The Long Journey ...

Right now, I am writing this blog in an Internet cafe in Manila. At the very same time, a lovely family are in the air making their way to the Philippines ... and a brand new life. Matthew,Claire, Madeleine and Ariella Kerr will be arriving tonight with a few suitcases and a lot of mixed emotions!

For the last year they have been preparing their lives for coming to minister with us at Sefton Village. The Bible says that 'man may make his plans... but the Lord directs his steps.' How did this couple end up coming all the way to the Philippines?

Well, Matthew is from Shetland and I knew him when he came down to study in the mid 90's. He came to Capital Christian Centre ... although I was on my way to Africa when he arrived. He studies civil engineering and then felt the call of God to serve on the Operation Mobilisation ship 'Doulos'. When there, he met this lovely Irish teacher called Claire and they fell in love.

They came home to the UK after their two years of service and they married. Matthew wanted to finish the practical part of his civil engineering training and so they set up home in Shetland. Claire taught their at a local school ... but their heart was still on the mission field.

In 2003 they came to our Sefton Village Missions Weekend and it was great to see them again. I believe God put a seed of vision in their lives for Sefton at that wonderful weekend. They had a beautiful daughter Madeleine in 2004 and they began to seek God's face for the future. Matthew thought it might be back on the Doulos and even went to Estonia to see the new ship and pray. But things never worked out and they were back to square one.

In 2006, when we came back to the UK, we really knew that we needed help at Sefton. Things had grown so much and one couple was not enough. I was going to call Matthew but God clearly said 'No ... I will tell you when." One Friday, I felt the Lord prompting me to call. I called and got Matthews mum who told me she was waving Matthew and family off as they went on the boat to Aberdeen.

Next day Matthew called and said they were on holiday. I asked how things were going with OM and what their plans were. Matthew said that things had fallen through. Out of the blue I said to him, "What about coming and helping us at Sefton?" I think it shocked him because it went all silent! He told me he had two days free at the end of their holiday in England. So we decided to meet up in Edinburgh.

They came with us to two churches on the Sunday and it was there that the Lord said to them, "This is it!" On Sunday night they said, "We feel that God is leading us to Sefton Village." On Monday we got together and talked about their call, their plans and practical things to do if they felt this was the way ahead. The amazing thing in this story is that the Lord asked Matthew to task his boss for two extra days holiday-even though he should not have got them. His boss said 'OK' ... and those were the two days that we spent together. The unforced rhythms of grace ...

And now... one year on they have quit their jobs, been interviewed, travelled around sharing the vision, finished the School of Missions at Mattersey ... and had another beautiful baby... Ariella. Wow, it's nit easy I can tell you.

At Sefton Claire will help Mary in the starting up of the new Primary School as well as help in the Children's Home. Matthew is a practical guy and there will be plenty work for him in our building projects, computers etc. And I know they will find other ministries within Cornerstone Church.

So pray for them today. Long haul flights with two small kids is not easy. Bought the T-Shirt. Pray for the peace of God for them, that all would go smooth and that God will take away all anxiety and worry. Pray for them (and me!) as we go around Manila in these next few days to buy furniture and things for their house .. which they have never seen! Is there a spiritual gift of shopping?

the Kerr family have their own web/blog site and it is well worth a look - www.leekerr.co.uk

Pray for Mary and the kids back at Sefton as I am here in Manila. Over the last week the enemy has really been trying his best to discourage and pull us down. He is really bringing on heavy blows against Mary ... as he knows that she is feeling weak with her arm etc. (By the way, the plaster is off PTL!) On Monday TWO teachers phoned in with German measles and yesterday one of our kids in the home-Ryan-was admitted to hospital with Dengue fever and Pneumonia. Most of the kids in the home are sick right now. We really feel under attack. Keith and Anne have been great and really supporting us through this week. They are doing great at Sefton and are really ministering to many in so many ways.

So please ... pray for Mary. It was her birthday on Tuesday and she had a great day. So many showed their love in so many ways. Pray for protection for Lydia and Josiah ... especially when I am away. Thanks for all your prayers .. it makes so much difference.

...and Matthew & family ... wherever you are right now ... know that we are all praying for you!

Emily

At the weekend I was talking to Pastor Winston and he had been really challenged by the story of a little girl who turned up at his house last week. I asked him to write his thoughts down ... so here they are:

"A little girl came to our house one morning and asked, “uncle do you have some plastic?” When I looked I saw this brown headed, dirty looking girl with a big sack on her back with some plastic things and plastic bottles she had pick up on the street. I said I don’t have, then she said “can I help you clean your sewer drain for 20 pesos (20p)” and I said “yes”, and she join me cleaning. My wife prepared some food for us since it was merienda (snack) time and I thought I’d ask some information about her. And I listened to this little girl tell the story of her life.

Her name is Emily Gutierrez (pic above). She started by saying her foot was so sore with athletes foot that she had because every time the rain come, their floor is all wet. Their roof is an old tent. Water is all over. Then she described about their little house and that there are 8 of them living there. Her mother got married and they gave birth to 2 girls, and Emily is the eldest. Her father was killed when she’s only 4 years old, someone hit her father with a hammer that causes the immediate death. After a few months, her mother married another guy. During the 6 years of marriage, they were able to produce 3 kids, then the husband was drowned in the river a kilometer away from their house, and so she became widow for the second time.

Again after a few months, the mother got married to a widower and they had a boy who is only 7 months old at the moment. Now the husband is accused of theft and is presently in prison here in Santiago City Jail. So Emily had 5 brothers and sisters plus two orphan girls who stays with them in this tiny house - plus her mom.

I ask her “how do you survive?” She smiled and said, "sometimes we eat 3 times a day, sometimes just once. Me and my other two sister, will walk daily in the streets of this compound to look for plastic and any rubbish from people here that we can sell in the junk shop. We have an average of P30 daily and we use to buy rice for our food the next day. We don’t go to school for we have no money, I only finished Grade 1. I can’t read nor write. Our mother stays at home to look after our smaller brothers and sisters.

My tears are falling as I listen to her story, and I said can I visit your house now? And she said yes. On our way to their house I bought some potatoes, eggs, fish, and rice to bring to her family who are waiting for Emily to bring food for them. I told her, “tell your mother to mix the potato and the egg for your lunch.”

She smiled at me and said “can we fry the eggs?” and I said yes. She look at me and said “I don’t think so - we never fry eggs we only boil them.” Then I realized that they don’t buy cooking oil so they have never had a fried egg before. It’s a bit funny, but it really mattered to Emily. And when she ate a fried egg for the 1^st time, it brought a big smile in her face.

That afternoon, I asked some of our Cornerstone Pastors to join me to visit this family. So we went there and prayed for the people there, for many are sick. At the moment, we are trying to figure out how can we help this family and all the people who live in this squatter area. Please join us to pray for this community and the family of Emily. Thank you, Winston."

...seems a million miles and a different world from Disneyland ... Mark.

Back to the Real World...

Well, this is officially the longest time without writing a blog! We came home a week ago from a family vacation in Hong Kong. Since then, the internet connection has almost always been off. I am beginning to get really annoyed with this whole situation. we seem to have internet for a day or so ... and then it is off for around five! Aaaaggghhhh.

But, in my times of utter frustration I have to remember that the missionaries who were here before us had it so much tougher. They didn't even have a phone! They had to drive for 3 miles, order a call and wait for hours for a line to become available. Now that is difficult ...

However, as my dad would say, "you have to work with what you have." Really got me thinking about the power of choice. Every one of us are the products of our own choices. Maybe I will reserve writing anything else right now and do a blog about this important subject!


We had a great time in Hong Kong. We met up with Brian & Jennie Milne from Fraserburgh and started our week in a Hotel in Kowloon. We were beside the famous Nathan Road shopping area ... the night markets were amazing! We went to the Flower, Bird and fish Markets ... pretty spectacular.

We all went to Ocean Park ... a beautiful place that was ideal for families. It had animals, aquariums, dolphin shows, bird shows, kids play areas, theme park rides, etc. The cable cars were totally breathtaking. A must for anyone coming to Hong Kong.

On Sunday we went to a park that was built where the Walled City used to be. We walked around the beautiful parks and ponds and stood where the most horrific and wicked part of Hong Kong used to stand. It was ruled by the Triad gang and even the police would not enter this drug infested area. But as we stood at the Jackie Pullinger Rock inside the Park, we read again about a young lady, who in 1966 gave up everything to serve the Lord in the Walled City. Again .. I will be blogging about this remarkable story soon.

We shifted after 3 days to another Hotel beside the beach in Lantau Island. It was like a different world. We ate seafood by the sea .. although Josiah was pretty chuffed that there was also a MacDonalds there too! It was so quiet and the fresh sea air was a welcomed bonus to this North-East Loon!

We took the kids (or did they take us?) to Disneyland Hong Kong. We have never been to either of the other two Disneylands, so we did not know what to expect. But it was a great experience. According to many, this park is much smaller than the others but it was great for a day out. The kids were amazed as they met character after character and ride after ride. I have never been anywhere so clean. We had a blast and I recommend it to anyone ... and any age! Young Brian seemed to enjoy it more than anyone else!

Anyway, now we are back to reality! This morning we baptised 29 people who want to be followers of Jesus. Next Thursday a lovely new family arrive to start their new lives serving the Lord in the Philippines. Two weeks after that my mum, dad, brother and all his family arrive for 3 weeks at Sefton. The day they leave we pick up Dave and Madeline Russon, (Dave is our AoG World Ministries Director) and drive north. It is all happening!

I will blog about all the above soon. Until then ... i have to say goodnight! Have a great weekend and pray that no-one nicks (steals, takes, robs, chores, 'borrows'!) our internet wire.

If all is well I will blog in next couple of days ... the days of miracles are not over!

Mmmmhhhh...

Happy Birthday To Us!

Sorry for the lack of blogs this week. Been a touch manic. I was meant to go to a Leadership Conference in Palawan on Sunday but because of Mary's 'break' I decided it was far better to stay put and help out my family. Good decision! We are in Hong Kong right now enjoying a week's family holiday.

The extra couple of days were a blessing because it gave us time to tackle our newsletter. Sometimes it is so hard to do the 'extras' when you are busy with Sefton life. The constant heat just sucks the life and strength out of you and by night time very often we feel exhausted.

But .. let me tell you about our wonderful Cornerstone 3rd Anniversary last Sunday. First, I must say that the team of Pastors and leaders God has given us at Cornerstone did a magnificent job on Sunday. There was so much to prepare ... but they did it.

The fist part of the day was our Church Service. All of our six churches were there ... a great 'family time'. There were over 1000 people there - including over 500 kids! I think Pastor Jun and his team will need a week to recover!

The Praise & Worship team looked great in their new outfits - light brown for the musicians and white for the backing singers. And Cristina and her team brought us right into the presence of God. We are so blessed. The congregation were blessed (ahem) as all the Pastors sang a song during the offering. Well, we are meant to make a joyful noise .... we were happy, but it was a noise!

The guest speaker was a lovely man of God called Rick Zachary. He was over for a month in Singapore speaking at their Bible School. Pastor Yang invited him to come and speak at our Anniversary and he willingly came. He was a true gentleman. A great man to have in our home ... our kids loved him! He is married with two grown up sons and four grand kids - he is the youngest and most handsome granda I have ever met!

He is involved in a tremendous ministry. In the early days of hos ministry he was a missionary in Haiti and also in Nigeria. After 7 years he went back to Baton Rouge to help his pastor build up the church there - Bethany Prayer Center pastored by Larry Stockhill. Rick was missions director for 14 years and travelled all over the world. Bethany is now one of the best churches in the USA - in terms of prayer, cell church and missions.

Five years ago God gave rick a vision of reaching the nations of South Asia. So every year for the next 20 years his goal is to plant a church in a major city in Asia. So far they have planted four - including Sri Lanka, Pakistan & Nepal. He wants to raise up central/model churches that will plant churches in the villages around where they are. Great vision.

Anyway, we were so blessed to have Rick minister - both to the leaders on Saturday night and at our Anniversary on Sunday morning. He spoke about Vision on Sunday and gave us 7 steps to Living in Vision. At the end, he gave an altar call for 1st time commitments to Christ... and 50 people gave their hearts to the Lord (see picture at start)! Hallelujah! Fifty new believers around Santiago!

Jimmar, our new Christian & computer specialist made a 'Cornerstone So Far' video presentation (it took him 35 hours to make!). It was amazing! Three years ago we started with eight people in Pastor Marlou's garage ... and look how the Lord has blessed us! I gave a presentation about our future Vision ... but it wasn't near as flashy as Jimmar's effort!

We ate lunch and then enjoyed part 2 - songs & dramas! What a great time. Many of the church departments had songs and every church also had to sing a 'special number'. We had a Raffle ... but don't worry it was not for lottery money but for books and bibles! What joy as they received their gifts. After this we had part 3 - games and sports.


What a day! What a celebration! What a God we serve. As a Pastor, there are some nights you go to bed absolutely contended, happy and delighted at what God has done. Sunday was such a day for me.

Thank you for your prayers for Cornerstone. Please pray that at our 4th Anniversary there will still be 50 disciples who have been serving the Lord for a whole year ....

Selah.

P.s. - I just discovered that our youth leader at Santiago - Daben - has started a blog also. I looked at it ... pretty good! I need to speak to him about his English grammar - the use of full stops, sentences and actual paragraphs! - but you can feel his heart as he writes. Check it out for his view on our Anniversary and more news ..... www.ccsgenerations.blogspot.com