The last time I (Mark) was in the Philippines was December 2019 and I was rushing to Manila to find refuge during the super typhoon that was barreling towards shore at catastrophic levels. After a few days the storm passed, leaving devastation and destruction in its path. Homes were demolished, the church I had just spoken in (Pastor Edwin's church) literally blew over, livelihoods were wiped out, and lives were lost. Thankfully the local churches were resilient and we immediately mobilized to provide relief and refuge, reminding us all again that the local church truly is the hope of the world.
Little did we know that just a month or two later, not only were there more super typhoons but COVID-19 had begun to spread and take lives around the globe. Right off the bat, the Philippines shut down and imposed strict rules to stay at home, which was great in some ways but also caused a lot of food and job insecurity for the communities we work in. Families got hit hard from all angles and struggled to keep their heads up because waves of turmoil came both with the pandemic and literal storm after storm.
In the midst of the hardship & pain, the local church brought hope and healing! In partnership with you and other generous individual donors, and the dozens of churches Pastor Edwin has mobilized, Mosaic has been blessed to play a role in helping provide tens of thousands of meals, repair hundreds of homes, get life changing solar lights into tons of homes, build a preschool, improve an after school center, build a mission house + relief base, purchase property to build another community center, and more.
The Philippines have remained closed … but not long ago they opened up! And since we value family ministry so much, we have decided to go together! We leave in less than 2 weeks now, on April 25th. It's going to be a truly special time of ministry as a family where we can love on the many families we have been investing in for 5 years now.
What type of ministry activities we will be doing:
We are flying to Manila then going to visit the Dream Center (church, mission house, student center, etc) near Mayon Volcano where we'll celebrate the church's 4 year anniversary, do baptisms, and more; then fly to Palawan where we have been partnering with a very remote tribe in the mountains to help them strategize future development and discipleship goals; go back to the mainland to visit the land we bought in Pangasinan in partnership with several local churches to talk about developing it into another Dream Center; and we'll spend a day or two in Manila in between the shorter flights (Manila is the capital of the Philippines with a population of roughly 112 million people). Lots of exposure to a variety of churches, communities, and causes - from extremely urban to extremely rural and everything in between. All in 2 weeks. All for Jesus.
So how can you get involved?
Pray.
Pray for safe travels for our family, plus there are a LOT of hoops to jump through still to make traveling to the Philippines possible right now. Pray for the churches we work with. Pray for Edwin & Jo Dueñas as they plan out the logistics for all of us. And pray for God to be glorified as we gather together to make disciples of all nations.
Give.
None of the amazing stories of impact we've shared over the years would be possible without incredibly faithful, generous givers willing to sow into what God's doing. This time we are raising between $9k-$10k altogether for all the costs and outreaches listed above.
There's a photo below with giving levels. As you may know from the past, we use this chart to help when there's a huge project, and this is a big one. Notice that the more you give, the more you receive! This time around I added a bonus on the diamond level that we'll pay for internet for one month at the student center on your behalf, which is about $100. That alone with help about 50 kids have daily access to free internet & printing - something that ends up being totally priceless when their educations immediately improve as a result.
Send this to someone you think may be interested in supporting thousands of lives all over the Philippines through Mosaic International!
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