A Most Embarassing Moment!

In February last year I posted a blog in which is quite amazing. If you haven't done it before .. try it now. If you have done it before ... scroll down to find out my terribly embarrassing moment in the UK.

Here is the puzzle -

THINK OF ANY NUMBER BETWEEN 2-9

MULTIPLY THAT NUMBER BY 9

NOW, ADD THE TWO DIGITS OF YOU NUMBER TOGETHER (FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOUR NUMBER IS 34, 3+4=7)

OK, GOT A SINGLE NUMBER NOW?

SUBTRACT 5 FROM YOUR NUMBER

NOW WE CONVERT YOUR NUMBER INTO A LETTER.
A=1, B=2, Z=26 ETC.

THINK OF A COUNTRY BEGINNING WITH THAT LETTER

TAKE THE SECOND LETTER OF THAT COUNTRY AND THINK OF AN ANIMAL BEGINNING WITH THAT LETTER

THINK OF THE COLOUR OF THAT ANIMAL

DO YOU GET ...

A...

A...

A...

A...

Em ....a.....

...A GREY ELEPHANT FROM DENMARK??

Anyway, On my first weekend home I was preaching at Zion Church in Peterhead. There were tons of young people there and so I thought I would amaze them by the gray elephant thing. I even put into my PowerPoint presentation.

So I was in mid flow ... think of a number blah blah blah. At the end of the puzzle I asked "Who has a Gray Elephant from Denmark?" Very few! So I said, "I know you Peterhead folk .. a bit shy. I know that you all got a gray elephant from Denmark." Only a couple of my friends sheepishly put up their hands.

Later, In David Strachan's house, my brother Paul said, "You really blew the Denmark thing eh?" I was stunned. He said that I had forgot to include an important part - subtract 4! So all these poor people had the number 9 instead of 4, so their letter was I instead of D. So they all had green newts from India or black stallions from Israel! I was so embarrassed.

At least I can laugh about it now! So if you were there, my apologies. Hope no permanent psychological damage has occurred!

The only person that ever brings it up is a good friend Colin McLean from Cairnbulg, Scotland. He was there. But a few weeks later, I got revenge. We were watching Aberdeen play at Pittodrie and Aberdeen were awful. Colin stood up and shouted with his loudest voice, "Aberdeen ... you are a clower of showns!" Everybody heard it an laughed. So embarrassing. So next time you see Colin ask how the Clower of Showns are doing now! He said later that next time he would think about what he would shout ... but I reminded him that the worrying thing was that he did think before he shouted! Ha ha

But today, Colin sent me a new conundrum. Try it below. It is quite amazing.

YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH


Don't cheat by scrolling down first ... and you may need a calculator!

It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!


1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to Go out to eat.
(more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...

If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number. (I.e. How many times You want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are **YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is !)**

THIS IS THE ONLY YEAR (2008) IT WILL WORK!


Mmmm... amazing eh? Send this blog to your friends and let them work it out.
And if you ever do it publicly ... make sure you don't miss out a line!

Have a great day!

UK Adventure Part 2 - England

After a quick tour of Edinburgh we headed South down the M6 ... into the great old country of England. By the way ... Sat Nav us great IF you don't know the way to somewhere! It was going to direct me all the way down to Manchester and cut across a few Motorways to get to Rotherham. On paper, it is quicker ... but have you heard about the traffic jams down that way? No way Mr sat nav - I'm going accross the good old A66 to Scotch Corner. Good job I did - huge tailbacks on M6 that night. Shut the thing down, get out your old AA map and live the adventure!

Got to Rotherham on Tuesday afternoon and my sat nav (now switched back on 'coz they are great for finding addresses!) got me to the front doorstep of George Jack ... my cousin who is now Senior Pastor at Rotherham Pentecostal Church. My three Filipio friends were glad to finally reach their destination! Well, if you haven't spent a few days with the Jack family, you haven't really lived! Jayne's cooking is amazing; the kids are wonderful; George's jokes ... well, to be honest, they are terrible! Only kidding. I stayed there for two nights but the Filipinos stayed there all week ... and loved it. Know what? These pastors were hooked on two things in UK - Tescos and the Wii at George Jack's house! They were acting like crazy men as they played Wii sports into the early hours! Great fun. Excellent family. True friends. On the Wednesday we visited my old haunt - Mattersey Hall (above), where I spent three years at Bible School. What a fantastic place. A bit more spruced up now, I can tell you! Some things were surprisingly the same but some things were refreshingly different. We had a cup of tea in the staff room and I thought to myself, "Last time I sat on this settee, it was to get into big trouble!" How the mighty have fallen.

They now have beautiful clasrooms, a cafe, bookshop and chapel. They have done an amazing job. They have built a huge (and I mean HUGE) conservatory that is joined on to the Dining Room. And the food ... well, it was actually delicious. I kid you not. And it didn't even taste remotely like cardboard. In fact, I felt I was in Ikea!!!! Excuse me for waffling on. Memories.


The main reason I was in UK was to preach at the Missions Conference of Rotherham New Life. We started on Thursday night and the theme was 'To Boldly Go ..." and they asked me to preach about going from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria ... to the ends of the earth. The Rotherham New Life (RNL) church has really majored on Mission- both locally and globally.

The Senior Pastor is an Irishman called John Andrews. He has a doctorate but is young and is an inspirational preacher. He also plays a vital role at Mattersey as well as write books, be part of the AoG National Leadership Team and has a lovely family. Don't know how the guy does it.

Actually, I do. He is so disciplined with his life and doesn't waste words, opportunities or time. If you go to the RNL website, you will hear some of John's teaching ... excellent stuff, highly recommended. John has become a good friend and great encourager in my life.

Anyway, back to our trip. We started on Thursday night. The band was great and many of the songs were new. Sometimes you here new somgs and there is an immediate "Naw" rises up within you! But these new songs really spoke to me. Just before I got up to speak, I got a little bit nervous. I think that the fact I was speaking 9 times over the weekend hit me as I sat in the front row! I felt I was just standing at the bottom of a mountain. But, know what? God spoke to me at that mometnt and said so clearly, "You were born for moments like these." I felt strength. I know the Holy Spirit was there, right beside me. That was all I needed.

Friday morning was for Leaders and I shared about 'Revelations that have Changed My Life". I tried to share the revelations and change of paradigms that the Lord has shown me in the last 8 years. I was completely honest and I felt that many were challenged on that day.

The Lord showed me that on Friday night the Holy Spirit really wanted to move and touch the lives of many people. I didn't know how but the Lord clearly asked me to wait on his intruction. Well, I preached about "Jerusalem, the Place of Power" and at the end I gave an invitation for the Baptism of teh Holy Spirit. Some people came and responded. I felt the enemy laughing and saying, "Not much response eh?" But I kept seeking the Lord and the Holy Spirit began to show me areas of people's lives where He wanted me to challenge and pray for people. Well, the floodgates opened. We prayed for so many people. I felt God gave us many prophetic words. The Holy Spirit was moving and lives were being touched and changed. I think we left the building after 11pm! What a night.

Saturday was a family day and RNL had a full kids programme for the children. RNL are so organized and they really looked after us in so many ways. Their kindness and hospitality was exceptional. They had invited Dave Russon (the Directior of AoG UK World Ministries) and his wife Madeline to attend. I also shared a room with my good friend Andrew David from Torquay ... what an experience, what a guy! Brilliant. I gave the vision of Sefton Village and got Kirsty Allen from Fraserburgh to share about the Children's Home as well as the four Filipinos to share about the different ministries of Sefton. I think everyone was glad to hear some other people's voices!

In the afternoon I shared all about Short Term Mission Teams. At night I preached about the cost of serving Christ - What do you do when your world falls apart? (Acts 8) Another really good night.

Sunday was another wonderful day. Preached in the two services about Walking by Faith. Really felt the people were listening and were being challenged. Some places are hard to minister in, but RNL is great because the people are so hungry and so 'into' missions. Ended the day at George's church at Station Road. Our Filipino Pastors were ministering there and I wanted to say goodbye to the Jack family and my Aunty Helen and Uncle George (below). I was so blessed to see them come and support me over the weekend ... teh extra 400 miles!

Didn't sleep that night! Drove through the night to Manchester Airport. August and I had a nightmare time at the Airport, but that's another blog! In the end, I was so glad to get out of the country!!

But we had a great time. People were so good to us. Everywhere. I felt that our minisry was so well recieved and that people are really behind us here at Sefton Village. I know we are not alone.

A special thanks to John Andrews, his lovely wife Dawn and their family. Thanks also to Steve and Hannah Prosser from RNL for looking after us so well. Big thanks to the Mattersey Team who came on Mission to Sefton in March - so many of them came to the Conference. Big thanks to a special family in Scotland who did more than anyone will know to make ourt trip possible. You know who you are and we are so grateful. Biggest thanks to my mum and dad ... mum for coming out here to help in so many ways. To my dad for meing a mum to these Filipinos when mum was not there! Good job dad! We never starved and our clothes were always clean(ish)!

Feel like I have just made an album and an writing all the credits ... so I'll stop here!

Uk trip - fantastic. If we met you, ate with you, or if you blessed us in any way .... we love you for that.

Until next time ...

Home Sweet Home

In September I had the privilege of coming home to UK for almost a month. I attended a Bible School Director's Conference in Singapore and then headed to Scotland from there. Mary & the kids had to stay at home because of schooling etc. So I took this once-in-a lifetime-opportunity to bring 4 of my Pastors with me - Winston Bao-in, Marlou Javier, James Aquino and August Manio (chickenpox and all!!)

The main reason for me coming home was to minister at Rotherham New Life's Missions Weekend - If Not Now When ... To Boldly Go. More about that later!

The majority if my time was spent in the NE Scotland. My mum flew out to Sefton whilst I was in UK and I came back to Philippines with my dad. So proud of my mum .. 7 weeks in the Phiippines in the roasting heat and no dad to keep her right!! Well done mum ... knew you could do it! Women power!

The first couple of weeks were jam packed - me and the guys speaking in so many churches, youth groups, children's clubs, Sunnybrae ... you name it! In between we did brilliant things ... fishing in a wee boatie Gamrie (unforgetttable!), going to see Aberdeen at Pittodrie (very forgettable!!) and a lot of other exciting things.

Best things was meeting up with my family and friends again. Brilliant. Met so many people - every day we were booked for lunch AND evening meals at friend's homes. Scottish people are the most lovely, kind, hospitable and generous folk. Highlight was seeing - for the first time - my new little niece Eve Flett. She is a smasher! Mary's brother Bruce and his wife Alison have been given a most precious gift. Thank you Lord.


Also had the great On Sundays we were pretty busy in the churches. So many churches. My Filipino Pastors loved it! We also had two 100% Filipino services for the Filipino fishermen in Fraserburgh. I preached at Fraserburgh AoG, New Hope Peterhead, Elim Fraserburgh, Calvary Fraserburgh and also at Kings Church in Aberdeen. Must say that we saw the Lord move in all of these services. Even met John Knox (below!)


Another highlight for me was the opportunity to preach at my best friend Ben's induction service. What a great night! So many folk from so many churches ... way it should be! Had the honour of preaching at Zion Church in Peterhead and baptising a really special guy called Peter Strachan. Memories. Especially the homebakes ... MMMMmmmm.


We travelled up to Wick with the guys to see Mary's mum & dad and all our friends up there. Beautiful journey up the coast. So wonderful to see my outlaws ... sorry inlaws ... again. They looked after us so well. They are really special and I admire them so much for the amazing way they handle the fact that we, including their grandkids, are so far away so often. This is the hardest part of being a missionary. Not only do we pay the cost ... they pay it much more. This is the greatest sacrifice. They are my heroes.

We spoke at the Over 60's in the Salvation Army and Marlou gave a presentation about 'Life in the Philippines'. I challenged them to think of some questions for Marlou and one lady, whom I know very well, shouted out (in broad Caithness) "How dye cook yir chikin?" We laughed about that all the way to Edinburgh! Folk in Wick like to get their oriental chicken recipes! We went to Edinburgh for a couple of nights. We walked the Royal Mile (with only my T-shirt because I left my jacket in Fraserburgh!) saw the castle and drove along Princes Street. It really is THE most beautiful City in the World. At night we had an went to amazing Korma with my friends Jenny & David. What a day! Getting tired now! Been round Scotland in thirty minutes. Next blog will be about our time in England.

Until then ... Be good and live the dream!

Comeback Time!

I'm back! I'm alive! How are ye? Long time since I saw you at the other side of your computer screen!

Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. No excuses, except ... well, no excuses.

So many things have happened since my last blog. Unbelievable. I feel as if I have been constantly travelling from one end of the world to another since September and that I have only stopped this week! I will blog about some of the adventure very soon. Promise.

Right now, I am so tired an need to crash into bed. I will leave you with a few pics. So don't worry ... the real deal is making a comeback!

I would love to get a comment from you so I know who is still actually reading my blog and who have given up hope! Come on, encourage me to start again ... and you'll never believe what might happen! Goodnight, Mark