Amazing Philippines Update #3

Once again, we have been thrilled to have received another interesting report from the Philippines!! They had their very first Evangelistic meeting last night (Friday Night) and Praise God, it sounds like the Lord really blessed!! It is really quite amazing... So, scroll down to enjoy an exciting update....! :-) Thank you all SO much for keeping Nicole & the YD team in your prayers!

Dear Friends and Family,

How exciting to be able to report after the first meeting! Although it’s still Friday here its already Sabbath morning in the Philippines and our tired team of missionaries are sleeping.

The meetings in Magsaysay went well and Casey was the speaker for the adult meeting. There were 140 adults in attendance and about 200 children in their meeting. Somehow our request to have the lighting turned on at the stage never got implemented so it was difficult for the choir to see their music, but they did a beautiful job anyway! We did have some technical difficulties in that the one projector we were using for the children’s meeting, belonging to the pastor, failed to work. That makes things a lot more difficult but we are trying to get another projector from the main island. It was a great blessing to see so many come to the meetings in this smaller community.

Tanner Martin was the speaker at the Cuyo site. There were about 200 adults in the meeting. Both Janet Evert and Ted Evert were at this meeting. Here again we had some equipment issues in that the synchronizer was somehow out of synch! But Tanner did a marvelous job of continuing on with a powerful presentation as Ted and Janet worked on a solution. When it came time for the appeal it was evident that the Holy Spirit was there touching people’s hearts.

In Cuyo the big challenge was the children’s meetings. We usually expect around 200 to 300 children, but various reports have come in that as many as perhaps 700 children were present. I don’t know how to stretch crafts, and we didn't have that many chairs, but I’m sure God will help the team figure out how to handle such a large crowd! Special thanks and prayers are needed for Cheyenne and her child evangelism team, it’s a big responsibility.

Sabbath morning for churchTanner Martin will be preaching, then Sabbath evening Emily Heagy will be speaking in Cuyo and Talesa Jackson will be the adult speaker in Magsaysay. I know your prayers are ascending in their behalf.

The whole group will walk the mile or so to the Cuyo Central church and the meetings there will go all day, including lunch and the afternoon AY meeting with the youth. Then shortly after that it will be time to prepare for the evening meeting which goes till 9:00. The Magsaysay team won’t get home till late, but they will no doubt have happy hearts!

We all join together to thank and praise God for this opportunity to work in direct soul-winning. Lets pray earnestly for each team member, the pastor, the church members and the baptisimal condidates. I am eager to share with you the continued blessings in the days ahead.

Will Evert

Philippine Mission Update #1

Update by Mommy

"I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing," declares the Lord." Jer. 23:4
On Tuesday of this week, Nicole departed with Young Disciple Ministries and about 20 young people for the Philippines. They will be holding an evangelistic series on the small island of Cujo in the Philippines. Nicole is leading out in the health evangelism. She will lead the children in conducting a health expo each night prior to the evangelistic meetings. She is also going to serve as the nurse for the mission team and counselor.

We were blessed to receive a phone call from Nicole at 3:30 am this morning. She said that the team arrived in Manila at 1am on Thursday (Philippine time- they are 13 hours ahead of us). They went to the SDA conference and slept for 3 hours. At 5 am they flew to Puerto Princesa on the island of Palawan. They arrived there at 11am. The Mission team will be staying in Puerto Princesa in a hotel until Sabbath night and will then take the 14 hour ferry ride to Cujo. It sounds like they are having a true missionary experience! It will take them a total of 38 hours of being on a plane or boat to get to their destination! Travel time was actually much more than that because I didn't include in the wait in the airports, driving time or their waiting in Puerto.

Nicole said that they are all healthy, but tired. She said around 4pm she was so tired, but is pushing herself to stay awake so she will adjust to the time change. The SDA conference is providing their food while they wait in Puerto. That is really a blessing!

We don't expect to hear much from Nicole. The noble numbers that we use while in other countries don't seem to work in the Philippines. And for some reason, when Nicole buys phone cards there they don't work either. Ted Evert has a cell phone that he buys minutes for and allows others to call at times. But, Nicole said that it is expensive. So, we are very thankful that she was able to call this time.

We want to thank all of your for your prayers for Nicole and the YD team. Please continue! Especially as they travel Saturday night on the ferry to Cujo.

I am so thankful that we serve a powerful God who takes care of us. Psalm 34:7 promises,"The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them."

The Treasure Hunt

Matthew and Caleb had received a metal detector for a Christmas present, and have been recently putting it to good use. ;-) Daddy told them about how in the 'old days' people would hide their gold in the fields and later couldn't remember where it was hidden. So the boys were filled with enthusiasm to go out to our fields hunting for treasure. Well, the fields proved to be unsuccessful, other than a few pairs of rusty scissors, nails, hinges, broken knives, and other unrecognizable items, So maybe the backyard would have something better..... Aha, the metal detector sounded, and out came the shovels... oh grief, this time it ended up just being the gas line. (But no worries, the gas line was not dug up) So the search continues, and perhaps soon we will come upon great treasure! But, no matter if we do find a treasure or not, there is only one important treasure in this life, and that is having a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. Let us all discover that treasure of unspeakable value!

"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart."

Jer. 29:13

New Blog!!

We have started a blog so that we can share all the 'escapades' and happenings that often occur in the Kanomata household. :-) So please leave us a note to let us know you stopped by, and stay tuned for some adventure that is destined to be posted in the not so distant future. :-)