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Recently I was blessed to travel with Go To Nations president Jerry Williamson (pictured below) and his team of pastors and ministers. He took them on a trip to Davao, Philippines for a pastors conference for church leaders who minister to the tribal people groups in Southern Philippines. Some readers may recall I have served this effort  before . On this trip we met Pastor Manuel (pictured below with his hands raised). He has an interesting history; he is a former cannibal. Now he leads a very different life as the pastor of his church among his tribe, and also as a missionary to other tribes in Southern Philippines. The tribes that were once his enemies, they are now his mission field. It is hard for me to fathom what his faith costs him. It is hard for me to fathom what sacrifices and dangers he must face as he ministers to warring tribes. Join me in prayer for Pastor Manuel, and join me by being inspired by his example.

We are moving! We informed many of you when we visited the States this summer. In case our paths did not cross, we are announcing that we are moving to Thailand. Our target date is June 2014. We will be moving directly from the Philippines to Thailand. Our last few months here will be full, working with our missionary team, directing another Timothy Internship Program, and also one last Summer at Camp Sonshine Philippines. We are very excited about this next nation. In Thailand we will continue to work with the Go To Nations teams throughout the Asia-Pacific region. We will also be involved in teaching in Bible schools, and we will also help rescue individuals enslaved in human trafficking. We are confident Christ has called us to Thailand. This is the next nation for us to make history. Please keep our family in prayer.

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...

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

In the Fall of 2003, about six months before we left for the mission field, I was driving with my then four year old son, Eric. Our family had already made the decision to make the leap to full time missions, departure date was June of 2004. He was asking me about this next big thing in our family's life. He asked about his friends. Eric has been blessed with several lifelong friends--they are all still really close. He asked, "So when will they (his friends) be moving to the Philippines?" Of course I told him that we were the only ones moving, that his friends and their families will remain in the Untied States. This was a cold dose of reality for him, realizing that his life-long, best friends would not be with him in the Philippines. With that realization, he began to cry . . . and cry . . . and cry. He did not want to leave his best friends. Here we are again, getting ready to return to the Philippines, and the goodbyes are starting. Tonight Faithy started to get sad,...

We are blessed to announce the birth of our daughter, Gabriella Jean Anasco. She was born at 6:20p on Tuesday May 4, 2010. The delivery was challenging, and the challenges continue. Gabriella is currently in NICU and will likely remain for the next several days. There is an issue with her red blood cells the requires more care. We are trying to visit her as often as we can, usually three times a day. Fortunately they let siblings into the NICU so we can all visit her together as a family. Please pray for Gabriella for her full recovery and continued development. I will post more pictures soon.

Chris and the kids left for the States in January, while I remained in the Philippines. I am here to complete my responsibilities with our current Timothy Internship Program. Chris and the kids went Stateside early so she could receive the necessary care for our pregnancy. A few weeks ago we got what we thought was good news about our pregnancy, and now we have found out that this was not accurate. The pregnancy is now considered very high risk. The details are complicated, our prayer is simple: healthy baby. Please keep our daughter in your prayers. Pray Isaiah 54:17 over her life, that no weapon formed against (her) shall prosper. Thank you for your prayers.

We visited the city dump site area in Iloilo, Calajunan. It is one of the most awful places in the world. While I have visited here many times, it still overwhelms me when I visit. At the same time those families and children need to experience the love of Christ, so we have been trying to regularly minister at the dump site. Hopefully soon, working through Calvary missionaries Nate and Abegail Shuck, Camp Sonshine can establish a more permanent ministry presence in the city dump site. Keep that in your prayers.

Today Chris went to Manila for a pregnancy checkup. You may remember from our original announcement that this pregnancy is high risk, so we have been receiving care at a more advanced hospital in Manila, and eventually this child will be born in the States. Someone has been praying (was it YOU?), we have received some amazing news. Chris had some tests run today and in spite of the potential risks with this pregnancy, our fourth child continues to develop normally. This is miraculous and amazing news. Truly this is a miracle and is a result of people like yourself who have been praying. Your prayers are powerful and effective, don't stop. On a related note, today we found out that we are having a girl. Here are some pictures of our beautiful baby girl:

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANKSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:" NOW THEREFORE, I do recommend and assign THURSDAY, the TWENTY-SIXTH DAY of NOVEMBER next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous t...

Five Anascos plus one more equals SIX! We are going to have another baby, due date is mid May, 2010. This is such a huge blessing. We are so very happy. We are very excited. For several complicated reasons, this will be a high risk pregnancy.  So we are asking all of you prayer warriors to get on your knees and pray for the baby and for Chris. While our third child, Danny, was born here in Iloilo, we may have to have this child in the U.S. While there are concerns, we know that God is much bigger than all of this. He gave us this child for a reason. He has a purpose and a plan for this new life. He is more than able to see us through whatever challenges we have ahead. So we rejoice in this new life. We rejoice in another Kingdom builder, history maker, world changer. We are so blessed that God would consider us worthy to raise a fourth child. Join us in rejoicing over this incredible news, and also join us in prayer for complete health for mother and child.

On Sunday we attend a house church affiliated with Full Gospel Center Church. The interns ministered in music, children's ministry, testimonies, and one intern, Natalie, preached. This is an amazing church. The church was small, hot, and full of passionate believers. The boy in the picture above (second row, wearing a blue t-shirt) is named John-John. He is ten years old and is autistic. One day John-John wandered from home and went to the nearby beach. Tragically he ended up in the water and drowned. Two hours later the house church pastor, Pastor Jules, found John-John face down in the water. He grabbed the boy from the sea, took his hands and declared "In Jesus name, he can't go yet Lord." In the taxi on the way to the hospital he kept praying over the child. When they arrived at a local hospital John-John was declared dead. They left his lifeless body for the family to claim. Meanwhile the small house church was praying and praying. Suddenly the doctors in the hos...

We arrived safely in Iloilo Saturday evening. We went to Victory for church on Sunday and then went to SM for lunch and shopping. Today, Monday, we got our cable TV and Internet turned back on, and also connected our Vonage VOIP phone. We also had our first power outage, lasting about an hour. Life is starting to go back to normal. We are all hit pretty hard with major jet lag. It has never been this tough before. I thought that stopping over in Hawaii would take care of that, but alas we are still feeling the effects of traveling to the other side of the world. Please pray for our family as we adjust. Also pray for health. We are all starting to feel a little sick in various ways, so please do pray. Thankfully we made it home in one piece, with no lost luggage. It is good to be home.

I also spoke with Calvary missionary, Nate Shuck, on the phone today. He said that the city is a disaster area. He did share this good news, the communities of La Puz Sur and Delgado are doing OK. These are the communities where most of the Sonshine Center kids live. Their homes were flooded but the waters have started to recede. While these kids live in squatter villages and their homes are just cardboard and tin shacks, most of their homes were are still standing, praise the Lord. URGENT PRAYER NEEDED: Many of you know Pastor Chris Patricio and his family, Nate told me the sad news that they have lost nearly everything because of this disaster. Their home was severely flooded and most of their possessions were destroyed. Please keep them in your prayers. Pastor Chris and his wife, Des, have two children, their youngest is just weeks old. They urgently need our prayers as they try to rebuild their lives after this tragedy. The video previously embedded here has been removed, you can s...

Received another email from Nate, Calvary missionary in Iloilo. He said the waters in the city are starting to recede but now areas affected by the flood are covered in mud. Also food is scarce. The families we work with say they do not have any food at all. Supplies at the stores and markets are very low and price gouging has begun. There is some government food relief available so right now the staff is looking at how our street children and their families might qualify for some of that relief. Keep praying.

I got an email and a text message from Calvary missionary Nate Shuck. He said that power is returning to parts of the city. His house now has power and Internet service. A large majority of the city is now under a foot of mud. The Sonshine Center was not damaged by the typhoon. Also the building itself was not flooded. As far as the Sonshine Center staff, several of their homes were flooded, one house even up to the second floor, however all staff are safe and well. They are now in the process of accounting for the street kids of the Center. Most of the kid's homes were damaged by flooding but so far there have been no reports of any of our kids being injured by the typhoon. On a personal note, Nate told me that our house was not damaged by the typhoon or flooding. As information continues to trickle in, I will keep updating this blog with that news. Keep praying! Photos of the typhoon/flood damage can be found here .

This morning at 4:53AM I got the following text message from fellow Calvary missionary Nate Shuck: "Abegail n i r gud wer standed n boracay wen strm hit signal #3. Aklan no pwr, watr or cel signal. Road impassbl 2 iloilo 2day(day 3 aftr storm) wil try 2 get 2 iloilo 2mrw. Frm wat we heard staf n centr n ok shape bt iloilo direct hit n worst n region. Jst got signal wil b abl 2 updat mor once n iloilo. Al ok na. Thnx 4 prayrs!" Just in case you don't read text, here is the translation: "Abegail and I are good, we were stranded in Boracay when the storm hit, it was a signal 3. Aklan (Abegail's family home) had no power, water, or cell phone signal. Road was impassable to Iloilo today (3 days after the storm). We will try to get to Iloilo tomorrow. From what we heard the staff and the Sonshine Center are in OK shape but Iloilo had a direct hit, the worst in the region. We just got a (cell phone) signal, will be able to update more once in Iloilo. All OK for now. T...

Our home, Iloilo City, has been hit by a devastating typhoon. Most of the area is under water and the entire province of Iloilo is dark due to a massive power outage. The Filipino national power company predicts that it may take weeks for them to restore electricity to the province. Please pray for the people of our adopted home, Iloilo. Especially pray for the street children of the Sonshine Center. Most of our kids live in squatter villages and their homes are nothing more than shacks made of cardboard and sheets of metal. I fear that many of their homes have been swept away by the floods. Iloilo newspapers like The News Today provide more details. On a personal note, we have not yet had any contact with our friends and missionaries in the area. We have no idea of the condition of our home, if it is completely flooded. We return in about three weeks. All we can do is pray and hope for the best. Please join us in praying for the people of Iloilo, especially praying for the poorest of...

Tomorrow morning I leave for Cambodia and "Nevada." Please keep me and my family in your prayers. I return to home on the 27th of this month. I will be teaching in a Bible school in Cambodia for three days, and then also with the Underground Church in "Nevada." While Cambodia is a free and open country, "Nevada" is not. Please pray for my protection, and also keep my family in prayer while I am gone.

Still in Nevada, will leave for the Philippines tomorrow. Get on your kn33s, especially for Leader M and the students here. There has been a crackdown, graduation was canceled. As far as I know, all are well and safe, but do keep us and especially the Nevadans in your thoughts. I will write no more until I get back to the Philippines. The devil's mad and I'm glad.