Praise the Lord Jesus Christ for the many souls saved in the past two months! Though these were very challenging times to us, God still led us to many divine appointments. Many of them professed faith in our Lord Jesus Christ and accepted Him as their personal Lord and Saviour. Some of our converts from the far-flung location at the mountain slope have continued attending the church on Sundays. One of them has already followed in the Biblical waters of baptism, and others are getting ready to follow their faith with baptism. Two families from our new converts in Legaspi City also made their public statement that they were not ashamed of Jesus Christ. They, too, displayed their obedience to God by getting baptized. Due to mothers bringing their little children to church, Tess suggested to Pastor that they open a room for toddlers and a nursery, which he approved. He also assigned some young people to watch over these children.
There was so much joy in our hearts over this victory only to be interrupted by another Devil’s trick. Our granddaughter in San Diego, California, passed away. We had to fly back at once to the U.S. to comfort our son for his loss and also to encourage him. I was given the chance to share the Gospel during the funeral service. I prayed to God to give good results out of my preaching, and He answered my prayer. When I asked the congregation to pray the acceptance prayer if they were willing to accept the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour and to trust Him alone to save them, many of them, if not most, prayed with me in a very loud voice. I believe many of them got saved that morning, and some even approached me afterwards and thanked me for sharing God’s words. My reply was, “Only by God’s grace He saved us.”
When we returned to Legaspi City after two weeks in the U.S., we resumed our soul winning and other activities in our areas. Then a catastrophic typhoon hit our region in late October. Many towns and cities were under water for a couple of days. Most parts of the main roads were not accessible due to flooding, and there was not any means of transportation. Fellowship Baptist Church had to come up with some relief distributions to help affected FBC’s church members. Despite these difficulties, we were still able to lead 179 people to Christ during this two-month period. To God be the glory, and all glory belongs to Him.
Please continue praying for:
1. God’s protection and our health.
2. The health of Tess’ mother, siblings, and in-laws. Her sister-in-law was diagnosed recently with breast cancer, and another sister-in-law had stroke. This is aside from her sister who has terminal breast cancer and had brain surgery last week. Please pray for their fast recovery. Also pray for the full recovery of her brother who had heart attack in March.
3. The power of the Holy Spirit as we saturate more areas in Daraga and Legaspi City; pray that many souls will get saved.
4. God to open a room at Bicol University in which to conduct Bible studies.
5. Our new converts’ spiritual growth and faithfulness to God and His work.
6. The contractors to start the FBC’s building construction soon and provide the funds needed for the work.
7. A permanent place for us to stay.
Rey & Tess Garcia