balangao terraces

I just want to share with you a few pictures I took of the rice terraces in Balangao. They look really really beautiful this time of the year. Enjoy! Leo

All in the Family

Back: Leo and Doming

Front (L-R): Joy, Loree holding Bethany, Violet

Just a quick take on how everyone in the family's doing.

After 6 years of school and work in Manila, LEO decided to come home to help us in the dorm ministry. He would be a great help to lighten the load as we try to recover from our illnesses. Pray for him as he pursues his second degree. He's going to take up Psychology and Guidance and Counseling at a university nearby.

VIOLET had been busy helping with SEND Missionaries as they create a values curriculum for public schools. She also continues to lead and direct the THREADS team in their performances. We praise God for her spiritual growth and her heart for the youth. This week has really been an exciting one for her. All summer we have been praying for God to provide for her financial needs in school. She applied for a 50% scholarship mid-May and ever since, we kept on praying and praying. Just this monday, she got the results from the scholarship committee and she wasn't given the 50% scholarship. Instead she was granted a full scholarship for this school year. She enrolled yesterday June 7 without spending a single cent on school fees. We just can't stop praising the Lord for how He continually surprises us with things that are beyond what we ever hope or ask for!

JOY spent the whole summer teaching DVBS and performing for Threads. She really is a joy as she proves to be a good singer, a brilliant actress and lately tried her hand at songwriting. She already has a couple of really good Christian songs and we can't wait to listen to more of her songs! She also had been our helpful little “nurse” around the house. She desires to be a doctor someday. Pray for God’s direction in her life as she still is in 3rd year high school.

BETHANY was a very eager DVBS student gaining a well-deserved “Best in Art Award”. Pray for her as she face the whole new world of first grade.

Cherry, Lyle, Zion and Sam

With the help of New Life graduates, LYLE and CHERRY had their 2nd year of DVBS in Cavite, where Lyle is pastoring a newly planted church. Cherry had been busy this year organizing children for Sunday School. Pray for continues support and guidance. Samantha and Zion continues to be charming little kids although they easily get sick.

Loree is slowly healing from her hysterectomy. However, she is still a medicine-dependent diabetic. Pray for complete healing for both Doming and Loree as we claim the Lord’s promise in Matt. 8:17, “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

Finances for our monthly medicines especially for Doming’s oral chemo continues to be a burden. But God has been sustaining us until now. We thank you all for loving our family. Pray for all of us as we journey this new phase in life. May God bless you!

Summer Ministry 2006

It was a summer of firsts for the New Life Dorm Ministry. We praise God for how He has been working through this ministry. We all watch in excitement as we see God’s blessing as we “expand our territory”.

In preparation for the DVBS, a 2-day teacher’ trainings was held in 4 different provinces. Trainees were composed of mothers, fathers, church workers of different sects, public officials and students. It was also the first time that most of the volunteer teachers were products of previous DVBS or of the New Life Dorm.

Armed with the theme “Jesus Rules” from the ABCCOP curriculum and the Visualized Bibles of BVI, these teachers marched on to a very fulfilling mission of reaching children for God.

For years, the involvement of the New Life Dorm in the DVBS program had been focused on the Balangao area only. But this summer was different! DVBS classes were now held in different lowland places as well. We were able to minister to 28 places, 10 of which are in the Cagayan Valley provinces (Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino and Isabela) and one in Cavite.

All in all, there were almost a hundred volunteer teachers for the more than 2,000 children who attended. For most places, it was their first time to hold a DVBS and it was received with much enthusiasm. Again, children were asking for the classes to be extended for days. We praise God for opening doors for us to reach our neighbors.

The summer ministry activities ended with special presentations by the Threads team in 2 churches (Mustard Seed Evangelical Church in Longhad and the Natnat Bible Church) and a wedding invitation in Balangao. It was the first time that the team, who has been performing many times in Ifugao, performs in Balangao. The team is composed of talented Balangao young people from the New Life Dorm. They do presentations like dances, song interpretation and drama. We praise God for the big turnout in all the venues despite the bad weather. Many were blessed with what they saw. Especially the older people who were happy to see how these young people happily offered their lives and talents to be used for God’s ministry.

As another school year comes, we are faced with a batch of new (and old) students. At last count we have 11 freshmen, 9 sophomores, 4 juniors, 3 seniors and 4 high school students. All of them being answer to our prayers. We praise God for bringing these young people to the dorm. We look forward to a year of learning, ministering and fellowship.

Doming's Testimony

I thank the Lord that I did not die suddenly.

It was the last week of January 2006 when I started feeling light headed. I tried ignoring it hoping it would soon go away. But then I started getting paler. My back muscles started to ache and it bothered me when I lay down on my back. I kept on praying for recovery but the draining of my strength alarmed me.

First week of February, while Loree was having her check-up for hysterectomy, I went to see the doctor. The CBC test showed that my blood count was down to 7. The doctor had me admitted in the provincial hospital for blood transfusion. Then I was transferred to St. Luke’s Hospital in Manila. I was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a cancer of the blood. This information took time to sink into my mind. After realizing the implications of such disease, the fear of death started to cloud my dear life. Despair started to creep in and occupy my mind.

I cried to the Lord for help and the bible passage that came into mind was “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will to you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thes. 5:16-18). This passage restored my whole being and gave me the right perspective on how to deal with this malignant condition.

I desire to continue serving the Lord for more years. In my heart, I know this is not impossible with God. This is certain in Matthew 19:26, Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” I claim this truth to apply to my situation. Another promise I am holding on to is John 15:7, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”

As the physical pain becomes unbearable and the emotional turmoil becomes agonizing, I am holding on. Through this, God creates in me a higher dimension of spirituality in which I can now see how sweet and precious our God is. He now puts me in a higher level of love. Through all these I had developed a purer love for my God. Before, I had loved God for my sake but now I love Him for His own sake, for who He is. And I want to stay in this level of love forever.

I praise the Lord that I did not die suddenly, giving me time to still enjoy my family, to put my home in order and to organize the things needed for our ministry on earth before going home to my final resting place.

Doming