Dear Praying Friends,
My how time flies when you’re having fun! As usual, our summer vacation schedule is packed. It began with our Christian school and Bible college graduation on March 28. We had one graduate from Providence Baptist Bible College. We had two high school, one elementary school, and four kindergarten graduates from Providence Baptist Academy. Our college graduate, Ana Mangana, is a very sharp, hardworking, and godly young lady. We’ve hired her to work on our church and school staff.
Thank you so much for the birthday greetings and cards for my birthday. Our church here in the Philippines was also very thoughtful. It was touching to get many homemade cards and several gifts from our families, young people, and children expressing their love and appreciation. They also gave Ester and me many different kinds of fruit. We love it all; I think my favorite, though, is the mangos. The Junior Church kids voted me as the “Most Handsome Pastor Ever” and made a poster to that effect. Our church members put their money together and raised over $200.00 to redo our church sign. That was a great gift, as I’ve wanted to get that done for a while.
I have found that nothing invigorates our church like a good old-fashioned soul-winning marathon. In our recent marathon, we saw 330 people trust Christ. The total saved for March and April was 589 souls, with 7 following the Lord in believer’s baptism. Soul winning has also been a key part of our discipleship program. What a thrill it is to see the joy on our new converts’ faces as they learn to tell others of a sure salvation through Jesus Christ.
We just completed a one-week Youth Retreat at our church. We normally send them off to Youth Camp but had them stay at the church this year due to budget constraints. We also invited the young people from Missionary Josh Webb’s church. Brother Webb, his assistant John Diaz, my assistant Adolfo Malagno, and I shared the preaching of nine sermons. It was one of the most successful and fruitful youth events we have ever had. Many important decisions were made, and several teens who have been coming for some time without being very involved got plugged in to serving the Lord here at church. Their testimonies were a special blessing. There were many tears shed as several of them told of their commitments and of their struggles to serve God while going through persecution and difficulties.
A Reminder: Aizabelle, one of our staff ladies, posts pictures and updates on our church’s Facebook page. Please see facebook.com/pbcdasma when you have time.
We would appreciate your prayers for the following needs:
• Finances for our ministry
• More young men and women to surrender their lives to reach the Philippines and the unreached billions in our hemisphere
• Property and facilities for our church and its ministries
Thank you again for your sacrifice and prayers to keep us in this white harvest field. We love and appreciate you all.
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe