Click here to view this newsletter as a PDF.
Over the last four months, Timothy and I have done a lot of doing and a whole lot of talking, all in the name of Jesus, sharing about what He has been doing at BCCL! And now, all we can do is thank God for all that He has done!
Six Countries, Four Months
It surely felt like Around the World in 80 Days for Timothy and me as we traveled and lived out of our suitcases since August. We went to six countries (including the Philippines) in the last four months to raise funds as missionaries, as well as to attend mission conferences.
We went to Northern California for a few weeks last August to personally thank supporting churches, as well as raise support as missionaries. Then we flew to Edinburgh in early September to adjust to the time zone in Europe and take in a little bit of church history. While there, we connected with a vibrant church called Carrubbers that D. L. Moody planted in 1884. We also joined pastors of churches in the area during a lunch meeting discussing ways to evangelize better. From Edinburgh, we went to Dublin, where we joined other NAB missionaries on a shuttle to the UK. We attended a mission summit in early September in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland, for a week, where C. S. Lewis got his inspiration for the setting of the Narnia books! What a nice bonus! As newbie missionaries (we got officially accepted by the NAB as volunteer missionaries this year), it was wonderful to meet the other missionaries in various fields to talk about current trends and issues about international missions based on statistics from the recent Lausanne Congress (2024). Important issues were the fact that the churches in the West have decreased in sending out missionaries. A great development is that missionaries are coming from the majority world: from everywhere to everywhere with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While the West is still the biggest financial supporter of mission work around the world, only 3 percent of that funding is going to unreached people groups. The task unfinished is huge. There are currently 3.4 billion unreached people in the world (Joshua Project, 2025). Pray for more funding and more missionaries to go to the unreached people groups of the world.
Then, we flew back to the Philippines for two weeks and were off again in mid-October, this time to Canada on their Thanksgiving weekend to attend the mission conferences in Alberta and personally thank supporting churches and individuals, not just in Alberta but in Vancouver and Calgary as well.
Despite the cold weather (way colder than what we’re used to in the Philippines!), we felt the warmth and care of the churches and the believers (including those who opened their homes to host us) we met there. What was most encouraging to Tim and me were the times when we met with the staff and mission committee of some churches and they prayed over us as a group. It was also special to stay with Lee and Jennell Bertsch, who started the BCCL ministry in 2001. Sharing with them the fruit of their hard work in the Philippines was very meaningful.
It sure is great when NAB churches come together to celebrate God’s work among the nations. It’s always wonderful to hear reports from fellow missionaries, as well as to encourage the churches to participate in God’s cross-cultural work, not just in giving but also in serving and learning alongside missionaries on the field, albeit short-term. For “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.” By seeing what’s going on in the mission field, churches would know what to pray for and how to hold the rope for the very few missionaries on the field. May there be more mission conferences among NAB churches across North America.
Thanks a Lot, Jesus!
“I believe in Jesus, older sister,” said Chitti (not her real name for privacy) to me. Chitti is one of our Hindu friends; she fell victim to fraud where she lost a big sum of money intended for her tuition fee at the medical school she attends.
I was telling her what we Christians usually do during difficult times like this. We pray to Jesus, tell Him how we feel, as with a friend, and trust Him to be in full control of the situation. Chitti was so upset by the situation, but when she prayed to Jesus and when I told her about His attributes, she said that she experienced great comfort.
Ginna, one of our staff who has a big heart for our Hindu friends, helped her report the incident at the bank. After almost a week, Chitti got the money back!
“Thanks a lot, Jesus!” Chitti exclaimed. She couldn’t believe what happened. She believes more than ever that Jesus is a powerful God. I told her that Jesus wants to be her friend. She is thinking about it.
Please pray for Chitti and that more of our young Indian friends would experience and relate to Jesus in a personal and powerful way. We have been faithfully telling them about Jesus and praying that they would have personal encounters with Him as well.
Our Thriving Third Space Ministry
We continue to thank God for the many ways He is using our campus coffee shop (called BridgeWalk Café), which is a business-as-mission ministry strategy. A lot of youth and young adults frequent the café. We were surprised that the café got more than 200,000 hits on Google Maps just this quarter!
“This is the only café that cares about how we’re doing,” is the usual response from customers when asked why they keep coming back. Our café crew are mostly believers who know that they are doing ministry while serving the customers. They would usually ask customers how they are doing and start building relationships with them. The crew know the regular customers well, and when some share about difficulties in life, they either offer a word of prayer at a private space or silently pray for them. Many times, during the crew’s daily prayer time at the kitchen before the start of operation, they would turn to see that some early bird customers were also praying with them!
We’ve also put a message board where customers write notes and express themselves. Sadly, some are suicidal thoughts, or some write about their mental health issues or pressures in life. Every week, the café crew would read and pray for the customers who wrote them.
We thank God for the many creative ministries that He has opened at BCCL. I read an article by Jews for Jesus that they call this coffee shop ministry as a “third space,” which is a welcoming public space outside of home (first space) and work (second space) that fosters community. This is exactly what we are doing, and we are encouraged that this is becoming a popular ministry strategy among unreached nations in the majority world. Our campus café has also been a popular venue for our students’ Bible studies. We’ve also done a lot of art ministries at the café to build relationships with people.
We are ever so grateful for the privilege of joining God in what He is doing in our midst. We invite like-hearted and like-minded churches and believers to join us as we continue to join God’s work in the Philippines and other nations.