October 17, 2008 Greetings again from the Philippines! I apologize for being so late with my letter of information concerning our ministry   It was so busy getting ready for the trip to Cambodia, then being gone to Cambodia, then our emergency trip home to the states, traveling briefly while home, and then finally our return back to the Philippines. Cambodia is a very large nation without Christian Church Bible Colleges and only a few trained leaders.  I visited a prison area with mass graves.  Many people are still living around this place of torture and separation.  Eleven baptisms were at this area after we had a time of preaching and seminars for several days in the capital city of  Phnom Penh.  Next, Joe Garman and I traveled to the northern part of the island to visit the churches of the Batdambang area and to visit the Rapha House Orphanage.  I visited four rural church areas, spoke many times and tried to understand the needs of the churches there.  One of their needs is for VBS (youth) materials and also Leadership Training of the church leaders of the ten churches.  Hopefully with some encouragement and training, several more churches will be started also.   Oh how great the need is for teaching and encouragement of these churches!  It was while staying there, we had the emergency call to come back to Kansas for Mary’s mother, Grace Reamer, was very near death.  Several decisions were made during our teaching time there. Joe Garman said after I left, there were about 30 baptisms. I had an 18 hour wait at the airport in Vietnam before getting back to Manila on Friday.  Mary had to pack everything quickly for our trip home and came from Bacolod to meet me in Manila on Saturday.  We flew out on Saturday night, (Saturday morning in America) after being changed to another flight after our ticketed flight was canceled.  After finally arriving at LAX, we were routed to Detroit then to Kansas City to be with Mary’s family.  It was while in the Detroit airport we were told that Mary’s mother, Grace, had just died.  Her mother’s painful struggle was over but the glorious future is for eternity.  Mary was very sadden, to miss seeing her mother but both her brother and sister assured her that it was best that she was not there for Mary’s mother’s last couple days were very difficult.  A beautiful service was held for Grace on Wednesday with her church pastor. We were so thankful that our daughter Lydia, and her husband Josh and my brother David Wilson were able to come and be with us during the services.  Thank you for your cards and prayers for us during this time.  Also, we appreciate a couple of people that helped with our trip expenses for this emergency trip home.  Mary was sad by her loss, but had peace that her mother could now be pain free and enjoy peace forever more. It was a great joy to be apart of the 30th anniversary of the Oakwood Christian Church in Enid, OK during our first weekend home.  We were able to enjoy the fellowship of so many of our friends and family that we have known since the church started in 1978.  I became apart of the staff at Oakwood in 1979 and they have faithfully supported me as their “Living Link” missionary since I first came to the Philippines!  After the solemnness of the funeral, it was a joy to step into the celebration of God’s blessing at Oakwood for a few days.  May God continue to bless Oakwood in their future! After being at Oakwood, we visited several of our churches to pick up materials for future shipping to the Philippines.  We also had some special time at the Lakewood Christian Church in McAlester. We store our things and have a small rural property that we check on while in McAlester.  Mary spent many long days gathering clothing and other items for our next shipment to the Philippines.  We were hoping to ship in November, but the date was changed to May of 2009.  While Mary collected items at Shared Blessings, I traveled to Yukon, Bixby, Joplin, and  Rogers.  Finally, we visited our daughter and Josh for a couple days before flying home to the Philippines. We enjoyed our last evening in the states with Mary’s brother, David, who was working in Kansas City.  Our time was rushed, the time was precious, but we felt the urgent need to get back to the churches of the Philippines to continue our work.   We are urgently working to get the VBS materials translated so that we can print those materials in November for distribution to over 150 churches in December.  We also have a couple churches going through  some problems that are a great concern to us presently.  During the first week home, Mary  resumed meeting with her students that she is tutoring and I have visited two mountain churches that need church buildings.  We hopefully will help each of these churches with cement, steel bars, nails and some other materials.  Each of these churches will need about $750 to $1,000 for the start of their buildings. (The flooring, walling and other things will be done later.) Pray for Cambodia!  Joe Garman has asked  if it is possible for me to help the few churches there in Leadership Training.  We hope to  spend one or two weeks there each quarter if possible and if we have the necessary finances.   The VBS materials that we have been printing in three languages can easily be translated into the Khmer language and hopefully reach about 1,000 children in 12 locations. The leadership training materials that I use in the Philippines are already translated into the Khmer language.  Oh how much they need encouragement and leadership training in the churches of Cambodia! I am still greatly excited about our ministry here in the Philippines.  One area of Negros Island set a goal of having 50 churches by 2010.  They joyfully reported that they now have 52 churches in that area of south Negros! They are making plans for setting another new goal.  I want to focus on better Leadership Training materials in the future to more people in more places so that we will have more churches in the future.  Continue to pray for the work of the Lord here in the Philippines! In His service, Paul and Mary Wilson