Jumping into a new year

Hello everyone,

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! We had a nice time with family and friends. We are very blessed!

What you’ll read in this brief update:

• Overall Statistics from Megacities Manila 2017
• 2018 Happenings
• Prayer Points

Megacities Manila 2017

As you may have read in a previous post, we have spent a significant amount of time in this city over the course of 2016 and 2017 (Abi for 5 months and Joel just under 5 months). We had the opportunity to prepare for teams coming by scouting out the entirety of the city, doing lots of prayer, and we were able to do a lot of hands-on ministry as well. It’s been a big part of our lives the past little while, so we wanted to share some exciting statistics over the course of the year!

Number of people who…

• Received Salvation: 32,027 (this is exciting, because this is only our statistic as YWAM Perth, but churches in Manila have been keeping track as well and have a much higher number! This means that local people were continuing to reach out to their communities on their own)
• Heard the Gospel: 98,782
• Were instantly healed: 1,849 (including blind seeing, lame walking, mute speaking! FOR REAL!)
• Received prayer for need: 90,240 (lots of people just need someone to stand with them and know that people care, and more importantly, that God cares for them and their situation. We saw many people encouraged and physically healed in these times)
• Received Bibles: 8,114 (many people don’t have access to Bibles in their own language, or only have portions of the Bible. Many people laughed and cried with joy upon receiving one)
• Received evangelistic material: 21,464 (these short stories and/or tracts tell the truth about God and give people hope)
• Received health care: 5,810
• Received teaching: 78,405 (from the basics of following Jesus to knowing how to wash your hands properly, the people of Manila learnt a lot this year from a whole range of teaching! This was done in 153 different seminars throughout the year, along with some other one-off teaching moments!)

Thank you for praying for this city and for us! We thank God for everything He has done and will continue to do!

2018 Happenings

2017 was quite a big year for us. Joel began leading the YWAM Perth worship team full time, and Abi led the School of Worship on her own for the first time. We recognise that God’s called us to be worship leaders and teachers about it, so 2018 will continue to move in that same flow.

Abi will lead the School of Worship (SOW) again this year, starting in April and ending in September. For those who don’t know, the SOW is a 6-month training course for worship leadership in the context of missions (3 months of lectures, 3 months of field assignment/outreach). This school has been running for nearly 3 decades at YWAM Perth, and it’s a privilege to be a part of. She will most likely be taking a team to Nepal this year for some time.

Joel will continue to lead the YWAM Perth worship team. The worship team consists of about 40 people, all volunteering outside of their “normal ministries.” Joel is the first and only full-time staff for the worship team in the 30 years of YWAM Perth’s existence, and he brings new energy and innovation to the team (Abi’s words haha)!

Prayer Points

Thank you for praying for us (seriously). We want it, we need it. If you ever have any questions, scriptures for us, or prayer requests of your own, please send us a message or an email!

• Fresh energy and inspiration for 2018 (personal life and ministry)
• Inspiration and productivity in our song-writing

Bless you!

Abi and Joel