2017 was our third Sukkot celebration held in the Philippines.
In 2015, my wife and I acquired a small boutique resort with event center, wedding chapel, 4 guests rooms and a large parcel of vacant land. Our plan was to use the functioning resort to have an income producing business and to eventually use the vacant land to build a Messianic Discipleship Training Institute as well as a K-12 Judeo-Christian academy.
During our first year celebration, Adonai had already gone before us to prepare the hearts and the mind of the people and we were blessed to Immerse 37 new believers in Yeshua and start a new Messianic Congregation.
We were also blessed to have 5 area Messianic Pastors support us and be intimately involved and aligned with what Adonai is doing in the Philippines. The people are hungry for God and eager to learn about their Hebraic Roots.
Since then we have been receiving inquiries and calls to visit Messianic believers on other islands as well as offer Scholarship Programs to MDI.
After Sukkot, the brethren continued to meet every Shabbat for Torah study and Oneg with Pastor Ricky Omega and sister Lani ministering to them.
From the States, we stayed in constant contact with the brethren there via Facebook Groups and were able to provide guidance and counseling.
in 2016, the celebration continued and we immersed and rededicated 22 believers and conducted 3 marriages. It was an exciting Feast and we were blessed to meet with new leaders and people in the surrounding area.
This year, 2017, though we and other leaders were faced with some health challenges and attacks from the enemy, some could not make it due to illness and even myself had a cold during the first part of the Feast and my mother-in-law was hospitalized after the Opening Celebration Service.
But we prevailed and were blessed with much needed one on one personal counseling. We also immersed 4 new believers in Yeshua and met with some visiting Evangelists who in hearing the message I gave on Anti-Semitism wanted to share it with others.
We also formally started MDI Philippines with 7 new students and held 4 days of intensive workshops. Before Sukkot we shipped some course books and materials to get the new students started.
Still, the calls come from the other islands for us to visit and we feel we could plant 4-5 new congregations very quickly with the necessary resources and time needed.
Enjoy the pictures in the gallery of this post and continue to pray and if you feel led, to support us financially as the harvest is white but the laborers are few!
Blessings and shalom, b'shem Yeshua.
Pastor Jeffrey