Happy 2009

Happy New Year to you all! We hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day with family and friends.

We are enjoying visiting family on both sides and sharing fellowship with friends and supporters.
Kent has been able to preach in two churches and we are so overwhelmed by the blessing of God. We'd especially like to thank our Faith Worship Center family and the Children's Church for their giving hearts. We were blown away by their love and support. God will RICHLY reward you for everything.

It's hard to believe that we have been back in the states 3 weeks. We will fly out next Tuesday the 6th and return to serve the poor in Baguio.

The last few weeks have been incredible for the ministry. As some of you know, we have seen the village/baranguay church grow dramatically and God has healed about 12 people of physical ailments. We are so excited to return and begin discipling and loving the new people.

Thank you for your prayer and support. Lives are being changed. 300 children and almost as many adults were given a Christmas party and showered with gifts they would never have received otherwise. They are seeing the love of Jesus first hand and are choosing to follow Him.


Prayer Requests:

Safety of Travel and protection
Easy adjustment back into Filipino life
Power and Anointing in the Men's Ministry that Kent will begin soon

May you be blessed in 2009 beyond measure and comprehension.

After His Heart,
Kent and Paige

And the Work Continues

Children from Sunday morning's outreach
Kids walking a horse on the road outside where we live.
Rain Rain go away!
A man stirring squid in the downtown market. Don't ask me why they need to be stirred? Maybe he's cleaning them.


Hello to all. Hope you are doing well. It seems like God is opening incredible new doors for us and His Heart ministry every week. Beginning November 3rd, His Heart will be providing lunch everyday at school for 35 of the most malnourished children in a village we are currently reaching out to. Angela felt a burden to do more in a particular barangay (village) where we have Sunday worship. The principal is open to spiritual feeding as well. His Heart ministry will be at the elementary school several times a week at lunch to love and build relationships with the children and families. The lunch will be provided Monday through Friday. We are also believing for additional resources to cover multivitamins weekly. We are excited to expand our influence for the Lord. There are so many individual lives being touched.


We just wanted to share a story of God's faithfulness to his people here. Sally, one of the ladies who attends the ministry's outreach and house church, was living in a dilapidated house that had serious structural problems. About 3 weeks ago, she moved out of the house, and in with extended family in that same village. One week later, her house slid down the mountain during a typhoon. God's provision and protection is so timely! We are so grateful for her safety.

Prayer requests:

Favor and protection for the street children from pedophilia, organ harvesting, weather elements, etc
Retreat we will be doing for teens next week
Protection from illness for the people we minister to- They live in very close communities.
More opportunities to share the hope and love of the Father

Kent and Paige

Missions Emphasis Week and other Notes

One of the men in the village where we have church. Please pray for the men here. Many of them are depressed and struggling with alcoholism.
This is deep fried one day old chicken. As you can see, the second one is missing his head.
Actually, they weren't too bad. The head is the best part....nice and crunchy. We sampled foods from many different cultures at the Missions Banquet.

So, here we are posing for a picture after the cultural presentations for Missions Emphasis Week at APTS. I was involved in a human video, that's why I look like an angel....... :)


I go talk to someone. 5 minutes later, I see Kent up front giving a royal Korean proclamation while the Asians take pictures. It was so funny.


This costume is the traditional Korean outfit for a groom. The Korean students presented elements of a traditional wedding for their cultural presentation.


This is a precious little Muslim girl that comes to the ministry's Love and Food in the park. We are showing her God's love and acceptance.

It's another Saturday. We are so glad to have our ministry partner Angela back in the Philippines. We have missed her. She had a great Kids Conference in New Zealand where they witnessed 15-20 healings from the children's prayer! God is really moving in the women's house church here on Thursdays......I am humbled to be there and be used. We are enjoying just loving people.

I will begin teaching a Character/Bible lesson in the public school next week. Thank God for such an awesome opportunity! We'll go every Monday as the government allows 30 minutes per week. The school is right in our neighborhood.

This morning, I had the privilege of attending a missionary's funeral that taught at the seminary and planted churches here. He died on campus Monday. He had such a heart and love for the Filipino people.........One of the churches he planted offered to bury him in their backyard. How beautiful it was to see the many Filipinos he had impacted! That's why missions is worth it......

Here's a quote I like:

"The 3.5 billion unreached people on earth would form a single file line that would stretch around the equator 25 times! Can you picture 25 lines of Christless people, trampling endlessly toward hell? Let that vision stay with you day and night."

- Larry Stockstill

May we all be reminded that our time here on Earth is short. May we spend every day building the Kingdom, one step at a time.

Thank you for your prayers and support. We would not be here without you.

Paige and Kent

The Bers

Picture taken with friends from APTS.
Kids from His Heart ministry taking their bags to collect scrap. (plastic and cans)
A whole bunch of bananas !

A very cute baby we know from Tuesday morning street church. Her mom is a street vendor.

Laundry time- Don't we all love it?

Filipinos call this time of year the "bers" (September, October, November, etc.). Some of the stores are playing Christmas music already.....its so funny. It's hard to believe that we will be back in Louisville in 8 weeks. The flight comes in Dec. 6th. We will be in for about a month. Kent and I are looking forward to seeing everyone and having some Cracker Barrell home cookin'.

We will finish up a three week block course this Monday. The final should be so much fun.....18 essays and fill in the blank. We are in the middle of missions emphasis week at APTS......services at night and an international banquet on Friday. The Americans are making apple pies as we speak. I'm a little under the weather with a sinus infection, so I bailed out of that one. :)

Ministry has been eventful the last couple of weeks.....took someone to the emergency room, treated the kids living in the park to Mcdo (That's what they call Mcdonalds here), a couple typhoons, the usual services, feeding program, and house church. Organ harvesting is an issue here. People take advantage of the poor and pose as doctors for the sake of selling organs such as kidneys. We encountered a situation with some of the children we minister to this week. All are ok but please pray for their safety and wisdom to know danger when they see it .

Angela, our friend and founder of the ministry, lost a 7 week old niece last week. She was in New Zealand at the time and was able to be there with her brother and sister in law. Thank you for your prayers for the family.

Just a tid bit about daily life: Some have asked how much things cost here. Some items are very expensive, especially American or other foreign products. A very small box of American cereal is 4 dollars. On the other hand, I got a week's worth of amoxicilin antibiotic for 45 pesos (1 dollar) total. Ladies' hair cuts cost 4 dollars including tax. Milk here is super processed from New Zealand. You buy it on the shelf and do not refrigerate it until it's opened. It's about $1.50 for 1 liter. You can buy fresh milk here but it would only last 2-3 days and is more expensive.

Have a great October week.

Blessings to you and we miss you.

Paige and Kent

Hello everyone. It's September but feels like May here. Of course, we don't have fall weather in Baguio. Just spring all year long. We'll miss the leaves falling next month.....but love the sunshine.

We've started back to school and are busy preparing for a missions convention in two weeks. The 5 American students will be sharing apple pie and square dancing for our presentation. Haha. It will be great fun! Meanwhile, Angela, the director of His Heart is gone for three weeks, so we are covering the ministry for her during the week and weekends. We are VERY busy but enjoying every minute of it. Angela is so gracious and loaned us her van while she is gone! We feel like we're in heaven after riding in taxis and jeepneys for over 3 months! We can go out when we want and cart the kids from the ministry around. Pray we don't get too spoiled while she's gone. :)

Here are some pictures of Thursday house church in the village. Also, you'll see a lizard we found in our apartment.


Blessings,
Paige and Kent Parrish

Taste of Town

I just love this kid!

Kent looking at fabric to have jeans made. Filipino and American sizes are not exactly the same. In other words, Kent is a little over sized compared to the average Filipino. HA HA HA
He asked Kent which label he wanted sewn on the jeans. Levis or Lee's.... So much for copyright! He got a pair of Levi's.

Beef it's whats for dinner! Notice the knife and block. Nothing goes to waste in the Philippines! Yummy....

Beek, pork, squid, dog....you name it. Cut fresh in Baguio.
When you eat a hot dog in Baguio be careful... you may be eating a hot DOG! Bow Wow...

Fresh Fish! As you can imagine the smell in the market is not too desirable.

People, People, and more People...

Need a Taxi? There are thousands of taxi's in Baguio. Most have tires with the tread of a volleyball.

Hello all! We thought we'd fill you in on life in Baguio for this post. It is like a different world here....but full of warm gracious people. The Baguio market is a booming place in the mornings. You'll see some pictures above. Yes, we do eat meat from the market.....cooked of course. It's served at the seminary. :)

Fiipinos have a wonderful spirit of service and hospitality. They work so hard and often make only enough to provide food for their families. A department store worker, for instance, makes about 3 to 6 dollars per day(135-250 pesos), depending on seniority. Many in the department stores are college graduates who have no other job.

Baguio is a city of about 300,000. Jeepneys and taxis fill the streets at all hours of the day. They put tons of exhaust into the streets. You can generally always smell smoke in town. The language of Tagalog is typically spoken while many know Illocano because we are closer to mountain provinces. English is taught in schools, though we have to speak slowly and simply to be understood.

The greatest need here is the hope of Christ. Thousands of people are silently suffering with a smile on their face. We are so blessed to be here to bring that hope. From children's ministry and street church to involvement in house churches and preaching, God is rooting us here. He is moving. People's lives are being changed. It is such an honor to be a small part of it all.

In His Mighty Name,
Paige and Kent

Surprise at lunch

Imelda Marcos in her glory days- See the story below.
One of the worship teams at APTS.
Toko from Japan, Hansel from the Philippines, and Pim from Thailand.
A Samoan couple. Samoa is a tiny island in the Pacific.



We are enjoying a week long break from seminary. It's so nice to be able to check out Baguio , do ministry, and relax. We have been so busy lately. We needed to catch our breath. :)

Anyway, Kent preached yesterday morning on at a local church. He shared a great message on the Holy Spirit. That afternoon, we went to the feeding program to work with the kids. Today, we were having lunch in Baguio. Half way through the meal, we realized that the wife of the former President of the Philippines was two tables over. People kept looking over there...... we knew it had to be someone important. So we asked the waiter. He told us that her name was Imelda Marcos. She and her husband were in power from 1965-1986 when they fled the country because of an uprising. Her husband died in exile in Hawaii in 1989. She is best known here for owning 7000 pairs of shoes when she was the first lady.....isn't that a claim to fame? As you would prob guess, some Filipinos did not like her. Unfortunately I did not have my camera but.....I found a picture of her on the internet. :)

I've included a picture of some of the students at APTS. I am eating dinner at the worship leader's room in one of the pics. The worship team represents Korea, America, Japan, and Vietnam.

God Bless,
Paige and Kent

We made it!

Not sure what Kent is serving. Some kind of pink soup!

Hello everyone. Hope you had a beautiful Labor Day weeekend. We've survived finals....just took the last one today! I haven't been this tired in a long time....but I could tell you anything you ever wanted to know about the book of 1st Corinthians. :) Kent has learned tons about creative and effective preaching as well.

Life in Baguio is as usual....high 70's and rain in the afternoon..though it is slacking off a little. We start back with class on Sept. 15th. We continue to help with Angela and His Heart ministry. You'll see a picture of her with one of the little ones above. I can't tell you how blessed we are to work with such special people! I feel like I am doing what I was created to do- loving the broken. The families here teach us so much.

I helped with a kids retreat last Monday sponsored by His Heart. The day was filled with food, games, worship, and teaching. Several of the children received the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. What an awesome event! Next trimester, I'll be going to school part time at APTS, so I'll have more time for the ministry. Kent on the other hand is thinking about taking 12 hours next trimester. This is a very heavy load, considering a trimester is only 12 weeks. The workload is the same as that of a semester. What an honor it is to pour into people's lives....

In other news, we are becoming better acquainted with lizards and big cockroaches. They seem to be wandering around our apartment more these days. Kent chased one down this morning. They're fast! :)

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. Can't wait to be back to visit in Dec. and tell you all the things God is doing!

For those who have not been to the ministry site yet, go to hisheart.org.nz (Angela and her daughter Yasmin are incredible women of God. We thank God for sending us here.)

Blessings,
Paige and Kent

Hello friends and fam. Just wanted to update you on a couple things. On one of our first posts, we asked for prayer for a young boy Neil who was electicuted in Sunday school and needed to get to the US for treatment. After jumping through many hoops and being denied, his Visa has been granted! Thanks to all who prayed for him.......he will be leaving for Galveston, TX on Sept. 18th.

In other news, we have been busy with school and the children. Finals happen in about a week and a half........we are ready to have them done.

We hosted an all day retreat for street vendors and other adults from the village we are working with last Monday. It was a beautiful day, no rain(which was a miracle in itself) and God touched many of the people in a powerful way. We were able to bless each family with a sack of goodies(bread, tuna, etc) to take home. I wish you could have seen the smiles.

Finally, Kent has become an official Filipino. He ate balut this week.....that's right....as featured on Fear Factor and TV network's Bizarre foods....... a duck fetus boiled whole. All he had to say was "It was a unique experience". Hahaha......the picture says it all.

Miss you all,
Paige and Kent

Meet one of the special kids we are ministering to here. She comes from a large family but does not feel safe at home due to several issues. She sleeps most nights in the park....with a pack of other kids. She loves to dance and has such a sweet spirit. The ministry has just started breakfast and street church for her and other street vendors and scrappers on Tuesday mornings. Scrappers collect trash and recyclables to sell in the streets for next to nothing. I was there this morning at street church to pray and help feed. We are excited about what God is doing in her life.....and in the life of her family.

We presented the gospel to about 100 children and 100 parents last week.....distributing shoe boxes of gifts from Samaritans Purse in a local village area. We have teamed up with gov. social workers to be more effective and meet the needs. We have several more presentations that will reach about 1000 kids and almost as many parents when all the boxes are given away.
:)

In other news, we are enjoying the interesting Asian cuisine here. There are a couple of Koreans at the school who have invited us to eat with them. We have had kim chi, the famous Korean dish made of Chinese cabbage and something really really spicy. Don't ask me. :) We just took a deep breath and smiled.

Here's something that has been speaking to me lately: Gal. 2:20 " I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me." Miracles happen through Christ in us.

Have a great week.

Paige and Kent

Our New Friends

Last Sunday, we had church with children and families in a village in Baguio. People gather outside in a half built structure that looks similar to a primitive construction site. Angela, the ministry director, brings her CD player. There's always a feast after church, just like the agape feast in the New Testament. The children are beautiful and really worship. There's plenty of time for games and goofing off too. The boys love Kent.....he is like a big kid himself.


Kent and I will be giving the message to the children this Sunday. I think we're sharing on Zaccheus....should be a great opportunity.

School is going well...we're getting some pictures together so you can meet some of the students at APTS. It is incredible to learn from pastors, students, and ministers from all over Asia.

Have a wonderful week.

Peace to you....
Paige and Kent