One day I went to Church and found a cat, (just slightly more than a kitten) on our doorstep.

It looked sad and hungry so I bought a can of tuna and it started a close relationship between him and I.

Everyday I would come to Church and he would wait for me and I would bring him in and feed him. Even after he was full, he would rub against my legs to show his appreciation.

Today I came and he was not there. The guard said he found him dead. It broke my heart.

Wherever you believe animals go when they die, I know he is not in any pain. The pain now belongs to me.

God has shown me that if we can be saddened by the death of a pet, (by the way, I couldn’t even pet him as I am severely allergic) how much more should our compassion be for the lost.

There have been many ‘saved’ through our ministry only to disappear without a trace and it saddens me that I don’t know where and how they are.

I am also reminded that even though our first priority is to preach the Gospel, if we don’t help those in their need, we will never be able to show them that we really love them and never have that bond.

October, as has been all our months, has been a busy one. We had our second men’s fellowship which increased from last month (6 people) to twenty five in attendance. A great time of fellowship was had by all as well as reinforcing the fact that we can do nothing without Him.

The ladies also had another good fellowship meeting but hey, you expect it from the ladies! 🙂

We had volunteers paint the lower portion of the downstairs walls, the bathroom and make a drop down table in preparation for our Anniversary celebration this Sunday, Nov. 4th, 2007.

This is the one year anniversary of our ‘legal’ incorporation of our Church.

We wanted to give out commemorative mugs. It was 2,500 pesos for 50. We made a down payment of 1000p but on Sunday we still did not have the other 1,500p ($30 u.s.) God sent a lady from the first Filipino Baptist Church in Bayonne to visit us and she provided the money we needed for our mugs.

We prayed for someone (qualified) to take over the Children’s Sunday school and one of the members of our Church is a former principal of a Christian school. She took the challenge and our Sunday school is growing again! Praise God!

We gave out 500 tracts last Saturday as our focus on spreading the Gospel widens. We are also spending time following up those who came to the medical mission we had last July. We have about 300+ leads and we are systematically going through each one.

I was honored to be the closing speaker at the San Mateo Bible Baptist Church’s first world mission’s conference. There were many decisions for Christian service. Two of our children went forward to attend Bible College and one of our men went forward to become a Pastor. God is doing a work here that won’t stop.

I have finished updating our Church video presentation. I call it the year in review. It has all the things that God has done since we arrived. I found out that a friend of mine knows how to turn it from a PowerPoint to a flash presentation and also put music to it and just make it more viewer friendly, so he is doing that now. I will hopefully, be able to send out copies to everyone with the next newsletter.

Our Church just sent a delegation to have VBS training again this year and we received approximately $350 worth of materials for free. This year we are getting about a eight month jump on VBS so it can be more exciting and effective than last year. (If that is possible)

On the home front, Malou had her cell phone snatched as she was sitting in a jeepney. Someone reached through the window and grabbed it out of her hand. That was a gift which cost about $70 so it will be a long time before she gets another one. Malou is doing well as she is my source of (human) strength when I get down. She is very active in the Church and in her spare time washes clothes by hand with a scruboard, tends to the chores of the house and raises two great little girls. Please pray for my wife. She is such a blessing to me.

Laura is almost finished with her 2nd Grade studies and will soon be going into the third grade. She is five years old! She is doing so well and I am so proud of her. She and I discuss the scriptures she reads every morning. She is teaching me a lot! 🙂 I will need to order her new materials. Although they are ‘free’ there is a $50 registration fee + shipping of the materials. If anyone would care to donate towards her education, please mark the memo of the check as such.

Linda is slowly being able to eat things she could not eat due to the allergies. Fried chicken with batter is okay now and she eats like a trooper. She is such a smart baby but I guess all parents say that about their children eh?

Please pray for our finances. In September we received only $310 for the month. October has been almost as bad. I know God will sustain us but it is still difficult to have to work like this. Pray that we are able to buy the food for the anniversary.

On Dec 8th, we along with a corporate sponsor, Proview Global Corp., will feed, have games, give presents and present the Gospel to 500 children in Payatas at the covered basketball court. Please pray for the success of that event and pray that we are able to afford to buy something that each child can keep or bring home for the family containing the gospel. Let us know if you have some CHEAP ideas.

We pray that you are all well and serving Him the way He would have you to serve Him. We also want you to know that we appreciate those who have been such a blessing to us. This ministry is your gold and silver and it will not burn!

By His Grace,

Pastor Jack Wilson
pastorjack@payatasbaptistchurch.org