As we near the end of 2013

"Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes." Isaiah 54:2

2013 has been a year of growth for project Life Subic and as we look forward to 2014 it shows no signs of slowing down!  It has taken years to identify, mentor and build a strong team of leaders from the slum area, but they are now leading most of the weekly ministries in five locations! Here's what's happening in Project Life Subic:

1. The 12th St area still has women's fellowship, Kids Church, and the Feeding Program.
2. The Youth are now meeting in the Upper Room on a main street of Olongapo and the English classes are also held there.
3. In the predominately Muslim area of Matain, Subic, the men's and women's bible studies have grown, and the Matain Youth Group is reaching out to so many teens.
4. The Sewing Training Center is located in the heart of the Red Light District in Barrio Barretto.
5. Sewing training is being conducted in Jail 164.

Along with these weekly activities we have done other community projects such as clean water and sanitation. We do relief efforts when disaster strikes, and occasionally hold medical/dental outreaches as well as provide on-going health education for all locations.

2014 will be another year of expansion. The Upper Room will offer free music classes to the youth (we are directly across the street from a high school with 10,000 students) where they are also invited to the Youth group. The sewing center will be moving into a larger room in the building that we currently rent space in. One of the rooms now being used for sewing will become a classroom for outreach opportunities to youth and bargirls such as English class, Music class and other vocational and spiritual activities. We will also be adding an Alternative learning System course (approved by the Dept. of Education) in June for out of school youth who want to get a high school diploma.

"Do not hold back." Yes, we must move forward no matter what obstacles are placed before us. We have been called to this place, for this time, and will have faith that the plans come to fruition! Please pray for all the workers in Project Life Subic. We all need encouragement, strength, wisdom, good health. We need you to pray that favor is extended to us in the area of city governments, landlords, and other community members. Pray that doors continue to open and lives are touched with the love of Christ!

Women's fellowship at Matain is Growing!

It was such a joy to see over 50 women, young and old, attend the community fellowship last Thursday! They are all participating, and enjoying themselves. Leaders Cathy and Cindy have done an excellent job of teaching and caring for the members of this community. Their commitment and love for the people of this area is so evident in the lives of those they have touched! Neighbors are living in harmony now and helping one another. Their hope is rising and they face the constant hardships with a new, God- given strength.
Cathy and Cindy are now identifying future leaders of this community that can be trained to lead programs to help with the community development needs. Our goal is to raise up and equip the leaders from within each neighborhood that will carry on the needed projects.



Cathy and Cindy take turns teaching and leading activities. Cathy stays tuned in to the needs of this community. Her mother and other family members live here. 

Cindy has their attention and is an amazing speaker!

Our friend, Mila, on Matain beach. The village is behind her.

Typhoon Yolanda Disaster Relief Efforts

We were all shocked by the extent of the damage and loss of life caused by Typhoon Yolanda. We still can't believe what we are still seeing on tv. Project Life Subic was not able to do much, but then a large donation was sent for relief supplies and we had a connection here to send the goods, so we went into action! Sonny and Leslie called friends Tony and Angela to help us shop and transport the relief supplies. A local company, Ocean Adventure, (similar to Sea World), was taking supplies on their 60' boat to Samar, so we were able to send our supplies with them today!
Please continue to pray for the victims of this horrible disaster. The Filipino people are resilient, but it will take months, maybe years for them to recover.

Fire on 12th St destroyed the homes of 24 families

Another shock to the community happened last Saturday night. A fire swept through the last block of 12th St near the canal and destroyed the homes of 24 families. Miraculously, they all escaped and only a couple small injuries were reported. It took a very long time for the fire trucks to arrive, and there was complete chaos on the street. Adults and children were crying and in shock. Once the fire was out, the local authorities opened the Barangay Hall Covered Court for temporary housing.
During our first visit the women broke down and cried and all needed extra strong hugs and prayers! It was an emotional time as they all shared stories. Nanay Linda told how she put her 28 yr old disabled grandson under one arm and another grandchild under the other and dragged them out of the burning building. Another family escaped with eight children through a break in the plywood wall of their upstairs shanty and ran over the tin roof to get away from the flames. They have lost all their belongings except for the clothes they were wearing and a handful of items they could grab as they ran.
Thanks to all who are helping with gifts of food, clothes, bedding, tarps for shelter and more. The families expressed their gratefulness to those of you who have prayed and helped in practical ways. The city also brought food and now the mayor has awarded each family with some money to buy roofing materials. Unfortunately we have a super typhoon predicted to hit our city by Friday, so we aren't sure where these families can take cover. The children are still afraid and some having nightmares of their narrow escape. We are trying to organize a debriefing time with skilled childrens workers to be held at the Saturday children's ministry and feeding time.We will keep you updated.
Here are pictures from the fire and life at the covered court.

 

October Updates

This has been a very busy few weeks since the historic flooding of Olongapo and Subic. Flashfloods and landslides contributed to 34 deaths. Our old neighborhood was underwater and three children were trapped in a home and drowned. The bamboo and scrap wood shanties of Matain were wiped out along the beach. It has been three weeks and still the cleanup continues. Now the main hospital is overflowing with hundreds of leptospirosis patients who contracted the disease when exposed to rat urine infected flood water. Eight  Leptospirosis deaths have been reported. Red Cross has mobilized, bringing much needed meds, cots and volunteers to help triage and treat.
 We are all doing what we can to help. As we reported in the previous blog, we were able to provide food and tarps because of your donations.  We also distributed rice to 150 families in four locations and listened to their heart wrenching stories of survival. One of our friends who raises pigs broke down and cried as she shared the story of her livelihood being washed away in the current, and she couldn't save her two precious dogs either as they were trapped in the house. on 12th St, some of our friends stood on a high wall and saw furniture, appliances, animals and parts of homes wash down the raging river. Another friend shared his story of a fellow trike driver and family who were killed in a landslide. An elderly friend and her husband stood on a dresser in their bedroom with water to their neck and the ceiling just above their heads, frantically texting for help. The windows had iron bars and the doors wouldn't open due to water pressure so they were trapped. When the water subsided six hours later, they were rescued.
Our dear missionary friends who have a charity birth center here were flooded and lost almost everything they owned. We can empathize, having been in that position ourselves. It is a horrible, scary feeling of powerlessness when you realize the force of nature can not be stopped and there is little you can do.  Please continue to pray for the victims of the flood here!

Sonny helping deliver the rice!

Melinda will distribute to Sta Monica flood victims

On a happy note, the Upper Room has opened and our youth are holding a Core leaders bible study there as well as weekly youth group and bible study. Our English classes start tonight! Hopefully the music class will begin next month. Here's a picture of the youth cleaning and preparing the classroom.

Other exciting news: The "LightStrike" project was funded by a Rotary International grant and two clubs in Leslie's hometown. We will hold a planning meeting next week to begin implementation. We hope to install solar soda bottle lights in approximately 450 homes in the squatter areas of Olongapo and Subic over a period of 18 months! More on this big project soon.

Last, but not least, the Sewing Center had another graduation! Big "THANKS" to trainers Emy, Cindy, Cathy, Angie and Glenda, our 'fantastic five"!

Bringing love and food to Matain!

 

A note from Leslie-
Each time I visit the Matain fishing village I am filled with an overwhelming love for the people who live there. The people are so sweet, kind, and hospitable despite the impoverished living conditions. It's always fun to hang out with the women, and now the men are starting to feel more comfortable around us "Outsiders" too.

The recent flood destroyed many of the shacks that people here call 'home'. The weather made it impossible for the men to fish and earn money, leaving most families hungry. Fortunately, friends from my hometown made a donation specifically for food for flood victims here and we were able to provide groceries for 48 families! Another friend, a fellow Rotarian, donated towels so the families had an extra bonus!
The Matain people think it is amazing that people on the other side of the world pray for them and help them in times of calamity! They were so happy and grateful for what they received today and thank God, project Life Subic and their "friends" here and on the other side of the globe!

Here are pictures from today, enjoy! A big THANKS and God bless those that participated!

 

 

Our Youth Groups- Once reached out to, now reaching out to others!

     

The youth were busy this last month! They participated in the International Coastal Clean Up Day on the Subic Bay Freeport Zone and also accompanied Leslie to speak at Brent International School's Chapel services.
Prior to the Coastal Clean up, the youth gathered to learn about the effect of trash on the environment. They realized their responsibility to be good stewards of the earth and protect the beauty of the creation. They are just beginning to see the negative effect of throwing trash on the ground and drainage canals. Not only the impact on wildlife, but the flooding that happens when the drains and sewers are filled with thousands of plastic bags.
The youth enjoyed joining the event and being part of a solution to a big problem in their community.


 At the Brent International School Chapel services, Leslie spoke about poverty and ways to make a difference in the lives of the poor. She challenged the students to step out of their comfort zone and reach out to the poor with love and mercy. The Youth Group performed skits and were well received! They were invited to return next semester.

 It is amazing to see the growth and changes in the lives of these teens. They are now strong in faith, integrity, and are equipped and willing to reach out to others!

Matain After the Storm

Kids playing after the storm


 

Waiting patiently for food

Disaster relief is ongoing in our area after the latest series of storms and flooding. The Sewing Center made some custom tarps for shelter and we distributed more PACTEC tarps so families would find shelter from the rain. Rebuilding continues as it does each time the shanties are blown away. We fed families a healthy meal, and they celebrated the goodness of God and the fact that there are people like YOU who care about them!
This is a resilient community of informal settlers. When storms come they can't fish and many are hungry. They are so poor that when the children graduate elementary school, the families can't afford to send them to high school because of lack of transportation money. Babies are dying at birth (two just last month) and mothers are having postpartum strokes because of a lack of health care.

Receiving tarps that they can use to rebuild their homes

Project Life Subic is in the process of reassessing the needs and potential of this community. We are trying to determine which projects would make a lasting impact. Some of the ideas that are being discussed are building toilets (there are NO toilets in this community), more health education, hosting an alternative learning program for out of school youth, and finding a way to transport some to high school. We also want to provide more vocational training to those fishermen who want more work options.

As the women's and men's groups have grown, the members of the community are finding more peace with their neighbors. They are finding a deeper level of understanding of God's Word.

The men's group are missing Sonny as he is home recovering from the knee fracture, but JR and Jimson (from 12th St!) have stepped up to lead. They were so excited last Sunday to report that 27 fishermen attended the Men's group. JR said the men were all so eager to participate in worship, teaching and discussion!

We are seeing great changes here, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. Feel free to email us with any ideas or help us raise the funds to see these ideas come to fruition. Together, we can make a difference!

Nabongs Move and Sonny Fractures Knee

 From Leslie: After the team left we were so tired, but we had to begin moving the next day. We just downsized from a house to a two room (three if you count the hallway!) apartment above the Sewing Training Center. We had started unpacking and trying to organize our things when Sonny fell from a ladder. He fractured his knee into four pieces. The Project Life staff was downstairs and quickly came to the rescue, helping me stabilize Sonny, calling the ambulance, and contacting the surgeon. Sonny was hospitalized and had surgery that night. The doctor was able to wire the knee together and reattach ligaments. Sonny's leg will be immobilized for 4-6 weeks then he will begin physical therapy. This is a hard time for us but we can already see God's grace around us.  Our Project Life leaders have helped me move boxes, and get more settled. Our prayer team started praying and I'm sure that is what got us through the first few days of pain, exhaustion and feeling helpless and discouraged. Then out of nowhere we got a text offering to help us hire some help as I am now doing my job, most of Sonny's and caring for him 24/7. We are so grateful to God for caring, loving people.
Sonny says he is learning patience. He feels discouraged and bored as he can't do much of anything. He is happy though, that two of the men he discipled from 12th St are now carrying on the Matain men's bible study every Sunday!
For me it is a lesson in self sufficiency and pride. As much as I say I trust God and have learned to live in the moment, I am being challenged. It is hard to accept help, both physical and financial, and I am facing the fact that it is my pride that is being dealt with. Sonny and I have a friend in the USA who occasionally sends us a devotion or scripture that is always so timely, we are amazed! This time was no exception as we face these trials and hopefully learn to grow through them.
It is also in these times that our dependency on God and YOU, the people He uses, is so obvious. We can't do what we do here if it wasn't for our friends and supporters. Thank you for your love, prayers and help. We are encouraged!
Please pray:

• For the leaders in Project Life Subic as they assume more leadership roles.
• For Sonny's complete healing and that he will have no problems with mobility after recovery.
• For strength for Leslie.

We love and appreciate you!

YWAM Denver Sends a Team

We were so happy to host 14 young missionaries from the YWAM Denver Around the World DTS for two weeks. The group was exceptional- loving, helpful, and had a gift for making people feel comfortable and smile! Even though we were their last stop as they traveled around the world, they were still energetic and committed to serve! They were involved in a variety of outreaches and helping our ministries. One highlight was the new men's bible study in Matain where 14 fishermen gave their hearts to the Lord. The men are so eager to learn the bible, and make changes in their lives. Another highlight was the "Spa Day" the women on the team put together for the local bar girls. We visited bars for two nights, got to know more of the girls, then invited them to the event at the sewing center. Not only were the bargirls overwhelmed with care and love, they also got to see the sewing training center and hopefully some will come back to train! The team also helped us with deworming the kids at 12th St.
At the end of their stay, the DTS team helped Sonny and I transfer some things and clean up the new apartment, then left to celebrate the end of their outreach with two days at a beautiful nearby resort.