PLEASE PRAY

Dear Friends and Family,

We would like to ask you to be praying for Carlos and Fernando. They are the brothers that we hosted in 2007, and are orphans here in the Philippines. Last night they ran away from their orphanage apparently headed for our place. But they have been gone now for over twenty four hours, and we are quite sure they would not be able to find our place on their own. Please Pray that the Lord would be their shelter and their light. It is raining tonight so we are praying that they will find a place to stay dry. Lord willing they will either find their way to our place or back to the orphanage. Thank you for your prayers they are much appreciated.

In His Service,

Justin and Erin McDonald

We're Back

Hey everybody sorry for such a long time between posts.  Despite our two month absence from school, we have some how managed not to forget everything.  Slowly but surely we are making progress in our Tagalog studies.  Currently we have class three times per week.  We are grateful for amazing teachers who encourage us even when we feel like we're moving backwards.  We would greatly appreciate your prayers as we continue to study the language.

The study at our condo continues every Tuesday and the group is finally starting to grow.  A few older children from our building started attending two weeks ago.  Erin is currently teaching through the book of Exodus.  

Depending upon the weather we also teach the study for the homeless at Luneta Park.   When it rains there's no where to hide, so unfortunately we have to cancel on rainy days.  We are plugging away at the book of Matthew.  Also please remember to pray for our dear friends and fellow workers Rowell and Joy as they move to the province to pastor a church.  Rowell is a great friend and also our translator for the Luneta study.  God has called him and his family to pastor a church in Montalban, and though we are sad to see him go, we know that the Lord has a plan for them at their new church.  Also please continue to pray that the hearts of the people would be open to the message of Christ.   

Last but not least we are grateful to the Lord for our new friends, Mike, Susanna, and little Max, who recently moved to the Philippines from the U.S.  They are missionaries working with Pioneers.  This week we have been helping them paint and move into their new home.  It is great some have new friends.  

God has continued to prove faithful, and we are privileged to be here serving him in the Philippines.  We would again like to thank you our faithful friends, prayer warriors and financial supporters, who make this work possible.

In His Service,

Justin and Erin McDonald

Home At Last

After fifteen hours of travel we arrived in the Philippines in the early evening.  Our friends were waiting with the church van and we packed in our boxes and luggage and headed for home.  Nothing had changed the humidity was still 1000% and the traffic as crazy as usual, nonetheless it was good to be back.  We began to unpack a few things before heading to bed, we would be leaving the following night for the island.  After little sleep we woke up continued unpacking and then tried to sleep again.  We were about to  endure a ten hour bus ride, and needed all the rest we could get.  The would be ten hour ride turned into fifteen, and we were ready for more sleep.  Not sure if it was jet or bus lag, but we were drained.  As luck would have it, the rain was coming down in buckets just in time for or hour long boat ride to the island.  We would spend the next two weeks on the island working both kids camp and youth camp.  We mostly helped out with, the preparation and decorations for Children’s Camp.  The teachers were some of the youth, that would be attending next weeks camp.  The youth did an amazing job, the boys did most of the set up and goofing around, and the girls did all of the teaching and devotions.  Praise God for such devoted youth.  

For youth camp we had the opportunity to be camp counselors.  We had a great time with our groups sharing about our Giants.  The theme of the camp was “Facing the Giants”.  I also had the opportunity to teach a session on The Conquest of Jericho, where God through the faith of the people pulled down the Giant wall.  It was amazing as we sat and listened while the youth shared about the giants they were facing.  Many of them have been facing persecution from their Catholic teachers, their neighbors and even their families.  I thought for a while about persecution, and realized how blessed we are in the U.S. to be virtually free from persecution.  Aside from the occasional snide remark, when was the last time any of us encountered anything like this.  One man even tried to light a Sunday School  room on fire, that was filled with 80 children.  I was encouraged to pray for them and lift them up to the Lord as they struggle not only with the common struggles that youth face, but with the harsh reality that the enemy does not want to see them succeed.  We were unable to stay for the entire camp, because we had to travel back to Manila to renew our Visas, but praise God for the opportunity he gave us to serve him and the children over the past two weeks.

Now we are back on Manila, and back to the daily grind.  We will resume our Tagalog classes this afternoon, and are anxious to continue learning this new language.  Please pray for us as we continue to study the language, and as we continue to live our lives to his Glory, making the most of the opportunities he presents us with.

In His Service,

Justin and Erin McDonald   

Honey We're Home

We finally made it home this past Saturday night at around 8:30pm. After 16 hours and 45 minutes of travelling we were ready to see those gleaming lights of LAX our the window. Though it seemed to take forever for our bags to arrive at the baggage claim, we had finally made it. It is nice to be cold again and the heated showers are amazing. Oh how a trip overseas changes your perspective. We are so blessed to live in the United States, and though it surely has it's problems it always nice to be home. Heaven though will be so much greater. Before leaving I shared a devotion with my bible study in the park about the trials and hardship we face in this world, but that we have a hope in Christ that one day we will be together with him. Philippians 3:21+21 says: "For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." Though it is nice to be back to spend time with our family and friends, we rejoice in the fact that though this may be our earthly home, Our heavenly home will be so much better. We hope to see many of you while we are here in the states and would like to thank you all for the opportunity that you afford us to serve the Lord full time in the Philippines.

In His Service,
Justin and Erin McDonald