Philippines Update May 12, 2013

It is now a full 30 days I have been away from home. I must admit that I am getting very homesick. I have been in the Philippines for 10 days now and have stayed somewhat busy, but not overly taxed. After travel throughout India I needed some downtime; MY BODY LET ME KNOW THIS VERY CLEARLY. I started in Davao and stayed with some friends in their apartment. It was hot, but they made me as comfortable as possible. Every day it hit iIn the mid 90’s and it was always humid. With no Air-conditioning the fans sure felt good. My body was weak from the travel and extreme heat in India. I had also a touch of having parasites or amebas in my intestines. I think we are past that now. All in all it is just tiredness I am fighting regularly.

While I was in Davao I was able to meet several times with our feeding personal and the children. Please pray for increased giving as our giving has slowed way down. I also spoke to leaders and pastors and visited in their home. All in all it was a pleasant stay in Davao.

I am currently in General Santos City. I am staying with Spencer and Sally Tolson. This couple has been such a blessing to me and really defines the word friend; I am blessed to have several relationships here and of course at home which define the word friendship. Spencer has kept me busy. Last night I spoke to a church youth group. We had about 50 young people there. It was a joy to see them in worship and also doing drama. When I finished speaking, they all came to the front for a touch from the Lord. It was exciting to see as the Holy Spirit reached out and touched and healed many of these young ones.

I was able to put in the hands of one of the Pastors a Shepherds Staff training manual for leaders. He was so excited to receive it as he had one before but lent it out, never to receive it again. He was telling us of how he was going to use it to disciple His young leaders to equip them to go and plant churches. This morning I met with about 15 businessmen to discuss the role of the business owner in the kingdom of GOD. I used the example of Joseph and his position of administrator over Egypt. I was encouraging them to become a Joseph business person; an Apostle in the workforce, who are there as the provision of blessing to many. The message was well received and the response was also very good. This afternoon I began to personally teach some young men to become church planters. These are but the first seed of many who follow. I will meet with them every day the next 15 days and then teach them from Skype. They will obtain each of them 5 more men for themselves to teach. Each of these men when completing the course will take a Shepherd’s Staff training manual and repeat the process. They will each also begin a church in their local areas in a home or local building they can use. It is our goal to see seven thousand churches planted over the next 10 years between India and the Philippines. If you would like to help this happen, just request from us information on how you can be included. We will send you the information you need. These are exciting days before us. As we see the day of Lord approaching we must increase our reaching out with the Gospel for the salvation of all those who may be lost. Especially to those who are in marginal situations or anti-Christian nations. The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. We can change that, and it is our goal to do so.

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day and I want to take time to thank the Lord for my mother, who is 88 years old. My mother is a great blessing to me. I love her deeply and know that it is her prayers that have sustained me and my other 6 siblings. Love you mom. I also want to thank the Lord for the Mother of my children, my wife Janet. Love you Jan. That is all for now as I am waiting for our tea to arrive. They begin to come in Monday, and all should be here by Wednesday the 15th. Then we have ten ministry filled days planned ahead of us.

Thanks for reading, David Roach