I have no idea where to start. We are always busy, but the two months since our last prayer letter have flown by in such a blur that I’m honestly having a hard time remembering what all has happened. In our last prayer letter, I explained in detail about an amazing door of opportunity that God opened for us to make some of our Visayan song translations available to hundreds of pastors. This was a wonderful opportunity that only God could have arranged, but it pushed me to review and, in many cases, edit all of our song translations. Additionally, all of the song lyrics had to be entered into sheet music, laid out, and then proofread for musical and lyrical errors. Since I was editing so many songs already, I just decided to make a final push to finish our own songbook as well, which involved editing a lot more songs. Ultimately, we settled on 125 songs for our long-term Visayan songbook.
Unless for some reason you yourself have created a full-scale songbook in a foreign language, I promise, you cannot imagine the amount of time that is involved in tackling such a project. I could have never done it without the help of my wife and staff! While my editor and I reviewed and improved lyrics, other people helped enter the lyrics into sheet music – in some cases, creating the sheet music from scratch using free music software. In the meantime, another staff member proofread the lyrics, while my wife managed most of the practical song-by-song layout. It should also be noted (just so you can be properly impressed) that my wife was GREAT with child during this entire process.
After sending my last prayer letter, we jumped head-first into this project. Anyone who knows me, knows that I don’t do anything halfway. Obviously, I don’t track my work hours, but for 6 weeks straight, I suspect I worked 80-90 hours a week. Well, I guess there was one exception, but I’ll discuss that in the next paragraph. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us and this massive project. Praise the Lord, our songbook is finally done! We are still catching minor typographical and music mistakes here and there, but after 8 years and countless hours, the project is finished!
The Arrival of Timothy Isaac
For those of you who have not yet heard, we welcomed our sixth child, Timothy Isaac, into the world on Friday, August 8, around 11:00 a.m. However, we were still in the midst of the songbook project at that time, and I completely forgot to send an update to our prayer letter list—I’m such a good father! 😊 Thank you to all who prayed for Ruth’s pregnancy and delivery. Through everything, God was very merciful. Thank you for your faithful prayers, support, and friendship.
Dividends on Your Investment
God has given me several cool soul-winning opportunities over the last couple of weeks, including a man whom God allowed me to lead to Christ just this morning at the vehicle emissions center while I was waiting for our jeepney’s smoke test. However, no experience in recent memory can top what happened on Saturday morning, August 16.
My soul-winning partner and I were going door to door on a narrow street with the houses crowded right up to the edge of the road, and before long, I found myself sitting on a plastic chair in front of a small house witnessing to three senior citizens and a young mother. It was a very challenging soul-winning environment. The traffic was passing by just a few feet behind me, and most older Dapitanons are strong Catholics. However, they were willing to listen, so I pressed on. While I was witnessing, someone came up and accidentally spilled alcohol on the table where I had placed my hat, and half of my hat got soaked. The situation was bizarre, but when it was all said and done, all four of them still got saved!
That, however, was not the end of the story. We weren’t done with the street yet, but I need my hat! The sunshine in the Philippines is intense, and I don’t have nearly as much hair as I used to. I was in a quandary; we still had time to finish the street, but my hat reeked of alcohol! What could I do? I put on my stinking hat and went to the next house! I’m so glad I made that decision because two or three doors up the road, I met Maduline, a sweet 83-year-old lady who had been reading her Bible. She invited us into the house, and we struck up a conversation. However, when I asked her if she was sure she was going to Heaven, she gave me the most heartbreaking answer I have ever heard. She said in Visayan, “I’m one of Mama Mary’s foot soldiers.” I understood what she meant. She regularly takes part in the little Catholic processionals where a statute of Mary is carried from one house to another. This sweet old lady looked at me with unwavering conviction and said, “Every Saturday, Mama Mary goes to Purgatory and chooses one person to go to Heaven.” And then with moist eyes she added, “Maybe she’ll choose me.” I was floored! How do you answer such nonsense?! Praise God, He gave me the answer. I didn’t argue about Mary or Purgatory; I just looked at her and said, “Ma’am, did you know that if JESUS saves you, you can skip right past purgatory and go straight to Heaven?” That sweet lady sat and listened to the Gospel, and about 20 or 30 minutes later, she bowed her head and transferred her faith from Mary to Jesus! LET ME TELL YOU—THERE IS NOTHING LIKE SOUL WINNING!
Yours for souls,
Mike Morrissey
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- Timothy Isaac Morrissey was born on August 8, 2025!
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- Visayan Songbook
