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The Bicol Bulletin
Volume 2, Issue 1 - January - March 2004
"Reaching
Out... 'in Jerusalem'" by Wade Allen
Many people have asked me, “Who are you targeting for
ministry?” When asked, I usually look at the person in confusion and say, “Well,
[long pause] I guess you could say that we are ‘targeting’ people—friends,
neighbors, people around town that we see all the time, etc. Basically, we are
‘targeting’ the people who God is putting in our path on a day to day basis!”
And wow, God is faithful to bring people into your path on a regular basis!
We have now officially completed our first year of language training and are
beginning to transition into active church planting ministry. We have begun this
process, we believe, in the same manner in which Jesus encouraged His disciples
to begin their church planting ministry—at home! We are delighted that we have
been able to develop many new relationships among our neighbors and local
community. The Christmas party for our neighborhood kids was a great success. We
had about 50 kids who came! We played games with them and shared the true
meaning of Christmas. Since then, the kids up the street have been coming every
week to play in our yard and play basketball. Because of one of these
relationships, Joanna had a unique opportunity.
She writes, “A few weeks ago one of the girls down the street brought me a
‘support letter’ for the school choir to participate in a children's choral
festival held at the mall. Anyway, I returned it with a few pesos and a letter
to the music teacher explaining my situation and offering to help in anyway that
I could. I also told her that I would be at the contest and looked forward to
hearing her choir. Well, the night before the contest, she sent me a text
message saying that the contest had been postponed a day and because of that,
her accompanist was unable to play for them. She asked me if there was any way I
could play for them. (Realize, this was a competition of Filipino folk music, of
which I knew none!) I ended up going to the school for a couple of hours the
next morning and after spending a little time with the choir and the music,
agreed to play for them the next day. Anyway, I had quite a bit of time to visit
with the music teacher and a few other teachers, most of which live in our own
neighborhood. I am praying that the Lord will use these contacts in whatever way
He sees fit. Who knows what He has in store?!”
We are eager to see what God has in store for us and the ministry here! We are
seeking God’s will in where to start new Bible studies. We have several
possibilities at this time, but we are waiting for God to open the door! Please
pray for the following areas where we hope to begin new Bible studies: Barriada,
Gogon, Old Albay, and Santo Domingo.
"First New Believer in Legazpi" by Wade Allen
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Do you believe in the power of prayer? You probably
answered, “Of course I do!” I do too, but isn’t it nice when God decides to
remind us in remarkable ways! My heart has really been burdened for some of
our friends who need to know Christ. Not too long ago, I sent out an email
to a few prayer partners who had written to me. In that email, I included
the names of some of our friends who need to trust in Christ as their
Savior. Nueca was the first friend that we named in that email! The email
was sent on Saturday, and Nueca was saved the next day! Praise the Lord!
Roger, Nueca’s husband, has been working as my language assistant since
March of 2003. Roger has been a member of First Missionary Baptist Church of
Bulan, Sorsogon, for many years. Roger and I have been translating the
Evangelism and Discipleship modules of the Church Planting Model into
Tagalog, so each day, we sit and discuss all the details of the material.
Well, one rainy, Sunday morning, early in March, Bong and Nueca were on
their way to our house for Bible study. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew the
rain sideways, completely soaking them. They were so wet that they had to
return home to change clothes. Roger called me to tell me what had happened.
I suggested to him that he and Nueca should just stay there and have a Bible
study together. I said, “You remember the study we translated on Jesus and
Nicodemus. Why don’t you share that with her?” The next day, we received
tremendous news. Roger led his wife to the Lord as he led his first
evangelistic Bible study!
What a remarkable sight to see his face that next day! My, how God works in
such amazingly perfect ways! Pray for Nueca in her spiritual growth as a new
born believer in Christ!
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"Awana Clubs in the Philippines" by
Joanna Allen
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Before we came to the Philippines, Wade and I were both
involved in AWANA Clubs, both at Antioch Baptist Church in Conway, Arkansas,
and Sheridan Terrace Baptist Church in Palestine, Texas. We knew that if the
Lord opened the doors, we wanted to use AWANA in a church plant here in the
Philippines. During the meantime, we’ve just been doing the handbooks with
our daughter, Carly. Another missionary family wanted to join us and so each
Thursday afternoon we have Sparks with our 3 girls.
A couple of weeks ago, we had a chance to visit a church about two hours
north of us and observe their AWANA program. It was pretty much as we
expected—similar to other international clubs we have seen before. The kids
learn the same verses, just the awards and uniforms and club names are a
little different.
We are now in the process of contacting the AWANA Philippines Headquarters
in Manila in order to apply for a charter. Please pray for the Lord’s will
to be done in this situation. Since we are not officially a “church” yet,
we’re not sure how all of this will work. However, we do feel the Lord
leading us this way and we do have a neighborhood full of kids that need to
hear and understand the Gospel.
We are hoping to start our AWANA with the opening of the new school year
here, which is the first of June.
If your church has an AWANA program that would be interested in helping to
sponsor ours, please contact us at
wade@filipinomissions.org or
joanna@filipinomissions.org.
Please pray for God to open doors for us to start an AWANA program here in
Legazpi City. Please pray for many kids to be reached through the program.
Please pray for the financial needs of starting a program. Please pray for
the Lord to provide more workers for AWANA.
Our prayer is that God would open the doors to one day have many AWANA
programs in our BMAP churches!
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"Caleb Speaks..." by Wade Allen
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When my three
year old son talks, you never know what he will say next. He is a people
pleaser, and nothing brings him greater joy than to make someone laugh! The
good news is that he is funny!
One day I caught him sitting in the floor of my bathroom with my guitar and
hymnal. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, “I’m just praising the
Lord!” I said, “OK!”
Every school
day, we begin with Bible class for the whole family. Carly has Bible verses
that she memorizes for class. Not long ago, Carly was learning Proverbs
3:5-6. Caleb wanted to say it as well, so he stood up with a smile on his
face and proclaimed, “Trust in the Lord with all your parts!” He was so
proud. He had said the verse and gotten us to all laugh at the same time.
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"Help! I Can't Language Anymore" by Wade Allen
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Everyday of my
life seems to be an exercise in language learning. Whether I am at home or
out in the community, every conversation requires extra care and attention.
Living in a culture where English is commonly used but usually not the first
language of the speakers requires patience. We often use the same
terminology as one another, but many times it means something completely
different! For example, if you ask, “Are you not going?” A Filipino would
say, “Yes!” to mean that he is NOT going. This is perfectly logical seeing
as they are agreeing— “Yes, I will not be going!” It can, however be quite
confusing! The cases of miscommunication are endless. Everyday a new
situation seems to arise. Last week, I was in a marriage counseling session
with a couple. In these situations, we use Tag-lish, which is a combination
of English and Tagalog. Toward the end of our session, the young lady
exclaimed, “I cannot language anymore!” I told her that I understood her
feelings more than she realized!
We are, however, very excited to be steadily translating the Church Planting
Model into the Tagalog language. These translated materials are proving to
be very effective among our Tagalog church planters! Please pray for us as
we are endeavoring to complete this project, because there are some days
when we want to scream, “Help! We can’t language anymore!”
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Coming Events
 | April 2 — Evangelistic Film
Outreach - Legazpi, Albay |
| April 6-10 — Bicol Church
Planter Training - Irosin, Sorsogon |
| April 12–16 — National Youth
Camp - Bacolod City, Negros Occidental |
| April 19—23 — Bicol Youth Camp
- Bulan, Sorsogon |
| May 10 –14 — Central Luzon Youth Camp -
Quezon City, Metro Manila |
| May 17—21 — Vacation Bible School - Legazpi ,
Albay |
| TBA — Central Luzon Church Planter Training -
Quezon City, Metro Manila
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Special Points of Interest
| The Magayon Festival is a month long festival celebrated by all 17
municipalities in Albay during the month of May. Highlights include: parades
and street dancing, beauty pageants, sports events, and arts exhibits. |
| Magayon is the Bicol word which means “beautiful.” It is also the Bicolano
name for our famous volcano, Mount Mayon. |
Prayer Concerns
Please pray for:
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Follow up from the Jesus Film Outreach with evangelistic Bible studies in the
homes of friends. |
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Safe travel to camps and CPM training. |
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Perseverance in the continuation of language learning and translation of
Church Planting Model. |
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The salvation of our daughter, Carly. |
Thank God for:
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Lost souls coming to know Christ. |
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More than 80 people who came to our house to watch the Jesus Film! |
For More Information Contact:
BMAA Missions in the Philippines
PO Box 30910, Little Rock, Arkansas 72260-0016 USA
Tel: 501-455-4977
FAX: 501-455-3636
Internet: www.bmaam.com
E-mail:
wade@filipinomissions.org
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