ANTIPOLO, Rizal, Philippines, July 2011—Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that this letter finds you in the gracious hands of our Lord.

We apologize since this is only our first official update since last December 2010 (most of our updates have only been through emails). So we owe you highlights about our family and mission from January.

Rachel played one of the orphans in Faith Academy's "Annie" musical	Lunch with Oli, Nem & Ching (Ngaihte) at one of Chiang Mai's markets	Tim & Chesney's family were visited by Lloyd & Nancy Peckham and Lem.
Click on images to enlarge

Last school year, I worked as half-time staff of Faith Academy as the school’s Webmaster to save about $1,200 on Rachel’s school expenses. But I found it difficult juggling my time between church ministries, teaching at the study center, and being webmaster. So we decided that Evelyn should apply to be part-time staff as Circulation Desk Manager and IGCSE Exam Officer. We pray that she will be accepted so we can retain the savings and free half of my time.

Rachel finished her junior year strong, and she will enter her senior year in about two weeks. In addition to track & field, she was part of her drama class presenta­tions, and played one of the orphans in the musical “Annie.” This summer, she was given a gift by her broth­ers and aunts and uncles to visit California. She has vis­ited 3 out of 4 colleges in California. We’re thankful that she can work for two weeks in a camp in the Santa Cruz mountains.

On May 9, we all joyfully welcomed Baby Tayte, Tim and Chesney‘s third boy and our third grandson. Caleb is 7 and Tyler is 3. Following after us!

By God’s grace, Tim is still a web developer for File­maker, Inc., while Lem is still busy working and travel­ling for CityTeam Ministries, both in San Jose, CA.

Oli and Nem have both settled in Lakerland—Oli with the LAPD and Nem does design for a print shop and taking classes for an M.A. Last month, they visited Nem’s parents who are missionaries in Chiang Mai, Thailand. We were so glad to meet them there and visit a new place (and also to be able to renew our Philippine visas).

Our family in the Philippines suffered a couple of tragic losses in the last three months. Hannah Ong, Evelyn’s sister Leah’s sweet 13-year-old daughter, and Renato Aguinaldo, Evelyn’s sister Beth’s godly husband, both lost their battle with terminal cancer.

Mission Church Report

Next month, Pasig Covenant Reformed Church will be praising the Lord for our third year anniversary. Please pray that our church will grow, both spiritually and numerically. We also hope to move to a rented room in a building, so we have several needs to establish it as a place for Bible study and Lord’s Day worship. More details here.

We rented a room in the 4th floor of this building in Aguinaldo Highway, Imus, Cavite

Back of postcard for promoting early morning devotional service

Rev. Allen Vander Pol, who visited us in 2009 (above), approved Mars Hill Study Center as a MINTS study center

I’ll be trying a “new” concept: 15-20-minute Wednesday morning devotional services for people before they go to their workplace. More details here.

As we plan to move into this building, we have the following needs:

• One-time: A-C unit ($600), 2 bookshelves ($75), table, desk & chairs ($100), whiteboard ($75).
• Monthly rent and utilities: about $200.

I finished a couple of sermon series, 1 & 2 Thessalonians and the Servant Songs of Isaiah, and am now in the middle of the Book of Isaiah (Chapters 34-35), a book filled with messages of judgment and restoration.

In February, Mars Hill Study Center officially became a study center affiliated with Miami International Seminary (mints.edu), so I’m now teaching a few pastors and elders on Saturday mornings.

After the two morning classes, I drive about 1.5 hours to a city called Imus in Cavite province to teach a new Bible study group. It’s still a small group, but we pray that God would bring more families in when we move our study to a more accessible venue.
To this end, I’m keeping an eye on a Filipino pastor whom I pray will be called by God to lead the ministry to this new group. Lord willing, in the next several months, they will start morning worship services.

Financial Update:

To date, our monthly support for this year has averaged only 47% of our budget. For this reason, we haven’t met our income tax and medical insurance obligations the last two years.

So we are praying that God will provide our needs. If you would like to become a ministry partner, please send your check payable to: MEANS, P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. Please write “R1612 (FEURM)” on the memo line.

Thank you for your continuing prayers and support. ~ Nollie, Evelyn and Rachel