Thanksgiving Day is a natural time to extend to you our deepest gratitude for your letters, Facebook and email messages of encouragement throughout the last year.

Rachel, Evelyn and I visiting the Presidential helicopter at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California this last summer.

Warm greetings from the Philippines! Thanksgiving Day is a natural time to extend to you our deepest gratitude for your letters, Facebook and email messages of encouragement throughout the last year.  Most of all, we thank you for your continuing support through prayer and financial giving. “We give thanks to God always for all of you” (1 Thess. 1:2a).

With God’s grace, the members of our church continue heir faithful attendance in our church services, Saturday afternoon Bible studies, and catechism classes on Sundays. Although our numbers have suffered from members moving to other places, we thank God that attendance has remained at 10-15 adults and 3 children.

Fellowship with visitors after worship

We have advertised the church services with a 30-second ad after the local White Horse Inn broadcast since mid-August. We have been blessed by three listeners who have visited us after hearing the radio ad, one of them coming from about two hours away. We pray that there would be interest in new Bible studies near our location. We are also looking for a bigger place for our worship services and other church activities so we could be more visible to the community.

My goal is not only to plant churches, but also to bridge the gap between my seminary training and the lack of Biblical-theological training of Filipino pastors. To this end, I now travel more to the southern Philippines where I have been invited to help teach and train pastors who are interested in establishing a new federation of churches, some of whom are located in heavily “M” cities. These pastors are zealous for Christ’s gospel even in the face of opposition.

We’re thankful to our great God for all that he is doing in the Philippines through you.  Evelyn and Rachel join me in wishing you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Service of Scripture and Songs

Ladies' fellowship at our home

ANTIPOLO, Rizal, Philippines: July 2009—Greetings from the Philippines, in the name of our only Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hope that all’s well with you and your family and the various ministries in the church. Although we are in unsure and difficult days, I’m sure that everyone’s enjoying their mid-summer.

We’re in a mixed mode beginning this month. The Philippine schools have begun their new school year, but Rachel only started her “summer.” I’m teaching Homiletics at Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Cavite province. I’m also preparing a few classes to be taught at Mars Hill Study Center, but not sure if there will be interested interested students. I’ve also made contact with another school interested in using the study center for their research.

We continue to hold afternoon worship service on Sundays at the study center, with about 10-12 adults and eight children. I have resumed the series on Numbers (“The Pilgrim Church in the Wilderness”) after several Sundays preaching on 1 Peter. We will also resume our membership class study of the Heidelberg Catechism. So far, we have had 5 baptisms and 4 professions of faith, and we pray that the two adults and Rachel would persevere in their preparations for their professions. This week, I’m starting a Bible study for a family in Manila.

Children at church's "cry room"

Since the positive response I received in the publication of the Tagalog-English Version of the Westminster Confession of Faith, I have embarked on another endeavor: translating and printing booklets and articles that will be of benefit to Filipino pastors.

Because of the financial crunch during the last year, we rented a very small place to make ends meet. But we have found our house to be so small that life had been like living out of suitcases and boxes all over the house. We have found a modest, but roomier house, with additional rent of course.

So our immediate need is the two months’ advance for rent and deposit that the new landlady requires, a total of 40,000 pesos or about $850. We also have to do some “home improvement” projects ourselves.

Again, thank you for your interest in our work, and for your encouraging words and prayers. We hope this brief letter will help you visualize what we do in the Philippines, and to assure you that the Lord is with us in this distant part of our world.

Do send us a line. We too are interested in what God is doing in your life and in the church.

NOTE: Please make your checks payable to MEANS with the memo line saying “R1612 (FEURM)”. Mail them to MEANS’ address below.

We appreciate your continuing prayers and support of the Philippine mission.

Nollie & Evelyn Malabuyo
Email: dvopilgrim@gmail.com
Web: http://blog.twoagespilgrims.com

Mission: East Asian National Support (MEANS)
P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103 • 1-630-542-2168
Email: info@meansusa.org • http://www.meansusa.org/
Member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability since 2000.

God was gracious to us that in the midst of a storm brewing just east of the Philippines, we had great weather all throughout our retreat. Up in the mountains, we had relief from the heat , humidity, smog, congestion and noise of Metro Manila.

Many visitors graced our retreat. A family came from 5 hours north of Manila, and another from about 2 hours to the south. Some members of our church family invited their friends to join us, some of them making the difficult 2-3-hour commute from the metro area.

Since it was our first retreat, and also the first time for many to visit this mountain city, we didn’t structure it too much, leaving more time for R&R and fellowship. But we did have three teaching sessions on 1 Peter 2-3 from Friday night till Saturday night, and a worship service this Sunday morning. The sermon was “Severe Penalty Against Covenant Disobedience” based on Exodus 4:18-26 and Acts 2:37-39.

But the most joyous part of the retreat were the professions of faith of three members and the baptism of all four of the children of one of the “professors.” For the first time, our whole covenant community witnessed God’s work among both adults and young children.

Tired but refreshed, the Lord sent us home with his blessing of grace, mercy and peace.

For a printer-ready PDF file of this update, click here.

It’s already summer vacation in the Philippines (April-May), and it’s supposed to be dry and hot and humid, but instead we’re getting an almost daily dose of rains. The weather people are now predicting that the country is experiencing a change in its annual weather pattern–a rainy season two months early.

This is a blessing in disguise for our mission church. Because of the rains and the overcast, temperatures have been abnormally lower, so our Sunday worship services are not as uncomfortable as we expected because of our lack of an air-conditioner.

We have had a few visitors these last few Sundays, so we now have up to 12-15 adults sometimes. Because the six children are very young and hard to control, Rachel started a Sunday school for them. They have enjoyed learning and singing together, but we need to get a better curriculum for them. Also, she has missed the preaching since she started teaching, and we have to rely on the printed manuscript and give

We have been going through the book of Numbers these last couple of months, with the theme “Pilgrims in the Wilderness.” I didn’t expect to learn so much personally from a book that many others shun because it is boring and “irrelevant” to Christians today. But like Israel sojourning in the desert on the way to the Promised Land, we too are pilgrims and strangers passing through this world on our way to the heavenly city of God.

Our Sunday catechism lessons after the service are suspended for the summer because of the heat. But three of our regular attendees have expressed their desire to make their profession of faith before the elders of the United Covenant Reformed Church in San Carlos City, Pangasinan, so I’m now conducting a member orientation class for them. The profession of faith is planned for May3 at our retreat in Tagaytay City, Cavite, about two hours south of Pasig City. The four little children of one of the “professors” would then be baptized. That would be an exceedingly joyous occasion for our covenant community.

Everyone is looking forward to our retreat on May 1-3 in a resort house that we rented for a whole month (much less cost-effective to rent for just a weekend). We anticipate a packed house because two to three other families might join us. We will be studying 1 Peter with the theme “Strengthened–not Surprised–by Suffering.” In his letter to our first-century brethren who faced untold persecution and hardship during their own time, we too are encouraged by Peter to persevere to the end. Evelyn feels overwhelmed by all the preparations.

With less than a month of school left, it had been a good year for Rachel as a high school freshman. She has progressed well and not intimidated anymore by a lot of school work and activities. Since she joined the school’s competitive track team, she has gained self-confidence and a wider circle of friends.

NOTE: Please make your check payable to MEANS with the memo line saying “R1612 (FEURM).” R1612 is our account number with MEANS, and FEURM stands for Far East United Reformed Mission, Inc., our nonprofit organization in the Philippines. The check should be mailed to: MEANS, P. O. Box 8434, Bartlett, IL 60103. MEANS stands for Mission: East Asian National Support, our new mission organization.

We appreciate your continuing prayers and support of the Philippine mission.