GOD BLESSES AGAIN IN PHILIPPINES...

YOUTH CAMP IN CEBU, PHILIPPINES 

Well, Youth Camp has come and gone and we have so very much to praise the Lord for. From the moment we got to the Philippines we saw the Lord’s hand working in every step.  Some times when we start a project we are faced with helpers that don’t understand what we want or are not able to follow through on instruction. I praise the Lord that HE placed a group of young men and ladies who had everything set up and planned out so that we didn’t have to worry about a thing. That was a blessing in so many different levels since after we got there Harrell came down with a stomach virus! He was violently ill for 5 days!!!  I worried over him, but God was so good in helping him and getting us back to the states in one piece!

 

The first day of camp the “Director”, Renny Junior, who is working with Pastor Jun Ambo at the Bible Baptist Temple Church in Argao, Cebu, had their church group all set up as Leaders/Delegates.  We had 256 souls register for our very first camp and we were so thrilled when everyone began showing up!                                                                            

The first church group came with their pastor and his family on a motor scooter with a sidecar. I counted as 10 people climbed off, out and over

 the motorbike! The last one off was the pastor’s wife holding their 2-year-old daughter! She was so excited about bringing their ”kids” to camp she didn’t care that they had travels for almost an hour like that!!!! Then came the van from the local Juvenile Rehab Center where Pastor Ambo has been working with the “detainees”. It was wonderful to see 10 young men who have gotten saved through his outreach coming to their very first Christian Bible Camp. 

 

All day long kids began showing up and were thrilled at where they would sleep! Now that is a simple sentence until you see where and on what they would spend the whole week on!!! We rented 250, 2-inch plastic covered floor mats for everyone to sleep on. No sheets, no covers only a few had pillows! We had split all of the kids into 4 groups with a set of leader-councilors over them. The girls stayed in one of the larger classroom, the boys in another across the playing field. The pastors had their own room and their wives and babies stayed in another. Each one of these groups had 1 toilet between 50 kids! Okay, knock that vision of an American toilet out of your head!!! This was a 2-foot tall porcelain “bowl” (sort of like a child’s toilet) no seat, no lid and no tank for flushing! To flush, you simply dipped water from a big garbage can with a pail and poured in!!  There were no shower stalls either… to shower you either washed off in the sink, didn’t wash at all or took turns pouring water over each other in the “Comfort Room”. The boys had the convenience of a water hose and just used that to “shower” under! I know, I know, I can just hear some of you saying that there is no way that you would go to camp under those conditions!!!! These kids and young people were so thrilled with these conditions and the fact that food would be supplied 3 times a day plus a snack and they didn’t have to pay anything was beyond their belief.

       

We had services every morning and at night time with a “devotion time” after lunch where the young preacher boys got the opportunity to preach to their “groups”. Every service saw the alter filled with boys and girls giving their lives to the Lord, surrendering to His service and giving up the garbage of this old world.

 

Every afternoon there was competitions in volleyball, soccer, badminton and darts. Plus during services we had competitions in preaching, Bible verse memorization, singing, playing instruments, skits and drama. What are so funny were the pastors (which we had 27 come) wanted to participate in all of these so they started their own group!! They even won the Dart competition!! At the end of the week we had prizes of Christian t-shirts, CD’s, shoes and sandals and snacks for all the winners. I want to thank Signature Sound for donating a bunch of their “Get Away Jordan” T-shirts and for the Bethel Baptist Church in Lapel, Indiana for donating almost 90 pairs of ladies shoes and sandals. The female winners thought they had died and gone to Heaven!  Girls are the same no matter where they are located at when it comes to SHOES!!

 

So many churches and Christian friends who gave out of a heart of love and generosity to see souls saved made this Youth Camp possible. We may not know the full effect of all that happened until we get to Heaven. Thank you so much for giving, sacrificing and changing the life of a young person in the Philippines.

 

The First Youth Camp in Argao, Philippines

  WE NEED YOUR PRAYER 

                AND HELP!!! 

 

      Calling all prayer warriors!

 I need your prayers and your help. 

       We are planning on having the first youth camp in the Philippines this May.  We are expecting 200+ children to attend.  The picture to the left is of the local school property that we are going to rent. When Pastor Ambo and his wife, Anafe, went looking for a place we could hold this meeting, they stopped by this school yard to see if it would be big enough. When the Principle found out what we wanted to rent it for she became very excited. She told our pastor that she also is a Christian and wants to come and be a worker for the Youth Camp. We can have a 4 day camp, supplying all their food,water and beds for $20 a child!  

You would spend $20.00 on a nice meal, or on a couple of hamburgers, or on a gallon of milk and a few things to snack on.  

When we break it down to the cost of something that will be gone in a moment to the soul of a young person, there is no comparison. 

NO WHERE IN THE STATES CAN YOU 

SEND A CHILD TO YOUTH CAMP FOR THAT. 

        We are so excited about the opportunity to present the Gospel to these kids. Most of them have never been to church before or have never heard a clear Gospel message on salvation! It is so sad that getting the gospel to these boys and girls all comes down to money.  We have the wonderful opportunity to give them a chance to spend 4 days being saturated with God's Word. If you have ever been to Youth Camp, you know the impact it has on you as a teen. 

     It was at a youth camp that Harrell and I met and fell in love. It was at a camp where our our son Brad surrendered to preach. It was at a camp (Jubilee) where our oldest son, Brian was saved!  So many young people surrendered their lives to serve the Lord or learned how to walk closer to the Lord while attending a Youth Camp. Now, we want to present that opportunity to the youth of Argao, Philippines. The fields are white unto harvest and it's our job to bring them in. We just can't do it on our own. We need people like you to help us.

 

      We have the children, we have the workers, we have the WORD.....

What we need are people to sponsor a child to go to camp! Please read this and then send it on to as many people as you can. Take part in making a difference in a child's future. "What profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul....."

If you'd like to help us, help them..... 

you can contact us at:  noblehj@aol.com

or at: 219-670-0247

or at: 

BNCF

P. O. Box 136160

Fort Worth, Texas 76136

If you are writing a check please make it out to BNCF 

and on the memo write "Youth Camp/Philippines" on it.

My Precious Grand Children

  




Well, I tried to wait but just couldn't! I have some really great pictures of our grand children and I want to share them with you. It's amazing how much you can love those babies! I mean, I love my son and my daughter more than words can express, but when I hold any one of my 3 grand children, my heart just melts. Especially when little Lily Jean, who I call my Lily Bud, wraps her chubby little arms around me and pats me on the arms, I feel like I have just been blessed with the most precious gift I could ever receive!  Lily is a curious little girl who has a streak of the adventurer in her.  She started walking at 9 months. I don't mean holding on to stuff, I'm talking about arms out to the side like wings and plowing through anything that got in her way! I guess because she has 2 older siblings she just figured if she was going to get to be with them she was going to have to stay up! 

What a joy she is to me and her Pappy. She loves her Pappy! When she sees him she gets all stiff, clenches her fists and kind of growls at him! Needless to say Harrell just loves that.  He is such a great grand dad to the kids. I love seeing him playing and interacting with them.

Lily turned 1 year old on February 22 and we were able to be there for her party. She had a blast eating her cake which she really got into! She even had it under her toes, but that didn't stop her!

            

I wish I could recapture that feeling of excitement, that newness that she experiences with each new day! Her face shows it all!!                  

  Lily is so excitable and she really shows exactly how she feels all the time!! 

Jacob was so happy with his Spiderman umbrella. He drug it around with him and even ate with it at the table. I can't wait for him to actually get to use it in the rain!

He got all kids of other toys and had a blast playing with everything. It was almost like having  a birthday party for him and Lydia also!

Lydia Mae, our little princess,was so thrilled with her princess umbrella that she took it to bed with her that night! That and her yellow high heels! I can't believe how much they have grown and how well their parents are doing in raising them. 

If I sound a little braggadocios it's because I have reason to be. God has blessed me with 3 of the most precious jewels in my crown of old age! All I can say is thank you Jesus for this gift you have bestowed upon me!

Pictures from the Philippines...

   rice paddy's on Negros, Philippines

The ladies in the church cook the rice to be served at the feeding sites. Sometimes they have chicken to add to it......

   and sometimes just the feet!!!

bought this stove and supplies to feed kids

   the children were timid but hungry

 A group of yours and my fellow christians in Negros, Philippines.

Pray with us that God will bless us with souls saved through these works and I'll be sending out more through out the weeks to come.

Open Field's White Unto Harvest...

                               Striving to reaching the young and the old for Jesus Christ.....

                                          The terraced rice paddy fields of the Philippines

When you touch a child's life you touch their future....

How thrilling it was to visit the islands of Cebu and Negros in the Philippines and serve the Lord in preaching and helping the needy.  We had such a great time visiting 4 national pastors that we have begun to support and setting up 9 Feeding Sites. We also had the privilege of preaching at the Berean Baptist Church and participating in their Christian School Awards Sunday. It was a joy to see these children ranging in age from 6 up 16 years old singing about our Lord and quoting scripture. I praise the Lord for the dedication the church members have for the school. It is all run by the church and there are no paid teachers. 

Harrell and I were blown away at the beauty of the Philippines and at the same time heartbroken at the poverty we found.  

With the 9 feeding sites set up now, we can supply 2700 meals a week plus the opportunity to share the gospel to the children and parents each time. The national pastors are using this "tool" to reach the lost and bring them into the church so they can grow in the Lord.

I am going to do another post of just pictures and let you share in what the Lord is doing with the BNCF. We now have 5 ministries on 4 continents. The praise goes to the Lord first and to all of the people who support the Foundation and us.

Christmas Around the World...

      Well, I am sad and glad at the same time.... Sad Christmas is over, but oh so glad it's over! I know, I'm a bit confusing aren't I! We had  fantastic Christmas for the children in Romania. We were blessed with the help of 5 great friends this year. Brenda Bowden, Michelle Finney, Debbie Yokeley and Amber White  all came from the Samaritan baptist Church in Winston-Salem, NC where Brother Danny Smith pastors. This was Brenda and Michelle's second trip over with us. They are so helpful to me. All I have to do now is give them a list of what's needed and send them off in the stores! We also had Brother Micheal Houston from the Fundamental Baptist Church in Livingston, LA where Brother Rusty Silvertooth pastors.  This was his 2nd trip also.  He, Brenda and Chelle all sponsor one of our children. So it is a joy for the children to see them once again.

     I am always amazed at what good children they are right before Christmas!! I guess you could say that kids are the same all the world over. We had fewer parties this year since we no longer have the feeding center in Romania and we combined the teens with one of the other homes. The teens didn't like it too much until I guaranteed them that it wouldn't diminish the amount of food they would get!! They were real happy about that.

       We also had a wonderful time passing out Christmas baskets and groceries to our widows.  It broke my heart to see Granny Margaret bed ridden when we stopped by to see her. I was so happy to find her daughter there to care for her. She is our first "granny" we took on to care for. She is a dedicated and precious saint of the Lord. She is 90 years old now and just wor

n out. I know her time here is growing short but her reward is going to be realized soon. 

I told her that as soon as we are both in Heaven we were going to sit down and have a good long talk! 

   

     We are going to Honduras and to Asia soon to share Christmas and New Years with them. It doesn't matter to them one bit that we bring gifts after Christmas or not. If you don't receive a gift on Christmas Day then what does it matter the date if the celebration is the same!! 

To often we are encumbered with the festivities and wrapping and food that surround Christmas that we forget that without the birth of our Lord we wouldn't have salvation. So we should be grateful for more than the birth of a baby and celebrate HIS "birthday" every day.

     Please pray for us as we endeavor to do our best for the Lord in whatever country we are in. Our goal and heart's desire is to see souls saved and God's saints revived for His soon coming. We have faced some hard trials this year but through it all we have seen the hand of God and He has opened so many more doors for us to serve him in.  Until next time, God bless and lead you in HIS paths for your life.

God Blesses in Asia

As Harrell reflected back on his trip to Viet Nam and to the islands of Philippines, he began sharing all that God had done for him and how the field was wide open in the Philippines. His stories about Viet Nam are both exciting and yet sad. The country is a Communist government so they have no religious freedom to meet whenever they want to worship the Lord. Yet God lead us to a wonderful pastor who has put up with persecution and interference from the government and continues to go forward for God! How exciting to know we still have saints out there that are willing to endure whatever Satan throws at them to serve.

Harrell also had the opportunity to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels and see where a lot of the Vietnamese soldiers lived. Check it out on YouTube and see where my big 6' 5'' sweetheart went. It's not so amazing until you realize he is very claustrophobic! It made him physically ill but he said he had to experience it for himself. He met many little widow women who are in desperate need of help and God laid on his heart to help 10 widows through our Widow's Ministry. He is also setting up a Feeding Center there. He found that there very few orphans because the people are very family oriented and if the parents die the children are always taken in by some family member. We are excited about the new works God is allowing us to work with over there.

Harrell and Brother Woody Godbey, pastor of the Trinity Baptist Temple in Fort Worth, Texas, then flew over to Ceba, Philippines. Brother Godbey had already had contact with this church and was helping a pastor there. Brother Ambro has a wonderful church there and is doing so much for the Lord. Harrell met a lot of young preacher boys that are on fire for God and just waiting for the opportunity to serve the Lord. Three of them are sleeping in a loft area in the church on rice mats for their beds and are so happy for the chance to be trained by Pastor Ambro to serve the Lord. They went out and feed about 125 children. Through this Harrell is helping the church set up a Feeding Center there to feed these children and to share the Gospel with them. They were blessed with over 50 souls saved on the day the went out and fed the children.
Through this trip Harrell feels God would have us take on 10 widows, at least 3 pastors and establish 2 Feeding Centers. Pray with us that God will supply the needed finances for these new ministries and that we will see souls saved and lives changed.