Manila Monthly: A Praying Community October 2018 It’s been just over a month and a half now since I arrived back in the Philippines after two months in the US over the summer. The transition back has been great. Land Rights and Land Reform (Land Rights Meeting)  Soon after arriving I had the chance to attend a seminar on land rights, led by two of my mentors (Viv Grigg and Raineer Chu). It was a great conversation between Christians from all over the world who are working on, and advocating for, justice related to land rights and land reform. This is a relevant issue for us in Manila because in many of the communities in which we work people don’t have the rights or title to their land, leaving them with the constant risk of their homes being demolished and their families being moved out of their community. During the seminar we discussed various responses to the issues surrounding land rights, as well as various contexts depending on the country, and whether the Christians are working in rural or urban areas.

A Praying Community I continue to be busy with our church planting ministry, and all that goes along with that. One thing that I’ve especially appreciated over the past month is all of our intentional times of prayer. During the last 6 years of being involved in Companion With the Poor, I’ve found that what fuels our work the most is prayer. This starts with our times of prayer and devotions on an individual and family (or roommate) level, builds momentum through our prayers in teams of 3-4 missionaries and 3-4 leaders from our partner churches, and then grows even more through our prayer retreats three times a year. At these prayer retreats over 50 people from all over Metro-Manila gather together to pray over a long weekend. For my team in Cavite, we have been blessed with a partner church that is fervent in prayer and connects that prayer to a life of mission and outreach to their surrounding communities (at this point they have over 25 total outreach areas/churches!). The experience I’ve had in prayer here reminds me that we are more than a mission organization -- we are best described as “a community journeying with Jesus in prayer among the poor.” (Prayer Day with our CWTP South Missionaries) (Prayer Day in our area with our CWTP Pugad Ibon Team and Partner Pastor)

A Few Highlights and Prayers Finally, here are a few other highlights in my ministry for which I covet your prayers! We held our first worship service on October 7th in Pugad Ibon, with 25 adults and 25 children. This was a big step for us after six months of developing Bible studies and doing other outreach ministries (GED type program, economic development program, etc.). Please pray that the adults and children attending the Bible studies and worship service would continue to grow in their faith and relationship with the Lord! (First Worship in our area in Pugad Ibon) (First Sunday School in our area in Pugad Ibon) (Bible study in our area) We continue to have visitors come through to visit our ministry and journey with us on a regular basis. We had a couple from my church in Illinois visit us this past month, and have groups scheduled for the next five months starting in December! If you ever get a chance to visit, we’d love to host you, whether for a day, a week, or a whole year! (Friends Greg and Gina Healy, visiting us from Springfield, Illinois) Last month I also celebrated my 34th birthday with friends and co-workers! I continue to be humbled and thankful for each year of life, and I look forward to what God has in store in the year ahead! (Celebrating Birthday with former host brother, Jason Besmonte!) (Celebrating Birthday at our CWTP Office!) Back in Illinois, my parents had a chance to attend a church conference with a great line up of speakers, including Shane Claiborne, Sharon Koh, David Fitch, and Tony Campolo! Needless to say, I was quite jealous as each of these pastors and people of faith have made a big impact on my faith over the years! (My mom with Shane Claiborne!) If you haven't seen them already, we have three new videos about our ministry, Companion With the Poor. You can see the videos on Youtube when you click on the following - Church Planting Ministry, Story of CWTP, Current Building Project.