Priority Prayer Request: Alang Alang

Alang Alang Anniversary:

Sunday, May 31, Allene and Jim were invited to the first anniversary celebration of New Life Baptist Mission at Alang Alang, Leyte. Special guests included members of First Filipino Baptist Church in Chicago, who are supporting the work financially. God is working in this place. The work has grown to about 30 attenders in one year. Pastor Ely Haligado and his wife, Marivic, have met many people both in the town and also at a nearby agricultural college.

5 people who were recently baptized gave their testimonies. One of them, Romulo, told how how Jesus found him while he was in prison in Manila. 

Alang Alang Evangelistic Thrust

Please pray for a major evangelistic thrust June 2 and 3. The Alang Alang church will sponsor an evangelistic Basketball game, and believers from Leyte Baptist Hospital will come for a free medical clinic. Pray that people in Alang Alang will hear how Christ can forgive their sins, heal their bodies, and give them a meaningful life, and decide to learn more about Him.  

2 Filipino Missionaries Sent to Thailand

Almost 2 years ago, Nila and Rhoda from New Life Baptist Church in Tacloban left to work as missionaries in Thailand.  In October of 2008, a missionary team from First Baptist Church in Richland visited Nila and Rhoda in Northeast Thailand. We met their English students and attended a new church in formation that meets at the language center.  A month ago, Nila vacationed to the Philippines. Rhoda will teach in a kindergarten in the Philippines, but Nila will return for a 4 year term in Thailand, along with a new co-worker, Elnor Maasin.

Allene and I had the privilege of having them in our home for missionary team training. They studied how their spiritual gifts, personalities, and experiences could fit together in a missionary team, and learned some basics of presenting the Gospel to people of a different culture. 

On Sunday, May 24, Nila and Elnor were commissioned by their church, New Life Baptist Church of Tacloban, as missionaries to Thailand.  Nila has already arrived in Bangkok, while Elnor is in Tacloban, awaiting news about her visa.   

1. Please pray for the finalization of both Nila and Elnor’s visas.

2. Pray for them to find a good Thai language teacher, and to be able to understand the Thai culture and language.

Click Photo to Enlarge

Pastor Haligado Introduces New Members

Romulo Gives a Testimony

Nila and Elnor

Missionary Team Training

Missionary Commissioning

Hospital Summit

On May 12-15, leaders from the 4 hospitals started by ABWE (our mission board) in the Philippines met in Leyte Baptist hospital for their third Inter-Misson summit. Dr. Allan Mellicor gave an excellent message concerning the spiritual leadership side of hospital management. Dr. Ruth Ascuncion reported on how God challenged her family towards planting a church, and reported on Bethel’s Excellent Customer Service program. We all laughed and clapped when the hospital staff sang their Customer Service jingle.

Dr. Evelyn Cortes shared on how God taught her humility and real care for patients. Jim gave a brief challenge to unity in the task of missions, summarized the history of ABWE missions in the Philippines, and gave a proposal for future partnership.  

Filipino Christian doctors and nurses are serving in mission hospitals all over the world, bringing the care and love of Christ to the hurting.  Please pray for God to send out more medical missionaries from the Philippines.  

Hospital Summit

Jim at Hospital Summit

Opening of Bible Study at TESDA

Last night, Allene and I visited the TESDA Technical school, north of Tacloban City.  One of the teachers there visited our church in Tacloban a few months ago, and later invited us to consider starting a Bible Class for the students. When we arrived, the dorm administrator gathered 50 students to hear our presentation of the Bible Class. They were very curious, and enthusiastically participated as we sang "Who am I" and other Christian songs. Please Pray for students to attend this class, which will be held off-campus. Pray for us and our student partners, Lovelyn and Joshua, as we share the gospel with these students.

Carrying the Light,

Jim and Allene Latzko