| Martin Family Update April, 2010 ELECTIONS
What is that noise? It is a Jeep piled up with speakers and thousands of watts of sound system driving all around town blaring the latest jingle of one of the local politicians running for office. Elections will take place on May 10, and that is about all the people here can think about! For the most part the fervent campaigning does not interrupt the ministry. But as the elections draw near, people are more and more becoming wary of leaving their houses. Not because of violence or anything like that - the politicians will soon be going around from house to house offering each household a significant amount of money for their vote. If they are not home when the "man" comes by, then they miss out! MENS RETREAT
We took 26 men out to a remote section of white sand beach for an overnight retreat. For some, this was the first time they had ever been taught from the Bible or been in fellowship with other believers. They enjoyed the Christian community and many are now joining Bible studies. How do you bring enough food to feed 26 hungry men? We didn't! We relied on the ocean to provide a good portion of our food, and everyone had fun fishing, spearfishing, and going out at night with nets to get it! How did we get 26 men to come to the retereat? We didn't! It was the believers themselves who invited the other men to come. There is a momentum that builds as a core group of committed men get together, pray, and invite friends to join them. What a privilege it is to watch these men develop a vision for reaching their friends and families, and to see God answer their prayers. TIMOTHY GROUP TEAMS
As we have mentioned in other emails, we are training a group of leaders that we call the Timothy Group. We were struggling with the idea of how to instill and motivate the leaders to develop a vision for reaching the people around them, so we decided to group them into 4 teams. The first time they met together there was a new excitement, a list of prayer items, and action steps they were going to take to work out the vision that they came up with together as a team. The missionaries role on these teams are as advisers, and a team leader was decided upon by each team. One team has started 2 Bible studies in a town where there were no Bible studies happening, another team is using their family contacts to open a new Bible study in a remote town, a third Bible study has started a mens Bible study in their town, and the team I am advising has completed a DVBS (daily vacation bible school) in an unreached town. It is exciting to see the teams work out their vision and to be with them as God answers their prayers and people come to faith as a result. DVBS
As I mentioned earlier, the team I am advising completed a DVBS in an unreached town. It was so exciting to be an advisor and a coach to the team as they worked out their plan. To be honest, at the beginning I was not sure how they were going to pull this off, but their vision came from the fact that 2 of the families on the team had come to faith as a result of a DVBS in their town. One of the highlights for me was seeing the synergy of the team (no, synergy is not just a word on one of those cheesy posters at work) as each person used their gifts to contribute to the work. One couple had gifts of helps and giving, so they did most of the setup, fund raising, and they gave a significant amount personally to help with the costs of the event (the missionaries did not fund this event, they raised all of the funds themselves). Another couple had gifts of teaching and administration, so they kept things organized and taught. The final day of the DVBS there was a graduation ceremony, and the local elected officials attended and afterwards requested that we start an adult Bible study in their town! We had the whole team and their families over for dinner to celebrate what God had done. Even though it was a lot of work, nobody seemed burned out and everyone was smiling. One person commented about this, "I guess that it what it is like if you are doing God's will". THE ADVANCE OF THE GOSPEL
When we arrived on Catanduanes, we as a team decided that our focus would be on the municipality of Payo (Panganiban). The island is just too large to try and reach it all at once, and our efforts would be spread so wide that we would not be able to cultivate deep relationships with anyone. Almost simultaneously, there are now 2 groups of people from Payo who are taking the Gospel to the municipality next to ours, called Bagamanok. It was always our vision to see the believers take the Gospel to the whole island, but we were surprised to see it start to happen so soon. The DVBS was held in the municipality of Bagamanok, just outside of Payo, and there is a new effort happening on a small island just off the coast of Catanduanes where the believers there are starting a new Bible study in a town (called Sukhan) that is also part of the municipality of Bagamanok. We are excited to see the believers in Payo take the lead in reaching the next municipality and we will be there providing encouragement and coaching as needed. Please pray for them as they invite the people in their town to attend a Bible study. The advance of the Gospel happens according to God's plan, not ours. I am thankful to be able to play a small part in seeing this happen and to be able to witness God at work.
Thank you for continuing to pray for us and support us financially. We are priveleged to be able to minister here and to have so many faithful partners in this work.
Bryan
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