October 2007
Dear Family and Friends,
Ps. 59:16-17, “But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning…Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.” This past month has been very busy, but the Lord has given strength for teaching and carrying on various responsibilities.
Once a month I travel downtown to an appointment. Ate Jeanne used to drive me in her car, but my roommate Beth joins me now, and we take public transportation. This provides many interesting experiences and opportunities to witness. Our trip includes one ride on a jeepney (an open-aired vehicle that people get on and off at any place they desire). We also take the LRT (Light Rail Transit—an electric rail train that travels on a suspended track above the regular traffic route). Sometimes the LRT is crowded so much that you can barely squeeze on, and you are held up by all the people surrounding you. This 40-minute trip only costs 70 cents. This past weekend we traveled again. I was hanging onto a pole in the center of our car, and a lady tapped my back with her fan. She indicated a seat next to her, so I joined her. I talked with her and found that she is a devout Roman Catholic. She knew of a Baptist Bible College near her and asked me if I knew about that ministry. I tried to share the gospel with her, using verses like I Pet. 3:5, Eph. 2:8-9, and Acts 4:12. She did accept a tract and promised to read it. Her name is Mrs. Loyola. Please pray for her to understand that salvation is not through good works but through faith alone in Christ’s finished work on Calvary.
I was also able to witness to our Korean friend Sarah again. I sat next to her in church. Unfortunately, the sermon was mostly in Tagalog, so she did not understand much. I opened my Bible, showing her the Scripture passages. She copied them down onto a piece of paper. One passage was Phil. 2:5-11. At one point, Pastor Castillo shared his testimony. I wrote on Sarah’s paper that he left his job because he knew God wanted him to share the gospel with people who did not know Christ as Savior. She pointed to the word “gospel,” and asked me what it meant. I wrote out the gospel in simple English for her. She pointed to the phrase about Christ rising again from the dead and asked what that meant, so I showed her Matt. 28. Please do keep praying for her. She continues to attend the Sunday AM service but does not seem to understand the gospel yet.
My non-college piano students gave their first recital on Sept. 29. The recital included students from three other teachers as well. Everything went well, including the short “Note from God’s Word” that Dr. Kamibayashiyama shared. Thank you so much for your prayers.
Our first semester at BJMBC will finish on Friday, October 12. The students are eager for their three-week break. Piano students played well at their final music juries on Friday, October 5. Mrs. Bachorik, Mrs. Catalo, and I were busy all day long with listening to and grading 30 piano students. It is a blessing to see how each student has progressed over this past semester.
One of my younger students, Ruth Raquintan, is showing a very strong talent in piano playing. She is only 14 years old and is quite advanced for her age. She hopes to study music when she attends college in the future. I taught her how to write a hymn arrangement, and she played her own arrangement of “I Need Thee Every Hour” for the recital. She came to her lesson this past week, telling me she had not only worked on another hymn arrangement but also written words and music for a sacred song. I spent some of her lesson time working on her four-part writing for her hymn. Please pray for wisdom for me as I continue to work with her. I count it a privilege to be able to train young musicians to use their talent for the Lord.
Please pray for the following requests:
1. My health: I constantly struggle with allergies. There is a lot of smoke in the air because people burn trash all the time. This and the ever-present mold cause problems for me.
2. More opportunities to witness, spiritual growth
3. Wisdom as I continue working on writing Christmas arrangements for my students. There are very few music resources here, so we use what we can and write our own when needed.
4. Salvation: Leah, Sarah (the Korean lady Rachel and I got to witness to), Marilou, Christina (the lady who sat next to me on my flight over in June), Mrs. Loyola.
5. Spiritual growth/Church attendance: Angelita Hipolito, Marilyn Dayao
May God bless you as you serve Him.