Thank-you very much for praying for our camp this week. Several times we sensed the power and presence of God. The speakers taught the Word of God with clarity, conviction and power and several kids testified they turned from sin and trusted Christ as Savior.

The volunteer staff from three churches and three agencies served the campers and each other in love with great joy because they enjoy our camping ministry and their fellowship with each other as well as see fruit produced. Several former street kids served with us who are living examples of the power of the gospel to change the course of one's life if Jesus Christ is followed, kids get off the streets, join a church and submit to discipleship training.

The camp theme was "Let Your Light Shine" with 2 Corinthians 4:6 as the key verse. We had 46 campers who all had a good time eating lots of nutritious food, learning a lot through team building activities, sports, getting caught up on sleep, making new friends, singing and studying the Bible in chapel sessions, small group discussions as well as cabin devotions. Now the campers will be followed up by their recruiters. Many will worship tomorrow with their friends with one or two placed in child caring ministries as soon as possible due to their difficult situations.

At each camp I'm struck with the lostness, confusion, hurt, fear, neglect and deprivation of street kids. They're hungry for love, guidance, direction and hope. When camp starts the kids are hard to deal with but by the second day they settle down realizing that camp is wholesome fun and God will change their lives if they'll give their lives to Him.

John 10:10 was a verse I personally prayed for the campers several times. Working at camp makes Jesus' teaching in this verse very plain.

To God be the glory!

A dear friend of mine, Lynn Stapleton, has put together a book for assisting Bible school and seminary students with English vocabulary words used in the Bible. She desires for this to be a tool to help students with limited English skills to study the Bible effectively. As long as I have known Lynn, she has been a student of God's Word. We have studies many books of the Bible together. It is great to be back in the Bible study with Lynn and 3 other ladies. They are finishing up the book of Leviticus so I have a lot of catch up to do :-). You can download this tool on our "Favorite Links" page

Next week, Tuesday-Friday, we have an evangelistic camp for street kids from Pasay, Las Pinas, Navotas and Manila. Here are a few prayer items which our team desires you to bring to the Lord:

1. 50-60 boys and girls are expected to attend so pray that the kids the Lord wants to attend will attend. Usually the few days before camp there's a tough spiritual battle for the hearts and minds of campers trying to keep them from attending.

2. pray for the workers who'll serve at camp that they'll prepare well and be ready to minister when they arrive at camp.

3. pray for the participating churches and agencies that they'll be ready to receive campers after camp who are ready to get off the streets.

4. pray that campers will turn from their sin and trust Christ as Savior.

Camps are fruitful because our God is in-charge, His people around the world pray as well as give, those who work at camp do so in such a way that campers see Christ through our unity and loving service and the messages clearly point people to Jesus. We are dependent upon the Holy Spirit to produce fruit which glorifies God and blesses people because if we do this in our own effort this is just another good activity which we don't want. We want to see Jesus glorified in our midst and kids delivered from darkness, translated into the Kingdom of Light and released from the mean streets of Metro Manila!

This is the name of a one-day conference that ACTION and CGM sponsored today and again tomorrow. It's being taught by a retired pastor from the States who's certainly a shepherd to younger pastors with much to teach from the Scriptures and life. Today's conference was attended by about 50 men and we had a rich time learning, eating and praying together.

Our teacher brought with him two young men from his church with the intention of encouraging them in their walk with the Lord and to give them some cross-cultural exposure. The two guys helped today in setting up the conference room and served as called upon. Tomorrow they'll join our street children ministry team on an outreach to kids at a major fish port who survive buy working in the market and the streets. They'll definitely be out of their comfort zone and be stretched but they're up to the challenge.

Mary Ann and I arrived late last night in Manila after good flights from MSP. We met our dear long-time co-workers, Paul and Pat, at Narita and went home together since they live near our place.

We got to sleep at 1am and got up around 4:30. I went running at 5 and now we're working in our home office, putting stuff away and preparing for Tracy's arrival this afternoon. Tracy is coming to do her six week internship to complete her linguistics degree at Moody Bible Institute and is a member of Bethleham Baptist Church in Minneapolis we so we're looking to having her with us. While we were in MN we had Tracy and her MBI roommate Erin over for meals twice. Erin did her MBI internship with us last year and both women are quality people. Mary Ann will be Tracy's mentor.

It's good to be back.

The send-off yesterday for Micah's medi-vac unit--C company--was very nice. I am proud of the soldiers and their families for their sacrifice and professionalism. Micah was publicly promoted to staff sergeant which she didn't know was going to happen until just before the program began so she's now the highest ranking female in her unit. Today they leave for Ft. Sill in OK for more training then overseas.

John Mark returns to LA today to resume his work with autistic children as a teachers' aid and wait on the Lord for His clear guidance with the LAPD or US Coast Guard. It's been wonderful to have him with us this past month because he's a godly guy, polite, easy going and easy to host.

Now Mary Ann and I need to prepare our stuff and heads for our return to Manila next Monday. Going back to our team makes our return easier but saying good-bye going either direction does not get easier. Pray for us please.