SEVEN years ago I came to Payatas to marry my wife. I didn’t know at the same time I would also be united with the people there.

I saw poverty and little children begging and “working the trash” to see what valuables they could extract to help feed their families.

Payatas is a place of commitment. Men, women and children work hard at anything and everything they can, as they are committed to see their families survive.

When I saw all these, the Holy Spirit impressed upon me that I would be returning to do what He tells me so people will be saved. Seven years later on July 21, 2006 I landed at Manila airport and I returned to Payatas which seemed worse than before.

Many Filipinos themselves have never heard of this place. Suffice it to say that it is the land where all the garbage from Manila gets dumped. It is a place of perpetual smell from the garbage or from the fires made to burn the insulation off the wire to be sold or just the black smoke that continually belches from the garbage trucks and other vehicles here.

The quality of life has escaped this place.

I started preaching in the local homes and in November we were able to acquire a small building for a Church. People are getting saved, lives are getting changed and our God is getting the glory. We are growing and God has allowed us in the six months we have been in this building to have a clothes and toys distribution, two movie showings of a film about the life of Jesus which netted over 700 people… Seventy-five of them professed salvation. We, through our supporters are going to send 22 children to camp in Laguna at the end of May and we also have the materials and staff in place to hold a Vacation Bible School for 90 children.

I am writing all these with the hope that some of you will visit this place and see the work. Perhaps you have people in your Church who would like to be involved in missions work such as witnessing or teaching. There are so many opportunities for service here and we are limited in number.