From Tragedy Rises A dream....

       One week ago today we experienced a terrible tragedy at the Berean Bible Baptist Church in Binalbagan, Negros, Philippines.

    The church building that has stood as a lighthouse and a beckon of truth for over 25 years burned to the ground. They believe it was caused by faulty wiring. The fire took down the building in such a quick manner that the Fire Department could not save anything. It has been hard to know that this building that has so many great memories is there no more.

     We praise the Lord though that the building is not the church!! Within 2 days the pastor and all of the members had begun salvaging what materials they could and began making plans to go forward for the Lord. We praise the Lord that there were no injuries and that the members have a vision of what GOD is going to raise up out of the ashes of the past.

    It is going to cost about $50,000.00 to rebuild the church building and replace all of the pews, sound system, Piano, guitars, tile. carpet and fans that were lost also. As far as we know, the only thing they could salvage was the tin for he roof. PLease pray with us that God will supply the need to rebuild this mighty church back up to be that haven of rest and lighthouse this city needs.

Blessings come in Strange Packages!

For some people they have a preconceived idea on how they think God is going to bless them. It's easy to see a need and think , okay God can answer this need "this way" or "that". We pray and tell God we have a need and then we tell him how we want him to answer our prayers!!  One of our dear pastors in the Philippines was in need of a new motor bike for his ministry.  He uses this with a side car to pick up children and adults for church every Sunday. He also uses it to take food out to all of the feeding sites we have established through his church. At this time he is feeding and teaching the Bible at 12 different areas.

Now, we had been praying and asking God to answer this need but, we had also been trying to figure out how WE were going to do it!! We took a couple from Texas with us in January and when we visited Pastor Catamco's church they were overwhelmed at all he was doing. Brother Gregg said he wanted to take a ride in the side car so we sent him out with the Pastor. He came back telling us how bad the bike was and how there was no way it could run much longer. He returned to Texas and shared this need with the men in the church in within a week he had raised enough money to purchase Pastor Arturo Catamco a brand new bike for the ministry! This is a great need for all of the pastors in the Philippines. We have personally seen them put 16 children on a bike and sidecar for church. Talk about a bus ministry!!!!

Pastor Arturo is also in need of property to build a church building on. He has found this piece of land that we have claimed fort he Lord. In the 2 years we have know and supported Brother Catamo He has had to move his church 4 TIMES! All he can do is pay a person a small rent to use their land, or as they are doing right now, having church in a ladies carport. Help us pray for this land that GOD will give it to us to build a church that will stand true to God's Word and His Truth! The people in the Photo are bro. Arturo, his wife, Emily and their 5 children.


Just to share a little humor on one of our trips...
This is Harrell, me, Carol Jones, Gregg Jones and all of our luggage in a jeepney. It was so crowded that Harrell and our Field Rep, Renie Jun, finally hung off of the back. It was close to 35 minutes to where we were staying and they hung on to the back the whole way!!! The roads were bumpy and the drivers were down right crazy! Just imagine hanging onto the back of a race car, plowing down a bumpy race track with a drive who is trying his best to hit every hole in the road and you have our trip in a Jeepney!!!  It was an exciting adventure and it was all worth it to see the 600 souls saved on that trip. This is not just children accepting the Lord as their Savior but their parents also. We are so blessed that God has allowed us to be a part of the work on the islands of Cebu and Negros, Philippines.
If you would like to help us we would be so grateful. We not only have to raise the money for rice (close to 2 tons a month) to feed the hungry each month but we also do an Annual Youth Camp and Christmas Gift Giving Program every year. God is so good to let us see so many saved through these ministries he has placed in our care.
Don't forget to pray for us if you can't do anything else!!!

Recap of 2010 for the BNCF and ME

I was sitting here thinking over how God had blessed us and the Brian Noble Children's Foundation in 2010 and all the exciting things that have happened.  As any evangelist/missionary can tell you the months from December to March are always pretty thin for booking meetings. Churches have all of their "holiday" season programs and special services during these times. So we are blessed in being able to spend a little time with our family. Mostly I feel like a hobo going from family member to family member! Some of you are marked as a "I Will Return"!

Anyway, back to 2010... The month of January was spent in the Philippines passing out Christmas bags and shoes to almost 1600 kids. It was a thrill to see the joy on these children's faces as they opened up their bags and saw all of the goodies they got. In all we saw over 800 souls come to Christ through this program.

The first part of February we spent in Saginaw, Texas with the Trinity Baptist Temple where the great and wonderful pastor is Dr. James Godbey, better known as Woody. We were so thankful that we got to participate in the churches 25th Church Anniversary and Pastor Woody and Regina's 40th Wedding Anniversary!  What a time we had! It even snowed while we were there! There was almost 2 foot of snow in Fort Worth, Texas in February!!! What a time the kids had with that. We then flew out to Viet Nam to visit with our Pastor friend there. It was a great trip and we had some great adventures. On Sunday morning we got ready to go to church and were meeting the pastor outside of the hotel when up drives him and his son, Wen, on 2 motorbikes! Okay, there's no problem with that except I'm in a straight skirt and my ever present high heels!! Now, I'm not one to just give up so I told Wen to hang on and I hopped up on that bike side-saddle! So down the road we went flying with me trying to not fall off, not drop my purse (which is the size of a small suitcase) or loose one of my high heels! Now who said life is boring? We made it back to the states with no problems and too many stories to tell right now.

In March we did meetings in the states. Our first meeting was with the Sharon Baptist Church of Hampton Virginia where Brother Bill Geouge is the pastor. Then on to the trinity Baptist Church in Chesapeake, VA where Brother Neil Poleski is now pastoring.  Then to end up the month of March we were in Randleman, NC at the Grace Baptist Church with Pastor Marvin Patterson and a wonderful Sunday service at the Calvary Baptist Church in Norfolk, VA. with Pastor Richard Smith.

April was at our home church for Easter and Revival at the El Bethel Baptist Church in Avon, IN where "Dad", Rev. Don Noble pastors. We then drove up to Creston, IL to hold a revival for Bro. Al Roose at the New Beginnings Baptist Church and then back to Pittsboro, IN for a Sunday service with the Pittsboro Baptist Church where we had the privilege to meet their new pastor, Bro. Brock Evans. The month of April was ended at the annual "Run For The Rose" Camp Meeting held at the Maryville Baptist Church where Brother Jack Roberts has pastored for over 30 years.

In May we flew back to the Philippines to get things ready for our 2nd Annual Youth Camp. We usually have camp on the second week of May but the Philippines were having their national Elections and we had to move it to the 3rd week.  After all the planning, working, moving and prayers our camp began with a bang! We had planned on about 300 youth and we had 348 plus about 30 workers. Each service was a blessing with just the right message and you could feel the Holy Spirit working on these "kids". By thursday morning you could tell something was about to happen. Well, we set up for service that night and in the middle of the song service the electric went out. This happens all the time so no one was worries. A couple of men who worked as maintenance men on the school property brought out 2 large gas lanterns that we set up on the platform. The music was so special and each sermon right on target. Harrell preached last, closing the camp and when he gave the alter call all but about 10 people came to the alter. The call was to surrender your life to full service to Jesus Christ. We had 20 young people who surrendered to go to college and begin training in the work for the Lord.  What a thrill it was to see these new soldiers for out Lord!

June found us back in the states holding revivals in Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio and Indiana. The first revival was at the Lighthouse Baptist Church in Independence, LA. They are without a pastor but we had a great time any way! It was the first place we have ever been that Harrell lead the singing, took up his own offering, preached and did the alter call!!!
We then headed up/over to North Carolina to the Samaritan Baptist Church. We love going there. Pastor Danny Smith has been a dear friend to our family for more years than we care to count. He has such an uplifting spirit that you can't help but feel good when around him. Then on to the Chesterton Baptist Church in Chesterton, IN where Bro. Rick Henderson is the pastor.  Back to Louisiana for the Camp meeting held at Fundamental Baptist Church where Pastor Rusty Silvertooth keeps the church fired up.

In July we took a crew of 9 men from the Trinity Baptist Temple Church in Saginaw, Texas to Honduras to work on putting up a church building in one of the areas we have a feeding center in.  It was a wonderful trip and these guys worked so hard. All of these men worked out in the hot, harsh sun mixing cement and laying block. The hardest thing they did was move plies of dirt with broken down wheelbarrows and poor excuses for shovels!!! But they did it with such joy.  I was blessed with being able to spend my birthday with my grand children also.

August was in Marion, Indiana at the Lydia Baptist Church where Pastor Bruce Koontz is doing a great job there. It was the churches 25th anniversary service with great preaching, singing and food! We then drove back to Texas where I was blessed to speak at the first annual Ladies Retreat at trinity Baptist Temple.  At the end of the month we drove back to our house in Indiana to see if it was still standing.

September we were at the Liberty Baptist Church in Greensboro, IN where Brother James Wood is the pastor. We never thought that this would be the very last time we would see Brother Woods this side of Heaven.  Brother Woods went home to be with the Lord in October after dying on the operating table. It was a sad time for his family and friends but a time of rejoicing for him as he is finally HOME!!

October was spent in Indiana, Ohio in revivals and then on to the Philippines with our daughter Leslee. This was her first mission trip and she was a great help to me. This trip was a finalization trip on getting everything together for the Christmas Project for this year. We purchased over 2000 pairs of shoes plus a toy, candy, apple and a few little things for each child.  We came back with a heart excited about what GOD is going to do though this program.

November was a thin month for us. We had a 4 day revival with the Jones Run Baptist Church in Lumberport, WV and then drove  to Fairland Indiana to hold revival with Pastor Tracy Gross and the Calvary Baptist Church.  we flew to La Ceiba, Honduras to have the first of the BNCF Christmas Projects. It was a joyous trip but we were faced with some sad decisions also. We found that the area where we had started building a church was so dangerous that our national pastor was too afraid to go there. Since July there had been over 10 murders. This area turned out to be in the middle of a drug cartel  that was a stop off place between South America and Mexico!!!! God is still able to save and what area would need the Gospel more than this? We have put this project on hold for right now, waiting for God's direction. After all of this excitement we went to Lynchburg to spend Thanksgiving with Leslee.  We then drove to Gainesville, Florida to celebrate our grandson, Jacob's, 6th birthday. What a joy for us also when we found out that he had accepted the Lord as his Savior.

So December was spent with family and then back to the Philippines to give out over 1200 gifts for the first part of the Christmas Gift Giving Program of 2010. We went to Binalbegan, Negros at the Berean Bible Baptist Church where Pastor Janel Nemeo is leading the cause of Christ. God blessed us with over 300 adults saved in the Saturday services with 143 first time visitors on Sunday morning and another 78 saved that morning!!  Thus concludes another year of service with the BNCF, the national workers, my husband, family and friends for our Lord and Savior.

Holiday Heart Burn!!!

Well, We made it through all of the holiday activities from Thanksgiving and Christmas to the beginning of another New Year. It's been a strange time for me because in the past I was to one doing the cooking and making sure everything was all set for the "festivities" and this year I made 1 Pecan pie for Thanksgiving and our yummy Sweet Potato cassarole for Christmas!!!  I guess this is a sign of the "changing of the guard" that happens in families from generation to generation! My daughter-by-love, Lena, did a great job on the Christmas dinner and my daughter Leslee was the one who whipped up a delish Thanksgiving dinner for 3! No way am I able to cook for only 3 people!! No matter how hard I try it always ends up being enough to feed an army!!!  Part of me really enjoyed that "not having to cook cause "we'll" do it Mom", yet another part sees it as my time to let the young uns take over.

That brings me to the title of this blog of, "Holiday Heart Burn". My heart burns with regrets that I'm not cooking like I used to do and with great joy that my "girls" can and have stepped up to the plate (no pun intended!) as some really great cooks in their own rights.

All my memories of the holidays are centered around a table laden with food surrounded by family and friends. Memories of my mom cooking all day long and then people coming in the house with arms loaded down with more home cooked delights. It was never a "Norman Rockwell" holiday cause there were just too many accidents and mess ups for that! Just a great big family holiday that focused on Jesus Christ and family.

I will always love the holidays and all the fun, food, friends and family that go along with it. So weather I am sitting on the couch or in the floor playing with my grand kids while the other cooks work in a hot kitchen or I am asked to whip up a single dish the family loves my heart burns with the love and gratitude that comes during all the Holiday seasons.

I pray that you will focus on the things that make your life most precious to you in 2011 and forget about the things you can't do anything about. Enjoy and Embrace all God sends your way today.

The Celebration of the BNCF and our beginnings.

In 1976 our beautiful son, Brian Wayne Noble, was brought into this world; a gift of God that was given to us for nine short years. After countless doctors and hospitals our precious son was diagnosed with epilepsy. At the time there was very little known about epilepsy and with little in the way of treatment or a cure, our son passed away on January 28, 1986.

Fast-forward 12 years to a small orphanage outside of the city of Oradea, Romania. There we met the calling that God would give us for our future. In the eyes of a small orphan boy named Csabi we saw our son. And there we found the gift of ministry on the mission field and we never looked back.

The Brian Noble Children’s Foundation exists to minister to the fatherless and the widows. We do this on five continents from Eastern Europe to South East Asia. Our organization trusts in God to give us the direction that we need, but we also trust in the instruction that He has given us to ask, seek and knock.

We are asking that you help us on this day, in remembrance of our son’s birthday, by making a donation to the Brian Noble Children’s Foundation. Any amount will help, and a donation of $25 will help buy the Christmas gifts for our children this year. We accept check or money orders made out to BNCF, or you can make a safe and secure transfer of funds to PayPal with any major debit or credit card.

Please help us today as we look back on the memories of our son and as we look ahead to the future God has given us.

Thank you and God Bless!

My Life Of, "Boy, I Meant To Do Better At That"!

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you actually accomplished all those lists you make, the good intentions of finally throwing out that potato salad from the 4th of July Picnic or taking on that job of getting your life"organized? I look at the last entry of this blog and keep trying to justify my not posting all that has happened and just can't find any. So with all my little lists crumpled up and thrown into the trash and setting that job of organizing in the back of my "To Do" folder, I have determined to just get done what I can. Oh, and yes, I did finally throw that potato salad out. I didn't know potatoes could turn that color!!

The month of June was spent in revivals, camp meetings and Mission conferences here in the states. We traveled many a mile with the hand of God wrapped around us. God keeps on amazing us in how HE supplies our needs. God even gives us special blessings we don't even ask for! We had a friend call us up and ask us how many miles we had on our 2000 Excursion. Well, we thought it was a strange question but told him that at that time it had a little over 300,000 miles on it. He then told us he wanted to buy us a newer Excursion. You could have blown us down with a feather!!! After some searching and "surfing" our friend found a 2003 Excursion for us up in Wisconsin!

We drove from North Carolina after we closed a revival and drove straight through to the dealership in Wisconsin, did the paperwork, wrote a check and drove both trucks down to northern Indian to start another revival. This wouldn't be a big thing except the GPS took us right down Chicago during the worst time of day and I WAS DRIVING THE NEW TRUCK!!!!! Praise the Lord we got to the church without one problem just my frazzled nerves and lack of sleep. God is so good in his care for us. I don't know why he supplied this truck for us, but I've learned through my many years as a Christian that God doesn't make mistakes and there is always a purpose for what HE does. Sometimes he makes us wait before he reveals the whys and sometimes he just tells us "Cause I said so"!!!!

The Church building in Honduras.

In July we were honored to take a crew of 9 men from the Trinity Baptist Temple Church in Saginaw, Texas with us to Honduras to build a church and a Community Pavilion (picnic shelter). It was hot, dirty, weary work for all of us. Well, not so much for me... I mean I did work, but not like these guys! It seemed like they moved a mountain of dirt one shovel (and I use that term very loosley) and some of the poorest wheel barrows we have ever seen. But the willingness of this crew to do any type of job, the intensity of work and humbleness of wanting to help the neighborhood children was so moving. I watched as on of the men took off his shoes and gave them to a man who had no shoes. On the last day of the trip these wonderful men gave away their work shoes, gloves, work clothes to the neighborhood men who had pitched in help us work on the church. One of our bricklayers even left ALL of his tools with a 78 year old man who has been laying bricks almost all his life.

Christian and Jesse with one of the girls.

The Mountain school where we feed about 80 kids.

We still need about $3000.00 to finish out the roof, windows and doors and the wood for the pulpit and pews. We took one day to take the men out to the feeding center up in the mountains and we had a blast with the kids. While there we watched these men huddled together talking. When we asked what was going on they said they were trying to figure out a way to build playground equipment out of what might be available in Honduras. They are already drawing up plans for a return trip to help us help make the lives of these children just a little better. We cannot thank these men for the sacrifice they gave in coming with us to work like they did, but I know GOD CAN and WILL reward them.     One of the men had brought a huge bag of little bead bracelets that his little daughters had hand made for all the children.  They had even gotten the Children's Church involved in doing something for someone else. Most of these children came to school without food, with out pencils or paper. They sat at tables with chairs with no backs and some were even missing  a leg and a  piece of wood holding it up.  The teachers are working with the barest of supplies and they are only paid a pittance as a salary.

Our focus isn't on these children having a place to play, or a place to go to school, or to have paper and pencils, but to hear the Gospel message that Jesus Christ loves them and gave his life for them so they can have eternal life through HIM.

The best part of this summer has been that we had a little time to go see our wonderful grand children. I am always so excited about seeing them whenever I get a chance. I got to spend my birthday with them this year and we had a blast. The kids each bought me a present using their very own money they had received by doing chores and even wrapped them all by their selves! From Jacob I got a Red Fire Fighters helmet, Lydia bought me a great big package os sidewalk chalk and Lily Jean bought me a baby doll! We had cake with more candles I cared to count and the candles were surrounded by toy fire engines!!! Thanks Brad!! I was so moved by the thought my precious grand children put into getting me a present. Okay, so they took them for themselves as soon as I unwrapped them but I didn't care one bit!!!
I think Grandparents enjoy their grandkids because we can revert back to our own childhood without everyone wanting to rush us off to the Nursing Home!! We "swam" in the kiddy pool, drew pictures of ourselves on the sidewalk, ate ice cream and popsicles, played ball and just had a great time of being a kid. Sometimes we get so busy with making a living that we forget to live! I found out how much fun playing hide and seek was again! That excitement of hiding and then running after each other, falling into a heap of love and laughter brought back that little girl who had gotten lost inside of me. I even discovered that I can still do a cartwheel and walk the next day without too much pain!
I love being a grandmother and all the wonderful things that come with it. I keep praying that I can be the kind of Nanny that will not only be fun but that will be able to be a witness of God's love, grace and salvation.
Well, I really didn't mean to recap the whole summer so I'll leave the rest of the excitement for the next blog which I plan on doing in a few days. Really, I really do mean it this time! So I will leave you with the ramblings that have fallen out of my head and hope that you enjoy them and come back to hear about all the other wonderful things I did on my summer vacation!!!!!

Youth Camp 2010 in the Philippines

      What an amazing time we had at our second Annual Youth Camp in Cebu, Philippines. Last year we had 256 kids attend our first camp and this year we were blessed with 304 campers! There were 80 more campers registered to come but backed out at the last moment.

      God has been so good to allow us the opportunity to host this camp at no charge. So many young people in the Philippines would love to go to camp but cannot because of the cost. For camp in the Philippines it cost about $7 to $10 to attend camp, then there is the cost of a bus, jeepney,or ferry to get to camp and that is about $3 to $5. Camp over there is very different from camp in the US. Each church brings their own food and each groups prepares for their church group only. Therefore you have a total cost of about $20.00 to attend camp. This sounds really cheap unless you take in consideration the fact that most families make less than $100 a month.
      Through the generous love gifts given by a bunch of dear Christian people we have been able to host this camp. For just $20.00 you can host a teen for camp and see God work in and through them. It was a thrill to see the Holy Spirit move in every single service. The alter was filled after every sermon and the Spirit was so sweet all week long.  Summer camp isa  time of wonderful memories for us all. I met my sweetheart at a Youth Camp in Weatherford, Texas when I was 15 years old. My best friendships were established at camp and our son surrendered to preach at a Youth Camp in Indiana as a teen. So I am very excited to be a part of the Youth Camps in the Philippines.
     It was a hot, humid week but no one seemed to care! The lighting was terrible (Harrell had to read his Bible by a flashlight), the sound equipment was poor (one of the microphones wire kept falling off as the preachers were holding it and one of the speakers blew out). Our "sound man" kept a soldering gun on hand at all times!!! The toilets kept breaking and there were only 4 working toilets between 304 campers! The showers were either garden hoses, a pail of water or a spigot, but each and everyone of the campers were thrilled to be there and every single person there was extremely clean. We in the US take so much for granted, but if we had to go back to the basics of life I really believe it would also draw us to a closer relation with Jesus Christ.

      The Lord blessed every preacher with just the right message and we saw a moving in all the kids hearts by Wednesday morning. After one mornings session of preaching, the kids were hollering to the preachers, "Don't Stop!"  I can't say I understood all of the words these preachers said, but I sure understood what the Spirit had to say!!!

Our Camp Director, Renie Jun, set up a talent contest and called it "Baptist Got Talent". It was a great success and the kids really got into the spirit of it. He also set up an "Amazing Race" contest for the campers. Our funnest and most looked forward to game is the Pole Climb. We place a prize of about $20.00 on the top of a 30 foot bamboo pole and then have each group take turns at trying to climb to the top for it. Oh, did I mention that the pole was greased also!! It was so much fun watching these young guys trying their best to get to the top. It got really exciting when the preachers decided they wanted to take a turn!  They didn't make it to the top but you have to applaud them for even trying!! It took about 3 tries before one group finally got a spry, little fellow pushed to the top and  
 he literally leaped to the top of the pole!

It was so great to see these young men learning to work together and helping each other.  Even though we had all kinds of games and competitions the main focus all week was on the Word of the Lord. 

    By the last night of camp the kids were asking to extend the camp a little longer, they didn't want it to end.  Harrell preached the closing message about David facing Goliath and the 5 stones he chose. The thought was that there were 5 stones chosen but only 1 was used. Even though the stones were not used they were ready and willing to do the job. The whole service was focused on being surrendering to be used by God. It was amazing to see just about every single person there come to the alter. Only a handful of kids stayed in their seats.  Then the invitation was given to those who would stand up and say they were going to surrender to go to Bible College and 20 young people stood and gave their hearts and lives to God's service.

    Can you believe that to go to the  Bible Baptist College in Cebu City, Philippines for 3 years costs about $1200. That's for books, room and board, food... everything!!! In some colleges here in the states you would spend almost that much just for the books! 

    After seeing this need we have stepped out by faith to offer a Brian Noble Scholarship that will be presented to one young man and one young lady each year. If God provides more money we will offer it to more young people. So pray that God will allow us to raise the money for this and for future scholarships to send these worthy young servants to the Bible Baptist College in the coming years.  Pray with us that GOD will bless in the lives of those who surrendered to Him that they will stay strong in their decisions to serve the Lord.