It's the most wonderful time of the year

Enjoying Christmas dinner Filipino style- Fried chicken, rice, noodles, and lumpia

I'm here for the party.

Thrilled with her Barbie

Look at all those presents!

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
We just love Christmas time. Though we miss family and friends in the US this year, this Christmas has been a beautiful reminder of what a miraculous gift we have in Jesus. The fact that God became a helpless baby for an unfaithful world is truly miraculous. What a promise we have that God is with us! What a love we have! What a gift!

The Father's love was tangible this year as we celebrated Jesus' birth with over 600 people at the His Heart Christmas parties. Street children, park vendors, and families from the squatter area where we minister gathered together for caroling, food, and gifts. The children were ecstatic with excitement as this is the only gift most of them received this Christmas.

We have been so blessed. What a joy it was to pass on that blessing to people Jesus came to die for. There is nothing better than giving...........

Thank you for equipping us to live out His call. You make it all possible. May the Lord heap rich blessing on you in 2011.

Your partners in the Philippines,
Paige and Kent Parrish

God is so good

God is amazing............we are expecting our own miracle around June 3rd 2011. Thanks for praying us through this pregnancy. :)

Full of joy after being baptized

His Heart baptized 75 new Christians this weekend...........what an incredible day!

Willie, a street vendor, who has recently come to know Jesus. He had severe arthritis pain for 10 years in his hips and knees. God healed him instantly when we prayed. He is running up stairs now and was just baptized. :)

We dedicated a beautiful baby named Angel Paige at a service this month. Believing great things for her life! Love this family.

We are doing well. I am resting more as I have been really tired but am still serving with His Heart. Kent continues to plug away with seminary classes and serve in the ministry. :) He will hopefully be finished with his Masters of Divinity by September 2011.

At this point, our plan is to deliver the baby in Manila, which is about a 6 hour hour bus ride south. We will likely relocate to Manila for the month of May and return to Baguio a few days after the baby is born. We will be going to see the doctor about once a month in Manila. Please pray that God will open heaven for us and bless us with additional finances for the appointments and delivery. If God leads you to help us with our finances , you can make a check out to Faith Worship Center and mail your contribution to Bob Parrish - 2814 Oakwood Drive - Bardstown, Ky 40004. All contributions are tax deductible. We very much appreciate your support.

Thank you for walking and believing with us.

Paige and Kent

Looking Back and Forward

Last month, Kent and I celebrated two years as a part of His Heart ministry here in Baguio. It has been an amazing journey! We can see the finger of God on our lives and the countless lives of the people being reached.

God has brought the ministry so far. Through your prayer and giving, you have been the hands and feet of Jesus.

We began helping Angela with a simple feeding program for street children in July 2008. Now His Heart is seeing people fed and watching salvations, miracles, and healings change the lives of hundreds of Filipinos. We are so grateful to be a part of God's great plan.

To give you a big picture of what we are doing here in Baguio, we wanted to briefly describe some of our current ministries. We pray this will encourage and bless you, knowing that you are investing in eternity.

Children

His Heart offers a weekly kids church program in the public school. More than 60 children attend, hearing the Word of God and growing in Him.

The Reading club, a new initiative, offers poor children an opportunity once a week to read for fun, learn, and grow in their English skills. This outreach is helping us make contact with new families and children.

By God's grace and because of many of you, we are sponsoring 56 children to school this year. They receive all expenses paid for schooling, medical stipends, supplies, and spiritual enrichment.

Feeding and Compassion

We are now feeding over 75 children in two schools on a DAILY basis. These little ones are eating a nutritious lunch and being loved. This program is an open door for us to build relationships with families.

We are also able to help many people receive medical care, prescriptions, and dental abstractions. Jesus is using these gifts to change people's lives.

Street Ministry

We continue to minister to street children and vendors in the City park twice a week. The people are now bringing their Bibles to our meetings and are hungry for God's Word. We feed them not only spiritual food, but a hot meal as well. With lives of turmoil and change, the ministry is giving them stability and hope.

Youth

Youth group meets every Friday night. Teens gather to worship, pray, learn, and fellowship with each other. Church leaders and godly men and women are rising up from this group. We believe they will change communities as adults.

Homework club, a weekly program for teens, is designed to give youth a quiet place to study, do online research for free, hear God's Word, and eat a meal together. Youth invite their friends from school.

House Churches

Using local leaders we disciple and train on a weekly basis, His Heart is now meeting in house churches every Sunday morning. These are beautiful gatherings of new Christians who always have testimonies to share of God's goodness. People are becoming rooted and gaining freedom in many areas of their life.

APTS

In addition to our work with the ministry, Kent is studying full time. He is taking Hebrew, Perspectives in World Missions, Systematic Theology, and the Life of Christ. We are so grateful for the APTS community and the experience we have learning from so many cultures. When God said go, we went................and we will never regret it.

"Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me, only sustain me. Sever any tie, but the ties that bind me to your service and to your heart." David Livingstone

May God use you this week to be a light in your own community.

God Bless you,
Paige and Kent

Jesus, hope of the nations

Some of the leaders we love.......

Some of the youth we love.......

Some of the children we love......

Dear friends,

It seems like forever since I have posted. As you know, we were in another country for almost 10 weeks and had an awesome experience. :) Thank you to those who so graciously hosted us.......

The months of June and July have been a whirlwind so far. I say that because I feel like we've been running and have only stopped to catch our breath. It is gloriously exhilerating.......serving God and watching Him shower people with His grace. There is nothing better than being obedient to his leading, His quiet whisper. We are living an extravagantly blessed life.........not in the standards of the world.....but in Him.

Paige just took a two week block course over the Book of Mark taught by Dr. Gary Martindale from Evangel University. She learned and grew so much from the experience. Kent is now studying Hebrew as well as other subjects.
God is moving in the ministry and we were greeted with many new faces as we returned.

What has God been doing lately through His Heart?

Reading Club

Paige, with the help of the rest of the team, has begun a new initiative on Friday afternoons. Children from the poor neighborhood where we are ministering come to the center for a reading time. They have no access to books otherwise and enjoy reading with friends. We play learning games, work on our English skills, and eat a snack together. Though we have only met 4 times, we have almost 50 kids regularly coming. God is so good.........He just keeps sending more.

Testimony

I can't end this post without sharing what the Lord is doing in one life here. I wish you could have seen the tears and sincerity as one of our new members shared last week. I know you would have been impacted just as deeply as I was. The poor teach us much......

Last Sunday, Kent shared a powerful message on the hope of the Lord. When things are hard, we can not give up. We cling to the hope of Jesus.

That very day, one of the ladies at the service was in a hopeless situation. She was worrying how to buy enough food to feed her family that evening. Her 8 year old son had collected plastic from trash bins in the city during the week. As a last resort, she sent him into town to sell the used plastic at the market. She expected him to return with just enough rice and vegetable to cover dinner.....the equivalent of 1 US dollar.

The God of hope had other plans. The little boy traded his plastic and bought a small amount of food as he headed home. On his way, he miraculously found 1425 pesos on the street. This is about 30 US dollars and two weeks wages for that family! The boy had never seen 1000 pesos and told his mother he thought the bills were play money. The pregnant mom wept.

As she looked at the money, she says she remembered Kent's sermon. He is our hope.

Thank you for sending us to the hopeless.

Ephesians 1:3 "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...."

Have a wonderful week, full of his unmerited favor.

Kent and Paige

I will boast in the Lord

We have so much to give God praise for. He continues to show his overwhelming faithfulness to us and to the people here. We will boast in him.

Roxas Kids Church
As a part of our work with His Heart, we have the privilege of holding Kids Church at a public school in our community. Every Wednesday, the children gather for praise and worship, teaching, games, Bible memory verses, and a snack. God is on the move changing their lives and hearts.

The number attending has more than doubled in the last two months. The children come from 8 different barangays (village neighborhoods) so it is exciting to plant seeds in new areas and be a part of the transformation of families.

See some of the children praying for a friend in the picture above. :)

We just finished the end of the school year party and His Heart is gearing up for a week of VBS in May. Summer here begins next week and continues until June.

Let it Rain

Last Friday, we had a night of prayer encounter with the teenagers . They moved through different stations, praying for their families, communities, missions around the world, and spending time with Jesus. It was a powerful time. As we worshipped to close, God spoke to Angela to pray for rain. The Philippines has been in a serious drought and we had literally not seen rain in months. Many people are losing their crops and are being forced to move.

We cried out to God for rain in the natural and for spiritual rain to revive the hearts and encourage the people of the Philippines. The teens prayed with such passion and heart. :)

About 10 minutes later as we had finished praising and were having a snack, one of the boys came running into the building. It was raining! I can't explain the excitement and joy on their faces as they saw God work a miracle right before their eyes. They were singing and shouting his praises all the way home that night. :)

We serve a God that is faithful and amazing. He hears the cries of His people.

We pray you will see miracles of God's faithfulness as you invest in "the least of these". Thank you for the countless ways you partner with us. Your labor is not in vain.

Prayer requests:

Safety and wisdom as we travel to VN on April 5th
Anointing on the ministry we will do there
Blessing and provision for His Heart Ministry and the team as we are away

Serving the Best Master,
Paige and Kent

It's a new thing

Hello all. Its a new year and God is up to new things here in Baguio. We are so excited to see what the Lord has planned for us and the people who will meet Him this year. Here are some brief highlights so far:

Angels among us

We are so in awe of what the Lord is doing in the teenagers. They are turning their lives over to God and have passionate worshipping hearts. It is beautiful to watch. Just a couple days before we returned, the youth gathered at the center for prayer and worship. Many of them saw angels filling the room where they worshipped. They heard angelic choruses and physically felt as if the room was crowded with God's messengers. After 3 hours of worship, they realized how late it had gotten and were shocked that time had flown by so fast. :) We are believing for even more of God's glory in 2010.

Homework Club

His Heart Ministries has begun a new outreach to teenagers. High School students are invited weekly to the center for study time and homework help. We feed them dinner, love them, and then give them an opportunity to worship and hear the Word. It is a great place for youth to invite friends and classmates who haven't encountered the love of Jesus. We are believing for a huge harvest from this time. Pray for Angela, the director, and the entire team as we invest in the lives of Baguio's teenagers. :)

Expansion of House Churches

God has spoken that 2010 is a year of expansion for His Heart. In order to prepare for His big plans, we will be training 7 new house church leaders next week. These ladies will carry God's power to their community and facilitate Bible studies in their native tongue. They are willing servants and we are so proud of them for stepping up to lead.

Street Church

Kent continues to minister to street boys and vendors in the city park every Wednesday. Last week, over 30 street children and teenagers joyfully worshipped in a grandstand where several of them sleep. They are a crazy bunch but truly a family, an example of loyalty for us.
Little by little, they are laying down their old habits and embracing a new life. Please continue to pray that they will be filled with hope and turn to Him.

Personal Note

Kent is doing well and currently taking 3 courses at the seminary. It is such a blessing to have the opportunity to sharpen his sword. We are enjoying high 70's and delicious strawberries in season. We are able to make friendships from around the world, share meals with other believers in our apartment, and invest in those going back to India, China, Mongolia, Myanmar, and many other nations. We know that our little seed is impacting the Kingdom in countless ways.


Thank you for all the ways you give, pray, and make it possible for us to be here. We pray the Father will heap rich blessing on you. :)

The Parrishs