We thank God that His power is still unlimited and that the victory is ours when we are on His team. The Philippines has had a very strict quarantine policy, and people are not allowed out and about without a quarantine pass. We are still finding ways to get the Gospel out and disciple converts. We have seen 11 people saved in the months of May and June and are still looking for more ways to get the Gospel out.
We celebrated our church’s 15th anniversary in May. It is humbling to see the many things God has done through this ministry and your prayers and giving. Since coming to the Philippines, we have seen 133,091 precious souls profess faith in Jesus Christ and 1,092 follow Him in believer’s baptism.
After almost three months of strict quarantine, we were able to have the services in our church facility for a few weeks until our governor reinstituted the quarantine restrictions.
We continue to have our services with the staff who live at the church facility and also put the services on livestream. Our folks have been very faithful to watch the live services. Several of them have shared how they follow the full format of the services, including going to the family altar during the invitation and collecting the tithes and offerings. We have also had various fellowship services, such as men’s fellowship and young people’s fellowship, using livestreaming and video calling.
There have been hidden blessings along with the new challenges in God’s work. One of my goals and desires has been to see families strengthened in their relationships. Filipinos tend to be pragmatic people and very focused on worldly success. Since the quarantine began, I have gotten several reports from dads and husbands of things they are doing with their families. They are taking leadership in their homes and having more consistent family devotions. It’s also heartwarming to see how our folks miss coming to services when they are not able to come.
Thank you to those who have given to help our folks who have been financially affected by the COVID quarantine. It has been a tremendous help to them.
Two of our Bible college graduates recently got engaged. Jeremy, a young man on our staff and our music director, recently proposed to Ana during one of our services. Now both of our staff men (Jayson and Jeremy) are engaged. It’s a joy to see our young people grow up and marry godly spouses.
Thank you all for your sacrifice to keep us in this bountiful harvest field. We are eternally grateful.
Yours for souls,
Courtney & Ester Godsoe
