We are so enjoying being home in the USA!
It is hard to get used to the prices of things again. To driving with rules, lanes and a speed limit. We enjoy so much worshiping again with everything in English, padded seats and being with so many friends. We have met our new grandson and got reacquainted with Lydia and Josh son Caleb. Being grandparents is so much fun during our first month here.
While here on our USA furlough we will be visiting many churches and hope to see many of our friends and prayer supporters. We will be here for our first Christmas with our family since 2006 and then we hope to do a shipment of items for the Philippines the month of January and then return in February.
Concerning our next 40 foot container shipment for the Philippines. We will be sending Bibles, Sunday school materials, Bible commentaries, Bible dictionaries and concordances. School teachers, we want text books and teaching aids for all grades for the school in the Philippines. We hope to ship several thousands of text books to help the school there. The classroom often have 50-60 kids and textbooks are really needed. We need school teachers to help us find and get permission to have textbooks for our next shipment. One item that is always wanted by everyone is dictionaries.
While we are in the states the ministry in the Philippines continues. We recently had a pastor surveying another location for a new church on another island. We are having a large interisland women conference on Negros the end of this month. They are hoping to have several hundred ladies at this seminar. Then in December the Negros Oriental churches will be hosting a youth conference called YACC the days immediately after Christmas Day. They are expecting 500 youth to be attending this event. We are thankful for the many pastors and leaders of the churches who faithfully continues the work of the Lord on Negros and other islands. We may be here but the work of the Lord is ongoing and we often communicate with our fellow workers there and help in many ways.
Recently we did a survey of the churches of Negros and printed a new directory of the churches of Negros. It was exciting to know that there are now 86 churches on the island of Negros. Some are small and meet in houses, others are in remote areas of the mountains, and several of these have been started in the last several years in the cities of the island. When we first went to Negros in 1985 there were only 14 churches on the island. We rejoice that now there are many more churches now. VFM is actively working with the existing churches to encourage the existing churches to start a daughter churches. We have several seminars that is being led to motivate and train church leaders on new church planting. VFM primary focus is starting new churches. I look forward to speaking at many churches in the next few months telling you about the new churches that have been started on Negros in the last couple years.
How can you start new churches without training new church leaders? Because we want to start more churches we will be starting a new two year training school for men next June. The leaders and workers have been meeting for several months praying and planning for the start of this new college. We need your prayers and help to make this possible. If we hope to start more new churches we need more trained church leaders.
In His service,
Paul and Mary Wilson
