Update

Dearest Prayer Partners:
Have you ever felt that God is showing you how much He loves you? Well, God has been doing just that in my (Deborah's) life over the past 2 weeks. As you may recall, I love to watch birds and there just aren't many birds in the Philippines, other than the wren types. So, all summer we have been able to watch 3 hummingbirds at our feeder. They must be preparing to fly south because the last 2 weeks they have been in a feeding frenzy. We have counted up to 13 at one time! My heart has been overwhelmed with praise that the God of our universe would take time, through such a small thing, to woo my heart and capture my love as only He can do! Just as we are about to leave the country and hummingbirds, God has brought more hummingbirds to feed than I have ever seen, our 2 feeders are literally covered. I find it quiet amazing that God provides such sweet expressions of His love in ways that I had not even asked or imagined. My heart praises the Lord that He is the same faithful lover of our souls, yesterday, today and forever as He Himself proclaimed to Moses on Mt Sinai in Deut. 34:6-7 "The Lord, The Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands." We are so excited!!! Praise the Lord, we are at 91 percent and will be returning to the Philippines right after Thanksgiving! We have received from MTW our departure list of "things to do before we leave" and have feverishly begun working on it. So, would you continue to pray for that 8 percent which we need to be pledged before the middle of November to come in quickly? Also, would you begin to pray for a house in the Philippines that feels like home? We desire to rent a small, furnished house so that we don't collect more stuff and they can be a challenge to find in the Philippines. Please pray as well for the power of the Holy Spirit to go before us as we can't wait to begin ministering again among the Filipinos. We are also reminded of God's faithfulness to give us the desires of our hearts as we will witness the ordination of our son Chad Sunday night! We have been praying for God to allow us to be "in country" to be able to attend this once in a lifetime event for 2 years. Once again our hearts are "filled up" (as our Grandson Wyatt says) with praise for God's blessings to us!
Thank you again and again for your faithful prayers for us and God's ministry in the Philippines.
Steven and Deborah