Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Thursday, May 23, 2013
ISNAG MINISTRIES FOUNDATION HAS JUST BEEN APPROVED AS A 501(c)3 by the IRS. www.isnagministries.blogspot.
Almost 7 years ago I had a conversation with one of our SIL directors in the Philippines while I was on a mission trip to Dibagat with a short-term team from the USA. Since we had so much activities among the Isnags, such as short-term mission trips with folks from the USA, we should have a way to be able to receive funds for our project without it going through WBT/SIL. Since SIL Philippines was in the process of some new transition and on phase out mode, it would have made it easier to get funds some other ways, and they would not have to handle our trips. We have been praying about this since that conversation, and I even thought of asking some of our supporting churches to see if we could have them do that for our mission trips. The last several mission trips to the Philippines, JAARS had graciously helped us handle funds for our trips and we praise the Lord for their help.
We continued praying and exploring the possibility of how to get a 501(c)3 established. Last September I was involved in flying our JAARS helicopter to a MATA (Missions at the Airport) event in Rumford, ME just an hour southwest of Bangor, ME. I flew up to Bangor and stayed with one of our major supporters and a cousin to Dick Roe named Allon for one night. He put on an evening dinner for me along with supporters and members of Calvary Baptist Church of Brewer, ME.This church also commissioned Dick Roe as a missionary in 1955, and supported him until he passed away in 1995, so being with them that evening was special for me. Yes, they call me Nahd instead of Nard, and yes, I had lobsta instead of lobster. It was a great time of fellowship with all of them as Allon put on a nice dinner for us. Since Allon had his own family foundation, I had asked him about the possibility of having a foundation for the Isnag ministry. He also had the experience of establishing a 501(c)3 for his family business. He started working on this foundation back in October last year and it was just approved by March of this year. Since Allon has established the foundation for us, we decided to have it based in Bangor, ME at this time. So the address is:
Isnag Ministries Foundation
% Allon Fish
61 Florida Ave
Bangor, ME 04401
www.isnagministries.blogspot.
Would you join us in praising the Lord for opening this new foundation that will help the Isnags for years to come? Pray as Allon, Rudy and myself run this foundation that it will be honoring to the Lord.
More later about IMF!
Almost 7 years ago I had a conversation with one of our SIL directors in the Philippines while I was on a mission trip to Dibagat with a short-term team from the USA. Since we had so much activities among the Isnags, such as short-term mission trips with folks from the USA, we should have a way to be able to receive funds for our project without it going through WBT/SIL. Since SIL Philippines was in the process of some new transition and on phase out mode, it would have made it easier to get funds some other ways, and they would not have to handle our trips. We have been praying about this since that conversation, and I even thought of asking some of our supporting churches to see if we could have them do that for our mission trips. The last several mission trips to the Philippines, JAARS had graciously helped us handle funds for our trips and we praise the Lord for their help.
We continued praying and exploring the possibility of how to get a 501(c)3 established. Last September I was involved in flying our JAARS helicopter to a MATA (Missions at the Airport) event in Rumford, ME just an hour southwest of Bangor, ME. I flew up to Bangor and stayed with one of our major supporters and a cousin to Dick Roe named Allon for one night. He put on an evening dinner for me along with supporters and members of Calvary Baptist Church of Brewer, ME.This church also commissioned Dick Roe as a missionary in 1955, and supported him until he passed away in 1995, so being with them that evening was special for me. Yes, they call me Nahd instead of Nard, and yes, I had lobsta instead of lobster. It was a great time of fellowship with all of them as Allon put on a nice dinner for us. Since Allon had his own family foundation, I had asked him about the possibility of having a foundation for the Isnag ministry. He also had the experience of establishing a 501(c)3 for his family business. He started working on this foundation back in October last year and it was just approved by March of this year. Since Allon has established the foundation for us, we decided to have it based in Bangor, ME at this time. So the address is:
Isnag Ministries Foundation
% Allon Fish
61 Florida Ave
Bangor, ME 04401
www.isnagministries.blogspot.
Would you join us in praising the Lord for opening this new foundation that will help the Isnags for years to come? Pray as Allon, Rudy and myself run this foundation that it will be honoring to the Lord.
More later about IMF!
Monday, May 6, 2013
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Dear Praying Partners in the Isnag Ministry,
Praise the Lord! God answered your prayers! In our Good Friday morning service, about eighteen people came forward to commit their lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. God convicted them through the message on the seven last words of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Bible study we had on the shattered loyalty of Peter during the arrest of the Lord Jesus Christ.
During our “sing and share” time in our Easter morning service, people gave their testimonies on how God touched their lives. One grade school teacher said, “When I was listening to the message, it was as if my heart was being stabbed repeatedly. My body was even shaking at the words ‘I am thirsty!’” A young man shared what he learned in another Bible study on “the road to Emmaus.” He said, “I learned that we should not get discouraged even if our expectations are not met.” An eighty year old man who loves to use metaphors also said, “I learned that we must have our faith constantly tied around our waist.” There were several other heart-warming testimonies from the people whose hearts were stirred during our three- day celebration of the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
There were other heart-warming events that happened earlier in the week. On Wednesday, an older woman came to my house and shared with me what happened to them that day. A sack of rice that she was planning to get milled, and their breeder drake were stolen. When she expressed her dismay to her husband he responded, “Don’t worry about it. That means blessings for us!” She thinks he said that because he is getting senile. But she also said, “My husband forgets many things now, but he still knows his Bible very well!” I think what he said was not due to senility, but rather a sign of changed life and Christian maturity! The husband had been a church leader for several years, and he has led many people to the Lord Jesus who are now members of the Dibagat Church.
On the same day as I was preparing my message for Friday morning, the quietness around me was broken by the children singing at the top of their voices the Isnag translation of, “Unto to thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul! Show me the way to your will, O Lord.” Also, later that day somebody came to pick up thirty four copies of the Isnag Bibles for a high school teacher, who would distribute them to his students.
God continues to work among the Isnags; calling, nurturing and then using them in His work. We continue to do cross-generational evangelism. Please pray for the following summer ministries.
Ø Our Youth Camp in May. Please pray that the parents of the young people will commit themselves to helping build shelters, a kitchen, a meeting place, and latrines. As we have done in the past, we will hold our camp at a river bank for three days and four nights. Please pray for the leaders and for me as I prepare the Bible study, devotional materials and messages.
Ø On April 22-27, I will be mentoring a consultant-in-training. We will be checking a translation of
I Thessalonians and Philemon. Please pray for physical health and mental stamina for me, and a quick and teachable mind for my mentee. I hope to release him as a full-fledged Bible translation consultant after this session.
We know that God will continue to do great and might things as we commit ourselves to prayer, asking him to continue enlarging His kingdom. Thank you all again for the assurance of your prayers, and we can expect great answers from God.
Joyfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ in partnership with you,
Rudy
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
In April we will be changing the address of the Blog. It will be announced when we know it for sure, look for an email from Nard or the new email address.
Dear Praying Friends and Ministry Partners,
Next week is Holy Week, and the focus of the whole Christendom will be on the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most people in the Philippines who call themselves Christians know why the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross. But not many of them have appropriated the meaning and significance of His suffering, His death, and His resurrection. The Isnags are no exception.
On Wednesday, March 20, I will be going to Dibagat village to join the Church there in commemorating the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going early to do some training for the Church leaders and help in the preparation for the celebration. Here’s our tentative schedule.
March 28: Evening Bible study and worship service.
March 29: Morning group Bible study for all ages, worship service, lunch fellowship, and Jesus Film showing in the evening.
March 30: Evening presentation by the young people
March 31: Morning group Bible study for all ages, worship and communion service, and lunch fellowship.
Please Pray:
- That I may have God’s mind as I prepare the messages that I will be sharing with the people.
- That God will prepare the hearts of the people who will be attending the activities, so that they may respond to His Word in obedience to Him.
- For the anointing of the Holy Spirit for the Church elders and the five Church workers as they counsel people who want to commit their lives to the Lord, and encourage those who have gone cold in the faith, and as they do all the preparation for the celebration.
- That God will surround us with His Almighty hand, fill us with His Holy Spirit, and let us experience His love.
- That God will be glorified in all our activities. He is the one we seek to glorify.
- Pray that God, by the power of the blood of Jesus Christ, will bind Satan and his emissaries so that we will have a complete spiritual freedom as we study God’s Word, worship Him, and experience His presence.
For my part, I am praying that as you pray for us you will experience a special closeness to the God and to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“…the prayer of the upright is His delight,” and “…his ears are open to their prayers.” “The prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects.” These are God’s promises on prayer. So, we are counting on you, dear brothers and sisters, to uphold us in prayer during this whole week. We are expecting great things to happen, because our great God can only do great things.
Joyfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ,
Thursday, December 6, 2012
December 2012
Dear Isnag Ministry Partners,
No doubt you have been thinking about what to give your loved ones and friends for Christmas, if you haven’t already done so. One thing I like about Christmas is that it makes me think of others. This is the same reason we have Christmas. God thought of us people, who need to be redeemed from their sins. So He gave His greatest gift to us underserving sinners, His only Son.
You, my partners in the Isnag ministry, have been thinking of other people all year round. Every time you pray for the Isnags in the Philippines or other people groups in the world who need God’s word in their own heart language, or when you send your monthly gifts to missionaries God laid on your heart to support, you are thinking of other people, just as God thought of us before the foundation of the world.
As we leave the year 2012 in our ministry journey, I want to name for you the significant milestones of our (yours and mine) service to God this year. You will notice in the list that we are moving straight ahead toward our goal of giving God’s word to every language group that needs it. Those who now have it are responding, and their lives are being changed.
 |
| Rudy and Mark |
Training Milestones
>< Mentoring translation consultants: By God’s grace I had the privilege of mentoring two consultant trainees, who are both Filipino nationals. One is now a full-fledged translation consultant, while the other is still in the process.
>< Exegesis training workshop: By God’s grace I had the opportunity to give lectures at the Exegesis workshop attended by about forty translators in Asia. Most of the participants are mother tongue translators who are actively engaged in Bible translation.
Translation Milestones
>< Isnag Old Testament: By God’s grace, three Isnags from Dibagat village came to Bagabag to help Mark Pugyao and me in drafting (and comprehension checking) Joshua, Leviticus, and the first thirteen chapters of Numbers.
>< Translation checking: By God’s grace, 1, 2, &3 John in the Ayta language and Matthew chapters 1-12 in the Magi language were consultant-checked as part of my mentoring the two translation consultant trainees. The trainee who checked the Ayta translation, is now a full-fledged translation consultant. I am still supervising the other trainee as he continues to check the rest of Matthew in the Magi language.
Dibagat Church Milestones
>< New believers By God’s grace, in our Holy week celebration, there were twenty one people who made commitments to follow the Lord Jesus Christ. In our Youth camp, thirty one of the fifty young people who attended committed their lives to the Lord Jesus.
>< Bible school students By God’s grace, this year, there are two young Isnag believers who are enrolled at Word of Life Bible Institute in Laguna, south of Manila. One of them is from Dibagat, who is finishing his four year course. He will graduate in March next year. The other one who is in his first year of training is from Tubongan village, one of our outreach villages.
Linguistic Milestone
There are other practical ministries you extended to the people, especially to the Isnags. Some of you have generously given funds to alleviate the food shortage they experienced this year. On behalf of all the recipients of your gifts, I thank you.
As we celebrate Christmas, know that there are many Isnags, Aytas and Kalingas and many other cultural minorities who are also celebrating Christmas with a new meaning because we (you and us missionaries) have given the word of God in their own heart language, the best gift we can give them.
Merry Christmas!
Joyfully serving the Lord Jesus Christ,
Rudy
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