AsiaStories

More than 300 pastors have been able to share the Gospel with more than a million people among Manila’s urban poor. House groups among squatter communities lead to an explosion of the Gospel, all through training sessions every month.

Two years ago, IMB missionary Al Hoopes began supervising a program that teaches Filipino villagers the basics of agriculture, herbal medicine, community development and moral values. Now, approximately 600 people have graduated from the program and have built vegetable and herb gardens near their homes. The program has changed the lives of many Filipinos, including a woman named Rowena Gonato who resorts to her newly acquired training when her children grow ill.

A team of five volunteers from the University of Mobile in Mobile, Ala., minister to people in villages along the Oras River on the Filipino island of Samar. With no contacts in each village, they arrive on boats and ask to stay for several days. Relying on Filipino hospitality, the volunteers become part of the village community as they study the Bible with residents. They discover not only how welcoming villagers can be to Christ followers but also how deeply rooted they can be in their own traditional beliefs.

Journeyman Esther Tallbott* ministers in villages located along the Oras River on the island of Samar in the Philippines. With a Filipino partner, she boats up and down the river holding Bible studies with villagers, but despite her love for the Filipino people, Tallbott finds life in the Philippines difficult. She deals with feelings of isolation and inadequacy, but the Father used these emotions to get her attention. On a river in the Filipino jungle, God gave Tallbott no other option but to relinquish control of her life to Him.