BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES

BEAUTIFUL FOOTPRINTS

“And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”” Romans 10:15

Photo by Adrianna Calvo on Pexels.com

We are excited to receive a lengthy missionary report from the Emperados in the Philippines. Due to its length, it will be posted in parts. This is part two of five. Please keep this work in your prayers. For the elders, Ken D Dear Family and Friends,

September 29, I will drive 7 hours to Cebu to take a one-hour flight to Davao to visit four provinces in Mindanao. I will be there traveling, preaching, and teaching on the Book of Acts in several churches we planted. I fly home on the evening of the 7th, then drive all night to catch the first ferry across to Negros, and hopefully be home in time for breakfast and to help celebrate Becky’s 54th birthday on Monday. I still have a few years on her, I turned 62 in August and now I get to avail of senior citizen discounts on many things. After Becky’s birthday, I will be heading to Leyte to visit Baybay, Bato, and Naval.

Bato is so blessed because they have a new building being built on land bought before COVID with the help of Austin Avenue Church of Christ. The carpenters from Negros traveled back there this week to help finish the ceilings, electrical work, and the door. We were so thankful that Austin Avenue was able to send a little more funds. The prices on all the materials and supplies were just going up weekly. We had to delay finishing it too, for a while, because our trusted carpenter & crew from Negros had another job they had to finish here. Thank you so much to our sponsoring church, Austin Avenue Church of Christ for all your love and support through the years for the Bato church. We pray with them having their new building they will be able to reach out and continue to grow. The lockdowns from COVID and not being able to meet in person for such a long time really hurt the growth of the church in so many places. We pray with time, we will be able to hold monthly MOSES classes next year in places where they are struggling and restore lost members and reach out to new families as well

After visiting Bato, I hope to be able to travel to Naval. The Sugar Grove Church of Christ helped plant this church many years ago. Mark Howell, Peter Ehlig, and Carla Wells came to help. We were supposed to plant a church in Mindanao, but it wasn’t safe to take Americans at that time, so we diverted to Naval, and God has continually blessed that work, through struggle, trials, and typhoons. Mark preached nightly at the function hall of the university, and many obeyed the Lord. Ken Wilkey was with us too on that trip. I can remember smiling listening to Wilkey “cracking jokes” with Mark. There is never a dull moment when the “great” Ken Wilkey is around.

Much Love, Richard, Becky, and Kids (2of5)