Hands for People, Hearts for God

Hi all, don’t miss this Sunday morning service. We have a guest who will inspire and encourage you like never before. Michelle Tolentino in a Filipino whose life was changed by Compassion Sponsorship, see the brief story below.

I know I was going to share on my mission trip but that will need to wait as I know you will be blessed by hearing what God has done and doing through this amazing lady.

Michelle’s story…..

Up From Despair

I was born in one of the most congested, crowded places, in the center—okay, the slums—of Manila. With both of my parents jobless, and two younger brothers to provide for, our family could not even afford our own shack. We were forced to live with relatives—seventeen of us staying in a very small shanty.

Food was scarce for us. My mom was forced to beg for food from friends and relatives. Every day outside our shack there would be lots of violence, neighbors fighting in the street. Shirtless men sat drinking alcohol all day, while bored women gambled, oblivious of their naked little children running around and playing in the filthy canals full of raw sewage.

But even worse in that slum was the rampant drug abuse. Like many others, my father was a drug addict himself. Even as a young girl, I knew that my life was hopeless, my future uncertain. I loved my father and thought he was a good man. But one of my earliest memories was waking up one morning to a lot of yelling and fighting inside our house. I heard my relatives cursing my father, accusing him of stealing their valuables in order to buy drugs. My world was shattered as my father was thrown out.

Life only got worse after that. In this pressure cooker of poverty and overcrowding, words flew that were far from kind. I felt so worthless, so vulnerable , that I was nothing and had no future.

The first glimmer of hope came at age six, when my aunt brought me to Calvary Foursquare Church, which had a Compassion Project. From the moment I stepped inside, I knew my life would change. The first thing they taught me in that place was that Jesus loved me. It was a simple but life-changing thought that would affect my whole destiny.

I learned how to pray, to talk to God. I read the Bible. My first-ever Bible was given to me by my Compassion sponsor. It was very precious to me, because I learned through the Scriptures that God was my Father, and I was His precious child. He was a Father to fatherless children like me.
I also felt that great love of my heavenly Father through my loving sponsors’ letters from a world away. Their letters gave me so much encouragement. I remember in the winter of 1995 that they sent me a picture of themselves sitting on a park bench surrounded by snow. I had never seen such a sight. They sent me letters telling me, “Our dear Michelle, you are very beautiful in our eyes. You are very precious to us. We love you. We are praying for you.”

Their words touched the very depth of my heart and soul. God used them in healing my broken self-image and destroyed self-worth. Every time I received their letters, I knew I was loved, I was important, and I was valued. I had a bright future ahead of me in the hands of my loving heavenly Father, who said in Jeremiah 29:11, “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Michelle did indeed have a future. She blossomed, pursued her dreams, and eventually completed a degree in communication arts from one of best universities in the Philippines. She became the Marketing Director of Trumpets, the first-ever theater gospel in Asia. In May 2011, she earned a master’s degree from Moody Theological Seminary (Moody Bible Institute) in Chicago, graduating summa cum laude. She is now a traveling speaker on behalf of children and women at risk.

Michelle has gone back to her roots, using her education and spirit to rescue women trapped the cycle of poverty and exploitation. She founded MADE IN HOPE in 2011, to empower women and children who have been rescued from the global sex trade to break the cycle of exploitation and secure their freedom by providing education, sustainable livelihood opportunities, and care in the healing process. MADE IN HOPE also advocates for the still enslaved, increasing global awareness and mobilizing support. Our mission is founded in the love of Jesus, who, we believe, has a plan for each of us, giving us all a future MADE IN HOPE.

She is also “paying it forward” in other ways, sponsoring two Compassion children on her own. Andrew, from the Philippines, and Samira from Burkina Faso.

She tells her story joyfully now and always includes this line: “I remember Papa Wess telling me, ‘Michelle, you may have been born in poverty, but poverty was not born in you!’”

This is just one of more than two million children worldwide who have graduated from Compassion’s sponsorship over the past sixty years. They’ve all discovered, in one way or another, the amazing power of love.

Well we just attended an amazing graduation service for elementary school, 57 graduates. They started by sing a praise song to God, then a few other songs and then a graduate, 11 yeas old gave a welcome speech without notes listing all the honored guests, truly amazing.

This was all after we had arrived halfway through the graduates procession, which we ended up being told to join and found ourselves on the stage front and centre! We became honored guests, just like most places we go, very humbling really.

The event was full of ceremony and done with amazing amount of importance, graduation from everything from kinder onwards is celebrated with great enthusiasm here in the Philippines.

The guest speaker was Aris Ballesteros, Annie’s brother, who is a regional manager of a national company who graduated from the same school. It hit me once again what an impact that compassion is having in families. While Aris was not sponsored himself, Annie was which allowed Aris to go to school and college because his mother had to only cover the cost of one child. So whoever was sponsoring Annie was actually allowing another child to become a college graduate and later a regional manager, who can sow back into the local community.

One of the highlights was an amazing speech by the valedictorian, another 11 year old girl. I will show some of the video in church. This was an truly wonderfully insightful speech that a uni student would have been proud to give, all done without note. Even as she cried as she thanked parents, se was able to continue and give some wonderful words of insight and encouragement.

It is such a privilege to see the work of compassion and the churches, they truly are doing life changing work. If you are a sponsor, know that what you are doing is changing lives and families forever! Never forget this, sponsorship works. Today I saw 6 sponsor children finish elementary school, they have opportunities before them that they may not have had.

Well done sponsors! Keep up the good work

Hi all, well we are in Laoag and gearing up for a busy week by the sounds of things. We were greeted at the airport with the usual enthusiasm by a number of Pastors and Compassion directors. They seem to really enjoy our visits by way of support. After traveling all day we went to our hotel then went to dinner with them before a well earned sleep.

Yesterday we had a meeting the Pastors and Directors to plan this week and also our trip in November. This week we will visit all the churches at share in many events, preaching, training, encouraging leaders and staff. Rod will be looking at sound systems and helping them to get the best sound they can, also Lynne will be taking a session with staff and government school teachers at one of the churches.

Our planning for November went well, with options including eye and dental clinics, training sessions, outreach rallies and working bees (painting and cleaning) at the churches. It should be a great trip and quite a busy one. If you are from our church then start praying about joining us, we need plenty of people to add to the mix already coming.

I will update shortly about my time with two compassion children and their families what a blessing!

Cheers

Hi all, well are having a wonderful time here and enjoying meeting and sharing with many new friends.

On Sunday we spent the morning at the Joyful Church with Pastor George which was a blessing to worship with fellow believers here in Davao city. Their enthusiasm in worship was inspiring. I was privileged to be able to preach in both morning and evening services. At the morning services many came forward for prayer after the message. Their eagerness to follow God is always and encouragement.

During the afternoon we took some children from Kids Aglow ministry to the shops, bought them lunch and then some clothes and shoes. These are wonderful children who are so impacted by the ministry of this program. Spending time with the staff of Kids Aglow has been great, to see their love for the children is rewarding. They are so committed to sharing with these children and their families.

On Monday we rose early and headed off at 4.45am to the Arakan Valley. This is a very remote valley where Pastor Efron had invited us to come and share for the day. We were not quite sure what to expect or what we would be doing for the day. After driving for about 11/2 hours we left the taxi and got into two 4×4 vehicles as the valley road was extremely rough and hilly. About 15 minutes into our trip we found ourselves at the first school where the whole school, about 45 students. We were introduced and then I was invited to share a message, I had about ten minutes warning of this and was not quite sure what I should say. The principal was a Christian and I was able to share a brief encouragement to staff and students. We then got back in vehicles for the next 35 minute drive, Rod travelled in the back this time on a wooden plank and bounced his way through the valley.

Upon arrival into the valley we were ushered into the Mayors office and welcomed to the area, then it was off to the church for the regional conference of Southern Baptist convention. I was the guest preacher for the first two sessions, during the second sessions the others went off in two groups to share at other schools. It was a great day and such a joy to share with churches in such a remote area. It was quite hot and the building was open at each side to allow air through, but still very hot inside.

On our trip on the way out of the valley I sat in the back of the ute with 5 cousins and their “uncle”. These girls were such an encouragement to see how they sang worship songs as we bounced along and showed me their valley with such pride. They were beautiful girls who were so interested in us and wanted to know more and learn from us, but also share their life with us too. I will always consider them as my friends, this is what I love about the Filipino people they are so welcoming.

My backside is still recovering from this trip in the back of the ute

We are off to a graduation service now for the bible college students at Joyful Church.

Next Thursday night (Nov 10th) Norm and Karen will be sharing in our Thursday night service. Norm and Karen work among the Yapa people of Central Australia mainly at Yuendumu, Willowra and Ali Curung. It will be great to hear some stories from their work. Make sure you join us next Thursday night at 7.30 for church.