Thank the Lord for two fruitful months. Our folks have gotten a sense of urgency for the winning of souls, as we believe the time of the Lord is at hand. During the months of May and June, we saw 1,897 folks profess faith in Christ as their Saviour. One of the things that is especially exciting is the new folks who have been sharing the Gospel. It is a great joy during the week to occasionally get a text message from one of members, sharing the great news of one or more of their friends or loved ones getting saved. Jojo Abian, a businessman in our church, texted me that over 50 of his friends and relatives were saved at their family reunion.
If I were to start a business, I would want to provide a product or service that was in great demand. Sharing the Gospel and teaching the Bible here is in great demand, greater than the supply of manpower. As our Lord said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few.” We have been having Bible studies and sharing the Gospel in the city jail, in public schools, in businesses, and at construction sites. We have our preacher boys preach on public-transportation buses. We recently showed a film in a basketball gymnasium and had exactly 150 profess faith in Christ.
Our Vacation Bible School was a blessing. We went into the villages during each day of the week and then brought the children to church after class on Friday for graduation. Graduation is a big deal for them and their families. The graduates were required to bring their parents or another adult in order to receive their diploma. Our auditorium was packed. Before presenting the diplomas and awards, I presented the Gospel, and many folks were saved.
Please pray for the new president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte. He is a professing Christian and appears to be fighting crime and corruption. He has already done a lot and made a lot of waves since being sworn in in June. Please pray for his wisdom and safety.
We had a tremendous Youth Conference, with a great attendance and delegates from several churches. We enjoyed great preaching from Pastor Jeremiah Punzalan, our keynote speaker, and also from John Diaz, our youth director. Many important decisions for the Lord were made, such as giving up the wrong kind of music, being more faithful to attend church and in service to God, and choosing godly friends. Five of the young people in our church surrendered to go to Bible college and serve God full-time.
We celebrated the 11th anniversary of our church on May 22. Time has flown by so fast, and God has done so much over these 11 short years. One of the blessings of longevity has been getting roots and establishing good relations with businesses and leaders in our community.
We are in the process of building a hollow-block wall around our new church property. It’s quite a project, with a two-foot-deep footing. We will coat it with cement (called finishing) after it’s constructed. We have applied to have the water and electricity connected. Hopefully, they’ll get it done this week or next.
Please pray that we would continue to bear more fruit by seeing many more folks saved and helping more people to grow in grace and be fruit bearers.
Thank you with all our hearts for your prayers and financial support to keep us on this white harvest field.
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe
