One Enchanted Evening ...

Well, what a lovely night Mary & I have just had. It is very, very rare that we ever get out on a 'date night', but tonight sure was different!

We left the kids with Aunty Vivien & Aunty Jackie, and away we went to our destination. When we arrived, we noticed many people were there. All were dressed in lovely clothes - mainly white. They all seemed to be so happy. A brass band was playing nice music - slow waltzes one minute and the quickstep the next. We went inside the main room and there were so many people talking, laughing and obviously happy to be there. Kids were running around with balloons and plates of beautiful food were being passed around. Some people were playing board games - scrabble and Uno seemed to be most popular - although chess was also to be seen. Young people were impersonating Elvis with a guitar in the corner. In the next room many people were eating together and the menu was extensive - pansit, adobo, various chicken dishes, many pork dishes - and the fruit was in abundance. Everyone was happy and Mary and I caught up with some old friends.

Where were we? Guess? Come on. The cinema? No. A Party? No. A church event? No. A restaurant? No.

No, No, No. Actually, I'd better tell you as you will never guess. We were at a FUNERAL WAKE for an old lady whose daughter we have only met once but who is very friendly with a friend of ours. Got it?

Mary & I had to walk up to the body of this old lady we had never even met and whose name we could not pronounce. We had to talk to her and say how lovely it was to be there. We gave our words of respect and then we prayed for the family.

You see, Filipinos have a different way of dealing with death and dying. We Brits are quiet, respectful, solemn. You would never ever dream of going to the house of your newly deceased Great Uncle Charlie and getting the Monopoly or Twister out accompanied by a few of the youth singing and playing the guitar! In one home, I saw the wife of the dead husband playing Uno on the lid of her husbands coffin. She laughed and said to him, "You cheated all your life at cards, but you can't cheat now!" I almost swallowed my banana!

Here, death is just a part of life. They really celebrate the life of the person who died. Tonight, there was a Karaoke machine there being played in the corner! This is a family time. A time to catch up with fiends. A time to laugh with people they had not seen ... well, since the last funeral! A time to eat good food and talk about many things. A time to remember all the good times they had with their deceased.

They had been there for 7 days and this was the last night. None of the family or friends were going home tonight. There are people to 'accompany the dead' 24 hrs a day, until the person is buried.

These wakes takes a little bit of getting used to and it is difficult for us to take in. But ... it seems to be the only time when Mary & I get out together, so I can't wait until the next one!

Ritchie, Mark ... 37 Not Out!

Today, I celebrated my 37th year on planet earth! A long time ago, Mrs Mary Ritchie gave birth to a wee 6lb bundle (no jokes please). Birthday celebrations have come and gone - parties, fancy dress nights, Indian meals, Chinese Meals etc. etc. The Special Birthdays have fond memories - 10th, 16th, 21st, 30th ... but the rest are just a blend of food, friends, family & even more food!

But here in the Philippines, birthdays are BIG occasions. In fact, to us Brits, most celebrations here seem 'over the top'- Wedding Anniversaries, Engagement Anniversaries, Death Anniversaries, birthdays etc. They are really big on 'Dedications' - I have dedicated a horse, cars, houses, shops, tricycles, bikes, musical instruments - anything that moves can be dedicated! They even asked me to pray at the 'celebration' of a wife that separated from her husband one year before!! I think the reason for the OTT attitude here in the Philippines is because they have no social life as we know it. So any excuse to meet together is warmly embraced.

So ... here is my extra special 37th Birthday report from yesterday! To be honest, the day before was a terrible day. Things were going well until Vivien's bag was stolen from right under our noses in McDonalds. Couldn't believe it. We have been here 6 years with not even a peso being stolen, and poor Vivien lost all her money, bank cards, phone - everything. We all had a sickening and angry feeling in our stomachs. Guess what - one of the customers 'knew' who stole the money! So me, Vivien, Jonathan and Pastor James -along with the security guard from McDonalds! - staked out her house. So exciting. But ... it turned out to be the wrong house. The person who lived there was the principal of the local school and a well respected man!! OOopps.

All this detective work was far more exciting than planning all the stuff for church (joke), so I was up until all hours doing powerpoints etc. etc. So, at 4:45 AM, I could not believe it when Mary woke me up to say that there were heaps of people outside singing. It was some of the church folk (see above). They came, sang, prayed for me - and even had prepared breakfast! What a bunch. Sorry if I look a bit disheveled ... all that detective staking out is very emotional!!

At 7:30am I headed off to one of our churches - Cornerstone San Isidro. We had a wonderful time there. I preached about "The Church God will Bless" and many responded. At the end of the service they made a delicious merienda (snack) - rice cake, ube cake, pansit and tambo-tambong. MMMmmmm....

After that it was back to Santiago for the 2nd service at Cornerstone. I dedicated a beautiful baby boy called Kurt Iverson Bartido. The mother, Ivy, is a mum from our school - so Mary was so delighted that they see Cornerstone as their own church now. After the service ... another merienda! They gave balloons and made me blow out a cake with 37 candles. Took me forever! We all went to the home of baby Kurt for ... you guessed it .. more food! We rolled out of the house and into the car!

We had a wee dip in the small pool with Lydia, Josiah and all the Children's Home kids and in the evening we went out for dinner. What a day! It's so hard being so handsome, so popular and so humble!!!

Today, it's all over. No more hugs, kisses, congratulations or shoot outs. Normal food; normal routine; normal problems. But, hey ... now I'm 37! It feels completely different from 36 and I can't wait for 3 years time when I can really begin my life! They all say that life begins at 40 - I will let you know when I get there!


By the way, Happy Birthday to my brother Paul - 35 today. If anyone in the Fraserburgh area wants to go to his house at 4:45am and wake him up with extra loud singing, that would give me a TRULY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Promise Keeper

Here I am again! I wish I had the energy of some of our young people to get through this week! We finished Youth Camp yesterday - we had an excellent few days with the youth. You should have seen them as they praised and worshipped the Lord. Incredible. More about that soon! Yesterday we took Pastor Joe and his team down to Manila and today we saw them off to the airport. We drove back to Santiago and so here I am. It's almost midnight but I know I have to do this blog or I will be kicking myself all night!!

I want to share with you a wonderful story that is based upon an even more wonderful truth - GOD IS ABSOLUTELY FAITHFUL. When Mary & I came to the Philippines in 1999, to be honest I did not want to come. God ambushed us! My heart was set on going round churches in Scotland and building them up. After that, we would be going to Africa, thank you very much! The Philippines was the last place on earth I wanted to go! But we felt that God wanted us to come on a 'reckie trip' ... so we came.

After two days of being here, the Lord made it clear that this was the place that He wanted us to minister. This was the place that He had been preparing us for. When I was 22 years old, the Lord spoke clearly to me that I had to minister and serve under other men and learn from them. The Lord promised that if I was faithful in this, then when I was 30 years old He would open an incredible door of opportunity for me. At that time 8 years seemed a long way away, but I stayed faithful to the word of the Lord. I had a few opportunities to 'be my own man', but I knew it was not right.

We came to visit the Philippines in June 1999 - a week after my 30th Birthday! God IS SO FAITHFUL. On the night that we decided to commit ourselves to Sefton, God woke me up and showed me an open vision. A Vision of Fire! One of the things I saw so clearly was a Radio Station and the Lord said to me that one day we would have a Radio Station here. I saw someone speak into a microphone and people would listen to their radios and give their lives to the Lord as they listened to the words. I went around the churches in 2000 and claimed the promise that one day we would have a Radio Station at Sefton.


In 2003, the leaders of Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBA in UK) came to this area and expressed their desire to have a Radio Station here in Cagayan Valley. Something in my spirit clicked, and I knew the Lord was in it. I shared my vision with them and that was the start of the relationship between Sefton & FEBC.

To cut a long story short, we are planning to have the 'Cagayan Valley Missionary Radio Project' up and going by April 2007! It has the potential to reach millions of people and the whole purpose of the radio station is to reach the lost. We will start broadcasting in 6 languages, but our aim is to have 18 languages broadcast.

What an incredible story. What seems impossible with man ... is possible with God. I tell you this for a few reasons:

* What are God's promises to you? What has He said to you about your life, your plans?
* Whatever He has promised ... He will be absolutely faithful to you and to His word.
* No matter how unlikely it may be ... whetever God asks you to do, do it.
* Don't let anyone try and talk you out of a promise that God has given YOU.

My eyes are closing, my brain shut down 30 minutes ago, my fingers are typing in auto-pilot and ...

...ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz....

C'est La Vie ...

Sorry ... couldn't resist it! Funny eh?

Since my last blog, life has been a bit crazy. Many things are happening every day -good, bad and ugly - but the problem is that no sooner have I thought of what I am going to write .... when here comes something else!

Last weekend:
* On Friday, my friend Pastor Abe was taken to hospital in real pain. He has been in pain for a couple of months and last week he took some tests. It was found that he had a large stone in his galbladder, one side of his liver had shrank and most worrying, he had some sort of tumour in his urinary intestine. We were so worried but I just prayed for him before Manila .. believing that God could speak a miracle into the body of Pastor Abe.

* Our family all went to Manila on Friday afternoon - slightly exhausted!

* On Saturday I bought ALL the Christmas gifts for the kids in the Children's Home. We are not sure about what is going to happen so we thought we would get the gifts and tick another wee thing off our box. I'm a 'right wifie' according to Mary!

* We met our good friend Catherine Young and caught up on all the news.

* Lydia & I went to the airport on Sunday to pick up Mary's cousin Vivien, who is here until July. Lydia had her speech all ready with hugs and kisses in tow ... but when she saw her aunty Vivien she went into a state of shock and bewilderment! She didn't talk until we reached the hotel! After that, it was business as usual - jumping, skipping, kissing, hugging and bungee jumping off poor Vivien!

* We left Manila at 10pm and travelled 8 hrs through the night to Santiago. Everywhere you turned your head or arm in the car there was a bag with a gift in it poking you. Very uncomfortable.

* Arrived at 5am very sleepy. Desperately prayed for Lydia & Josiah to continue sleeping .. but they did not. Daddy & Mummy shattered ... kids jumping everywhere. Sigh.

* On Monday morning I had to attend meeting with FEBC Radio about our Radio Station that will begin in 2007. So exciting. Will share the news in another blog.

* Met Joe Ramayah and team from Malaysia - they are here to do our District Youth Camp. The theme is 'Dare to Dream' and there around 5-600 youth here. Sefton is very quiet .. NOT! They had done well - left Malaysia at 3am, flew to Manila, travelled by extremely fast van by my extremely mad driver friend! They arrived frayed at the edges but ready for action - what a night! Fantastic. To see these young people praise & worship was electric!

* Today I had another FEBC meeting followed by a SBTC School Board meeting all afternoon - so hot man (36 degrees)! We are planning our new 3 year course and things are going well.

* Pastor Abe had 2 operations, the last one being today. They removed a huge stone on Saturday and guess what? When they went to investigate his tumour ... IT HAD GONE! DISAPPEARED! The Doctor was amazed and took another ultrasound and x-ray. He said that where the tumour had been there was now a small scratch as if a finger had gently removed the tumour. We know who. More about this exciting testimony later on in the week.

So you can see why I have been struggling to get my blog done - not lack of news ... but lack of time. Pray for Abe, for youth camp, for the FEBC Radio project, for the Bible School, for Pastora Julie, for our family and for Vivien. Keep looking at the blog and I'll make sure to give you updates ASAP.

Life's Little Annoyances!

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. That's a sorry for each of the three days I have been unable to put a blog out for you all. The reason is that our internet has only been on for around 6 hours in the whole week. Any idea how frustrating that can be? Coming from the UK, there are some little frustrations that make you cry at the time but you laugh about later.

Such as:

* Filipino Time - an hour late is an hour early. But who cares anyway? If we're all late then we're all on time! Right? When a service starts at 8am, that is when we Filipinos start to get ready for the 8am meeting. Same problem in Africa. How do we Brits handle it? Well, in the first year Mary & I tried to change the whole Filipino culture .. starting at Sefton. But most people just did not get it, and we ended up going to things hours before they started and getting a bit frustrated. So guess what we do now???? Yup, Filipino-Scottish time! We're always officially late but unofficially early. It's great!

* Filipino 'Yes' - Here in the Philippines 'yes' is an amazing word. In the boring old UK, yes means yes. But here it can mean ALL of the following - maybe, what do you mean?, I have no idea what you are talking about but I will pretend that I do, no, I will ask someone later ... or yes. So you can see that we got into big problems when people responded 'yes' to us!

* Filipino Aircon Buses - I love living in the Philippines -don't get me wrong. But there are things - whichever way you look at it - that are just plain wrong. Buses. The normal way of travel here. During daytime, it is scorching hot. During nighttime it is cooler. So when does EVERY Filipino bus company send out their lovely aircon buses? Nope, you are wrong. The answer is ... Nightime. Result? During the day a bunch of roasting hot Filipinos with every window open and the bus full of fumes. During the night, you will find a bunch of freezing cold Filipinos who are almost at deaths door because of the cold - all wrapped up in blankets and wearing thick socks. Absolutely true. Ask Craig Burrows or Catherine Young, our missionary friends!

* Filipino Mathematics - Filipinos cannot function without calculators! Arithmetic is not their strong point. For example, one time I went for lunch at a fast food restaurant. My meal was meant to have 2 cups of rice, but the lady only gave one. I was a nice Christian at that point and so I decided to say nothing. However, after I sat down the lady came running over and said,"Sir, you should have 2 cups of rice!" Guess what she did? She scooped off the one rice on my plate that was still untouched, and added 2 new ones! Why could she not just add her one to my one? That actually makes two!

* Filipino Signboards - Because English is the written language in the Philippines, we can understand everything! Sometimes we have seen funny things written down on jeepneys or houses. For example, this week I saw 16 young people on a tiny tri-cycle with the words 'Jesus, make me wise as I travel' written at the back! I saw a sign on a gate once that said, 'Please, no men urinate here ... only dogs' The classic is the roadworks sign that says, 'Slow men at work'... and it is true! I have included a few Japanese Signs at the top of this blog just to show that even developed countries can make mistakes in their Engris!

These are only a few things that makes life more exciting here in the Philippines. Like I said, you can have a good laugh later, but at the time they drive you cRRAAZZYYYY! Maybe I will share some more next time I am frustrated with my internet!

We are going down to Manila today to pick up Mary's cousin Vivien and to get all the Christmas Gifts for the Children's Home. Have a great weekend and I will write soon.

By the way, can you spread the word around about our Sefton blog. Get your Pastor to announce it on Sunday. It's the best way to find out what's going on over here.

Hey, and why don't you write some of your funny stories or Cultural annoyances on 'comments' and let everyone have a laugh. A free nightime Filipino bus trip will be given as a prize (duvet not included!) Go on ... surprise yourself.

Encouraging Signs

Well, we are back from our weekend away! We had a great time - games, sport, worship, bonfire (taught the Filipinos how to make chocolate-marshmallow-bananas!)good ministry and lots of laughs. We only gave the church 3 weeks notice but we had over 100 turn up. The typhoon caused a great deal of rainfall on the last day. Never mind - we had planned to go swimming anyway, so when you are wet .. you can't get any wetter! The typhoon also knocked our internet down from Saturday until today - so apologies for no blog yesterday. Sometimes living back in Scotland seems so straight forward ...

On Saturday, we took Lydia back to Santiago for her ballet performance. She went to 'Baby Ballet' for 3 weeks, and on Saturday it was the time to show off her stuff! She did so well and even got a Certificate for 'Most Energetic' (don't know if that is actually good or bad!) Wasn't she beautiful?

On Sunday I spoke about "The Power of Encourtagement & Affirmation". Sounds a bit boring I know, but actually my message had a big impact on many people. You see, the Philippines is low on encouragers. Before I came to the Philippines I read in a book of the story of five crabs being boiled. Just when one had finally reached the top of the pot .. the other 4 pulled it back down! This is the general trend in the Philippines (although there are exceptions). In UK, we tend to encourage each other by saying things like, "That was great, or keep going, or don't worry you did your best and that's OK". Here, people just keep quiet and say nothing! The Lord placed on my heart that Sefton was going to be a PLACE OF ENCOURAGMENT! And it is.

Here is a good quote I used on Sunday by a guy called William Arthur Ward:

"Flatter me, and I may not believe you. Criticize me, and I may not like you. Ignore me, and I may not forgive you. Encourage me, and I will never forget you."

So here is a little bit of encouragement for you:

Pastora Julie - I have visited her every day and many of our staff have been praying for her. She looks and feels so much better. On the first day she could not walk and was carried in. Yesterday she was sitting at the edge of her bed and had walked 3 times around the Fire Centre! She is eating much better now and her spirits are lifted. She still has a very large and hard stomach where the tumour is, but I am believing that this will go in the name of the Lord. Keep praying and I will keep you in touch.

Baby Larah - Baby Larah is home from hospital now, having undergone a blood transfusion and a bone marrow aspiration test. We were not allowed to get her home until her platelet count had reached 50, and she is still on steriod treatment to increase her platelet count.

Today she went back for check up, and although the platelet count has gone up, it's not really the inprovement the Doctor was expecting. We have 2 more weeks to really soak Larah in prayer before the Doctor will do more tests and possibly diagnose leukemia. Thank you so much for your prayers. We are positive about Larah as she is looking so much better. Keep on praying for a miracle. (Incidentally, Lyrah who is also with us is thriving! Praise the Lord!)

So be encouraged .. and even better ... be an encourager!

Isn't He a Handsome Guy (just like his dad!!!)

Well, we're off to our church weekend away now! I will let you know all of the happenings on Monday ... the good, the bad and the ugly!

Josiah says, "Have a great weekend everyone!"

Peanut Butter!

This week is turning out to be a hair-raising week...

* We are trying to sell our van here buy an old wee car
* We are trying to buy a car for itinerary - that we need to sell again!
* We are trying to get a 'hoose' in Scotland
* We are starting to email all the churches to arrange our schedule
* Mary has interviewed 8 people for 2 vacant posts in the school
* Little Lara has been in hospital and was seriously ill
* Pastora Julie has arrived and we need to fight for her in prayer
* Tomorrow we start our 1st church weekend away ..
* Had 2 meetings this week to plan it!
* We are trying to book our flights, which has been a hassle
* The SBTC students have arrived back from SOS Church planting
* We sent 12 of them to another remote area to plant another church
* We have had disciplinary problems with one of our students
* We had a SBTC board meeting to discuss a new 3rd year
* We have had so many emails to write and admin to catch up with
* We are praying & trying to find cover for Sefton for when we are home
... Etc. Etc. Etc.

Ever cry out, "Lord can you really help us with all these little, and big, things?"

One of the problems with living here in the sticks in the Philippines is that we get cable TV. Usually that is good ... especially now that our cable TV company has permanently tuned into a soccer channel from South Africa that only cost a bag of donuts every couple of weeks - cheaper than a Sky package! (I had choice of 5 live games from England plus Celtic v Rangers last week!)

Anyway, sometimes my children (especially Lydia) sees something on TV that I know she would like - sweeties, toy, book, DVD. I know that there is no way I can find these things in Santiago so daddy begins to search. When I am in Manila I find time to try and find these things in the mega malls there. If all else fails ... Amazon.co.uk is there! The fathers heart is always to give our best for our children. Even small things.

Here is a little story from Todd Bentley's book, that will encourage you and me!

"I was excited about growing in rest and intimacy with the Holy Spirit -I knew from experience that in that place, without even praying sometimes, God begins to give us the desires of our heart. I walked in such intimacy with Jesus when I first got saved.

I remember one time I was walking from my kitchen to my bedroom, and I thought "Oh, I've just got to have a peanut butter sandwich" I went to the cupboard but there was no peanut butter. So I thought to myself, "Oh man, I really wanted peanut butter" and I went to bed. Shonnah (his wife) got up next morning, opened the garage door .. and there was one jar of peanut butter sitting on the steps."

God is interested in the big things in our lives - who we marry, career choices, our walk with Him, our ministry etc. But let me tell you He is also just as interested in the small things that we think are quite unimportant.

Just remember, the Lord knows us more than we know ourselves. He knows our going out and coming in. He knows our taste. He knows what makes us angry as well as He knows what makes us laugh. He knows our dreams and ambitions. He gave us our fingerprints and doesn't need a calculator to count your hair. Don't worry. Don't get stressed. If He's interested in Todd Bentley's peanut butter ... He is absolutely interested in everything in your life! Trust Him.

Letter of Faith

Sometimes you come across people who seem to have to go through so many struggles .. often one after the other. It is especially hard when these people have been faithfully serving the Lord and living lives of complete commitment to Him. Today I met such a person.

Actually, I've known her for many years now. Her name is Julie Dulnuan and she is a Pastora in the Assemblies of God here in Isabela. She is a lovely gracious lady and an encouragement to all our young leaders. She is fearless! She started a church right in the heart of an area controlled by the New People's Army - Communist Guerrillas. No man would go there! Her life has been threatened in many occasions. At times her husband has had to run for his life. Their children are often victimised and face constant threats. Yet .. she will not leave as she knows that the Lord is these people's only hope. She has led many of these rebels to Christ and now they fight for a new cause!

At the end of last year she gave birth .. but sadly the baby died. A few weeks later she felt great pain in her stomach and they diagnosed an ulcer. The pain continued, and after tests it was found that she had cancer of the stomach. She started Chemotherapy immediately, but after a few weeks they found a large tumour. The Doctors sent her home this week to die ... she was a 'Hopeless Case'.

Yesterday, someone told me that Pastora Julie was coming home to die. Faith and anger rose up within me and I asked Pastor Abe to tell her to come to the House of Refuge. This morning she arrived and this afternoon I gathered two of the Cornerstone Pastors to go and pray with Julie and her husband.

We talked, worshipped and I asked Pastor Adonis to read Isaiah 61. As we worshipped the Holy Spirit revealed to me what had happened. This battle was not so much a medical battle as a spiritual one. I felt a fire flow through my hands. We anointed Julie with oil and began to intercede and pray. We felt the presence, power and authority of the Lord in the room.

We are going back tomorrow morning to pray. This is the only answer. Can you pray with us? Can you believe with us? Can you stand in the gap for this precious lady's life? I asked her to write down anything that we could give to the friends of Sefton Village. What she wrote is above (click for larger image). I saw a difference in her as we left the room tonight. She said, "Pastor Mark, I am not leaving here until I am healed."

I am so glad that our God is the 'God of Hopeless Cases'.

p.s. - we are sorry that some of the letter is unreadable because of where her tears have fallen

Isaiah 61:3
"...to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor."

If you want to write anything to me OR an encouragement to Pastora Julie, then click 'comment' below and start typing! Thanks.

Treasures in Jars of Clay!

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
(2 Corinthians 4:6-9)

Cornerstone United

Yesterday (Sunday) was a fantastic day for us. We started Cornerstone Santiago 20 months ago and we are so thankful to the Lord for what He has done. Now, we have 4 Cornerstone Churches - Santiago, Nagassican, San Isidro and Pangal!

We really felt that all Cornerstone Churches should meet every first Sunday of the month in the Fire Centre. Yesterday was our first one...what a great day! We had over 500 people attend including 120 children. We worshipped together and had a few dance items (including one by the kids with little Lydia surprising her mum & dad) and many testimonies.

It was so hot! I was preaching and the temperature was around 40 degrees! My message was, "God is looking for an Army .. Not an Audience." Many came out for prayer as they surrendered their lives to him.

After the service it was time for part 2 - Baptismal Service. Every month we will baptize our new believers and yesterday Pastor Adonis (one of our new team members) helped me baptise 22 excited people! Wow! To see these people obey the Lord and to declare that they belong to Jesus was worth more than gold.

Many of them came from a very poor area called Nagassican. Poverty and hopelessness is on every street. I will put a few pictures of their home tomorrow for you to understand. But God has called us there to make a difference. The Lord has promised us ... "This place has been known as a place of shame ... but I will make it a place of honour!"

We all ate lunch together and in the afternoon we had sports competitions and games! What a day! At night time we were completely exhausted. But we really felt the presence of the Lord throughout the day and we knew that He was with us.

In the afternoon, around 150 kids swam, played and laughed in our tiny wee pool. At the beginning the water was beautiful but after all these kids had been in swimming it was completely brown! The water was disgusting. Mary & I laughed as we realised that all these kids got a free bath as well!

They may come from poor homes and not have much in this world ... but they are precious to the Lord and to us. To see their lives transformed is wonderful. What they have inside of them is precious - a life with Jesus.

Roll on Sunday June 4 ...

Journey Into the Miraculous

A month ago a good friend of mine out a book in my hand and said, "Read this .. it will change your life." I began to read "JOURNEY INTO THE MIRACULOUS Todd Bentley - An Ordinary Man Touched by a Supernatural God" and have been really challenged in every page I have read.

This book could easily divided into three sections - Todd's years as a man absolutely messed up in every way by sin; his conversion and preparation for ministry and lastly what the Lord has been doing through him in the last few years.

Todd really was messed up. From a broken family he was searching for love and acceptance. As a boy he began smoking and drinking and by the time he was in his mid teens he was a drug addict and screwed up by alcohol. He was also very violent and aggressive and dabbled in the occult. He moved from foster home to foster home. If every there was an unlikely man whom God would choose to touch this world .. it was Todd!

But God is a God of transformation! By wonderful ways Todd was drawn by the grace of God and he gave his life to Him. Immediately, there was a deep hunger in Todd's heart for God and His Word. He was signed off work because of an accident for 3 months and in this time Todd's life was changed. Every day he would spend time with God .. for 4-6 hours! He thought this was normal! He was cleansed & set free from many of the things that bound him. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and had a deep desire to preach and pray for the sick. God showed him many visions and he had angelic encounters.

The first time he preached was in a small youth meting and the Lord did some amazing miracles! To cut a long story short, God did some wonderful things through the ministry of this young man who had an uncomplicated faith and intimate walk with God. He began to get asked to preach at various meetings and as his faith grew .. so did the miracles!

The last part of the book tells of Todd's international crusades and tell of hundreds of testimonies of blind eyes opening, deaf ears unstopping, lame cripples walking, mute people shouting and other significant miracles. Of course, the greatest miracle is salvation and Todd has led thousands of people to the Lord.

I am particularly stirred after reading this book because I know the desires and dreams that God gave Todd were the same dreams as God gave me as a 22 year old. Am I prepared to really count the cost to see them fulfilled? Absolutely surrender?

As you read this book two questions keep coming back. Firstly, Can this be real? Is it possible for someone to get so close to the Lord? Secondly, "How about me? Where am I? Can I get that close? What is my relationship with God like - intimate or cold? Like a servant or a son? Do I talk always or do I listen sometimes?

Between Heidi Baker and Todd Bentley, my life and ministry have been challenged to the core. I have also been challenging my leaders with this - we can do nothing without Christ and everything we do should come out of the overflow of our relationship with Him. HE IS OUR FOCUS ... the vision we get from Him are secondary. In our church we have prayer every morning at 4:30am. From next week we are going to spend 2 hours every week day just being in the presence of God. The harvest is so great that we HAVE TO. We are not super-spiritual ... we are just hungry and desperate for God.

How about you? Do you want to go deeper? Do you want to know God in a more intimate way? Are you dry and empty? Jesus says ... Come! Todd Bentley did - and look what happened! Draw closer my friend. Go deeper. A transformed life awaits those who come.

The Secret Place

God has been speaking to me very clearly recently through a person and a book! Today I will tell you about the person, and tomorrow the book. The person is a remarkable lady called Heidi Baker. Mary read a book a couple of years ago entitled "Always Enough" which tells of the amazing ways in which God has been blessing the ministry of Heidi an her husband Roland in Mozambique - one of the poorest countries in the world. The book tells about how God performed wonderful creative miracles day after day. Incredible healings. Also, how God provided food from nothing to feed these hungry people - empty pots would suddenly be full of rice and spaghetti! Chicken would appear from nowhere ... fried chicken all cooked and prepared! (I recommend that you read the book!)

After Mary read the book she was so challenged & inspired. As we sat talking on January 1 this year, Mary said that one of the desires of her heart was to hear Heidi Baker preach. This year was our 10th Anniversary (haven't I done well!!) and I wanted us to go as a family somewhere to celebrate. Do you want to know how amazing God is? On the very week of our Anniversary, Heidi Baker was going to preach at Cornerstone Church in Singapore! So we went!

What a week! The highlight of it all was hearing Heidi Baker. I have never heard anyone speak with such authority and anointing. Before she preached, she took off her shoes, sat on the stage and sang to the Lord for 20 minutes. She then gave prophetic words and the whole atmosphere was like electric. She preached and the stories and testimonies she gave had us in tears of joy one minute and tears of laughter the next. She has no fear of man and lives only to an audience of one. She spoke about 'The Secret Place', "Revival has a face' and 'Laid Down Lovers'. Every message was powerful and at the of every service the aisles were full of people weeping before the Lord. All of these messages can be heard on Cornerstone's website if you want to hear some life changing messages!

She said many profound things but I feel the most important things she said was something so simple - "I am busier now than any other time in my life. I have 3000 orphans to look after and thousands of churches. But I realise, more than anything else, I have to meet Jesus in the 'secret place'. I spend hour upon hour just with Jesus. It is there I find my strength and anointing. It is the only way I can survive" For me, this is bottom line.

At Sefton life is getting busier and busier, more ministries are being added, the kingdom of God is being extended. But at the heart of it all, it is all about spending time in the 'Secret Place'. How about your life? Is the source of your life ... the Secret Place?

Pray to the Three-in-One for one-of-three!

Hi there everyone. It's Mary here! Hope you like the picture taken this morning of Marilyn our Senior Social Worker and the newest children in the Helga Mosey Children's Home, Larah on the left and Lyrah on the right.

Larah and Lyrah were born on March 12th 2006 and have a sister Lirah, making triplets! They are the first children to a very young couple who live in a remote part of Quirino, the neighbouring province to us.

The babies were born prematurely and were all in incubators initially. The family were unable to look after all 3 babies and buy the milk needed, so we were asked if we could take two of the little girls. Lirah is still at home with her Mum and Dad and the plan of the parents is to get them back once they are a little bigger and stronger.

We admitted them 10 days ago, and they both weighed 2 kilos. Larah was very weak. They have been feeding every 2 hours and we were really delighted because we could see them both gaining weight.

Today they went for check-up, and we found out that Lyrah now weighs 2.7 kilos and Larah weighs 2.5 kilos. We just found out that there is a problem with Larah and she has been admitted today to hospital for a blood transfusion. Of course we are anxious as she is so small and vulnerable but we are praying for a miracle and a real change in her once the blood transfusion is complete. Please keep Larah, and of course Lyrah and Lirah in your prayers. I'll let you know how Larah is doing.

We have 21 children in the children's home just now and have just had two new children referred. It's holiday time , so it's busy here with all the kids off school. It's so hot so it's great for everyone to swim in the pool and cool down. It also keeps all the kids occupied!

Our own two Lydia and Josiah are doing great.

Thanks for your prayers.

Love, Mary

Moving Out to Move In

Today is called Labour Day' in the Philippines. It is a national holiday where everyone takes a break from their labours and has a good rest. Not at Cornerstone Church! We have rented a new Office and Conference Hall at a new building in Santiago and today we were moving everything from one place to another. So it was on with the working clothes - taking down all the lights, cleaning every room, carrying the chairs down three storeys, dismantling the aircons etc. Not much of a holiday.

But .. try telling our members that! They were so happy (see Pastor Jun with some of the Youth after scraping the floor for 2 hrs at 38 degrees!) On Sunday I challenged them about 'New Things' and that God was only moving us out of somewhere because He wanted us to go somewhere better. They caught the vision and worked like Trojans! People are energised by vision.

We enjoyed our 2 years at our old building .. but it is time to move on. God is not a God of disorder but a God of perfect timing. Don't be ahead of him and please don't be behind. Don't try opening and shutting every door that comes your way. He will lead you out AND lead you in. Wait for Him and remember .. only fools rush in!

Psalm 40: 1,5

I waited patiently for the LORD; he turned to me and heard my cry. Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.

A Day of New Things!

Well, today is the first day that we will start our Blog! What a fantastic idea! Every few days you will be able to keep track of what is happening at Sefton Village, follow the antics and adventures of our two lovely kids, read about the vision & events of the ministries here and discover what the Lord has been sharing with us. We will also post photos so you can get to see a bit of the people, culture and events here.

Yesterday in church I was sharing that this was a day of new things! God does not want us to become 'settlers' but he blesses those whose 'hearts are set on pilgrimage'(Psalm 84:5) Are you on a journey with God or have you settled down and are content with where you are and where you've been? When is the last time you have attempted or achieved something new for the Lord?

The Lord says that those who keep walking will 'go from strength to strength'. That's what I want. Stronger, deeper in God. Abraham was a man on a journey, but after the birth of his promised son, Isaac, he 'settled in the land of the Philistines for a long time." (Gen 21:34) The bad news was this: God had to put him through a time of great testing to find out if Abraham was a settler or a pilgrim. The great thing was this: he still recognised and responded to God's voice when He called. "Here I am" is still the hallmark of an available man. Let's not settle down so that the Lord will have to test our faith through trials... but believe for new dreams, new vision, new adventures and new things! Selah.

May the Lord bless you and your family this week. Check out this blog every few days and you will be able to know what the story is here in the Philippines. 'Godblezzya' as the young people write on their mobile phones here ....

PLEASE write back any comments, suggestions or encouragements. We would love to hear from you.

"Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:18-19