helping plant a local church in that village. Christine joins Natalie each Thursday to minister at the village. Natalie oversees a tutoring program for the street kids of the Sonshine Center and she helps lead worship at her local church. She is also a graduate stud...

Some pictures from a recent family vacation, first Bangkok, Thailand: and beautiful Boracay Island, Philippines:

I know many of you hold our family tight in prayer. For that we are so thankful. As you pray, could you make this declaration over us, our family, and our ministry? "Thank you Lord for the missionaries and their families. We ask that You would: Encourage them by Your Word and promises. Give them understanding, wisdom, insight and FRESH revelation. Help them to be strong in supernatural strength and ability. May signs and wonders follow them wherever they go. We pray for open doors of ministry, necessary visa’s, permits and extraordinary language aptitude. Give divine favor and connections. Open doors that no man can shut and make the impossible, possible. Comfort them in times of loneliness. Give them friends and relationships with like hearted people. Lift them above every obstacle that appears before them. Give them dreams in the night seasons from Your heart. We cut off every assignment from the enemy and we speak breakthrough in every area that is cau...

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Edmund Burke

Some of you may know that when Chris and I were first married, we were teachers. We both worked in the public schools and in the private schools teaching third grade and preschool (Chris), and teaching middle school and computers (yours truly). This week we continued our teaching careers. Chris taught the parents of our Sonshine Center kids at their breakaway service. She spoke on the power their words have on their children. I taught the FUEL.PH crew on hermeneutics.  Going back to our roots: If you haven't yet been to FUEL , you really need to check out this place. Believe it or not, theological topics like hermeneutics are actually quite fascinating. She don't need no translator--Chris taught most of her lesson in Ilonggo. There is no time like the present.  Chris had the parents write positive and encouraging words for each of their kids so they could begin putting this lesson into practice right away.

I hope you, dear reader, have been fortunate enough to know our second born son, Daniel Patrick Anasco. If you have been so lucky, then you know an amazing boy, full of life, full of joy. As you may remember, Daniel was born here in Iloilo. He is what they call an "FBI," a Full Blooded Ilonggo. His birth day story is an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness. It is hard to believe that was six years ago today. A few minutes old. I look like my Dad, the late Dr. Anasco. Age one. Age two. Age three. Age four, his first day of preschool. Age five, facing the Dark Side. A few days before his sixth birthday.

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about a little girl that I had met named Angel. At the end of that post I wrote that I will some day see her laughing and dancing. For Angel the day for dancing and laughing has come. Sadly the day for me to see her dancing and smiling will not come for a while. On July 12, Angel went to be with the Lord. It was a hard day, but a meaningful one because I was able to spend the entire day with Angel's older sister and brother, Geraldine and Gerald. A few other missionaries and I were able to be with them, sit with them, cry with them on this difficult day. We have built a relationship with this family that I believe is eternal and it is worth all the tears. Truly- "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted."

I have been spending my Saturday afternoons at Calajunan, the city dump site. Along with fellow Go To Nations missionary, Yolanda Ortega , we visit the families who live there, praying with them, inviting them to the kids club at Hope Center church, and just building relationship with them.  Here is a video Yolanda made of one of our Saturday visitations:

Last month I met a little girl named Angel.   She is three years old. She has an older sister and an older brother who adore her.  I visit her twice a week to read books to her, sing songs with her, and pray for her healing. I have never seen her dance or laugh. I have never seen her smile or cry. I have never seen her awake. When I met her, she was already in a coma from which the doctors say there is no hope of recovery.  But . . . God. I serve a God of the impossible and I believe He can heal her. I had a dream recently where Angel was dancing and singing. In my dream, I wept and when I woke up, I continued weeping. I so long to see her awake- smiling, laughing, dancing. I know some day I will.   Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Matthew 5:4

but we firmly believe that our kids are not "future" missionaries, they are missionaries NOW. This was reinforced this summer camp season (April to June). Eric, Faith, and Daniel worked all summer helping Camp Sonshine Philippines minister to over 1,000 kids.  While this was not their first summer doing ministry at Camp Sonshine, this was the summer of their greatest growth in ministry. Eric grew in the area of spiritual maturity, giving morning devotions for the first time and also becoming more involved in prayer ministry. Faith and Danny grew in taking ownership of their responsibilities. They were not campers, they were there to work.  There is something truly profound about watching your children do ministry. Since we are in the Philippines, we don’t have the opportunity to watch Eric play flag football, or watch Danny play on a t-ball team. We love sports, and we miss that very much. While athletic accomplishments can make you famous and get your name in the...

We are knee deep in Summer Camps.  Recently we did Camp Sonshine at Calajunan, the city trash dump site where some of the poorest kids in Iloilo live. These kids were charged fifteen pisos to go to Camp Sonshine. What do we think we are doing charging these kids to come to camp! How can we do this to some of the poorest of the poor? Camp Sonshine works with Hope Center, a local church plant in Calajunan started by Pastora Pilar and Go To Nations missionaries Nate and Abegail Shuck . Most of the kids who came to camp already come to the weekly ministry at Hope Center. The leadership of the church wanted to teach their kids that they are valued, and that nice things also have value. Usually you don't value things that are free. The ministers at Hope Center did not want to give a handout, they wanted to teach their kids about stewardship and value. So they charged the kids to come to camp. They challenged them to do odd jobs, find money on the ground, and save their pisos and ...

After ten amazing weeks, we have successfully completed our fourth Timothy Internship Program here in Iloilo. We were able to train fifteen new missionaries.