Desperate Call

Another real life story from the mission field. Thanks again Emma for sharing this with us. We will pray.

"Hello are you there now?" a young woman asked when I answered our office phone, as it was forwarded to me on Wednesday. Being (National NO day) a holiday, I was at home, but I asked, "Is this an emergency? Do you need help?" She identified herself as Maria, and explained that she had a card with our phone number which said we helped women find other jobs. She would like to talk with us about our program, but it could wait.

We met up yesterday at our office, and she explained to me her story. She has been working in prostitution in Greece for several years, from an Eastern European country, and before that, had worked also in Spain. Her parents had divorced when she was young, her mother had died, and so it had been easy after graduating, to make the decision to migrate to another country. Once there, she made the best out of her horrid reality ... she had been deceived and forced into prostitution.

It was over a 2 years ago that our card came into Maria's hand. I don't remember anything about her - just one of the hundreds of young women we meet in brothels here. Somehow though, Maria has survived so much and though she doesn't see God's hand in it, she was brought to our office. She told me she can't do this job anymore, that it's making her crazy.
We are hoping to start our life skills lessons this month, with her in the class.



Would you pray for her? Also pray for a computer teacher to be found, and others that would have time, compassion and practical skills to walk alongside Maria and others towards a new life. My desire is to work with her and some of the others that were in last year's program in a therapeutic group. Pray that God would bring it together, and in the right time, new employment as well!

Thanks for all the ways you support me and Nea Zoi! --

Emma Skjonsby Manousaridou
Nea Zoi: Association for the Support & Restoration of Individuals in Prostitution

Running Photo Blog

What movie was it where they had a running/photography group as a joke?
Today I took my camera on my run and here is what I came away with.
Check out my Flickr site for the full album: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matt_messner/

iPray Sermon

Together we strive to improve our communication skills with God, knowing that the byproduct will be a deeper walk with Him.
He has created us for an ongoing conversation.

This sermon looks at 1 Timothy 2:1-4 as a "lesson in prayer" for all of us as we strive to grow in our relationship with Him.

Here is the audio from today's sermon:
http://www.eastsidechurch.org/sermons/audio/091018.mp3

The Power Point (slides) are here: http://www.eastsidechurch.org/sermons/notes/091018.pps

The handout is here:
iPray

1 Timothy 2:1-4
1I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— 2for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

1. The iLife approaches prayer with __________ and ____________

2. The iLife expresses prayer_________________

My requests
Would you please…

My prayers
This is what is on my heart right now:

Right now I intercede for…
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Right now I am thankful for…
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. The iLife expresses prayer ____________________
4. The iLife expresses prayer ____________________
5. The iLife expresses prayer ___________________
6. The iLife expresses prayer ___________________
The good life (iLife) incorporates __________, ______________, and __________ prayer.

iPray Quotes

Here are some of my favorite quotes on prayer:

I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.

—John Wesley
I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had absolutely no other place to go.

-- Abraham Lincoln
Wishing will never be a substitute for prayer.

--Ed Cole
Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?

-- Corrie Ten Boom
Of all the duties enjoined by Christianity none is more essential and yet more neglected than prayer.

--François Fénelon
The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer is repeated daily by millions who have not the slightest intention of letting anyone's will be done but their own.

--Aldous Huxley
There is a general kind of praying which fails for lack of precision. It is as if a regiment of soldiers should all fire off their guns anywhere. Possibly somebody would be killed, but the majority of the enemy would be missed.

--Charles Haddon Spurgeon
When I pray, coincidences happen, and when I don't pray, they don't.

--William Temple
Faith in a prayer-hearing God will make a prayer-loving Christian.

--Andrew Murray
Pray, and let God worry.

-- Martin Luther
God's answers are wiser than our prayers.

–Unknown
I must secure more time for private devotions. I have been living far too public for me. The shortening of devotions starves the soul, it grows lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours.

--William Wilberforce
Accustom yourself gradually to carry Prayer into all your daily occupation -- speak, act, work in peace, as if you were in prayer, as indeed you ought to be.

--François Fénelon
Prayer is not so much an act as it is an attitude—an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God.

--Arthur W. Pink
Prayer does not fit us for the greater work, prayer is the greater work.

--Oswald Chambers

Day Six - Extending His Love to Those In Need

We are about to head to the store to buy more relief materials (food, toiletries, medicine, etc.) for some of the badly hurt churches.

The Pastors here see this as an opportunity to reach out and many of them have set up as disaster relief facilities.

Eastside Foursquare Church has given generously so that we have confidence that all the churches and schools in Foursquare that have lost equipment, books and supplies -- they will all be replaced. Furthermore, they will receive food and aid for their members and communities.

This is a great thing to be a part of - expressing God's love to those who are in need.

I am thankful to be here and am thankful for the leaders (the Sabandals and the pastors who live and serve here).

Gotta go. Thanks again for your prayers!!

Matt Messner

Creative Worship Services & Outreach

Last night we had church at KFC. The church building had been flooded by Typhoon Ondoy so the Pastor discovered a nearby KFC which was open. The upstairs was a "party room" decorated with Barney. Pastor Marcus asked if they could use the upstairs if they rented the room and bought chicken - "No problem" was their answer so we had a great service, which included communion followed by fried chicken.

Today we visited Pastor Gerry's and Pastor Jeffry's, both of whom had experienced severe flooding. Their churches were full and they were greatly encouraged by the visit.

Ten days ago Pastor Gerry's two children both contracted dengue fever, both were hospitalized, and their boy nearly died. Their church and home was flooded at the very same time. It was inspiring to hear him preach about hope and joy in Christ. Ten members of the church had their entire homes swept away by the flood.

Tomorrow we are buying more rice, food, meds, etc. and going to more of the hardest hit areas.

Thanks again for your prayers and generosity! I heard that the Saturday night service at Eastside gave nearly $10K towards the relief effort! It is going to help the churches and schools reach out and rebuild. Thanks again! (www.eastsidechurch.org).

Thanks for your prayers!

More photos are here!

Typhoons & Answered Prayer

Today we spent the day getting food to some of the areas that were badly hit by the recent flooding.

I wish I could upload my photos and video, but haven't been able to do so. Having internet access challenges.

Our first visit was to the notorious community of Tondo. Here two of our most impacting pastors are doing an amazing work – Pastor XP (Expadito is his name) and Pastor Alex. These young men live in a community that is densely crowded with some of the most inhuman conditions found in the world. The police don’t go into this neighborhood and I wouldn’t visit these places without the company of these well respected community pastors.

In keeping this short, I will summarize my visit:

Pastor Alex has a thriving church where the second floor is literally buckling the trusses that hold up that level. We have the funds now to rebuild this place. Pray that he finds a good place for the church and school to meet during the two months needed for the construction.

Pastor XP’s place was packed with the parents of the pre-schooler’s who were having a meeting with the teachers. These ladies are committed to the hope that their children will have a better life as a result of their education and relationship with Jesus Christ. XP showed us a nearby beautiful church that is sitting empty. It is owned by a Korean group and might be available for purchase for $3000. Keep this in your prayers. It would give them 5X the square footage they have now.

Due to the flooding all the schools in metro Manila have been closed for the past week. Consequently, most people are without work and without income. When you live day to day this has a dire impact. We gave these pastors each 50 lbs of rice, canned foods and more. They were SO happy and the community took note as we walked down the narrow alleyways bearing the goods.

During the afternoon we were able to get more food for nine other churches. The rain began to fall hard but it didn’t stop the pastors from coming to our meeting point for the food distribution. That night we drove through the torrential rains and it took us three hours to get home (normally it would have been a one hour drive).

Fortunately, the most recent typhoon missed us leaving us with nothing besides the rain.

One of our pastors (who is on our task force) (Gerry) has been watching over his son who has had a bad case of dengue fever. Two days ago we were afraid he would die but yesterday his platlet count quadrupled signifying a turn-around. Thanks for your prayers. Still waiting today for another update.

Thanks to Eastside Foursquare Church for authorizing $10,000 for flood relief! Please help replenish these funds by bringing your offerings for Manila this weekend or by giving online at www.eastsidechurch.org.

The Taal volcano is erupting. We do a great lead of our training in Tagaytay, on the rim of this huge volcano. Two nights ago Bryant and Patty were there for a meeting of Foursquare women and the smoke was so thick the visibility in places was only a few meters.

During these coming days we will continue to work hard to distribute supplies and mobilize help to the needed areas.

Looks like the current typhoon is huge but is moving North of us.

Not far behind it is another huge typhoon. You never know where they are going to hit for sure.

Robin Fawcett is an Eastside missionary in Vietnam. Bryant and I have plans to visit his at the end of next week for a day before I go home. Looks like they may be getting hit the hardest by these typhoons, so please keep him in your prayers as well as the churches and missionaries there.

Blessings. I hope to keep in touch. It is difficult to do so without phone/internet access (I am writing this from a Starbucks wi-fi).