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| 12/29/2022 | Happy New Year 2023! (January 1, 2023) Philippines cell# +63 (0985) 152-3142 & +63 (0956) 754-9921 PAUL, +63 (0926) 684-6165 ABBY Please pray for the hundreds of Filipinos who heard my Christmas message from Luke 2, entitled, "Be no Stranger to the Manger." The shepherds heard that peace was to come from this baby who, like a sacrificial lamb, was wrapped in swaddling cloths to keep from becoming scratched. Scratched lambs were not allowed to be sacrificed. So, the newborn lambs were protected in swaddling rags. What a sign! Taking the advice of the shepherds, "Let's see this thing that has come to pass!" The 3 of us, along with the youth group & leaders, slept overnight in the church since Christmas Day was to be extremely busy, with Abby as one of the leaders in a youth concert of five churches, plus multiple meals, gift-giving for the students, & also the Christmas Sunday worship service. Praise God that we have been visiting church after church, of our 30 churches, giving Christmas gifts to hundreds of children, one by one. This week we visited a dozen churches. Among these was our "Oceanview" church. It is an extremely poor squatter area on the hillside reached by narrow muddy paths. Yet we were shocked that suddenly a cement church building loomed into our eyesight, above the huts. We had been gone for a few years & had not seen the building that a Korean ministry had financed! The widow who leads this church had been the wife of a pastor who, during an emergency one year, had to escape terrorists by shipping his wife in an animal crate to their destination! Well, he is in Glory now, but she remains behind, no longer in a box-like church with tarp & branches, but a nice cement 100-seat building with wooden ceiling & metal roof! "Jesus is just around the corner!" Elvie, Abby & I loaded a bunch of the youth group into the back of our pickup truck, as a break from their evening practice for the next day's loaded schedule of events. We were headed for the birthday party of Ray, one of our church members. He turned 58 on Christmas Eve. His wife Lucy is BCA's school nurse, who has been battling cancer for nearly half a decade. When we arrived at the small & crowded home of Ray & Lucy, the karaoke machine was blaring. Yet the singer (Ray's son) turned off the music & handed me the mic. It was time to pray for the food. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to present the Gospel though, & shared, "Tonight on Christmas Eve, we celebrate the expectation that the birth of Jesus is just around the corner. Ray & Jesus almost share the same birthday, what about you? Would you too like to share Ray's birthday? On this day, December 24, after you pray for Jesus to wash away your sins, you will now, every year, see many others celebrating on the same day as Ray's birthday, your spiritual birthday!" And you don't even have to buy the food. He'll do it for you! Meanwhile, back at BCA, Second-Grade teacher Espenosa ("Espe") helped pack more bags for the students who would receive them at other churches whom we are to visit next week, a few days after Christmas. As Espe lined up the food, clothes, school supplies & toys with his fellow teachers, his eyelids started getting a bit heavy. The Faculty Christmas party had gone until 2am, with exciting games & singing & Bible study &gift-exchanges. But it was taking its toll on his energy. "Huh. What do I do to make the students enthusiastic & active when my students start getting sleepy, while performing their daily oral reading in class? We dance! An energizer dance!" The music turned on & the teachers did a short Zumba. Then they were wide awake. Espe sat back down with his co-workers & shared about the students' excitement when they told of climbing mountains & seeing volcanoes. Also, in English class when presenting verbs (action words) he noticed the kids become active when they use action words. Kind of like the shepherds when they used a verb (go) to give action to their new commitment to God. "Let us GO & see this thing, which has come to pass." Yes, GO into all the world. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #67-69 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 103 sections remaining, totaling 32,614.95. 2023 Christmas 2nd school uniform for BCA Students: Need: $20 x 600 students = $12,000. Donated: $230. Still needed: $11,770! Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $46,500. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $6,135.55. Remaining need: $46,500- ($12,000 + $6,135.55)= $28,364.45 "Safe House"/CHURCHES/SCHOOLS: Barner Christian Academy: PHILS: PO Box 82,224 Davao City, Philippines 8000. USA: 18 (or #5) Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
Support us through Amazon Smile! Go to smile.amazon.com and type "Paul M Barner Ministries Inc" as the charitable organization you want to support. That's all you have to do! Now when you shop, 0.5% of the purchase price will be automatically donated to our ministry, at no additional cost to you. Thank you! PayPal Merchant ID for Paul M Barner Ministries (Barner Christian Academy) is Z89E34M2ZBQM6 OUR ACTIVE MINISTRIES: Abby- Youth Group President, Church Music team, High School Varsity Volleyball team PJ- University of Albany Student Elvie- National Board of Trustees for CAMACOP, Principal at BCA, Sunday School teacher Paul- Senior Pastor at FAF church, Board of Trustees Recording Secretary & Professor at FIA Missionary School, Spiritual Aims Chairman at Kiwanis Club, Vice President at DCL Prayer Foundation, President at BCA, Honorary Member of PI Eagles FOE, President of PMBMI, Half-Ironman Triathlete Paul & Elvie- Founders & Directors of 25 churches & FHF orphanage, Kiwanis members, DCLFI Community Prayer team members & vice president, Professors at DABC College, Board members at FAF church. Rev. Paul, Elvie, PJ and Abigail Barner BCA Landline: 011-63-82-234-4000 Home address: 18 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 PLEASE NOTE: OUR PJLILTIM@SKYINET.NET ADDRESS IS DISCONTINUED. PLEASE INSTEAD USE BLCKIDS@YAHOO.COM THANKS! |
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| 12/22/2022 | Happy Hanukkah (Dec 18-26, 2022). Merry Christmas & Christmas Eve! (12/24-25). Please pray for me (Paul) as I am struggling with a bout of laryngitis (not good for all the speaking engagements we had planned for the Christmas season). Praise God that, when (according to the PHILVOLCS: Philippine Institute of Volcanology & Seismology) a magnitude 5.6 earthquake jolted Davao Oriental & neighboring areas at 4am Dec. 10, no damage (just some vibrations) happened at our school in Davao del sur. "Christmas is a time…. for love…" Hundreds of BCA students, with their classmates, came up to the stage by grade level, & sang, class after class, the songs they had been preparing for over a month. It was the annual BCA Christmas party for the students. After their performances & a Bible lesson with Gospel presentation (by Elvie), the kids lined up to get their gifts. Colorful bags held stuffed animals & all sorts of other goodies. The church youth group, along with BCA teachers, had spent countless hours sorting & stuffing pencils, notebooks, etc. With 30 churches in tow, it is a hectic month. Some of the churches we visited are so rural that, as the school bus climbed the gravelly dirt roads, everybody had to get out & push, & two big plastic containers of water bounced out & rolled down over the edge. 80 kids in one church. 23 kids in another. 36 in yet another…well that one might not be considered a church by some people. It was tiny, with hardly any walls. At least there is a roof of plastic, under the mango trees. But the church is not just a building, it is the people inside. And boy were those people excited as they presented their Christmas performances! After 2 wks of assisting us this December, our visiting New York Pastor Bryan also visited a few other churches (outside of our ministry) before heading back to the USA to spend Christmas with his family. Thanks for the memories, Bryan! Meanwhile, BCA's Teacher Charmie was already preparing lessons for her preschoolers, who will be returning from winter break on January 4. Teaching very young kids is not for the faint of heart. As a teacher, Charmie is always polishing her "patience thermometer" Patience, love & care are demanded in great measure to teach children so that they can learn most effectively. Charmie approaches each class lesson with four aspects in mind: 1- After today's lesson, what will this child know SPIRITUALLY that he did not know before the class? She repeats this question with the other three phases of BCA learning: 2- MENTALLY. 3- SOCIALLY. 4- PHYSICALLY. So, the next lesson (this coming January) is the letter "B", & the number "1". "Students, what words start with the letter "B"? Does "Boy" start with B? How about Turkey? While B & T sound alike, the sounds they make are different: Buh & Tuh. To make the class time as interactive as possible, she will have a girl make a picture of something starting with "B" on the blackboard with chalk. Maybe a banana. (which Charm has left in plain sight somewhere in the classroom) Then a boy will write under the picture the number "one". No answer is wrong, as the whole class can call out ways to help. It will be great fun! Can't wait until January gets here! Charmie also will pass out magazines & colorful old calendars (donated by creative friends in the USA) to have her students make collages of the "B" stuff. They will love it because kids love pasting & coloring. Before ending the day & sending the students home, she'll give them an appropriate Bible verse to remember. Charmie opened her Bible & tried to find which one would be appropriate. Ah, here is a good one. Ephesians 6:1. "Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right…" Charmie thought out loud, I can say, "There is ONE Lord, and he is our…our…BEST friend. Got it! The number ONE and the letter B!" As each child recites the verse (with matching hand motions), he can then head out the door to catch his bus home for the day. After the last child is gone, & before the next session arrives, Charmie will pray. Something like, "Please renew my strength & give me wisdom to teach children for them to learn more through a constructive approach where the children can learn things on their own…Amen!" Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $250.05 for (installment #59 of 155) $46,500 1st-floor of 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $28,364.45 remaining. 2023 Christmas 2nd school uniform for BCA Students: Need: $20 x 600 students = $12,000. Donated: $230. Still needed: $11,770! Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $46,500. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $6,135.55. Remaining need: $46,500- ($12,000 + $6,135.55)= $28,364.45 |
| 12/15/2022 | Please pray for the pastors in Pastor Bryan's church visits this month, to follow-through with the "homework" that he prescribed for them to adapt their lives to each one's unique church-planting scenarios. Please also pray for wisdom as we budget the gifts that have been given to this ministry through Christian Aid Mission, during the months of October & November of 2022: Bus Garage construction fund: $2,000!, Children's Emergency Medical Fund: $45, Student sponsorships: $8,527.50, Christmas gifts for students: $180, "Jericho" School Lunch Program: $72, Missionary travel & visa expenses: $3,000, Orphanage food: $460.30. Praise God that, while visiting Faith International Academy to plan a work "OE" trip for their high schoolers this coming February, Abby & her friend Ruth accompanied us & some of the students recognized Abby from 5 years ago when she was their teacher's aide! Both girls are college grads & willing to come back to substitute teach, when needed. Praise God also that…WE MADE IT!!! A recent gift (designated for Christmas sneakers) from a Hmong church in Indiana was accompanied by an additional check from their pastor, which paid in full our remaining Christmas need of $9,000 to purchase sneakers (plus food & clothes)! Thus, any new gifts marked "Student Christmas gifts" will be saved for the 2023 Christmas project which will be $20 for each child to pay for a 2nd BCA school uniform, in addition to the other gifts we give (clothes, toys, food) at Christmastime. For 600 students, the total need will be $12,000. Praise God as well that a missionary couple who sponsor Julia (a BCA student) came to visit & gave gifts to Julia's entire class! They received rice, Bibles & other gifts. "It's three o'clock in the morning!" The hours passed by quickly & unnoticeably as our ever-cheerful New York guest (Pastor Bryan) joined our church youth group to stuff hundreds of custom-designed canvas sling bags for Christmas. The bags were paid for by his church. Lined up in the school gym were boxes of pencils, Gospel bracelets, Bible lessons, food & clothes. Due to a delay in shipment of their new sneakers, the kids will actually get two Christmases: one now & another in February when we distribute their new sneakers. "Each bag gets 10 erasers, 9 pencils, 8 markers, 7 Christmas wall hangings, 6 Card notebooks, 5 colored pencils, 4 Daily Breads, 3 Gospel bracelets, 2 Wordless books, & one each of bookmarks, scissors, binders, food bundle, clothes, stuffed animal, &…" a voice from the other side of the gym called out "…and a partridge! Don't forget the partridges!" Well, maybe no partridges. But they did get fried chicken! Pastor Bryan has a friend who teaches ESL (English Language) in the USA, & she gave so that our on-campus students can have brand-new tables to eat on, & our orphan kids could have roasted pig (lechon baboy) in a double celebration. One of the girls just had her "debut" (eighteenth birthday). We were also thanking the kids for helping us stuff envelopes for the mailing of thousands of Christmas cards. New chairs & additional food were paid for by Bryan's church & friends. Meanwhile at BCA, during the day 1st-Grade teacher Jezel congratulated her students on a job well done in their recent quarterly exams. She had had a challenge previously, that they should focus on their exams alone & avoid doing "giraffe-movements" to copy the answers of their seat-mates. "You shouldn't have to copy the answer of your classmates, because copying is a sin." To avoid further temptation, she rearranged the chairs, giving student enough space to avoid the distractions from their classmates to copy or to compare answers. Once they began focusing on the questions instead of each other's papers, the cry went up, "Teacher Jezel, this Araling Panlipunan [Social Studies] is easy!" See, better to focus, in their ten subjects, on doing the right thing rather than see what they can get away with, doing the wrong thing. The kids were surprised at how it all makes sense. "See? It's a peace-of-cake!" Later that night, Teacher Jezel was back home & after caring for her husband & young daughter, prepared for bed. As she closed her eyes, across the parchment of her mind passed the smiling faces of her students, one by one. "Ah, there is Cresyll, & there is Chint & Shyra…" each of her 1st Grade students, one by one, asked their beloved teacher questions which Jezel knew were their typical inquiries. When she awoke in the morning, Jezel knelt on the floor beside her bed to pray. "Oh, dear Lord. I always dream about my students, like I am still thinking of what we did inside the classroom while I sleep. I don't get a break, eh? I work all day, & then work all night, & then work all day again." Then Jezel glanced at her Bible. On the inside flap was the name of her parents, who had given it to her when she was a small girl. "You know God, teaching, like parenting, never stops. Instead of complaining about never getting a break, I thank you for the privilege of bringing these kids home in my mind so that I can enjoy them even when they are also being enjoyed by their own clans. Thanks again God. Amen." After all, each chapter in this life needs to be treasured, & needs to be enjoyed, since like a good book, once you turn to the next page, you need to find out what comes next, rather than going back & re-reading what has already occurred. Then she went again to prepare for work. "Ooopps! Guess I do get a break after all…it's SATURDAY!" Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $396.51 for (installment #5 of 5) BCA's $1,596.51 soil sample permit. The soil sample test is required for all stable structures built in the Philippines. The duration of work is defined as follows; a. Mobilization & demobilization : 2 days (calendar days) b. Drilling Work : 5 days (calendar days) c. Laboratory testing : 5 days (working days) d. Preparation of Factual report : 5 days (working days) Total duration : 17 days. Number of days may vary depending on the site, soil & weather condition at project location. Cost for Services: Item Description Qty. Unit Cost Amount: 1) Mobilization/Demobilization including, hole to hole transfer & water hauling for 1 lot $200. 2) Soil Drilling @ 18 meters/hole, Laboratory works & Final Report 2 holes @ $684 each + $1,368. 3) On-site equipment: $28.51. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $9,000. Still needed: $0! Thank you!!!! Next year (2ND School Uniform: 2023): $120. Still needed: $11,880. Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $46,500. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $6,135.55. Remaining need: $46,500- ($12,000 + $6,135.55)= $28,364.45 Pastor Bryan's remaining 28-day missions trip (tentative) agenda (Dec. 16-28): Fri-Sat: Island ministry & gift-giving/preaching at San Vicente, Pinaplata, Limao & Babak. Sun: am-Tacunan preach & Gift-giving// pm- Communal preach & Gift-giving. Mon-Tue: Days 1 & 2 of 2nd Preaching Seminar teaching. Wed: Preach 2x & Gift-giving in Bangkal & Matina. Thu-Fri: BCA Students & Faculty Christmas Party & Gift-giving & gift-giving in Lasang. Sat: Egan Family Reunion. Sun: Preach & gift giving at Laverna, with youth talent night. Mon: Barner-Burrell family Christmas. Wed: fly. |
| 12/8/2022 | Please pray for the careful scheduling of upcoming events during December. Since the 600 pair of sneakers which we shipped form the USA a few months ago have been delayed in transit, we will actually have 60 celebrations: each of our 30 churches will have a gift-giveaway in December, with food, tracts, clothes & toys. Then in February, we'll have 30 more visits, when we distribute the sneakers to the kids. Praise God that Pastor Bryan, our visiting New York pastor, arrived safely on Friday for his 26-day visit to Davao. He is preaching in some of our churches, & helping in the school, as well as leading a hermeneutical seminar & helping to distribute Christmas gifts to hundreds of BCA students in their destitute home villages. Praise God as well that this week I finished reading the Bible form covert to cover my 81st time. While farmers were growing rambutan, pineapples & bananas, Pastor Jeremiah had led them to plant this church from 2016-2021. Then he transferred to a different rural area to pioneer yet another work where no evangelical churches yet existed. After this Sunday's service was a scrumptious meal, & as the tables were being folded up, I sat down with the son of Pastor Ed (Jaime's replacement) to interpret some of the Cebuano-language words used in Jaime's message, which I did not yet know the English terms for. Around noon, we scooted out, just when our BCA bus had arrived, filled with youths from our "mother church" (which we had planted in 1997) to join the Tacunan church's evening, quarterly "Christian Music Jam". Torn between the two, Abby agreed to come with Elvie & I instead, another few hours away for the annual Thanksgiving celebration of our Communal Church. There, after Abby sang a solo "More Than Wonderful", I preached about how the rich man & widow in Luke 21 showed two kinds of giving: "habitual giving" & "purposeful giving". The Communal congregation surprised us after the service with 3 small cakes: one for each of the three of us, for our birthdays (which they'd missed since we were back in the USA). They donned us with shiny satin sashes which said, "Birthday King, Birthday Queen & Birthday Princess". Sweet! Meanwhile, the week previous at BCA, Teacher Romnick had focused his 6th graders on Math skills, since most of them had difficulty with this subject. After prayer, the lessons were about writing numbers in standard form & expanded form (in words). For two hours, Romnick wrote numbers like 1,234 or 46, & the students would write out on their papers "One Thousand Two Hundred Thirty-Four" & "forty-six". Next, Teacher Romnick wrote "Two Hundred fifty-five" & the students would write 255 on their papers. During their review, Romnick could see in the student's, their willingness to learn, since they got more out of the lessons now, compared to last week. Next was the evaluation of the students' Christian walk. What number would you place Jesus in for your life? Of course, he wanted them to write "#1: one". However, Jedidiah put "#2, right after me." Jayianne even wrote, "#3, after the Father & Holy Spirit! TJ wrote nothing on his paper. He is naughty & talks only when he is supposed to be quiet. Jur mentioned that three years ago (the last year they had class, before the pandemic) TJ had a violation. He punched his classmate in the face. He actually still remembered it & said that he was traumatized by what he did. Deep inside, TJ is actually a sweet kid. Even though he has a negative attitude, he still has a positive side. As Christians, whether students or adults, we should have an attitude like a hardworking farmer. Like a good farmer, we work hard & patiently wait for the harvest- which comes at the end of the age. not at the end of the meeting. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ's ?? Late Night Worship #201-300 - PJ Barner: actor · singer · director. https://www.instagram.com/peejbarner.jpg/?hl=en. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26FzOhEZ3k41BCzNbiSZ-qw2 B. #285 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP, November 29, 2022: 3 min, 52 sec. God's wonderful! Join us on T/Th nights! ISN'T HE WONDERFUL · WONDERFUL WONDERFUL Breaking news: God's pretty awesome. C. Auburn Alliance Church Worship Service (PJ Barner on worship team). November 27, 2022. Auburn, New York. 1 hr, 15 min, 41 sec. "Developing An Attitude of Gratitude" Psalm 107:1-3 Rev. James Bogoniewski. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IenoOlWjvdY Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #64-66 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 104 sections remaining, totaling 32,931.60. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $8,885. Still needed: $115. Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $46,500. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $4,085.50. Remaining need: $29,514.50 |
| 12/1/2022 | Please pray for the final permits for our garage construction & well digging to be released soon so that the two projects can be started. Praise God that my home church in New York (Albany Alliance: recently changed their name from Pineview Community Church) had joined with other churches in the Greater Capital District to send over twelve thousand shoeboxes to poor kids abroad through Operation Christmas Child! Praise God as well that Amazon customers who had designated Paul M Barner Ministries as the recipient of the retailer's charitable "Smile" program, gave $61.95 over the course of October! Praise God too that we and four other American families were able to celebrate Thanksgiving together with a scrumptious meal! Praise God that our daughter Abby has already been a great help to the church youth group and secretarial staff of the school, plus singing almost every day since we arrived, at special Worship meetings. "In Heaven, the bananas never get rotten!" During the ten days & nights of Bible sermons at the funeral of Elvie's older sister Lilly, I was given the Saturday evening message. Speaking on the resurrection, in 1 Corinthians 15, I quoted, "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ will all be made alive." 80% of the family are fruit farmers. They know that if fruit is not harvested in time, it will go bad. Once it is bad, it is not fit to eat & then is composted for fertilizer. But as believers in Jesus, once when we die, we yet live. Even as Jesus was, we are resurrected, for "Absent from the body is present with the Lord." That evening, two of BCA's school buses also made the 2-hour trip into this jungle-like area, carrying our teachers & staff. Twists & turns & ups & downs on bumpy, muddy dirt paths had brought them to help sing for, & give comfort to, the grieving. BCA's Kindergarten teacher Violy sat with the other teachers & thought about her challenge to her kindergarteners the week before, "Show up for YOURSELF first, so you can show for OTHERS. Otherwise, even when you choose happiness, it does not always choose you!" Back in the classroom, Violy then had watched as Jhyle actually brazenly reached over & pinched her classmate. "Hey! Stop that!" she called out. The other kindergartener started to cry, & Violy exclaimed, "Look what you have done! You pinched your classmate & made her cry! Say you are sorry." Jhyle said "I am sorry." Then she pulled the classmate's arm & pinched her again! After spending time in the Time-Out area, Jhyle's seat was moved next to some bigger kids whom Jhyle wouldn't dare to pinch. Then Violy asked Jhyle some open-ended questions to be sure her mind was busy answering questions instead of thinking about how to hurt others. Vioily then had the kids identify letters & sounds from A-Z & introduced the numbers from 1 to 10. She wanted to use words they already know to help them identify sounds. So, when they named the days of the week & months of the year, she had her kindergarteners come up, one by one to write them out on the white board. Other students were asked to give hints. Then she focused on shapes & colors. Since Raizel is a fast learner, Violy gave her HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills): activities that would help her to stay excited without getting bored. While Raizel was judiciously poring through her extra-credit seatwork projects, a little boy across the room started to scream. "Mommy!" exclaimed Joaquin, over & over again. Usually Violy ignores crying, as it is quite often just a way for kids to get attention. Yet she could tell this cry was a bit urgent. The boy was new to class & had difficulty being away from his mom. Since she was still on campus, Violy let the mom sit by his chair… "just for today". As Joaquin calmed down, Violy stated, "Wow ka gwapo sa shoes ni Joaquin" (Wow, handsome shoes, Joaquin!) "Uyy, ka cute man sa among bata uyy" (Oh wow, are you a cute little dude, or what?) The little guy actually smiled! Violy wasn't kidding. She loves each & every one of these little students, as if they were her own. Teaching kids is fun. "I enjoy this so much…how they learn about their surroundings, how they adjust in meeting their classmates… & I am happy that despite having their own cultures back at their homes, they learn here to engage & learn socialization with their classmates." Violy also observed most of them had difficulty holding their pencils properly, frustrating their willingness to write. She gave the parents homework to practice with their children, assisting them as a mode of follow up via worksheets, becoming directed & serious about encouraging their kids' learning. With Joaquin quiet, & Raizel done at her seatwork, & Jhayle keeping his hands to himself, before the dismissal bell rang, Violy said to Wilmark, who was actually very quiet & well-mannered all day, before the other classmates (to challenge them to be more like him), "I am going to reward your good manners today by having you help me to tape pictures to the walls." The kids had fun telling Wilmark where to put pictures on the walls. One wall was a giant aquarium & the other, facing it on the opposite wall, was a forest. Wilmark held up a picture of a shark. The class took & vote & decided, 27 to 3, that it belonged in the aquarium. The fox? Nobody knew, since they don't have foxes in the Philippines! Thursday & Friday were Foundation Day (Themed, "Abiding in God's Infinity") for the school, so the kids were not in their classrooms, but in the parade & competing in the annual games. But first I challenged them with the same illustration I had given during Lilly's funeral. "Bananas get rotten here on this earth. Yet our God never changes. He is always, always, always infinitely our loving & caring Creator! Unlike bananas, God never gets rotten!' Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $300 for (installment #55 of 155) $46,500 1st-floor of 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $29,514.50 remaining. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $8,820. Still needed: $180. Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 ORPHANAGE/CHURCHES/SCHOOLS: Barner Christian Academy: PHILS: PO Box 82,224 Davao City, Philippines 8000. USA: 18 (or #5) Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
| 11/24/2022 | SILVER ANNIVERSARY OF BARNER CHRISTIAN ACADEMY!!! (Foundation Day Celebration Thursday & Friday 11/24 & 25). Happy USA Thanksgiving (11/24/22) Please also pray for Pastor Bryan, arriving from New York on December 1, who will be with us for most of the month. He will have nearly 30 speaking engagements during that time, so please pray that his throat & strength hold out, in this humid, dusty climate. Praise God that Philippine farmers have found good use for the cataclysmic volcanic rock dust for their fields. For carbon-capture, the volcanic ash, sprinkled on about-to-be-planted fields, benefits farmers & the environment alike. Minerals in rock dust, such as calcium & magnesium from basalt, serve as natural fertilizers & de-acidifying agents for the soil before crops are planted. "Honey, you are changing color!" It was Thursday, our family's "Date Night," so Elvie, Abby & I were eating out at a "Surf & Turf" crab restaurant. When you live in an island nation, with over 20,000 miles of coastline, seafood is pretty common. Although I am not one for crab, Elvie insisted I at least try one of the potatoes that was immersed in the crab sauce. After eating it, I replied, "Still tastes like crab. Ick." It was then that I unintentionally imitated "Violet Beauregarde" who had become blue from something she ate in the movie Charlie & The Chocolate Factory. Fortunately, after an anti-allergy pill, the red spots diminished & disappeared after a few hours. Whew. Never "diss" (disrespect) a crab if you value your complexion! Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in New York, our son PJ & his fiancé went to the hospital for his annual checkup. He & the doc looked over just in time to see Braina faint & fall face-first to the floor, breaking her nose. Ouch! Seems she was weak from a recent change in diet. Briana had planned to visit her family for Thanksgiving, but her nose treatment made the trip impossible. Then she found out that her family of 12 siblings had an outbreak of both chicken pox & shingles at the same time! Had Briana gone home, she would not have been able to start work in Auburn, NY as a lifeguard, nor to meet with her new housemate Debbie, nor help PJ move into his new lodging at the "Rev" Drama studio. Back in the Philippines, Abby was assisting Orbina & the BCA secretarial staff in revising the wording of the letters from the sponsored students to their benefactors. Daily, Orbina prepares letters, homemade cards & pictures, prints addresses on envelopes & collates them to send to sponsors of nearly 600 BCA students. For the past 3 years during the pandemic, the processing of students' communications to their sponsors was difficult. Orbina could not just go to the classroom & take a picture of the child, nor have him/her color a greeting card. Instead, she had to communicate with someone who lived in the same vicinity of the child, who had access to a cell phone, to take a picture, then to wait for them to get it back to her. But now things are so very much easier! It's also nice to see the happy, smiling faces of the children & their parents! Parents confide in Orbina that previously, it was drudgery to get the kids awake to do their schoolwork. But now the kids wake up even before their parents, in eager anticipation to study & see their friends in school face to face. A few weeks ago, Orbina listed in her daily journal about the weekly Monday morning teachers' devotional, presented by BCA's preschool teacher. She was teaching on humility & how, when she was a child, her family was so poor that they would send her begging in the mall, hiding behind kiosks so she would not get caught. When she did get thrown out, she would beg outside the door until he guard took a bathroom break & then she'd sneak back in to beg again from mall patrons. The teacher did however save up enough to go to college, & to get her teaching degree. Now she can fend for herself, with the income she receives at BCA. No more begging now! In order to comply with the daily quota of 15 letters mailed, Orbina collated her outgoing letters, all of which were to be for the Oct-Nov-Dec's 4th Quarter. Today, she improved on her output by sending out 18 letters instead of just 15. But since her daughter had been sick last week, she had missed a few days & thus is still behind. Abby will help her catch up next week. Since Elvie's older sister Lilly died just over a week ago in the jungle where she lives, the ten round-the-clock days & nights of viewings & wakes & funeral messages will finally end at the burial on Tuesday. Then Abby can devote her fulltime efforts to helping Orbina. Nightly for now though, she needs to be present in the jungle to perform solos for the mourners. Good friends...in good times & in bad times, stick together. Polka dotted or chicken poxed, we are God's team, doing God's work! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $762 for BCA electrical permit $15, BCA Bus vehicle maintenance: Bus "M": deisel gas $30, starter $110, Bus "Ph": gasoline $189, vulcate tire $1, Bus "Fi": gasoline $60, rubber cups $5, vulcate tire $1, Bus "L": deisel gasoline $10, rubber cups $12, Sure brake $4, 2 pcs battery $280, rubber boots $2, stand bolt $2, replaced hub $20, brake fluid $6, grease $15. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $8,820. Still needed: $180. Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $30,000. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $4,085.50. Remaining need: $13,917.50. SCHEDULE FOR DAVAO PREACHING: NOVEMBER: THEME: Thanksgiving, Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord" (For He is Good) SUNDAY WORSHIP SPEAKER: 11/27 - Praca/Maturan. ORPHANAGE/CHURCHES/SCHOOLS: Barner Christian Academy: PHILS: PO Box 82,224 Davao City, Philippines 8000. USA: 18 (or #5) Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 NOTE: Davao is home to 11 unique ethnolinguistic Filipino tribes. |
| 11/17/2022 | Happy American Thanksgiving! (11/24/22) Philippines cell# +63 (0985) 152-3142 & +63 (0956) 754-9921 PAUL, +63 (0926) 684-6165 ABBY Please pray for Elvie, me & Abby, as we preach & sing at some of the ten evening meetings for the funeral & burial of Elvie's older sister Lilly. The burial will be Sunday afternoon (11/20). Praise God for a new friend I was able to share my faith with at the airports both in New York & Manila. While we also were seated close to each other on the flight, I was across the aisle & since he is soft-spoken, we didn't have the opportunity to converse much during the actual flight. "By the way, there is a 5-hour course to take…today!" Since Philippine driver's licenses expire on the holder's birthday, mine expired the day before we left New York to fly back to Davao. After preaching (Giving Thanks: Ps 118) Sunday (Abby sang incredibly "My Redeemer") & giving a Bible message Monday (Exemplifying Christlike Love: 1 Jn 4)) to the teachers Monday, I (Paul) headed on down to the LTO (Motor Vehicle Office). Instead of just picking up a new license, the new rules require a slew of tests (medical, physical, mental, etc.) & also a good chunk of the day sitting in on a live, interactive class (most of it in the local language). When the dozen in my class finally finished & sat in church-like benches waiting for an hour to be called to get our final biometrics scans, I briefly stood before my "classmates" & joked, "now class, since we are gathered together, let's have church!" I then quickly sat down to get lost in the crowd so that I wouldn't get into trouble for leading an assembly without a permit. But now my new Philippine driver's license is good until 2032! Meanwhile at BCA, Teacher Donna led her 3rd-Grade students in the Monday flag raising ceremonies. They recited the pledge, then energetically clapped & sang the BCA school cheer, did morning calisthenics to an upbeat Christian song, & prayed. Then, already lined-up in rows by grade level, each student placed his or her hands on the shoulders of the student in front of them & filed to their classrooms for the 1st day of 3 "2nd Preliminary" exams. Last Friday, Teacher Donna had read to her class the Bible verse in Romans 7:15. It describes the struggle: "I do not understand what I do. What I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate, I do." Zach raised his hand. "Yes, Teach. Sometimes I want to do good, but I end up doing bad. I seem to have a mind that wants to do good but a body that does bad." Donna explained, "The sinful nature of each person influences what we do & the choices we make. In this verse, Paul is telling us that even if we want to do what we know is good, the sin inside of us can cause us to do those things we don't want to." Acelle then spoke up. "Teach, we should think about higher things." "Exactly," said Donna. "The Bible says to affix our thoughts onto what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, & admirable. Think about things that are excellent & worthy of praise." She then called Acelle & Zach up to the whiteboard. "You two have names that begin with the 1st & last letters of the alphabet: A & Z. Likewise, if we remember these things we have mentioned, we should have a lot less problems avoiding sin." The 2 students then wrote the 2 halves of the 8 attributes listed in Romans: Acelle wrote in blue, "TRUE, HONORABLE, RIGHT, PURE" & then Zach wrote in red, "LOVELY, ADMIRABLE, EXCELLENT & WORTHY OF PRAISE." Donna glanced at a poster on her wall that said, "Teachers have 3 loves: 1- the love of learning, 2- the love of learners, & 3- the love of bringing the 1st 2 loves together." So, knowing that her third-grade students love Art more than Bible, Mathematics & Science, she challenged her class, "Would you like to now discuss the arts?" They cried out, "Yehey, finally it's already Art." So, Donna told them that after the Bible discussion they would have an activity about this, & as expected, they were all excited & happy. The classroom was filled with happiness & excitement. Everyone was paying attention to the discussion and recited together the 8 attributes which will help them keep away from sin. In Art, they learned about foreground, middle ground, background, landscape, & portrait. So, after their discussion, they proceeded to the activity in which they were going to draw a beach & a mountain & must apply the foreground, middle ground, & background. Donna then pointed to the beach in the foreground & said, "As long as you keep God's desires in the foreground of your life," she then pointed to the mountains in the background, saying, "then sin will not be the focus of your thoughts." In the 3rd grade classroom last Friday, a lot of things happened. Not just the discussion of the topics, not just the quizzes & exercises, but also the discipline of the pupils' behavior. In addition to being the teacher, Donna also played the role of a big sister & Christian role model, who simply wants what is best for her students. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #61-63 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 105 sections remaining, totaling 33,248.25. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $7,820. Still needed: $1,180. Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $30,000. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $3,517.50. Remaining need: $14,482.50. SCHEDULE FOR DAVAO PREACHING: NOVEMBER: THEME: Thanksgiving, Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord" (For He is Good) SUNDAY WORSHIP SPEAKER: 11/20 Siawan; 11/27 - Praca/Maturan. ORPHANAGE / CHURCHES / SCHOOLS: Barner Christian Academy: PHILS: PO Box 82,224 Davao City, Philippines 8000. USA: 18 (or #5) Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
| 11/10/2022 | Veteran's Day (Armistice Day) USA: (11/11/22). Election Day, USA (11/8/22). Daylight Savings Time (Fall Back) 11/6/22. Please pray for Elvie as she plans 2 weeks of rural funeral arrangements for her older sister Lilly who died a few days ago, just before we returned to the Philippines. Please also pray for the BCA students, who are taking their 2nd Preliminary exams Monday through Wednesday, Nov. 14-16, followed by the school's annual Foundation Day celebrations Thursday & Friday (11/17-18). Praise God for a delightful time with the congregation of the First Alliance Church in Orlando, Florida. Augie, the father of the home where our kids stayed was one of my camp counselors way back in the early 1970s. Praise God also that, on Wednesday, November 2, at 7:49am on the beach in Florida, our son PJ gave a ring & proposed to his fiancé Briana to get married! (see link at bottom of page). Praise God as well that I am daily getting stronger & healing up little-by-little from my painful surfing accident in Florida. Also praise God that those who gave to this ministry through Christian Aid Mission during August & September totaled over eleven thousand dollars, as follows: A. Children's Emergency Medical Fund: $45, B. Community Engagement Needs: $500, C. Student Sponsorships: $7,380, D. Jericho Lunch Program: $72, E. Ministry Support: $3,000, F. Orphanage: $538.30. "This is a view I would love forever…" As our son PJ walked along the beach in Florida with his girlfriend Briana, the light pastel colors of the early morning sunrise splashed oranges & pinks above the Atlantic Ocean's crashing waves. PJ got down on one knee, saying, "I could look at your gorgeous face forever." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a small box which he opened while asking, "Briana, will you marry me?" placing the diamond on her finger. This past month has been filled with surprises. Tuesday, the day before Elvie, Abby & I flew 19 hours back to the Philippines, Elvie came up to my bedroom to ask me downstairs. A friend was waiting. When I arrived, not one, but many families from my home church had come to wish us farewell & also a happy birthday to Abby, Crystal (Briana's sister) & me, since we all were born on November ninth. Over the past 30 hours we had driven over 13 HUNDRED miles back to New York from Florida. Then, after voting in the national elections, a day later we multiplied that distance by 10 & traveled 13 THOUSAND miles over the North Pole & across the Pacific Ocean. Meanwhile, as we were making these incredible journeys, Teacher Jovi at Barner Christian Academy began her day as she always did, reading the Bible. Opening to John 6, she read of when Jesus multiplied the loaves & fish, challenging his disciples to "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." Appropriately, Jovi was teaching her 5th graders the 5 Rs of conserving the environment: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover & Repair. "Charisse, what is there a lot of that you can try to reduce in your household?" Charisse responded with a sigh, "We could deifnitely reduce the amount of stress in our family." Thinking through Charisse's statement, Jovi also focused on the events coming up this next Monday through Wednesday, as the students have their quarterly exams. So, wanting to ease up on them a bit, she divided her students into 5 groups, based on the first letter of their names. Each group had a different number of students in it. She asked them to each hold hands to make a geometric shape. Then she asked what shape they represented. The group with six was a hexagon. The group with three was a triangle, & so forth.. "In your groups, write down what you understand about the 5R's. Choose one representative from each group to report your output in front of the class." When they were finished, Jovi gathered all her students together to pray before exiting the classroom. "Lord, please open our eyes to see the beauty of Your creation. When we walk home, & we see a piece of trash along the side of the road, please guide us to pick it up & choose one of the 5 Rs to either throw it away, or to recycle it, repair it, or use the other choices, to keep this planet that you have given to us beautiful, amen." Jovi's 5th Graders & Briana's new fiancé (PJ) have something in common: they both see the beauty that God has placed upon this planet! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #277 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP, November 1, 2022: 3 min, 34 sec. PJ Barner is with Paul, Elvie, Abby, Briana & Rhett. at Veros Voice Magazine. On Air with Rhett Palmer Tonight we're in: FLORIDA Join us every T/Th! HOW BEAUTIFUL What an honor to be interviewed by the Mayor of the Airwaves himself! Rhett Palmer ''Mayor of the Airwaves'' -- who has interviewed Rev. Billy Graham, past presidents Jimmy Carter & Gerald Ford, and many others -- graciously invited us to spend the morning with him. I was amazed by his humility and deep desire for God. Big thanks to our mutual friend David Usher for connecting us! Full interview here: https://fb.watch/gxrDsXN0qL/ Other people Rhett has interviewed: http://www.rhettpalmer.com/celebrity-interviewshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYoaZcgt8WU C. #278 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP, November 3, 2022: 8 min, 51 sec. - Proposals, Florida, and Birthdays... Oh My! Tonight we're in: FLORIDA Join us every T/Th! GOOD GOOD FATHER Bri and I are engaged! It's our last LNW On Tour! Abby & Dad's birthday is coming soon! There's a lot to celebrate; God has been so good to us. D. #279 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP, November 8, 2022: 14 min, 6 sec. Join us every T/Th! TO GOD BE THE GLORY • THE BLESSING It's a triple birthday celebration with many of our good friends in their first-ever LNW! It's also the last LNW with my family before they leave for the Philippines. This is the end of the chapter, but the beginning of a whole bunch of other stuff. Shout-outs: Jeff on guitar, Dave on pocket trumpet, and Crystal on voice. Thank you so much!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loevC8OHTDY E. #280 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP, November 10, 2022: 9 min, 4 sec. seasons. Join us every T/Th! TURN TURN TURN My family just got to the Philippines safely, and I'm starting a new season of my life.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBcf2-ODjKw F.Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines. Sunday, November 6, 2022. 1 hour, 36 min, 37 sec. Men's Sunday: Communion Service. Rev. Alexander Budo. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=search&v=847160522950136 G. Rhett Palmer ''Mayor of the Airwaves'' was live. Rhett Palmer Show - 11/1/2022. Rhett is joined by: 10:45 - Paul Barner, Elvie, PJ, Abby & Briana. https://www.facebook.com/mayoroftheairwaves/videos/1238257883401996 Present Need: $300 for (installment #54 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $28,400 remaining. NEW!: Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Garage for new BCA school buses: (from 2023 Davao Ironman Triathlon): Total need: $30,000. 2022 Ironman gifts: $12,000. 2023 Ironman gifts: $3,517.50. Remaining need: $14,482.50. SCHEDULE FOR DAVAO PREACHING: NOVEMBER: THEME: Thanksgiving, Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord" (For He is Good) SUNDAY WORSHIP SPEAKER: 11/13-Barner (Youth Sunday w/ Communion);11/20 Siawan; 11/27 - Praca/Maturan. ORPHANAGE/CHURCHES/SCHOOLS: Barner Christian Academy: PHILS: PO Box 82,224 Davao City, Philippines 8000. USA: 18 (or #5) Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144 |
| 11/3/2022 | Happy 22nd Birthday, Abby! (11/9/00) Happy 61st Birthday, Paul! (11/9/61) Happy 24th Birthday, BCA! (11/9/98) USA Election Day (11/8/22). 11/6: Orlando, FL: First Alliance Church. 11/10: Fly back to the Philippines from JFK (NYC, USA). Please pray for the dozen families we shared our ministry with on Halloween, in Melbourne, Florida. We dressed as bodybuilders & imaginary, bow-tied-storybook characters, trick or treating door-to-door, & praying with some families who had sick members. They even gave us candy! We had originally found a scavenger hunt online for the city & planned to attend, until we noticed that it was actually for Melbourne, Australia! We knew we had made a mistake when we started the hunt, & it said, "walk 15 million paces to…" Please also pray for our return flight to Davao on November 10. Due to recent spikes in COVID cases, Davao City is classified (from 11/1-15) under Alert Level One by the Center for Disease Control (CDC). https://mb.com.ph/2022/11/01/32-areas-under-covid-19-alert-level-2-from-nov-1-to-15-doh/ Praise God for a delightful time with the congregation of the Ft Peirce Alliance Church in Florida. We have known Dr Yount & the pastor's family for decades, since he had been a pastor previously in New Jersey. We taught Sunday School, sang & preached about missions. After church was a luncheon & inspiring Christian movie. "Leave no neighbor behind!" Concerned about over 5,000 evacuated Mindanao children & families left homeless by the Philippines' Typhoons Paeng & Nalgae a few days ago, our churches & civic clubs immediately gathered funds from Filipino friends & loaded up trucks at warehouses of rice, clothes, water, tents & blankets. "Kay daghan namatay" (many have died), & other children are sick with ubo (coughing) & LBM (dysentery). Nearly 3 dozen of the casualties resulted form landslides & flooding, which uprooted trees & rocks, & deposited tons of mud overnight. Teams in rubber boats rescued many residents from their rooftops. While Mindanao is rarely hit by the 20 or so typhoons that strike the Philippines each year, those that do reach Mindanao tend to be deadlier than those that hit Luzon, the main island. A long mountain range walls off most of Luzon from the Pacific, where most storms are spawned, helping to absorb the blow. While escaping the rising floodwaters during a local beauty pageant, rescuers carried a baby in a plastic tub; navigating chest-deep water. Some entire families were swept away when the waters hit their homes. These storms kill both people & livestock, destroying farms, houses, roads & bridges in their wakes. Meanwhile in Florida, USA, our family has been traveling thousands of miles to thank families & churches for their prayers & sponsorship of destitute students at Barner Christian Academy. Each day in Florida we visit different groups of people, but in between travel times, being in the balmy south, we will go swimming. The Atlantic Ocean's waves are inviting an soothing, so the five of us (Paul, Elvie, PJ, Abby & Briana) went "body surfing" (swimming without a surfboard & letting the tide carry you into shore). But on Friday, three of us misjudged the strength of the waves & got tumbled around in the undertow, banging & scraping-up our bodies on the sandy shoreline. My painfully-bruised ribs are causing me to grimace whenever I turn or lift anything, but nothing like the calamity faced by families overseas. Back in Asia, BCA's Teacher Janice challenged her 4th Graders with their spelling skills. "Jewel, could you please pass-out these blank sheets of paper?" Janice then asked Kheana, "Please read each spelling word three times, using them in the sentences provided. Class, only write the word, not the sentence." Just as Janice had expected, the students' spelling was atrocious. However, she took this as a challenge, telling the kids, "Well, good that this is at the beginning of the school year, so we know where we can improve!" Nourjin asked, "Do you really think we can do it, Teach?" To which his outspoken classmate Thirdy responded, "Of course, buddy, that is why we are here!" Janice promised, "Every day of classes, we will include spelling projects for you to brush up on your ability." Mhaya asked, "But how will we know whether we have improved or not?" Janice explained, "I will not grade you on these papers. You will grade each other. As 4th graders, be kind to one another in your grading, and honest too!" In unison, three of her students, Maree, Jelaiza & Renzo, agreed, "Oh, we will!" & laughed as they high-fived their response. Juleine asked, "what about a game, Teach?" Since that is exactly what Janice had in mind, she explained her "message relay" game, which is a lot like the game "Gossip" except that it includes writing skills as well. After the game was done, Sweet Nicole spoke up. "I love spelling! I can't wait for tomorrow's class!" Janice sighed with relief. "Ah, that is what I love to hear! To God be all the Glory!" Nicole then ran up to Teacher Janice, exclaiming, "Oh, Teacher Janice, I love you so much!" Janice's heart melted, as she responded with an equally-tight embrace & sighed, "And I love you too!" "ALL OF YOU!" As she looked up at the rest of the class, they ran up & joined the huddle-hug. Let's spell LOVE together! "L-O-V-E". You all get 'A's for today! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #276 Late Night Worship, October 28, 2022: 9 min, 12 sec. Tonight we're in: FLORIDA Join us every T/Th! BE MAGNIFIED • WHEN THE ROLL IS CALLED UP YONDER https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYeg7YtwBdY C. Faith Alliance Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines. Sunday, October 30, 2022. 1 hour, 52 min, 56 sec. "World Missions Sunday". https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=search&v=847160522950136 Present Need: $289 for Repair of printers (labor & spare parts) $52, Additional materials for repair of signage $10, Renewal of Signage Permit & professional fee $26, Old Home Economics Building Demolition permit professional fee $10, cutting disc for reinforcement round bars $5, BCA Buses: Bus "C": Deisel gas $40, Bus "Fi": gasoline $60, rubber cups $4, brake fluid $4, sand paper $1, Bus "Ph": gasoline $42, rubber cup $12, Rubber boots $3, brake fluid $4, repair of alternator (labor & materials) $26. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $7,720. Still needed: $1,280. NEW!: Link for credit card donations: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 SCHEDULE FOR DAVAO PREACHING: NOVEMBER: THEME: Thanksgiving, Psalm 118:1 "Give thanks to the Lord" (For He is Good) SUNDAY WORSHIP SPEAKER: 11/6-Budo; 11/13-Barner (Youth Sunday w/ Communion);11/20 Siawan; 11/27 - Praca/Maturan. |
| 10/27/2022 | BCA Annual International Day (10/28/22). Christian (Luther's Wittenburg 95 Theses) Reformation Day (10/31/22). 10/30: Vero Beach, FL: Ft Peirce Alliance Church NEW!: Link for credit card gifts: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Praise God for a delightful weekend of ministry, singing & preaching at Christ Cares (CMA) Church in Jacksonville, FL this past weekend! Aside from Elvie's introductions and my preaching, our kids threated the congregation to 2 inspirational duets and 2 solos! Many in the congregation are Filipinos, so they truly bonded with our family and identified with the work we are doing in their home country. Praise God too that a church in New York recently gave $1,000 for the Christmas sneakers of our BCA students! Praise God also that our son PJ has been accepted as praise & worship leader in the Auburn Alliance Church, starting next month. He has also been hired to teach drama in public schools of the Finger Lakes region of Upstate New York! Praise God that, as we spoke at ShellPoint Village in Ft Myers, Florida, the roads & bridges were cleared-up enough after Hurricane Ian, for us to get through. Lined up along many of the highways (outside Shellpoint) in Ft Myers, were 10-ft-high "trash mountains" of flood-destroyed mattresses, carpets, furniture & refrigerators, especially near hotels & trailer parks. Some trailers were also crushed, & large trees uprooted & stripped of foliage. Many volunteers had sped up the cleanup progress for ShellPoint Village. Praise God too that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. today (Thursday, 10/27) began groundbreaking for the brand-new, long awaited ?23-billion (China-financed) bridge that will link Samal Island & Davao City, which will make the 3-hour-long wait for barge space unnecessary when we visit our orphanage. It is scheduled to be completed in 2027 "Wow! Ice cream AND a restroom! This must be heaven!" Cat, the corner ice cream shop's teenage, red-headed vendor along Flagler Beach in Florida giggled at our exclamation as she scooped out some "Moose Tracks" for Abby's cone, along with other scrumptious flavors for the rest of us. Before we fly back to the Philippines in November, our family has accepted speaking engagements in four Florida churches. Since Florida is known for its beaches, we also are "taking the plunge" in the ocean between stops across the state. American Southerners are known to be hospitable & kind, & the delightful Floridians whom we have met, are no exception. Plus, the gas prices are a whole lot cheaper than many other parts of the country (sometimes less than $3/gallon). I noticed a sign on the wall (at the ice cream shop) that read "Song Requests". Elvie requested a Christian "Cece Winans" song & Cat had it playing on the speaker in a flash. When she turned it way up & then kept playing more Christiaan music, PJ asked her if she was a believer & which church she attended. Nice as we travel when people are not ashamed of their faith in Jesus! Meanwhile overseas at Barner Christian Academy, Teacher Espinosa was preparing his classroom to teach, of his ten subjects like English, Filipino & Science, in particular Math, to his 2nd graders. He arranged the chairs, pasting printed materials on the wall to make it more attractive & interesting for the students. Espinosa tried to make every corner of the room have learning in it for a good atmosphere that is conducive for learning. He even printed out Bible verses to remind, inspire & motivate the young minds of his pupils as they proceed on their spiritual journeys. He printed verses for them to copy & memorize, like Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go, & when he is old, he will not depart from it." In class, he discussed the three relation symbols; greater than (>), less than (<) & equals (=), challenging them to visualize by writing Three Digit Numbers in Expanded Form by these 3 categories, as he explained them to the students. Focusing on the four fundamental operations of mathematics (+/-/x/%), he followed-up on last week's study of addition, with this week being subtraction. "This month is Teacher Appreciation Month. How many minutes is your dance video on 'Jesus the light of the world' to proclaim God's goodness & love to His people, & to thank the BCA faculty?" James raised his hand. "Fifteen minutes," & came up to the chalkboard to write the number 15. "Good," addressed Teacher Espinosa. "Now, how many days are we practicing, before International Day this Friday?" Riley now raised his hand. "Seven." To avoid spoon-feeding his pupils, Espinosa's strategy was to call attention individually with board work. He also wrote the number on the chalkboard. As Espinosa multiplied the two numbers, the class read back in unison, "total one hundred & five minutes." He then handed out the worksheets he had printed for the daily activity, related to the lives of his students. He then implemented pair-tutoring for the students to grade each other's papers. After that, he evaluated their knowledge by giving a 10- item quiz. The result was really good & as their teacher, Espinosa was very proud. "Now," declared Espinosa, "Alyssa, please share about your family." Alyssa then stood & told of her mother's care for her. Everyone volunteered to also share exciting examples of their mothers' loving, caring & supportive leadership. Then they also did the same for their dads & siblings. Each student approached the board & wrote the number of siblings & parents they had. The grand total was, in unison declared by the students, coincidentally, "one hundred & five!" So then at their seats they were to write whether the first number was greater than, equal to, or lesser than the second. Half the class got it right, while the other half had through it & thought it was a trick question since it was so easy. Espinosa was very happy with the wisdom of his kids. After school, during the Homeroom meeting, the parents of his 2nd graders had an election for classroom officers. Their proposal for a classroom project was garbage Bin, Curtains, & water dispenser. They agreed upon the said project & immediately began saving! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $300 for (installment #4 of 5) BCA's $1,596.51 soil sample permit. The soil sample test is required for all stable structures built in the Philippines. The duration of work is defined as follows; a. Mobilization & demobilization : 2 days (calendar days) b. Drilling Work : 5 days (calendar days) c. Laboratory testing : 5 days (working days) d. Preparation of Factual report : 5 days (working days) Total duration : 17 days. Number of days may vary depending on the site, soil & weather condition at project location. Cost for Services: Item Description Qty. Unit Cost Amount: 1) Mobilization/Demobilization including, hole to hole transfer & water hauling for 1 lot $200. 2) Soil Drilling @ 18 meters/hole, Laboratory works & Final Report 2 holes @ $684 each + $1,368. 3) On-site equipment: $28.51. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $7,720. Still needed: $1,280. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 10/20/2022 | 10/17 &21: Jacksonville, FL: Worship in Christ Cares Alliance Church. 10/23-Ft Myers, FL. Worship in Shellpoint Village Retirement Community. NEW!: Link for credit card gifts: https://tithe.ly/give?c=6118435 Please pray for wisdom as we seek an installer for solar panels for the pump of the 250-foot deep well we will dig for our orphanage when we return in November. Praise God for a delightful weekend of ministry, singing & preaching at Pineview Community (CMA) Church in Albany, NY this past weekend! We always look forward to visiting our home church, each time we are "stateside"! "The sneakers are on the way!" After getting 600 school patches sewn on the right foot for most of the sneakers for BCA's 600 students, we boxed them up & shipped them out. Not enough was donated yet for the last 100 pairs, so we'll pray for funds to arrive before we land overseas, for us to buy them there. Our final ministry trek's cluster of churches has increased our minivan's odometer up over 302,000 miles, driving down to sunny Florida. The incredibly gorgeous forests of fiery red, yellow & orange leaves made the 3-day drive energizing, just before our return to Asia. After having dinner with one dear family whom we visited en route, they surprised us with a check for $200 to help buy BCA's Christmas sneakers! Another family treated us to Pinoy (Filipino) food like lumpia, pancit & afterward … we sang karaoke together for 2 hours! Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in Davao, BCA's brand-new nursery/preschool teacher Charmie was consoling three of her students who were crying. Since these 2 & 3-year-olds had been homebound all their lives (built-in social anxiety) due to being born during the pandemic, they were confused at what to do when meeting real live humans their own age. While it is normal for kids this age to be anxious about saying goodbye to their parents for the half-day of school, this was to a grater extreme. "One day," Charmie sweetly shared, "you'll look back upon this memorable experience with joy…" Waaaahhh! Well, guess that didn't work. Fortunately, Charmie has a teachers' aide who took each child aside one-by-one to work with materials she'd printed with worksheets, activity sheets & flashcards. The aide would have the student repeat after her word-for-word, pointing occasionally to the colorful pictures taped to the wall, and when he or she caught on, they'd be full of smiles when returning to the classroom of peers. While they were gone, the others had been coloring by number the shapes & animals on their coloring sheets. During lunch (between her 2nd "batch" mid-morning & 3rd "batch" afternoon sessions), Charmie was alone in her office cubicle and while reading her Bible, dropped to her knees to pray. "Oh Lord, I feel like these little children. I am nothing without You. Absolutely nothing. But with you, just like my little students and their aides, I am so comforted. Though life sometimes seems scary, with You by my side, we can fight the giants! Thank you, Jesus! Who was the student & who was the teacher here? Thesxe little children are my mini-teachers. You are guiding these kids to teach me to love You more deeply. Amen." Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #272 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 6 min, 34 sec. October 13, 2022. PJ Barner live with Abigail Barner & Briana Cutting in Rensselaer, NY. Join us every T/Th! ONE DAY AT A TIME. Stressful week? Jesus gotchu! C. #273 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 11 min, 7 sec. Carpool Karaoke. Tonight we're in: NORTH CAROLINA. Join us every T/Th! . LOVE LIBERTY DISCO • UNTIL THE WHOLE WORLD HEARS • BEAUTIFUL FOR ME. We're back on tour! What songs do you want to hear? https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/1170954320510521/ Present Need: $639 for Orphan Kids' uniforms shoes $74, socks $5, white t-shirts $44, Financial Report for repair of BCA signage & notorization $210, Materials for repair of BCA signage $48, 3rd Grade room's doorknob, varnish & paint $37, LED light $28, BCA Buses: Bus "C": LTO renewal of registration $62, Bus "Fi": gasoline $10, Bus "M": battery charged $2, Bus "Ph": gasoline $120, motor oil $9. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,720. Still needed: $2,280. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
OCTOBER Sermons in Davao: Theme: Missions: Jesus - The Ultimate Trailblazer// 10/23- Praca, (Jesus and the Centurion (Nations are ready and Willing.) Scripture: Luke 7:1-10). 10/30 – Lerio. (Jesus and his Disciples: Doing the Job of Proclaiming the Gospel. Scripture: Luke 24:36-49) |
| 10/13/2022 | 10/16: Albany, NY: Worship in Pineview Community Church. Please pray for The BCA teachers & students as they prepare for BCA's annual "International Day" this month. The students will dress up in costumes from around the world in recognition of Christ's Great Commission to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel." Praise God for a delightful weekend of ministry, singing & preaching at St Thomas Independent Brethren Church in Mt Pleasant Mills, PA this past weekend! Praise God also that our family minivan hit 300,000 miles this past weekend! I got out and kicked each of the tires 3x to celebrate! (and we ate at Popeye's chicken). "Mmmm, delicious!" Every October a church in Pennsylvania has their annual "Apple Butter Boil" event, where everybody can join in stirring the smooth sandwich spread from fresh apples and cider. Tastes all that much sweeter when we realized we were the ones who stood under that century-old wooden pavilion to grab the ten-foot-long ladle, with the paddle at the end to keep the potion from sticking, in huge copper kettles balanced over smoky wood fires. The next day we taught Sunday School at another church & preached/sang The pastor's wife had had a recent accident, & since we were the speakers, it gave them a break as she recuperated. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the Philippines, BCA's Teacher Jezel challenged her 2st Graders, "Kids, what are the four rules of our classroom?" Together, her 24 students stood & recited in unison, "The rules of our 1st grade classroom are: Respect, Behave, Participate & observe Silence." Jezel than challenged them with, "Correct. Without rules, what would happen to our classroom?" Still standing, the students responded as they did each day, "the classroom will be having disorder & teaching & learning would be more challenging." Pleased with their response, Jezel divided the class into two sections, A & B. A was very good, but the students in B treated the classroom as a playground, running here & there & shouting out. So, Jezel had the students return to their seats & had section A (the good section) ask section B, "Did you follow the classroom rules?" And their response, in unison was admittedly, "NO". Teacher Jezel interjected, "So what do you say?" One by one, as she pointed to them, they said, "Sorry." Jezel then explained, "It looks like Section B needs to learn from Section A. So here is what we will do…" She paired-off each A student with a B student & proceeded to the project, which was a reading session, introducing phonemic sounds. They read individually, & really had a lot of catching-up to do, due to the past 3 years of homebound pandemic. With the students paired, up, they actually learned from each other the proper pronunciations of words. Quite impressed with each others' progress, the students begged Teacher Jezel for more. So, to bring home the importance of togetherness, she had them each recite the Bible verse, Proverbs 27:17, "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another." Like the teamwork of lots of people stirring apple butter in Pennsylvania, even so, with teamwork, lots get finished…including reading great. Teaching now has a fifth rule: "better caught (by friends) than taught!" Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #58-60 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 100 sections remaining, totaling 31,665. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,475. Still needed: $2,525. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 10/6/2022 | 10/9: Mt Pleasant Mills, PA: Worship in St Thomas Independent Brethren Church. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for those who were hit by floods and landslides from Typhoon Noru which hit Vietnam after unleashing severe flooding in the Philippines this past week. Please pray for us as well as we pack up for our travels. We are leaving in less than 2 weeks to speak in Florida churches & then just a few hours after we return to New York (Abby's & my birthdays Nov 9) we fly back across the planet to Davao. Praise God for a delightful weekend of ministry, singing & preaching at Geneva Alliance Church this past weekend! Thank the Lord as well for our gracious hosts in multiple locations as they opened their homes to our family. While at one house, we performed, prayed, sang & preached for an international Zoom prayer meeting with four continents represented! Praise God as well that I (Paul) am now registered for (my 15th) March 26, 2023 70.3-mile Ironman Triathlon in Davao City, Philippines! "You taught me when I was ten!" While substitute teaching on Tuesday at an inner-city special-needs high school, a tall student named AJ approached me. "I am 18 now, but I remember your face. You are one of my favorite teachers!" Wow. I only teach a few days a year, when I can grab a few hours between reviewing online daily reports from our pastors & faculty overseas, & also responding to the requests for our family to present missions to North American churches. On the seldom occurrence of teaching stateside, I alternate between about 20 different campuses of public schools. It is always nice when the students recall my name, years later. When we drove the four hours to our destination Sunday, we left a few days early, to pick up the 600 pair of sneakers for which a shoemaker had stitched-onto, the BCA school logo-patch. Ever try to fit 600 pair of sneakers into a minivan? It is not easy, but with the help of Elvie & the kids, we succeeded. Rooftop carrier! On Sunday as we spoke at a church in Geneva, NY, we looked at the guest book in the lobby, & found the last time we had shared here. It'd been on a Mother's Day & they had had a special breakfast for moms. This time we had snacks, but nothing like that scrumptious meal from last time. As people arrived for church. They asked questions like "How is the tribal campus construction coming along?" & "what grade are your orphans in now?" Between Sunday School & church, PJ Mentioned that a friend from 800 miles away was there! I thought I heard wrong, until my buddy came up the stairs. Her dad lives in the area, & when she heard we were sharing today, she decided to use it as an excuse to drive up north to see her dad. After church we drove out to the church in Auburn, NY where PJ will be working this fall, & had a picnic in the park, filled with colorful Autumn leaves. Whew, but it is starting to get chilly & windy in New York. You can tell that fall has arrived. In just a month we'll be back in the balmy tropics, surrounded by hundreds of smiling, yet poor, Filipino children! Speaking of the tropics, BCA's 6th grade teacher Romnick was videotaping his students as they performed their class projects. The topic was General Aguinaldo (first president of the 1st republic & formerly on the 5-peso bill) & the Philippine Revolution against the Spanish Empire, in 1896. But being 6th graders, the students easily got distracted & started hamming it up for the camera until it became a comedy instead. "Ah well," thought Romnick, "At least they are having fun learning!" At the end of the class, they all cheered, "Viva la Independencia Filipina" (long live Philippine independence!). This is like "Remember the Alamo" in the USA. As Romnick said goodbye to his students, the mother of Absolute (a female student) approached Romnick to speak in her tribal language. Over 80 languages & 365 dialects are spoken in the Philippines, & since Rominck & Absolute's mom are both from the Mandaya tribe of Davao Oriental, they love to chat. "Your daughter is a fine student," said Romnick in Mandaya. "I can see the joy of our tribe upon her." The young mom beamed with pride that her child was a conscientious student. Absolute couldn't wait to show her mom the (comic) historical video they'd made that afternoon in class. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #267 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 7 min, 13 sec. PJ Barner live with Elvie and Abby on international prayer Zoom mtg. "10 days of prayer" broadcast from California, and sung from Rensselaer, NY. Tuesday, September 27, 2022. "It is Well". Tonight we're part of Tita Maria's prayer meeting! God's Peace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmN2lcQY3pQ C. #268 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 7 min, 30 sec. PJ Barner live with Elvie and Abby on international prayer Zoom mtg. "10 days of prayer" broadcast from California, and sung from Rensselaer, NY. Thursday, September 29, 2022. "They'll Know we are Chritsians". Tonight we're part of Tita Maria's prayer meeting! God's Peace. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgnqA7sJNkQ D. #269 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 8 min, 46 sec. PJ Barner live with Elvie and Abby on international prayer Zoom mtg. "10 days of prayer" broadcast from California, and sung from Rensselaer, NY. Tuesday, October 4, 2022. "Your Spirit". Tonight we're part of Tita Maria's prayer meeting! God's Peace.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgnqA7sJNkQ E. Sunday Worship at Geneva Alliance Church, Geneva, NY. October 2, 2022. 2 hr, 19 min 3 sec. https://thealliancecommunitychurch.org/videos/ F. Sunday worship songs at Geneva Alliance Church (with PJ & Abby) in Geneva, NY. 3 min, 54 sec. https://www.facebook.com/elvie.barner/videos/773722143689788/ Present Need: $300 for (installment #3 of 5) BCA's $1,596.51 soil sample permit. The soil sample test is required for all stable structures built in the Philippines. The duration of work is defined as follows; a. Mobilization & demobilization : 2 days (calendar days) b. Drilling Work : 5 days (calendar days) c. Laboratory testing : 5 days (working days) d. Preparation of Factual report : 5 days (working days) Total duration : 17 days. Number of days may vary depending on the site, soil & weather condition at project location. Cost for Services: Item Description Qty. Unit Cost Amount: 1) Mobilization/Demobilization including, hole to hole transfer & water hauling for 1 lot $200. 2) Soil Drilling @ 18 meters/hole, Laboratory works & Final Report 2 holes @ $684 each + $1,368. 3) On-site equipment: $28.51. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,460. Still needed: $2,400. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 9/29/2022 | 1st Day of Fall (9/22/22). Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur (9/25/22). World Teachers' Day (10/5/22). NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray that the American government will be able to follow-through on their recent promise, during a New York meeting of the presidents from both sovereign nations (Biden & Marcos), for an 'Ironclad' Defense of the Philippines. This includes freedom of navigation & overflight in the Philippines' section of the disputed South China Sea. Agreements were also made regarding energy security, climate action & infrastructure. The Philippine/US alliance is one of the most enduring security partnerships in the region, bound by a mutual defense treaty dating back to the 1950's. Marcos said earlier this week that the Philippines will be "a friend to all & an enemy to none." He also termed the USA as an ally, while also calling China the "strongest partner" during pandemic recovery. Marcos, while in NY, also met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Please also pray for the dozens of young people who had made spiritual decisions during the quarterly "Kids Day" on the BCA campus last Sunday. After worship, the children & young adults had a "color run." Then dinner was served after another worship service. Lastly, a "Battle of the Bands" from five churches featured Christian music & messages to glorify God. Due to the race, many unbelievers were present. Praise God for a great worship service this past Sunday at St John Barner Lutheran Church in Liverpool, PA! The church people enjoyed the kids' singing & news from Davao during Sunday school & worship. Praise God also for the shirt designer in New York whose three boxes of clothes, shipped back in June, have arrived at the BCA campus this week! "HOME RUN!!" At the Philadelphia Phillies baseball game, versus the Atlanta Braves last Saturday, we sat in the stands just beyond left field. It was the bottom of the 6th inning & still no runs for the Phillies. 6 to 0. A player hits a single & runs to 1st base. Hundreds of Phillies fans have "Harper" shirts on, & then finally, Harper comes up to bat. Suddenly, ZOOM! The baseball comes straight at us & hits the seat directly four rows in front of us. I watched as the white ball, just under 3 inches in diameter, bounced off the seat & to another seat 20 rows away. Over thirty-six thousand spectators, & the ball ends up just a few feet from us! Phillies still lost 6 to 3, but boy, was it fun! Praise God for our friends who invited us to share this special time with them. Meanwhile overseas in the Philippines, BCA's kindergarten teacher Violy was following the KCG (Kindergarten Curriculum Guide) while also quoting to her 52 students (divided into 3: 2.5-hour sessions), a saying by Martin Luther King, Jr.. "If you can't fly, then run…If you can't run, then walk…If you can't walk, then crawl…But by all means, keep moving!" She then read to her kindergarteners from Mark 10, "Everything is possible with God!" She then continued, "There is no such thing as simply "getting over" a mountain when you're on the ground. The mountain must be climbed one step at a time. You must go through the process of reaching the top as well as the other side." Following-through on decisions was her focus as Violy also presented to her kindergarteners the importance of putting away their toys after class. "Since I don't know everything I don't know, when life gives me a HUNDRED reasons to break down & cry, I show life that I have a MILLION reasons to smile & laugh day by day!" Since the schoolyear has just begun, there are no scores from the previous quarter for comparison. Yet Violy was super-pleased that the scores are starting high, especially in regard to their clear penmanship. You all get home runs, kids! A great way to start the new school year! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $300 for (installment #53 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $28,700 remaining. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,460. Still needed: $2,400. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
OCTOBER Sermons in Davao: Theme: Missions// Speakers: 2- Budo, 9- Alvarado, 16- Dejolde, 23- Praca, 30 – Paciente. |
| 9/22/2022 | 9/24 & 25: New Hope, PA Bible Study & St John (Barner’s) Lutheran Church Sunday School/Worship in Liverpool, PA. Please pray for the 600 students at Barner Christian Academy. They have been given the go-ahead to have face-to-face classes for a few days each week, increasing gradually until November when every day they can be on the school campus, in their respective classes. For these past 3 years since the pandemic began, many students had difficulty learning from home & needed the personal interaction of classmates & teachers to perform to their greatest abilities. Praise God for a friend in New York who this past week gave $30 for Christmas gifts (sneakers, food, clothes, school supplies & toys) for her two sponsored students. Praise God too for a family who attended the Downsville, NY church where we spoke last weekend. Since they have young children, PJ offered to give part of the message in a child-friendly version, with lots of singing & interaction. It is truly a blessing when we can travel & speak as a missionary family. “Did you ever know that you are my hero?” As I looked from the pulpit out into the congregation Sunday, there in the fifth row was an incredible gentleman, almost a hundred years old…a true man of God. Half a century ago, in 1972, that missionary, “Uncle Jake” had told about his work in the Philippines as a missionary for the past 2 decades. After showing slides of the work they had done, pioneering amongst animists & tribal people, He asked, “Who will go to reach the lost for Jesus in that country?” And it was then that God told me, then only a ten year old boy, very clearly, “Paul, YOU are the one! STAND UP! Be My messenger!” And now, half a century later in 2022, that incredible missionary, “Uncle Jake,” was listening to me tell about what God had done since I arrived on the other side of the planet 26 years ago. I felt so privileged, yet inadequate to present my report before such a distinguished gentleman as this. In my eyes, HE was (and is) my hero. Meanwhile overseas at Barner Christian Academy, Minmin the cashier is doubling as OIC (Officer In Charge) until our return in November. She regularly sends me reports while I am stateside finding sponsors for the waiting BCA students. “Pastor Paul,” she began in her report, “You are like a father for all these 600 children!” Huh. She went on to explain. “As a father shares his faith with his kids, likewise, many of these hundreds of kids never would have heard the love of God & the salvation offered by Jesus, had you not started this school where they were introduced to Jesus!” That was the good news. Now the not-so-good news. Her report went on, “By the way, minimum wage was increased from $8 per day to $9 per day.” That is for unskilled labor, but since all BCA’s teachers are required to have earned their teaching license, they make much more. So, our salaries are now increased by around 12%. Minmin’s response was, “God will always provide. After all, He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Little did I anticipate, way back in 1972 as a ten year old new believer, that one day I’d be responsible for the spiritual & intellectual enlightenment of 600 students & two dozen faculty/staff. But then, every day with Jesus is filled with new ways to serve Him, & is even more exciting than the day before! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #264 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 5 min, 34 sec. Join us every T/Th! YOU'RE WORTHY OF MY PRAISE. With Abigail. Rensselaer, NY. September 15, 2022 C. #265 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP 7 min, 58 sec. PJ Barner was live — with Abigail Barner. Join us every T/Th! the Good Shepherd. THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD • HOLD ME IN YOUR ARMS. Rensselaer, NY. September 20, 2022https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfsH0tsJ3Ns D. BCA Flag Raising & National Anthem with students. Davao City, Philippines. 44 sec. September 19, 2022. E. BCA Prayer time with students. Teacher Romnick, leading. Davao City, Philippines. 29 sec. September 19, 2022. F. BCA Morning exercises with students & praise music. Teachers, leading. Davao City, Philippines. 1 min, 51 sec. September 19, 2022. Present Need: $1,089 for: $50 field trip for BCA orphans, $120 new printer, Old Home economics bld demolition papers $6, School project (cabinets) materials & Labor $391, BCA Buses: Bus “C”: -insurance $275, -diesel gas $10, Bus “M”: -diesel gas $40, -battery terminal post $3, -barge (transporting cement, round bars & mixer) $15, Bus “Fi”: -gasoline $28, -fuel pump $30, -rubber base $2, -hose clip $1, -change of tire $2, Bus “Ph”: -gasoline $104, -motor oil $9, -accelerator cable $3. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,460. Still needed: $2,400.
SEPTEMBER Sermons in Davao: Theme: Evangelism// Speakers: 25 - Praca |
| 9/15/2022 | BCA Parent-Teachers' "PTA" homeroom elections. Rosh Hashana (9/26/22). Please pray for our son PJ, starting his job as worship leader in an Upstate New York church, after Elvie, Abby & I fly back to the Philippines November 11. Praise God for a great day of missions challenges during Sunday School & Worship at the Andover Alliance Church in Andover, NY. My brother Phil & his family had surprised Elvie with huge balloons, streamers & cake for her 55th birthday. Sandi said that when she bought the life-sized stand-up balloon, a little child ran up to it & hugged it in the store. Also, a new family decided to sponsor one of the BCA students who was on the waiting list. "What about the deer?" After running with my brother Phil & son PJ in a 5k race, we were headed home when a mother deer & her fawn ran across the road in front of the car. I figured they'd both make it, but the fawn hesitated, & "ka-thump" went under our car. Bumped up the license plate a tad, but that was all the damage to the car. I could see in the rear-view mirror, that the fawn was obviously dead. But I couldn't stop, as I would hinder traffic. On Sunday, my brother announced in church about the incident before my message, "Nobody was hurt". A child's voice from the congregation piped up, "What about the deer?" When we passed the same place the next day, the fawn was gone…either eaten by another animal or removed by local residents. In my devotions Sunday morning, I'd read in Isaiah 16, where Moab is begging the Israelites, "Make up your mind," asking whether they will help the refugees from their enemies. The fawn's inability to make up its mind was the last thing it had experienced. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the Philippines, BCA's Teacher Jovi was on her way to work, & happened upon a frog in a puddle. She is deathly afraid of this critter, & when it leaped toward her, she ran shuddering in the other direction. Once at school, she was chatting with her fellow teachers while sorting through take-home Science & Math worksheets for her thirty 5th graders. "How's your love life?" asked Janice. "Nonexistent," was Jovi's honest response. Glancing over at Kindergarten Teacher Violy, she explained, "it's not easy to find someone who really has true intentions for you." Then Nursery Teacher Charmie responded, "Yeah. We learn something about them, making sure not to rush-in to find a partner. It will come…" Jovi & Violy laughed, as they said at the same time, "… at the right time." Jovi said a silent prayer, "I am so blessed to have colleagues like these, co-workers like sisters who are willing to suggest & give me lessons & guidelines in how to do the right things…oh & Lord, when I do find MY guy, please help him not look like a…frog?" On her way home from the BCA campus, Jovi saw an old man "Good afternoon, ma'am. Where are you going?" Jovi could see the kindly old man was friendly enough. "I finished my day of duty, teaching at school Sir". He responded, "Continue your teaching ma'am because lots of students need a teacher like you now" Jovi then looked the man in the eyes, smiled & said, "Yes, Sir." As she continued to walk, she realized that being a teacher takes much responsibility & was enlightened by what the old man had said. She also realized that the man's chair was right next to the puddle where she'd seen the frightening frog just that morning, en route to school. "Huh. Lord, you are my favorite teacher. In the same place, next to that puddle, you taught me two lessons on not being judgmental. One from a frog & one from a friend." A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: B. #262 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Happy Birthday, Ma! JoinLIFE. Tonight we're celebrating our amazing Mama's 55th birthday with a cake, new furniture (from friends), & a favorite worship song from back home. Rensselaer, NY. 7 min, 6 sec https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/1040829506553330 C. #263 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. PJ Barner was live — with Abigail Barner. Join us every T/Th! SPEAK O LORD 6 min, 3 sec Rensselaer, NY. September 14, 2022 https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/5546251422124802 D. Andover Alliance Church, morning worship. Andover, NY. September 11, 2022. 1 hour, 7 min, 3 sec. with PJ, Elvie & Abigail Barner. https://www.facebook.com/AndoverAllianceChurch/videos/1090782901554293 Present Need: $563 for: Subasta Jungle campus wall Project (transporting cement mixer, gasoline & Barge) $51, BCA Buses: Renewal of registration Bus "Ph" $84, Bus "Fi" $84, Bus "C": vulcate tire $2, Bus "Fi": gasoline $10, Fuel filter $2, all vehicles/common grease $4, Bus "Ph": gasoline $81, Wiper bushing $9, Bearing $13, Rubber cups $7, Brake fluid $6, Oil filter $2, Labor/materials repair of starter & change of starter $26, Bus "M": deisel gas $80, axle bearing $13, battery charge $3, battery lug $9, battery cable $6, eye terminal $2, IC regulator $30, Oil seal $6, Carbon brush $11, Mechanic's labor $22. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,430. Still needed: $2,370. |
| 9/8/2022 | Happy 55th Birthday, Elvie! (9/9/67). USA Patriot Day (9/11/01) Please pray for the Filipino elderly& those with sicknesses, who are now given discretion to choose whether to remain masked outdoors. A decision next month will determine standards for those indoors. President Marcos just ended the mandatory wearing of face masks outdoors more than two years after it was imposed at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. The Philippines & Myanmar are the last countries in Southeast Asia still requiring the compulsory wearing of masks outdoors. Among the hardest hit by coronavirus outbreaks in Southeast Asia, the Philippines imposed one of the longest lockdowns in the world, which caused its worst economic recession in decades & deepened poverty, hunger & unemployment. Praise God that $53.66 was donated by Amazon Smile this month since you identified Barner Christian Academy (Paul M Barner Ministries) as the recipient of Amazon's charitable gifts. Praise God as well that $1,100 was donated this week by two families in New York for the personalized sneakers, clothes, food & other Christmas gifts for BCA's 600 needy students. Praise God too for an international listener, "DS," who sent this message to PJ in regard to his LATE NIGHT WORSHIP: "I will always leave only your video in my memory. Your video shines the brightest on my YouTube window right now. Your video is the best video. Please continue to upload your wonderful videos often. How did you have such a wonderful talent that is full of the mysterious charm of your video? I'm crying. I couldn't calm my depressed heart, so when I opened the YouTube window, a thumbnail of your video appeared at the top and I started to enjoy it. Watching your video, I sit leaning on the window sill to soothe my lonely heart. After watching your video, I start the day with my positive emotions. Your video, which I feel was made with unsparing sincerity, has a feeling that positive energy will surely come to you in the future and will receive a lot of love soon, so my heart is very happy. I'm happy to meet you in the world of YouTube. At this moment when a little nostalgia is approaching, I caught my eye on a video of you passing by an unknown and mysterious algorithm on my YouTube window. I accidentally saw your video because a thumbnail caught my eye. I liked it the most and fell in love with your channel. You have the ability to make your videos instantly stunning and attractive. I'm also lucky to have an algorithm like this in space. Thank you for thinking that I have finally found what I have been looking for. When I watch your video, I feel an ecstatic and pleasant wind brushing my cheeks as the sun sets in the field and evening." Whoah. "So much water!" Before the Labor Day parade on Monday, dozens of townspeople in Greene, New York formed teams which pointed powerful hoses, filled with nearby river water (connected to the town's fire trucks), 20 feet skyward. Their aim was a zipline with a basketball, carabiner-clipped in a small, mesh net. The stream of water from each team coaxed the ball to the opponent's red clip. Amidst the screaming cheers, everybody got soaking wet, but nobody noticed since it was raining anyway! A welcome change from this season's constant droughts. Our family had spent the weekend in Greene, New York with close family friends. Saturday & Sunday was their church's missions conference, & aside from Elvie's & my missions challenges in English & Cebuano from Scripture, PJ & Abby joined the worship team & also sang a few special numbers. After arriving late Friday night, Elvie opened her garment bags to provide Filipino costumes for half of the pastor's family of 14! After the evening worship service was a picnic & bonfire where we shared exciting stories from the tropical jungle tribes of Mindanao. A special treat was when Pastor Jeff, with a gleam in his eye, whispered to Elvie & I who were entering the sanctuary to set up, "We have a surprise for you!" There, lining the aisles of pews, were red, white, blue & yellow flags, nearly 40 of them, each representing 3 million Filipinos, like an airport runway, pointing to the full-sized Filipino flag, draped over the lighted baptistry onstage. What a treat! Even the tables in the fellowship hall were draped in Filipino colors. Meanwhile overseas at Barner Christian Academy, Teacher Janice had her own set of surprises for her 30 1st graders. The Parent Orientation Day for 2022-23 school year had begun, & one question was at the forefront of everyone's minds: would we still be depending on "blended" learning (via cell phones & delivered paper worksheets) or facer-to-face classes? While government schools have already began meeting in their classrooms, extreme measures have closed many private schools who cannot comply with the stringent hygienic restrictions to "re-open". So, with bated breath, rows & rows of masked parents sat in the school gym to hear our masterplan. Minmin, our Officer-in-charge (OIC) while we are stateside, stepped up to the microphone. Teacher Janice sat next to the parents of her 1st graders, anticipating their positive responses. "We will open…" Minmin began, "with face-to-face classes…" you could hear a pin drop as everyone held their breaths, not wanting to miss a word of what would come next, "this Monday!" Cheers went up across the gymnasium. YES! This treacherous pandemic is finally diminishing & the lessons we have learned, after much loss of life & jobs & relationships, not to mention intellectual plunges due to online learning, we can get on with life again. Ah, but there was more. Each class's parents sectioned off in groups with their respective teachers to explain the procedures for "re-opening". Janice's 1st graders' representatives asked, "Is class every day?" Well, yes & no. Due to the required daily wipe-downs & sanitation, the campus will be open from Sept thru November Tuesdays & Thursdays, while online classes will be supplemented by the worksheets handed to the students to bring home. Then, opening in full upon the Barnes' arrival on Foundation Day in November. Also celebrating Pastor Paul & Abby's 61st & 22nd birthdays. "What about transportation? How will our kids get to school?" That will be a slight challenge. Last year Pastor Paul completed the 70.3-mile Ironman triathlon & raised enough funds to put the down payment on two new school buses. However, they cannot be purchased until the garage is built, due to local on-road parking restrictions. Nearly half the funds ($11K) needed for the garage's construction came in from pledges related to his latest race this past July in New York. While the cement foundation can be built now, the walls & roof ($19K)…not until after his next race in 2023. "My son is Gerald." One of the moms piped up. "He just passed his reading re-assessment, after two tries. I studied with him day & night (especially the letters M, N, Q, R & S, & some English letters which are not in the Filipino ABAKADA alphabet) before his makeup exam. Since it made him tired, I'd reward his repetitious pronunciations with snacks every few minutes. We were not sure if he would pass. Did he make it?" Janice beamed. "Ma'am, I did send you his results. Thanks for the videos you sent of your practicing pronunciation with your son. I understand that, since it was online, you may have missed the virtual July Moving-Up Graduation Ceremony [themed Pursuing Dreams & Fostering Resilience in the Face of Adversity], You are in the wrong class. He made it! Gerald is now in 2nd Grade!" YES! Cheered the mom, as she transferred to the proper section for 2nd graders. In the midst of a drought of social interaction, it is finally beginning to rain again! Our God reigns! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: B. #261 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP PJ Barner is with Abigail Barner. Join us every T/Th! A PURE HEART Happy belated Labor Day! Tonight we're singing a favorite from back home. Rensselaer, NY. 5 min, 2 sec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qx-YUQ9Wrb4 C. #260 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP #Join us every T/Th! HOW GREAT IS YOUR LOVE (HOW HIGH AND HOW DEEP). Tonight, we're at the house of ministry legends Pastor Skip and Lola Charm! Syracuse, New York. September 1, 2022. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnFp2ZVGZ50 D. #259 LATE NIGHT WORSHP Join us every T/Th! Join us every T/Th! GLORIA EN LO ALTO. My year at LIFT, which included the COTW summer job, is officially over. And I have thoughts. 13 min, 21 sec. Rensselaer, NY. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnq8uNEinNE E. Sunday Worship Service (Missions Conference), Greene Alliance Church, Greene, New York Part 1. September 4, 2022. 1 hr, 58 min, 39 sec. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxP8faWQ9eM F. Sunday Worship Service (Missions Conference), Greene Alliance Church, Greene, New York Part 2. September 4, 2022. 5 min, 26 sec. https://www.facebook.com/elvie.barner/videos/647424469890412/ G. Sunday Worship Service (Missions Conference), Greene Alliance Church, Greene, New York Part 3. September 4, 2022. 15 min, 8 sec. https://www.facebook.com/elvie.barner/videos/3086279534944504/ H. PJ on Instagram for Camp of the Woods LIFT Program. https://www.instagram.com/p/ChpyZqgAHXV/ Present Need: $1,151 for repair of BCA classroom flash flood damage from Typhoon Odette (Kinder room & more cabinets) materials: $959, Labor: $192. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $6,415. Still needed: $2,385. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour: SEPTEMBER Sermons in Davao: Theme: Evangelism// Speakers: 11 – Alvarado; 18 – Chung; 25 - Praca |
| 9/1/2022 | American Labor Day & UN International Day of Charity (9/5/22), Philippine National Heroes' Day (8/30). BCA Parents' Orientation Day (9/4). NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for our Philippine youth group of dozens of kids who are planning a "color race" in a few weeks, also presenting the Gospel during the warming-up, since they expect unbelievers to also compete. Praise God for a great day of worship at the Connecting Point Church in East Greenbush, NY. Praise God also that a new, New York sponsor of a boy student at BCA also gave an additional $20 for the new garage that BCA is building. That brings our total to $11,662 (of the $30k needed). "Wayne…Wayne…" Before speaking at the church we were visiting, I gave my Sunday manuscript to Wayne, up in the 2nd balcony, so that he could advance the PowerPoint for me. Yet when I started speaking, the slides didn't match the words. Before heading up to the pulpit, I had removed my sermon (message #1) from the binder that held my afternoon message (#2) for the following luncheon. After a few slides, the pastor (a former missionary himself) called up from the front row, "Maybe you picked up the wrong script?" Sure enough, I had left the morning message on the pew. Elvie immediately rushed up to the stage & handed me the correct pages. Without missing a beat, I quipped, "I should never have doubted Wayne. The Man Upstairs is always right!" Meanwhile across the planet in the Philippines, one of Barner Christian Academy's 3 new teachers, Espesona, prepared the classroom for his thirty 2nd graders. Espenosa will start the school year online & with worksheets for his students, but then in November the class will finally, after three years being absent from the campus, be back face-to-face. After working with the other teachers for a few days in the computer lab, once he entered into his actual classroom, he was amazed by the comparatively massive size of the space he has. Of course, once it is filled with 8-yr-olds, it will definitely seem a tad smaller… As with the other teachers, huge reams of colored construction paper, along with colorfully glossy pictures from recent calendars, were cut out & glued to the walls to liven up the place for the adventuresome minds of BCA kids. Espenosa then prepared the module for the subject of English. Filipino has 19 letters while English has 26. Thus, he compared and contrasted the sounds and how they are represented in both languages. He paused to think. "Huh. It is like God has one language, & we have another one. He knows everything: past, present & future. But we need to learn more and more to trust God's 'language of omnipotence'". Yes, the "Man Upstairs," it is like He says to us, "Don't sweat this. I got it. Follow MY script." Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #258 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 14 min, 2 sec. August 25, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. With Maisy & Jasmine. My Lighthouse. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/772481263870362 C. #257 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 7 min, 33 sec. August 23, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. AS WE GATHER. It's the last week of summer at CAMP-of-the-WOODS, and we have some special guests! with Elvie Egan Barner and 2 others. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/388410983437447/ D. #256 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 6 min, 38 sec. August 18, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. In Christ Alone. Will Jelstrom and 2 others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewvtuwk0ey8 E. #255 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 5 min, 49 sec. August 17, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. Worthy of it All. with Abigail Barner and Zackary Zielinski. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/797700598035646/ F. #254 Part 2 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 9 min, 33 sec. August 11, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. Campfire worship. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/480124330619473 G. #253 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 5 min, 59 sec. August 1, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. Amazing Grace. with Diego Stine. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/750688749513390/ Present Need: $1,028 for: Whiteboard, 7 pcs for 7 classrooms $368, Cabinets for classrooms -materials $257, carpenter's labor $108, BCA Buses: Bus "Ph": gasoline -school campus $80, -oil seal $5, -grease $6, -toggle switch $2, Bus "M": Deisel gas -school campus $20, -overhaul of radiator $28, -steering wheel & Labor $120, -Change of tire $4, -rewiring $30. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $5,300. Still needed: $3,700. Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour: September: 4-Greene, NY// 11-Andover, NY// 18- Downsville, NY// 24- New Hope, PA// 25-Liverpool, PA. October: 2-Geneva, NY// 9-Mt Pleasant Mills, PA// 16-Albany, NY// 21-Jacksonville, FL// 23-Ft Myers, FL// 28-Vero Beach, FL November: 6-Orlando, FL// 10-FLY SEPTEMBER Sermons in Davao: Theme: Evangelism// Speakers: 04 –Budo; 11 – Alvarado; 18 – Chung; 25 - Praca |
| 8/25/2022 | Kadayawan Festival Davao City, Philippines August 15-21, 2022. BCA CLASSES BEGIN FOR School Year 2022-2023 Monday, August 22, 2022. 8/28: Tupper Lake Baptist Chapel in Tupper Lake, NY. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for the three new BCA teachers as they start their teaching professions at Barner Christian Academy. They include a part-time pastor, a housewife & a recent, licensed graduate. Praise God for a good Sunday speaking and singing at Fulton Alliance Church. Elvie also spoke on Saturday to a women's group and Abby sang a solo in church. Praise God as well that a generous retiree in New York State gave $5,000 for the Christmas sneakers for BCA students this year! Yay! We're now up to $5,250! Only $3,750 left to go! Yay God! "Would you like a tetanus shot too?" with just 3 months to go before we return to the Philippines, we're sure to get all the required & recommended shots before our departure. For me (Paul), I got my 2nd shingles shot, Covid #4 (booster #2), & now, tetanus. Still to come are hepatitis #1-3. But the booster was the one to throw me for a loop with 24 hours of throbbing headaches & severe muscle aches. A few days later however, I was glad that I said yes to the tetanus shot. While cleaning out a section of the barn here in New York, I felt something piercing my sneaker's sole. Yup, a rusty nail. Whattayaknow, I hadn't had a tetanus shot in over 5 years, & a few days after I finally get one, I sure needed it! Meanwhile overseas in the Philippines, the Barner Christian Academy (BCA) faculty was transitioning with some new teachers to replace others who had gone on to greener pastures. The newbies are Charmie (N), Espenosa (2) & Donna (3). Charmie started her daily journal with, "I am going to wake up early because I am feel full of excitement & curiosity of everything that I need to do in my duty." Her predecessor Violy guided her through the steps of downloading onto her computer the necessary files, since Charmie will be starting the year (August) online & with hand-delivered worksheets, followed-up 3 months later (November) with face-to-face (F2F) classes. After editing the files of Violy with revisions for the new school year, Charmie started printing enough worksheets for all of her students. With 6 students (30 in nursery & another 30 in Kinder-1), she had to give the printing machine a rest so it would not jam up in the humidity. Since it was Friday, the day ended with the end-of-week teachers' devotional. Their prayer time included praying for us her in New York as well! "Oh Lord," began Charmie, "Please bless the Barner family, & also the people they speak with in churches across the United States, that they find more sponsors for the dozens of BCA students who are still unsponsored. In Jesus' Name, Amen." Sure enough, back here in New York, I got a letter in the mail from a person who'd heard us at his church, & decided it was time to say "yes" to "…adding a new child to his family" (overseas!). 563 Sponsored students! Only 37 more unsponsored students to go! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA Present Need: $300 for (installment #52 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $29,000 remaining. Coming Up: Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
Barner Christian Academy Faculty for SY 2022-23:
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| 8/18/2022 | 8/21: Fulton Alliance Church in Fulton, NY. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for the faculty and staff of Barner Christian Academy, as they prepare two types of learning: blended & face-to-face (F2F). They also are preparing the buses for their daily runs to pick up and drop off BCA's hundreds of students each day. Blended learning starts early next month (September) while F2F starts 2 months later (November). Praise God for a good Sunday speaking and singing at Jamestown Alliance Church. Since our host family had covid, we enjoyed a hotel stay Saturday evening. Then after church, a family invited us to their home for lunch & a rousing game of Quirkle. Next week this church has "Dog Days of Summer Sunday" when families can bring their dogs to church! Praise God also that a friend in New York gave $320 to pay for materials to build three (of 160) sections of the protective wall around our orphanage! "No. I can't inspect your car." Keith, the auto shop mechanic saw the crack in our jeep's windshield & cautioned that the crack was too long to pass New York State inspection. So, I set up an appointment to get the windshield replaced. Fortunately, I had checked it nearly a month before last year's inspection was scheduled to run out. Meanwhile overseas in the Philippines, BCA's Teacher Helen was wrapping up her 2-year stint as 5th-Grade teacher. Now she was headed on to a new position in her hometown, 500 miles away on a different island. So, Helen had confronted the dad & mom. "Why did you do this? Didn't you know that I can tell the difference in your handwriting and that of your son?" To which the mom responded, "This pandemic is really the cause. Never before did our son have to use a cell phone, but now he needs to so he can watch his classes. He got addicted to video games on our phone, & it eats up all his time. So, we just answered his questions for him, so that he still could pass." Helen said, "You are not the one being graded, but your son is. You do not want him to fail. So, I will give you extra work and I will be very careful to study the penmanship to see that he is the one doing it, ok? You should have limits & discipline when he uses gadgets. It is a life-lesson." A week later, the boy brought his cute puppy to school with him & submitted his paper with his puppy in his other hand & behind him stood his parents. Sheepishly, he said, "Sorry, Teacher Helen, for letting video games take up all my time. I promise that I did this lesson all by myself…with my parents help." Helen excused him. After correcting his paper, he did receive a "C", but at least she knew that it was his own work. There were even little drawings on the side of the paper, due to his doodling. Then, a few months later, there he was at VBS. Helen distributed the worksheets on David & Goliath, & even without his parents looking over his shoulder, he dug into the project with great fervor. Now, as Helen was getting on her plane to head back to her hometown city of Iloilo, she saw a little puppy yapping along the fence of the runway, which made her think of her student with overly aggressive parents. "Thank you, Lord, for these special 2 years at Barner Christian Academy. I will miss my students, but I place them in your hands. And Lord? It is ok if You be the one to correct their lives every once in a while, when they geta little too distracted to notice what is important, ok? Ok!" Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $899 for internet (Wifi/ Load) $12, Food for delivery personnel (balikbayan boxes) $10, Construction Materials (gate, flooring, 3rd Grade & kinderrooms) $498, labor $220, BCA Bus "L": silicon $3, BCA Bus "Fi": gasoline $20, BCA Bus "M": deisel gas $50, BCA Bus "Ph" gasoline $51, radiator coolant $4, overhauling of radiator $20, Barge trip to FHF: Bus "M" B/F $7, Bus "Fo": Barge B/F $4. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $235. Still needed: $8,765. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
Back in the Philippines… |
| 8/11/2022 | 8/14: Jamestown Alliance Church in Jamestown, NY. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for safety from terrorists. Last month, the United States conducted a precision counterterrorism strike in Afghanistan that killed Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's deputy & successor as leader of al-Qa'ida. Al- Zawahiri was one of the masterminds of the attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, & had continued to urge his followers to attack the United States. Following al-Zawahiri's death, supporters of al-Qa'ida, or its affiliated terrorist organizations, might seek to attack U.S. facilities, personnel, or citizens. As terrorist attacks often occur without warning, U.S. citizens are strongly encouraged to maintain a high level of vigilance & practice good situational awareness when traveling. Praise God for a great worship service at Riverside CMA in Walton, New York. Three in the congregation gave for the Christmas gifts of sneakers this Christmas. We also enjoyed a one-day, multi-church annual VBS "Super Soaker Sunday"…a VERY wet event ?? Praise God too for the Filipino custom of "bayanihan", where people help other people when in need, even when the giver has less than the receiver. The "Brigada Eskwela" tradition is one example of this as, to kick-off a new academic year, community members volunteer for free to clean-up classrooms & school premises to make them ready for the students. Sometimes, minor to medium repairs & maintenance work is done, or sprucing-up which involves putting a new coat of paint on the walls or sprucing-up the gardens, playground, or the gym. This year's Brigada Eskwela is different from past years as the Department of Education (DepEd) prepares for in-person classes starting Aug. 22, 2022 after a two-year hiatus due to the global health pandemic. It is doubly challenging as the world is still officially in a pandemic & there are various concerns (such as the risk of monkeypox or the effects of inflation) which have caused parents to worry. "A '57 Chevy!" After speaking at the Walton, NY CMA Church Sunday, Elvie & I visited the man whom God had used half a century ago to inspire me to become a missionary to the Philippines, Rev Jacob Bouw. As we chatted with this 96-yr old missions pioneer legend (who had preached at another church that morning), I glanced at the corner of his driveway where another legend stood, still running after crossing two continents, an ocean & 2 centuries. A black Chevrolet Bel Aire from 1957. Looking at the interior of the car & under the hood, I was impressed by the vast space without clutter inside…also with the knob for rolling down the windows. "You just don't see that anymore!" I quipped. "Uncle Jake" then told me of his astonishing journeys with that black classic car. Meanwhile overseas in the Philippines, the work which we'd started & have run for a quarter of a century was running its VBSes & prepping new teaching recruits for the upcoming '22-'23 school year. The teacher applicants for 3 BCA positions, vacated by teachers who had transferred to higher paying positions in government schools, were being evaluated by their future fellow faculty, in their teaching demos. The 9am demos started right after Monday's morning Bible study, headed by 4th grade Teacher Romnick, appropriately entitled "Everything is Possible with our Powerful God". "8 needs of a person," began Romnick, "that are fulfilled by God, have the acronym 'PISOFEES' which means, Physical, Intellectual, Social, Occupational, Financial, Emotional, Environmental and Spiritual. So, to remember these, when you feel down, focus on our 'Peso-Fees'". Teacher Donna was the first demonstrator, with the topic "Adjectives in English 5." The other teachers agreed that Donna's strength is her great communication skills. The next demonstrator was Teacher Charmie, teaching from Science, "Five Senses of Human Beings." Her uniquely creative approaches were outstanding. The last demonstrator was teacher Espinosa. This young man's intense energy level brought unanimous agreement that he will be awesome with kids. The 3 demonstrators have different strengths, which will be applicable to teaching here at BCA. And the next step of indoctrination was to teach real live kids. So, the entire faculty gathered their suitcases together for the 3-day fellowship VBS at BCA's orphanage, "The Father's House," 20 miles away on nearby Samal Island. The children living at the "Father's House" are the victims of poverty & broken families. BCA's staff came with prepared activities to suit their residential situation. However, as BCA's 2nd grade teacher Jezel was soon to discover, the faculty & staff were the real learners… Committees were formed. 2nd Grade Teacher Jezel was Cell Group/Small Group Coordinator. Kindergarten Teacher Violy was Recreational/Games Coordinator. 1st Grade Teacher Janice & 6th Grade Teacher Dianne were Stage Preparers. 3rd Grade Teacher Jovy & 4th Grade Teacher Romnick planned Quiet-Time Guides & printed the Reading Materials. 5th Grade Teacher Grace was the Nightly Host for all events. BCA'S Cashier Minmin & Bus driver Ben, with messenger Doris, prepared food, & Bus driver Bhong was assigned to Equipment & Bonfire Prep. The main topic of LOVE for the 3-day overnight event, was broken down as follows: Monday) I Want to Know You; Tuesday) Christian Family is Love, & Wednesday) The Fullness of God's Love. Upon arrival, the faculty introduced themselves, then Jezel dove into their 1st activity: "Cell Grouping". She explained the importance in planning activities which are Christian-related, & done with a fair number of believers. Throughout Monday & Tuesday, BCA's faculty were thrilled with the incredible learning capacity of these orphan kids, many of them at the top of their classes in school. On Wednesday, after swimming at the beach with the kids, the final activity was BANQUET NIGHT. All the orphan children performed, with dancing, singing & even playing ukulele & piano. After the Banquet & performances was the bonfire. When the orphans gathered around in the flickering light, describing in detail their personal testimonies, not a dry eye could be found on the faces of the BCA staff. Tales of neglect, abuse & abandonment were overshadowed by the love & respect they received here at BCA's orphan ministry. En route back to the school on the 3-hour barge & traffic ride, Jezel expressed the feelings of her fellow BCA employees. "Wow. Who taught who, huh?" A few days later back in New York around midnight on Sunday, Elvie & I were driving the 3 hours back home from visiting our veteran missionary friends. Elvie's window would not shut. The electric motor had given out & even changing the fuse did no good. So, she held a large sun visor over the open space to keep out the 70-mph cold air which blew into her face. Occasionally, when the breeze grabbed the visor & tried to drag it from Elvie's grasp & out the window, I considered that old '57 Chevy with manual roll-up windows instead of these new-fangled electric ones which may or may not operate. Often the greatest lessons are from the most basic, tried & true, age-old foundation stones…like love. A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #251 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 7 min, 44 sec. August 2, 2022. Camp of the Woods Tapawingo, Speculator, New York. blessed assurance • before the throne of God above • fairest Lord Jesus #252 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 5 min, 53 sec. August 4, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. praise will be my song Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #55-57 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 103 sections remaining, totaling 33,881.55. Christmas sneakers for BCA Students: Need: $15 x 600 students = $9,000. Donated: $235. Still needed: $8,765. Coming Up:
Back in the Philippines…
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| 8/4/2022 | 8/7: Riverside Alliance Church in Walton, NY. Please pray for earthquake survivors in Abra, Philippines. The 7.0-magnitude quake resulted in President Marcos issuing a 4-point directive: 1) provide immediate needs of food, shelter & water; 2) expedite the clearing of roads & repair of bridges to facilitate access by people to services within & outside their communities; 3) restore power & communications at the household level; 4) assess the structural damage to hospitals, schools, residential buildings & houses. The earthquake sent shock waves across North & Central Luzon, on down to Metro Manila. According to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), tectonic earthquakes are produced by sudden movement along faults & other boundaries. 5,200+ houses were destroyed & 33 health facilities were damaged. 57 schools were damaged or destroyed. Pray also for the family of the Philippines' only non-Catholic former president (Fidel Ramos), who died at 94 yrs old Sunday. Praise God for a great worship service in North Bingham Community Church last Sunday. After worship was a church picnic, including a baptismal service in a swimming pool. One beef farmer commented, "I could listen to you preach all day!" We also enjoyed visiting my brother Phil & staying overnight with him en route. Friends from Maryland also popped in & together we assisted in prep for Phil's Australian-themed VBS. Praise God also that Elvie & I had a fun day with our kids PJ & Abby Monday. Abby had a doctor's appointment here in Albany, NY, so the kids used their day off to drive 2.5 hours & stay overnight with us. We had a blast bowling, visiting a thrift store to get some used clothes, playing games & also snacking along the way! "Thank you, BCA teachers!" During these summer months of mid-June through mid-August, BCA students still study, in Summer School & Vacation Bible School. Our 30 churches often combine into clusters of 3 or 4 churches each, with dozens of children. This eases the travel burden for our seven BCA teachers. BCA's 4th grade teacher Romnick had finished teaching his students in Summer School & now was passing-out the last of the "Certificates of Completion" for the rural Tacunan kids who had finished their week of VBS. Two of the Summer School lessons had included the topics of "Shadows & Materials," two things easily related-to by students in farm communities. Since essential products can be made from native materials, the first step is to creatively identify what materials are available, like bark, coconuts, leaves & grass. Next, create a design by drawing an image of the completed product. These can be slippers, ropes, mats, cabinets & so on. Next, in the lesson about shadows, Romnick explained how shadows move depending on the time of day & where the sun is overhead. The students each were given a picture of a child standing. The kids drew 3 images of the sun overhead, in different colors of yellow, orange & red. Next, a box was drawn below the child in that same respective color to determine the placement of the shadow. Later, the BCA bus was driving on a dirt path through a lanzones fruit plantation, back to the main campus, sixty miles away. A farmer's bamboo hut was next to the road, so Driver Ben stopped the bus to ask the farmer if they could buy fruit. "Oh no, I will not allow you to buy my fruit." Exclaimed the farmer. Seeing the distressed look on the teachers' faces, the farmer smiled & called into the hut, "Baby Josh, come here." The 4th grade boy who emerged form the hut still had his prized VBS certificate clutched in his hand, as he ran out to hug his teacher from the week. The farmer stated, "You can't buy my fruit because you are now family. Can't you see your shadow? As my boy hugged you, your 2 shadows became one. We never sell to family. You taught my boy, so I will GIVE the fruit to you for free!" Yay! But hmmm, how to get up the tree to get down the fruit? The farmer's old ladder looked too rickety for so many teachers to climb. Driver Ben used his wisdom to back the bus up to the tree & the teachers climbed up the ladder rungs on the back of the bus to get up to the roof, where passengers (but not students) often travel when vehicles are overloaded. One by one, the teachers assisted each other up to the roof of the bus to grab handful after handful of the ripe & sticky white fruit. Getting back down a half hour later was a bigger chore, as their tummies & pockets were stuffed with lanzoni fruit! For the next 2 stops, the teachers divided into two groups: one to go on the barge out to the island for the kids in our orphanage, & the other to one of our tiny house churches. The former had a dozen students & the latter squeezed over 2 dozen kids into a very small space for the week, reached by a narrow dirt path. Once again, Romnick was the master of ceremonies. He enjoyed this since, before being a teacher, he had been a student-leader in Intervarsity. This week's efforts brought back happy memories as he reminisced back to his campus life. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #250 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us every T/Th! 31 min, 24 sec. July 28, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. https://www.facebook.com/100003341298537/videos/615951476651923/ C. North Bingham, Pennsylvania: North Bingham Community Church. Morning Worship Service. July 31st, 2022, Rev. Paul Barner "God's Provision for God's Mission" Exodus 14:14-31. 1 hour, 32 min, 42 sec. Guest Speakers James Bucci and Paul Barner | By North Bingham Community Church | Facebook Present Need: $300 for (installment #2 of 5) BCA's $1,596.51 soil sample permit. The soil sample test is required for all stable structures built in the Philippines. The duration of work is defined as follows; a. Mobilization & demobilization : 2 days (calendar days) b. Drilling Work : 5 days (calendar days) c. Laboratory testing : 5 days (working days) d. Preparation of Factual report : 5 days (working days) Total duration : 17 days. Number of days may vary depending on the site, soil & weather condition at project location. Cost for Services: Item Description Qty. Unit Cost Amount: 1) Mobilization/Demobilization including, hole to hole transfer & water hauling for 1 lot $200. 2) Soil Drilling @ 18 meters/hole, Laboratory works & Final Report 2 holes @ $684 each + $1,368. 3) On-site equipment: $28.51. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 7/28/2022 | Classes resume for 2022-23 school year August 22. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for those homeless Filipinos who were affected by the 7/27 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Abra, Luzon. It set off landslides & damaged buildings, killing at least four people & injuring dozens. Hospital patients were evacuated as terrified people rushed outdoors. The fatalities were form collapsed structures, including a villager hit by falling cement slabs in his home. A worker was also pinned to death after a small building that was under construction collapsed. Parts of an old stone church tower peeled off & fell in a cloud of dust on a hilltop. The quake was set off by movement in a local fault at a depth of 10 miles. The Philippines lies along the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of faults around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world's earthquakes occur. It is also lashed by about 20 typhoons & tropical storms each year, making it one of the world's most disaster-prone countries. Please also pray for the BCA Teachers & Staff who, after finishing a week of VBS at our orphanage, headed to rural Tacunan to do another VBS, at the same time meeting with new students & filling-in the details, forms & records of what is expected of all those receiving free schooling at BCA. Please pray for BCA teachers and staff as they prepare the campus to re-open for face-to-face "in-person" classes. The government is requiring blended learning from August 22 through the end of October. Then when the kids come back from their "All Saints Day" break (Oct 29-Nov 1), they will finally be back on campus. Yet the campus has major renovations in progress for the "new normal" hygiene requirements. The school buses also require some major maintenance before daily use resumes. Praise God that the church we spoke at last Sunday, in Hoosick Falls, New York, was very responsive to the challenge of missions, and even had a meeting after church for VBS follow-up with an "Ark Encounter" event! They are reaching their "Jerusalem" for Jesus! We also now have a brand-new sponsor from that church for one of the students on BCA's waiting list. Also, I asked friends to pray that I could somehow get access to either wood chips or a woodchipper, to fill Elvie's flowerbeds as mulch. Two days later at the dump, there was a truckload of woodchips, just for the taking! Incredible! Praise God as well that Bryan, a pastor in southern New York, is buying plane tickets to join us in the Philippines this December to help in our busiest time of year as we interact with over a thousand students, families, congregations & pastors who are part of this ministry. Praise God too that the faculty & staff of BCA spent a week at our orphanage to run their very own VBS, just for the 12 orphan kids! Praise God too, that Abby's cousin Elissa, who is our house guest, is recuperating from her bout with covid. Also, that Caitlyn, another house guest, had no adverse reactions to her bat-bite. "SHO-WER!!...SHO-WER!!...SHO-WER!!!" The high school male campers last week (I was a Bible camp counselor for ten boys for six days) were relieved that their fellow camper, who very rarely took a bath, had finally decided the time was right to clean himself up. So, a dozen other young men followed him to the door of the bathroom as he brought with him his soap & towel. You'd think the guy would be perturbed by the others' interest in his cleanliness, but he thrived on the attention. Not nearly as happy as his cabinmates however, who did not have to leave the windows open to air out the place that evening while they slept. Another joy this past week was when, in my one-to-one counseling sessions, two of the campers prayed for assurance of salvation, for they were both very young when they'd first received Christ into their hearts. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the Philippines, BCA's Teacher Violita "Violy" was finalizing the government records for her 52 kindergarten students form the previous school year. Suddenly her cell phone rang. It was her sister, desperate. "Your nephew TT is very sick & in the hospital!" Violy explained the situation to Minmin & Faith, receiving permission to be absent the rest of the day. TT's mom (Violy's sister) is a single mom, so really needed her little sister's assistance in processing the hours & hours of paperwork to afford the government "lingap" (subsidy for the poor) while hospitalized. After spending most of the day waiting in lines, Violy headed home to bed, exhausted. "Imagine how tiring it is to do nothing but wait in lines!" she murmured. The next day dawned before Violy even realized she was sleeping. Her cell phone's alarm went off to songs of the 1980s. As the song "Call Me" came on, ironically, the phone rang. "Hello?" Asked Violy. Her sister responded, "TT will be released today…but I need help again, since they won't release him until the exit paperwork is done." Violy called Minmin & Faith & received permission to once again be absent. Next day was Friday. End of week devotions. The speaker was Orbina, BCA's communications secretary. "Jesus calms your storm…both the ones on the OUTSIUDE & also the ones on the INSIDE!" Heading off to the stack of paperwork awaiting Violy after being gone for two days, Violy thanked God for "calming her inside seas". A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #52-54 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father's House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids' gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. 106 sections remaining, totaling 11,188.30. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 7/21/2022 | NOTE: "Barners' Weekly Diary" is a few days early this week, as I (Paul) will be serving as a counselor to Senior High School boys at the Delta Lake Bible Camp, 7/17-23. 7/24: Community Alliance Church in Hoosick Falls, NY. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners' Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for satisfactory results from the drilling team which is at this time attaining soil samples for the construction of BCA's new 3.5-story building, which will house a parking lot, church sanctuary/chapel, teachers' apartments & a rooftop garden. Please pray for Caitlyn, one of our houseguests here in New York. She works as a lifeguard at the YMCA & was bitten by a bat that flew into our house late last night. She seems fine so far & has no adverse symptoms like headaches or nausea. Praise God that, even after completing my Ironman 70.3-mile triathlon race on 7/10, a donor gave an additional $35, bringing the total raised (for BCA's new $30k garage) to $11,587! Yay, God! My next race (#15) is tentatively scheduled for December (as we speak at churches in Florida) next year, 2023. Praise God too for the weekend at Ticonderoga Cornerstone Alliance Church. The pastor had joked before my Ironman race (7/10) that he was praying that I would make it to the finish line in one piece, as his mom had died & he was attending her funeral. So, there was nobody else to fill-in last-minute in his absence. What excellent timing God has, that I had already been scheduled to speak at the church, long months before God had taken this godly woman home into heaven. "Remember when…?" BCA's Teacher Jovi had a few days off from teaching her 3rd-graders, since graduation was last week & VBS/Summer School starts next week. Also, the teachers & staff are busily preparing the campus for face-to-face classes again in the fall, after 3 years with only online & "modular" students, to obey the government's "new normal" codes of extreme cleanliness, thermo-scans & sanitization. The teachers were gathered in the office, finalizing the DepEd (Department of Education) reports for their students to ascend to the next grade levels. As the teachers researched & accompanied these reports with each student's respective grades, they chatted together about the assistance God had given them during their training. "God has never, ever left me in my difficulties, for all things are possible with God." Jovi began. 4th-Grade Teacher Romnick added a story from back in the men's dorm at college, & all the other teachers (all women) laughed about the insights. "Strategy…" Romnick added. "Strategy in a dorm includes labeling your food in the fridge as 'Science Experiment' so that nobody tries to steal it for their own lunch!" Meanwhile back in New York, Elvie & I were "burning the midnight oil" to pack for a busy weekend. Friday night: speaking at a bonfire in the Adirondacks, three hours away. Saturday, another bonfire 2 hours farther, also visiting a camp along the way. Sunday another hour away, speaking at a church in Ticonderoga. This will be one of the 3 churches this year which we have not yet spoken at in the past. After dropping off Elvie in Rensselaer after church, I'll be headed out a few hours away to be counselor at Delta Lake Bible Camp. Elvie, having been a traveling missionary for going-on 3 decades now, has excelled in the "layering" of packing. 1) What goes into the car for the long haul, 2) what is needed on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc stops (never bring everything into a host's residence, but leave the unnecessary items in the car), 3) what will be removed after a passenger is dropped off & the others head-on to the next stop, 4) display & projection equipment for church presentations. Caitlyn called animal control & they advised her to catch the bat & freeze it. Then bring it to their lab to see if it had rabies. Ruth & Caitlyn donned their hunting gear (boots, jackets, flashlights, blanket & baseball bat) & found the rodent, knocked it senseless & put it in cold storage (our freezer) in a Tupperware container. Now, they didn't think of labeling it "science experiment" but I highly doubt that anyone will eat it. I did however open a cottage cheese container this morning & thought it was moldy…until I remembered that the steak leftovers we had last night are covered in spices and in a…you guessed it…cottage cheese container. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby's singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #242 11 min, 43 sec. July 1, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. HABAKKUK https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/1100321577499856 C. #243 4 min, 7 sec. July 5, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. O FOR A THOUSAND TONGUES TO SING https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62tKN1MO-pQ D. #244 11 min, 57 sec. July 8, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. THE BOOK OF JONAH https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/329864145877973 E. #245 16 min, 9 sec. July 13, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. THE BOOK OF NAHUM https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/1060638774657083/ Present Need: $300 for (installment #51 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers' apartments next to BCA's present building. $29,300 remaining. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 7/14/2022 | 7/15 & 7/16 & 7/17: Barner Family at: Saranac Lake &Pottersville, NY (2 community bonfires)& Cornerstone Alliance Church in Ticonderoga NY. Praise God as well for an inspiring week of Christian speakers for us during the Delta Lake Bible Conference Center’s annual Family Camp in Upstate New York. Praise God as well that a brand-new sponsor started supporting her BCA student this week. “Ooohh, that is gonna leave a mark!” Spectators cringed when, after my older brother Phil finished teaching his 3rd morning’s Bible study hour with dozens of Jr Highers at a Bible conference this past week, they asked him to perform one of his athletic specialties: an incredible “flagpole” stunt. But since the pole was not the required bare metal, once he braced himself, his hands quickly slid & his arm was cut open requiring nearly a dozen stitches when rushed to the local hospital’s emergency room. Phil’s message to the kids on Friday morning was on the letter “E” in GRACE: God’s Riches at Christ’s EXPENSE. It was at quite an EXPENSE of pain that Phil had slid down that pole! Now he is scheduled to lead the Puppet Team at a Balloon Rally performance in Wellsville, NY next Saturday with only one good arm. Meanwhile in the Philippines Orbina (BCA’s communications secretary), was up & at-em after celebrating her son GJ’s 7th birthday Thursday. She busily typed away at her laptop computer with messages to accompany the letters & pictures from hundreds of BCA students to their sponsors. To get the kids’ letters (we have 600 students spread over 200 square miles), she had to look up the contact information for each set of parents, especially those who had not yet delivered to her their kids’ letters. “Can you please get Shirene, your neighbor’s daughter?” Orbina called on her cell phone to the neighbor of Shirene. This child’s family was so poor that, although they had electricity (an extension cord plugged into the neighbor’s home & paid for weekly) they did not even have a phone of their own. “Ok,” Orbina suggested after being told that the family was out trying to sell the fish they’d caught last night. “I will call Pastor Ruel, from Shirene’s church in Lasang, to get the student letter.” Another child had to be “bounced”. His sponsor for many years had been John, a delightful, retired school janitor from Upstate New York. When the letter was returned stamped “ISF: Insufficient address, no forwarding information on file, “ I looked up the obituaries in the local paper’s online service. Sure enough, John had died back in March. So once Orbina got the news, she switched Bryan from “John the janitor” to Ellen, a sponsor in Albany, NY. Ellen’s former student’s name was also John (the name is common on both sides of the ocean) but his family had moved away. So Orbina prepared to send John’s picture, packet, report card & ”replacement letter” to Ellen. Orbina then bundled with a rubber band the 2 dozen letters she’d just completed to be ready for mailing, & set it on the counter for Doris to go downtown tomorrow to the post office to have them affix stamps & send them out across the ocean. As the letters were waiting in the Post office bin to be placed in the ship for its journey, Elvie & I (Paul) were waiting in the USA, at the starting line for my 14th Ironman 70.3-mile triathlon. I'd been concerned that my wetsuit (for the swim) was too tight, so our host family (Larry) got out a pair of scissors & was able to cut through the neckline so I could breathe better. A 13-year-old friend Angel, when he heard that I rub Vaseline over my shoulders to keep from chafing my skin during the race, he quipped, “Be careful you don’t catch on fire!” As the race started, I dove (with 2,000+ other competitors) into Seneca Lake, known to be the coldest & deepest of Upstate New York’s freshwater Finger Lakes. Yet after I completed the 1.2-mile swim, the weather turned hot. In just six hours more, I was baking with a sunburn on my neck & back. While cycling the 56-mile bike route of rolling hills past the local vineyards, I prayed through the alphabet for different people I know. I prayed for people whose names corresponded to letters in the alphabet. When I got to “M” I prayed for the drive-thru cashier at McDonalds, where we’d had breakfast a few days previous. Elvie had quietly pointed out to me that since the man had only one arm, he skillfully held the bills under his “stub” while counting them with his other hand. I also prayed for our kids PJ & Abby, working the Summer at Camp of the Woods. Though Abby is recuperating from her angle surgery, she still completes all her tasks at the Post office & snack shop. Finally finishing the bicycle portion, I high-fived Elvie who had been waiting patiently for the past three hours. I transitioned to my running gear & another three hours later could hear the rousing cheers from the finish line. Just then the announcer yelled into his microphone, “Here comes Paul Barner. Or should I say, ‘BURNER’ since he’s coming in like a steam train!” Every day we face challenges. Maybe not as painful as an Ironman (my muscles still ache half a week later), but at each finish line (for no challenges last forever), we will show up full strength to obey God’s plan for us to… by-all-means, to reach the lost for Jesus. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink Present Need: $300 for (installment #1 of 5) BCA’s $1,596.51 soil sample permit. The soil sample test is required for all stable structures built in the Philippines. The duration of work is defined as follows; a. Mobilization & demobilization : 2 days (calendar days) b. Drilling Work : 5 days (calendar days) c. Laboratory testing : 5 days (working days) d. Preparation of Factual report : 5 days (working days) Total duration : 17 days. Number of days may vary depending on the site, soil & weather condition at project location. Cost for Services: Item Description Qty. Unit Cost Amount: 1) Mobilization/Demobilization including, hole to hole transfer & water hauling for 1 lot $200. 2) Soil Drilling @ 18 meters/hole, Laboratory works & Final Report 2 holes @ $684 each + $1,368. 3) On-site equipment: $28.51. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $11,552. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 7/7/2022 | Happy 26th Anniversary, Paul & Elvie! (7/6/96) Please pray for the Philippines’ struggling economy. The national government’s debt rose from ₱5.9 trillion in 2016 to ₱12.7 trillion in 2022. Unemployment is up from 2.4 million to 3.7 million. The number of poor Filipinos increased from 23.7 million to 26.1 million. Rice importation dependency is up by a lot: from 5 percent to 15 percent. Praise God for a great worship service at the New Life Assembly of God church this past Sunday, July 3. Being Independence Day weekend, the theme was “Freedom in Jesus”, sharing how we also have brought spiritual freedom to thousands of Filipinos when we have told them about Jesus. Praise God too that the teaches & staff at BCA are praying daily for their students & their students’ friends whom they are bringing to Vacation Bible School. Often, since so many become believers during this annual event, we nickname it “Salvation Bible School.” “A FOURTH FLAT TIRE?!?!” Training for the upcoming Ironman triathlon, I had cycled over a hundred miles in three days, but in 3 days got 4 flats…not a good sign for the race. So, I “gave in” & brought my bicycle to the bike shop. Whew. Maybe now the bike would cooperate. Just the previous day, I had cycled 60 miles in anticipation of the mulberry tree that is in the homestretch of my “distance” practice run. While cycling, it is easy to tell when passing under a sweet-berry mulberry tree, since the ripe berries stain the road purple. So, when I arrived at my “snack tree,” within seconds I had purple hands & lips. Suddenly, about to devour another handful of ripe black berries, I spit out the contents of my mouth. I had mistakenly glommed a bee which got its revenge by stinging my tongue. Ouch! Well anyway, while I was preparing for my 70-mile race in New York, on the other side of the world in the Philippines, BCA’s Teacher Janice was preparing the Vacation Bible School lessons for her 1st graders. Each of our 30 churches have identical themes, using copied lessons from used VBS materials graciously donated by churches in the USA. Blending the spiritual lesson in with a Social studies project she remembered from just a few months before, she typed, “Pagtukoy sa mga Bagay…” (identifying objects seen from home to school). VBS is still online, yet since the kids do not all have access to the internet, a screen was set up in one of the churches, where the kids gathered. Janice showed a short video, while waiting for the other students to join on the Zoom mtg. When all had assembled, after the “Pledge to the Bible,” & the National Anthem they had opening songs & prayer. Then she gave them a drill. Showing them ten pictures with a word scramble under each, she had them unmix the letters to form the word of the object. One minute to unscramble each of the 10 items. All got perfect score. After Janice had them draw pictures to form their own list of objects they saw en route to today’s meeting, Nhick’s picture caught her eye. It was obvious, since he was such an exceptional artist, that the picture was of a motorcycle driver with a passenger. But the rest of the picture was confusing. “Nhick, are you the passenger? What is that in your mouth… your breakfast?” No, he assured her, it was actually a Bible. He explained, “We are supposed to memorize Bible verses to present each day of VBS, and in order to practice, I tell the verses to the motorcycle driver on my way to church! That is a Bible in my mouth.” After his classmates chuckled, Janice said to the students, “Kids, that is just like the verse, ‘May the words of my mouth & the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, or Lord.’” When we have “stinging words” (like the bee stinging my mouth) we could learn a lesson from Nhick to instead let what comes from our mouths glorify our mouth’s Creator. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink B. #241 4 min, 3 sec. June 28, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York LATE NIGHT WORSHIP be Thou my vision. Join us every T/Th! BE THOU MY VISION Turning 25 and feeling very blessed. :-) Present Need: $745 for: internet (Wifi/ Load) $12, cleaning supplies $42, Construction Materials for 3rd Grade wall (labor & Materials) $321, BCA Bus “M”: Battery charging $2, deisel gas $10, fuse $2, gear oil $35, texamatic $5, BCA Bus “Fi”: Battery charging $1, gasoline $14, BCA Bus “Ph”: Battery charging $1, gasoline $64, spark plug $22, ignition coil $14, starter brush $3, starter bushing $3, fuel filter $2, Repair of starter (labor & mat.) $32, Go14 Stanley Light $7, Repair of alternator (labor & mat.) $42, Idler arm & wiper brushing$32, bearing $17, wiper motor replaced (labor) $20, fuse $2, wiper $40. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $11,402. |
| 6/30/2022 | Northern Hemisphere First Day of Summer: 6/21. Happy Independence Day, USA! (7/4) Happy silver birthday, PJ! (6/29/1997). NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for the Vacation Bible Schools in each of the 30 churches which we started & run in the Philippines. Now that the students have finished their 2021-2022 school year, BCA requires the kids attend both summer school & week-long Vacation Bible Clubs until the next school year resumes in August/September. Praise God for a delightful Sunday of worship at Clearview Alliance Church in Schodack, New York. The family who loaned us their station wagon 6 years ago was there, as well as a sponsor who raises bees & gave us some scrumptious cinnamon-honey which we ate half of on our way home! Also, a newly retired family agreed to sponsor a BCA student when their retirement checks begin to arrive! Praise God as well that my brother Bud finished rebuilding the destroyed section of our barn in Upstate NY, which was eliminated by an enormous fallen tree during a windstorm in 2021. “Who came from the farthest away?” It is the question I always listen for at church picnics. Since the Philippines is on the other side of the planet from New York, if you go any farther away than that, on this round planet, you are already on your way back! So, I won the prize (one of 22 given out). Summer in the USA is fun for believers, as this week, aside from our regular week of work, Elvie & I enjoyed 2 picnics & a kids’ toy car “Pinewood Derby” race, plus a joyful Sunday of us giving half a dozen energetic missions challenges through songs, Bible lessons & mission reports. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in Davao City, BCA’s Teacher Dianne had awarded her 30 6th graders their graduation diplomas just a few days previous, on Friday. Since it was not in-person, but online, the actual documents had been delivered to their doors by BCA’s bus drivers. As Diane announced Rooey’s graduation, she thought back just a few months ago when she was teaching Rooey about Verb Tenses in English class. Rooey & her buddy Krystal were competing against each other good-naturedly in answering the questions. Meanwhile the other students just looked on, thinking, “As long as these two geniuses keep answering the questions, we are off the hook!” However, the time finally came after about ten minutes, when the 2 young ladies answered all the questions posed to them. Then Diane asked Daphne, “Could you describe this school year in the tenses of past, present & future?” The sentences Daphne gave were jumbled with incorrect grammar, like “I start the year with my book & ending the year with the same book, & in the middle of the year the book is also in my hand.” Diane was shocked at first, but then was happy with the result that the girl had at least taken a stab at the answer. Diane then asked Dennis, “Did you notice anything peculiar about Daphne’s answer?” Nope. Sounded ok to him. Meanwhile Rooey & Krystal were chomping at the bit, to volunteer to give the answer. Diane then asked soft-spoken Yhona, “What about you?” Usually a quiet girl, Yhona responded simply with “She used START, which is in the present tense when she should have said STARTED, to be in the past, right?” Diane was astounded. Probing the other inadequacies in the sentence, she found that, though quiet, Yhona was just as much a genius as the more outspoken students in the class. The other students sighed with relief when Diane announced, “That’s all for today.” But then she added, “However your homework will be to study conjunctions…” While the students groaned, Rooey piped in, “Isn’t the proper tense that our homework IS conjunctions?” Diane just smiled yes. And now, just a few months later, all students have caught up & had equally performed high in their scores on the end-of-year assessment. Teacher Diane knew without a shadow of a doubt, that, though the year was precarious with the pandemic still lingering, the kids excelled with high scores. …or rather, she KNOWS that her students excel… Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #239 5 min, 56 sec. June 21, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP C. #240 5 min, 19 sec. June 23, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP D. Faith Fellowship Church in Davao City, Philippines. Celebration of fathers. 2 Min, 54 sec. E. Barner Christian Academy Graduation Ceremony (online). Davao City, Philippines. 29 min, 51 sec. BCA MOVING UP CEREMONY, (Nursery to Grade-V), School Year 2021-2022, THEME: "K to 12 graduates: Pursuing Dreams and Fostering Resilience in the Face of Adversity" (sorry about the glitch in pictures when the spiritual emphasis of the school was mentioned) https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=5129276197150004 Present Need: $288 for 2 new MRF tires for BCA’s Bus “M”. 700 x 15. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $10,382. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 6/23/2022 | BCA Graduation (6/24/22). Father’s Day (6/19). Philippine Presidential Inauguration Day (6/19). USA Juneteenth: a federal holiday, proclaiming it as a day for all Americans to commemorate the end of slavery. Juneteenth commemorates the events of June 19, 1865, when Gordon Granger, a Union general, arrived in Galveston, Texas, to inform enslaved African Americans of their freedom after the Civil War had ended. (6/20). 6/26/22: Barner Family at: Clearview Alliance Church in Schodack, NY. Please pray for BCA’s Engineer Frandel, a graduate of the school, as she is now processing the soil test for the 3-story building on BCA’s Campus #1, which will hold a parking area, church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments. Please also pray for our kids: PJ & Abby, as well as their dear friend Briana, who are all working at Camp of the Woods in Speculator, NY during the months of June through August. PJ is head of the cafeteria staff, while Briana is lifeguard at the island girls’ camp (Tapawingo) & Abby is at the reception desk. Praise God that our travels to Pennsylvania this past weekend included visits to three different supporting families as well as giving messages at our family reunion & a vibrant Christian residential care facility. Included in the latter were pictures of BCA students receiving the 600 Ziplock packets of school supplies which these senior citizens had painstakingly & lovingly packed for the kids. Praise God as well for the gifts sent to this ministry through Christian Aid Mission during March and April: BCA’s Children's Emergency Medical Fund: $45.00; BCA’s Student Sponsorships: $8,844.75; BCA’s Jericho Lunch Program: $72.00; Missionary travel expenses: $5,000.00; Orphanage $2,000.00; BCA’s School Bus garage (Paul’s 7/10/22 70.3-mile Ironman triathlon) $856.55. “Graduates, you are like Timothy in the Bible.” This Friday (6/24) is graduation for Barner Christian Academy in Davao City, Philippines. Since Elvie is the school Principal & I am the president, we made videos of our speeches to commission the grads. Due to the pandemic, classes & festivities are still virtual. Those students without internet, cell phones or electricity have agreed to go to the home of somebody who has connection to be presented with their diplomas & also to present their songs & recitations. Their actual documents will be delivered to their door by our bus drivers. My videotaped message from 2 Timothy 2:15 reminded them that their studies are just the beginning, as they now will show themselves approved unto God (& men) by how they use what they have learned. Meanwhile one of BCA’s secretaries, Doris, was actively bussing from government office to government office, & working with the school’s engineer (Frandel) to process renewed permits for the upcoming construction projects (buildings, well, walls, etc.). she was actually on cloud nine as she carried out her duties, since her daughter Red, a BCA grad, had been the only one (of hundreds of candidates) chosen to represent our island on a work site in Japan. Some of the requirements had been to learn the Japanese language, history/culture & also to ace the scholastic exams. She passed with flying colors! Truly, Red is an example of how BCA grads have “shown themselves approved unto God”. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA C. #236 4 MIN, 56 SEC. June 9, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Servant Leadership. JOHN 13:1-17 Tonight I'll be reading another excerpt from the Leadership Bible. https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/394735806035598 D. #237 5 min, 21 sec. June 14, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/1389205661581220/ E. #238 7 min, 10 sec. June 16, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP F. Faith Fellowship Church Youth Auxiliary in Davao City, Philippines. ARE YOU READY Advertisement for Talent Night/Game Show, with the theme "WISDOM". June 19, 2022. Theme Verse: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." - Proverbs 9:10. DISCLAIMER: No copyright infringement intended. We do not own the audio in this music, they belong to the rightful owner. 31 seconds. MUSIC: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnuVGcUW1s https://www.facebook.com/fafyouthministryteam/videos/809479883364697 |
| 6/16/2022 | Happy 124th Independence Day, Philippines! (6/12/1898) 6/19/22: Barner Family at: Chapel Pointe in Carlisle, PA. Please pray for BCA’s (virtual) graduation ceremony this coming June 24. Also, for the upcoming Vacation Bible School on July 20 through 22; that many young souls are ushered into the Kingdom of the Redeemed. Praise God that the service his past Sunday in Canandaigua, NY went well. Not only did we give the missions moment (& prayer) for two worship services, but also taught & sang in the Adult Sunday School class. One family even gave $20 for the new BCA garage, for which I (Paul) am competing in the Ironman triathlon next month to raise funds through. Praise God also for our delightful hosts who opened their home to our family this past weekend. Also, PTL that this past week I finished reading through the Bible, from cover to cover, my 80th time. “A personal message from…US!” Miss Katie’s 4th Grade class at Meadowbrook Christian School in Milton, PA (USA), sponsors Keycee, a preschooler at Barner Christian Academy in the Philippines. “Here is a colorful picture of the 16 of us which you can keep to remember is by!” This class has been praying since last October (when sponsorship began) for their BCA preschooler, Keycee. “Thank you for all you are doing to further His Kingdom!” Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in Davao, BCA’s Teacher Helen jumped as the phone rang. Picking it up with her eyes barely open, she looked at the time on the screen. It was six in the morning. Hearing the door open, her roommate came out & took a shower. Minutes had passed, but she hadn’t come back yet. It was now seven in the morning. Helen became angry. “I’m going to be late!” Suddenly, in the midst of her fury, about to bang on the bathroom door, Helen woke up. She was just dreaming! So, she calmly & relieved, went back to sleep. Hours later, on the BCA school campus, now wide awake, Helen prepared a PowerPoint for her 5th Graders. One of the school bus drivers called up the stairs, “Teacher Helen! Your students are here!” Even though face-to-face classes are not yet allowed, due to covid, remedial tutorials are allowed for those students who are falling a little behind. Helen raced downstairs, expecting the two students to be there by the afternoon. But the staff assigned to fetch them had just left a few minutes ago. So, she wondered how the kids could already be there. Rushing outside to check on them… there they were, sitting on the other side of the gym. She greeted them cheerfully & then started her special class. “How is it that you are already here when the BCA bus has not yet arrived at your place to get you?” Queenie responded, in her matter-of-fact voice, “Weeellll…my neighbor Paul told his mother that she had found out by mistake that Jessa would need a companion, & then Silianne, who is our neighbor, said she was bored & wanted to come along too, & then, being good friends…” At this point Helen knew that their entire time would be swallowed up by the explanation. So, she just dove into teaching the three students now who were ready & excited to finally have personal contact with their teacher. After an eventful hour, including short story reading with comprehension discussion questions at the end, the bus was there to bring them back home, but not before they enjoyed snacks & playtime together in the gym. Before heading out, Queenie called, “Teacher Helen, y’know what I wanna be when I grow up?” Helen figured she’d probably say she’d be a teacher. But instead, this precocious little 5th grader said, “A scout ranger or a soldier!” she could see the quizzical look on Helen’s face & without even skipping a beat, continued with, “So I can be a teacher like you to teach the other soldiers how to read!” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. Lifespring Community Church, Canandaigua, NY Missions Moment, Paul Barner. Service. 1 HR, 15 MIN, 12 SEC. (At minutes #14-19). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wfDQlLrk8U YOUTUBE Lifespring - Sunday Service - June 12th, 2022 | Facebook Present Need: $300 for (installment #50 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $29,500 remaining. |
| 6/9/2022 | 6/12/22: Barner Family at: Lifespring Community Church in Canandaigua, NY. Please pray for the 600 BCA students as graduation & moving-up ceremonies are just around the bend on June 24. Please also pray for our BCA staff as they shovel tons of gravel on the vacant lot left behind by our newly-demolished Home Economics building. BCA’s male staff & many of the students’ dads at the school helped with tearing down the old structure. Now gravel is being delivered to use it as a parking lot until we return in November to begin construction on the school’s new multipurpose building: apartments & sanctuary. Praise God that gifts from Americans for our orphanage’s much-needed well have finally reached $10,000, which is enough to dig the well when we return in November! This ground water will be used to feed the animals, water the gardens, wash clothes & mix cement to build the perimeter wall. Praise God also that our daughter Abby’s ankle surgery (from her skateboarding accident) is recovering well, due to her faithfully therapy exercises, & she no longer has to always wear the bulky “recovery boot”. Praise God too that the San Francisco Post Office has finally caught up on their backlogged international letters & is now once again able to process mail coming from the Philippines for the 22 states under their jurisdiction. Praise God as well that we were truly blessed to speak this past Sunday at the Calvary Bible Church in Yorktown Heights, NY. Their semiannual meeting after church was insightful & we got some tidbits on discipleship materials we can adapt overseas. Delicious lunch too at the parsonage with Pastor Dan’s family. He has led this congregation for 31 wonderful years! “How about Kadaugan?” While on a ZOOM call at midnight with pastors in the Philippines, Elvie, here in New York, was asked for a suggested theme regarding the upcoming June 12 citywide annual beach convention/baptism/conference. They expect nearly a thousand in attendance, from over a hundred churches. Each year, nearly a hundred baptismal candidates form long lines along the ocean shore to follow the Lord in this sacrament. One of the pastors responded, “Interesting choice, Madam Elvie. Kadaugan in our Cebuano language means victory. All our churches are growing again after the end of the pandemic’s closures. With God’s strength, we have been victorious! This year’s theme will be KADAUGAN: Victory in 2022!” Meanwhile on the other side of Davao City, BCA’s cashier Minmin prepared semi-monthly salaries for the school’s teachers & staff. In her mid-seventies, Minmin’s arthritic hands were numbly challenged to write the names of each employee on their respective pay envelopes. Fortunately, one of the secretaries, Faith, was there to assist. Nevertheless, being a woman devoted to serving her Lord, Minmin had just two weeks ago joined the staff at dawn to take the barge ride across the Pakiputan Channel to visit nearly a dozen of our island churches to take pictures of the sponsored students there & supervise them in writing letters to their sponsors. It was raining over a dozen hours later as BCA’s school bus pulled back onto campus after dark. This event was in many forms a “Kadaugan” (victory) experience for Minmin, since during the pandemic, the government would not allow any senior citizen to travel more than a few miles. As the fresh ocean breeze passed through her thinning hair on the 20-minute barge ride, Minmin felt a sense of victory, as if she were a bird freed from its cage. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #233 14 MIN, 26 SEC. May 31, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. The book of acts, chp 10 & 11 LATE NIGHT WORSHIP - some Christian history y'all should know Join us every T/Th! Welcome back to Camp-of-the-Woods! Continuation from https://youtu.be/ylPGNMaGI-k. THE HEART OF WORSHIP • WHOM SHALL I FEAR C. #234 9 min, 44 sec. June 2, 2022. Rensselaer, New York & Camp of the Woods, Speculator, New York. // basta ikaw. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP #234 - as long as God is with us Join us every T/Th! Tonight, we have a special guest calling in from Barner HQ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6-oPd5Y5bc&t=4s Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #13-15 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father’s House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids’ gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $9,505.45. |
| 6/2/2022 | Pentecost Sunday (June 5) NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for our church youth group back in the Philippines. In response to last Sunday’s "Music/Evangelism Seminar”, they learned that their Basic goal is to. PRAY, GO, SHARE & MULTIPLY. Really, Evangelism’s bottom line is to care for others, by reaching the loss. Some approaches to evangelism include: 1. Direct, 2. Intellectual, 3. Testimonial, 4. Relational & 5. Invitational. A nice acrostic is: S-A-L-T: Start a conversation. Ask a question. Listen. Tell the story. The youth group will be having evangelism activities every month. Please also pray for the church youth group, as they join hundreds of other young believers in the “SAULOG 2022” citywide Youth Fellowship on June 10. Their June events are: June 5 - Evangelism at Igpit; June 10 - citywide fellowship; June 12 - Bible Study; June 19 – Quarterly Talent Night & Biblical Game Show/Quiz Nite. Praise God for an enjoyable visit with the Colonie Alliance Church this past Sunday. The church’s blind members are very active in wonderfully deep theological discussions. Praise God also for the great combined triple-birthday party for our son PJ, his girlfriend Briana, & his aunt Ginger. 30 attended, some from as far as a few hours away! Praise God as well for the positive response last Saturday as we sang and shared at a Men’s Breakfast in Pine Knolls CMA Church in South Glens Falls, NY. Fellow missionaries to the Philippines had just arrived from their flight the day before & were able to participate. Praise God too that a quadruple-black-belt friend in Maryland gave $200 toward my upcoming triathlon to raise funds for BCA’s new Bus Garage. Praise God again that Amazon Smile donated $56.68 to Barner Christian Academy as a percentage of purchases which customers for which they earmarked as its recipient, PMBMI. "You are really advancing well!” Our daughter Abigail was being commended by her therapist in how conscientious she was being in her healing exercises for the repair of her ankle & leg bones & tendons. “You can remove the leg boot and wear the ankle brace under a sneaker…even today as you go home.” To which Abby grinned & the doc’s vision followed hers to her feet, which sported unmatching sneakers. Meanwhile I was in the waiting room barefoot since we wear the same size sneaks & she’d borrowed mine for the session. Driving home barefoot wasn’t an option…this time. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet in the Philippines, BCA’s Teacher Jezel challenged her 2nd Graders. “Students, it is time to recycle. If you melted down a plastic bottle, what animal would you make? Please draw a picture of your answer for tomorrow’s class.” The pictures were incredibly accurate & varied, from dogs to mice. Jezel wrote in her journal, “After checking the lessons of my students, I executed them”. Well, she meant that she had executed grading the lessons, rather than eliminating the students themselves. Sometimes in the Filipino vocabulary, meaning is changed in the translation. Yet one drawing had her confused. It looked like a great big mosquito. Jezel asked, “Why?” To which the Jayson exclaimed, “To scare all the little mosquitoes away!” Emphasizing big things & little things came to the fore on Tuesday as Jezel introduced “Syllabication”. Filipinos often emphasize the 2nd syllable first, while Americans often emphasize the 1st syllable first. Take for instance the word “syllable”. A Filipino will say “syl-LA-ble,” While an American will say “SYL-la-ble.” Parents guided their children when they didn’t know how to pronounce a word & eventually, they uttered words well. One clever technique was to pound on a table with a beat to show which syllables to emphasize. One of Jezel’s online students sluggishly sat down & eventually he turned to his bed & lay down while others were participating in the class discussion. When she called his attention to it, he got up & smiled to say sorry & he added to his statement that he thought it was allowed. She told him, “Your action is not proper since in online class, all you have to do is to pay attention to your teacher & sit in your chair properly & not in bed.” Emphasizing work over rest is crucial. Just like syllabication. Very early in the morning, before sunrise the following day at home, Jezel was startled when she heard the siren which meant “red alert:” that a flood was coming. So, she had to evacuate their home immediately to the safest place, till dawn. Since she lives along the seashore, the high tide from the sea kept her from getting to the school for work. And the next day, she needed to shower her baby because her skin has full of mosquito bites, due to the humidity from the floods. After showering her, she applied medicine, as the baby was a bit clingy due to the itchiness. Then she headed on to school. Jezel then made the Powerpoint slides with catchy themes & animations on the life of David. Quoting from the key verse, Jezel revised her Law of Syllabication by emphasizing, instead of syllables, the strongest key words in the verse: “The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall, I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?” She set her Bible down and prayed, “Oh LORD, You motivate me in these verses that I will not be shaken from my small faith. Thank you, GOD!” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #231 10 MIN, 17 SEC. May 25, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP LNW THE HEART OF WORSHIP • WHOM SHALL I FEAR https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dDoLo6B3ZM A. #232 8 min, 35 sec. May 26, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP SPIRIT BREAK OUT • LION. Tonight's our last LNW in the Barner house, and we have the talented duo Caitlin & Ruth joining us. Introducing... the electric drum kit! PS: Happy Birthday, Aunt Ginger! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH8pUM8Wfxg A. Colonie Alliance Church of Colonie, NY. Rev. Paul Barner, Elvie, PJ & Abigail. Sunday, May 29, 2022 (Memorial Day Weekend). 1 hour, 30 min, 10 sec. http://www.coloniealliancechurch.org/ (click on “Worship Service Archives”) E. Youth group presentation. 3 min, 27 sec. Davao City, Philippines. Faith Fellowship - Youth Auxiliary. MAY 29, 2022 MUSIC & EVANGELISM SEMINAR. MUSIC: WAY TRUTH AND LIFE – PLANETSHAKERS. Present Need: $300 for 300-ft-deep well for orphanage to water gardens & animals. Of $10,000 needed, $1,900 left to go. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $9,505.45. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 5/26/2022 | Memorial Day (5/30/22) 5/28/22: Barner Family at: Men’s Breakfast, Pine Knolls Alliance Church in South Glens Falls, NY. Please pray for a BCA student, Felix, who is recuperating from minor surgery. An honor student, he explained during his lesson that he wasn’t able to attend in previous online classes because he got sick & had an operation. That day’s topic was about precautions in using medication to prevent getting sick. He agreed to let his teacher use his experience as an illustration for the class, & was pleased to personally be able to share in class. Praise God for a delightful visit with the South Westerlo church this past Sunday. One family gave $1,000 for BCA’s $30k new bus garage, which my triathlon will raise money to build when we return in November. Praise God too that PJ’s visit to Auburn Alliance Church for their worship team went well this past weekend. He was a visiting worship leader for Saturday & Sunday night services. The next step is a weekend of formal interviews after the Summer. Praise God as well that Abby’s cousin Elissa (who is staying with us) recently was accepted for employment at a business nearby. Also my brother Bud has begun weekly Bible Studies at his home for us & other neighbors along the street. “Whoah, so many lilies!” While speaking at churches in the USA this year, we are staying in Upstate New York, at a quaint home in Rensselaer. To beautify the area, Elvie & I are planting flowers. Fences high enough to keep animals out to protect vegetable plants are out of the question, so as Elvie says, “Instead of eating vegetables with our mouths, we will eat flowers with our eyes”. Two of my older siblings, Ginger & Bud, gave Elvie boxes of “Cana Lilly” flower bulbs. After spending 2 hours on Saturday morning digging up areas of the garden perimeter to do some planting, along with sufficient blisters later, I mowed the lawn & did my 21-mile bike ride in the 96-degree heat. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet back in the Philippines, BCA’s 4th Grade teacher Romnick was teaching his students online, about the water cycles of the planet. Water moves continuously between the atmosphere & the surface. Liquid water evaporates into water vapor, condenses to form clouds, & precipitates back to earth in the form of rain and snow. “Why are water cycle processes important?” Asked Romnick to his students. “It helps make water available for everything!” replied Maico. Then Carlo added, “And it keeps things regulated in patterns all around the globe!” Romnick followed-up his question with another, “If water didn’t naturally recycle itself, what would happen?” then Maico responded, “we would run out of clean water, which is essential to life.” “Excellent answers! Now, to bring meaning to this all, you have an assignment.” Students responded with, “What? More homework?” A sly grin appeared on Romick’s face as he finished his statement. “Your assignment is…” At this, his astute students picked up their pens to jot down their task. “It is a science project. You must all, every single one of you, right where you are, go & fill up a glass of water and drink it!” Laughter ensued as they all complied. “But that is not all. Now the real assignment.” They all put down their glasses to listen. “In one page, using weather vocabulary which we have learned in class, as well as types of weather Instruments such as: Anemometers, Wind Vanes, Barometers, Hygrometers, Lightning Detectors, Rain Gauges, & Thermometers, write a reflection, in the form of news given by a reporter, on how important water is in your lives.” Referring them to Matthew 16:2-3, He read, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ & in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.” After showing the students a video about how to make a news report, using facts, structure & parts (intro, body, conclusion) & how to use appealing graphic organizers, he stressed, “And don’t forget to use the 5W and 1H (Who-What-When-Where-Why and How) questions in your news report research.” They then signed off one-by-one. Then, alone in his BCA cubicle, Romnick sighed a prayer, "Lord, these are your 30 little meteorologists. Please guide them daily to search your wonders to see the glory that you planted there, reflecting upon how incredible a Creator you really are." Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #229 4 MIN, 43 SEC. May 17, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP LNW #229 in the light (dc talk) Join us every T/Th! IN THE LIGHT Tonight we're singing a dc Talk favorite! C. #230 9 min, 10 sec. May 19, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP CELEBRATE JESUS CELEBRATE • I SING PRAISES TO YOUR NAME • THE BATTLE BELONGS TO THE LORD D. Congregational Christian Church of South Westerlo, NY. Rev. Paul Barner, Elvie & Abigail. Sunday, May 22, 2022. 1 hour, 17 min, 36 sec. https://www.facebook.com/SouthWesterloChristianChurch/videos/555782359256265/ God’s Provision For... - South Westerlo Christian Church Present Need: $198 for repair/cleaning of printer ($12), carpentry Materials: repair of clinic/gym storage room roof ($49), paintng and repair of 2nd floor CR ($27), Food for the poor ($19), BUS “M”: brake fluid ($8), gas ($9), BUS “Fo”: kerosene for washing spare parts ($4), BUS “Fi” gas ($32), BUS “Ph”: gas ($20), oil ($6), vulcate ($2), wiper blade ($4), radiator hose ($6). BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $9055.45. |
| 5/22/2022 | 5/22/22: Barner Family at: South Westerlo Congregational Christian Church in South Westerlo, NY New USA cell# (518) 779-4939 NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Praise God for a great weekend, speaking & singing at the 2 Sunday worship services of Clinton Alliance Church in Rhinebeck, NY. Afterward we had lunch & games with a church family & they gave us two folding beds so we don’t have to use airbeds anymore when we have guests come to visit! So… come on along & feel free to visit… Praise God as well that Abby has improved the physical therapy on her ankle to the extent that she can finally put her full weight on the foot which had the metal plate surgically installed! Praise God too that my brother Bud was able to sell (for parts on Craig’s List) one of our cars which had stopped working for nearly the same price we bought it at, four years ago. “Congratulations!” Our daughter Abigail, in her sleek black cap & gown was easily noticeable in the line of marching college grads heading up to the podium of Hudson Valley Community College (HVCC). She was the only one with crutches. Her cousin Elissa also was noticeable since she was marching directly behind a very tall grad. Plus, Abby’s Filipino friend & housemate Ruth also received her degree. The 3 girls had gone through college together. Elissa’s family also attended, & as I looked at the program it suddenly came to me: this is 2022, exactly 4 decades since my brother Phil and I, in 1982, marched up to the stage at HVCC to get our Associates Degree diplomas, before heading out to Bible college! Two Barner brothers, side by side on the program, followed up 40 years later by 2 Barner cousins at the same institution! As I shook hands with the college president, Dr. Ramsammy, he smiled as I filled him in on the amazing coincidence. Meanwhile on the other side of the globe in the Philippines, Faith is the head secretary of Barner Christian Academy. Faith was headed to the bank to withdraw funds to pay the biweekly salaries of BCA’s faculty & staff. After the bank she took a second ride to the money changer to turn the withdrawn American dollars into Philippine pesos. She went form store to store to find the one with the best rate & was satisfied with Annie’s who offered her 52 pesos to the dollar. But then she thought, “Why not try one more?” So, she went down the street aways to Singapore Dealer, and sure enough, this time around they were even better, at 52 pesos and 20 centavos. Glad she checked! Zipping back to the BCA campus asap with the funds in her pocket, she, upon arriving, prepared the salary envelopes with the school treasurer & prepared envelopes to pay the electric, water & staff insurance bills. Next project: to sort out and categorize the pictures of the sponsored students, to send to the sponsors. With nearly 600 students, it is crucial to send the proper picture to the correct sponsor. She sorted by category & geographical location & gender the stacks & stacks of pictures. Picking one up, an especially cute little tyke, she considered, “Wow. Just as I feel good inside by looking at this picture, I can imagine how her sponsor will feel when they also see it!” Back in the USA, Elvie & I were attending a pastor’s convention in New York. While Elvie was at a Ladies’ Luncheon, a pastor friend Jeff & I went to a submarine sandwich shop. While eating subs, a woman named Kristina, with a sweet smile on her face, started talking with us. The Holy Spirit whispered into Jeff’s ear, “Ask her how she REALLY is.” When he did, she shared the tragic news that her dad (66) had died of Covid just a year before, followed by her husband (46) just 6 months ago, & then just a few weeks ago her son (26) had been recuperating from hernia surgery & died. Now she was all alone, torn apart inside. So, Jeff asked if he could pray with her. The three of us requested of God to reach down & comfort this woman who, although she had daunting stamina, still lacked needing Christ. We also invited her to visit the church which was hosting our conference. Even as Faith had “tested the waters” to found the best rate of money exchange, may we continue to pray that Krinstina with be touched by God with the awareness that, no matter what life throws at us, God alone gives us strength both for the here & the hereafter. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #227 8 MIN, 7 SEC. May 10, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHTE WORSHIP give me oil in my lamp • my life is in You Lord. C. #226 8 min, 22 sec. May 5, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHTE WORSHIP before the throne of God above A. #228 23 min, 22 sec. May 12, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHTE WORSHIP Abby is graduating! NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE • THE POTTER'S HAND • TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE • COMMISSION MY SOUL Present Need: $300 for (installment #49 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $29,800 remaining. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $8055.45.
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 5/12/2022 | Happy College Graduation, Abby, Elissa & Ruth! (5/14/22). 5/15/22: Barner Family at: Clinton Alliance Church in Clinton Corners, NY NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for the 600 BCA students this month, as they take their final exams in preparation for their virtual graduation in June, which Elvie is planning & organizing via the internet from here in New York State. Praise God for a great weekend at Valley Alliance Church in Palatine Bridge, NY. PJ, Abby & Brianna assisted the worship team, and we also Participated in the Sunday School class on the Virtuous women from Proverbs 31. Praise God also for Pastor Jeff & Kim, the parents of PJ’s girlfriend Brianna. This next week they will receive an award for pastoring their church for 15 years in Greene, NY. Praise God too that two of our housemates here in New York, Caitlyn & Ruth, have passed their Life Guard Certification tests & now are official lifeguards at the local YMCA. Praise God that during the Philippine presidential elections this past Monday, there was not the dangerous unrest & killings that have plagued elections in previous years. “Suzannah!” After church Sunday our family drove back to Albany, NY for the annual Tulip Festival. Hundreds of people from dozens of different races gathered in Washington Park on Mother’s Day to get pictures next to the dozens of varied colors of reds, purples, yellows, white, & pink tulips. An African American woman with her 3-year-old on her shoulders heard Elvie’s call & sauntered over with her parents, representing 3 generations. Suzanna, the young mom’s daughter is taught each day while we are stateside, by Elvie at the local preschool. Little Suzanna, just like reaching to a 2nd mom, reached out to Elvie & cuddled in her embrace. This scene re-enacted itself half an hour later by an Indian family. Elvie as like a mom to so many people around the planet. “Bappy Muddah Day!” little Suzanna called to Elvie as she crawled back onto her mom’s shoulders. Meanwhile on the other side of the planet at Barner Christian Academy in the Philippines, Kindergarten teacher Veoly was happily comparing her students exam test scores form the past few months. Every exam average was a bit better than the month previous, and she was sure that their upcoming finals would follow the upward trend. “I’m not married yet and have no kids of my own, but I do love these children as if I’d given birth to them, they are so very precious!” Violy not only teaches Kindergarten, but also has classes in Nursery & Preschool. Even the simple lessons for these little ones, including penmanship, were markedly improved. “Wow, I can actually read what they have written!” she exclaimed, remembering how, at the beginning of the school year just 9 months ago, the crayon-marks on the students’ papers looked like a chicken had stepped into wet paint and moseyed across each page. This week’s handwriting lesson was to copy a Bible verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go, & when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Four-year-old Flores did have one error though. Hers ended with, “when he is old, he will not come apart.” Veoly laughed as she made the correction. But she did not mark off for it, as it actually gave depth to the verse’s meaning, and the little one was showing her comprehension of the verse. Another student, Ayesha, was responding to the lesson in movement of animals. “I didn’t know that starfish moved!” she exclaimed, as she watched the time-lapse progress as the hundreds of tiny little feet at the end of each arm filled these feet with seawater for locomotion, Violy combined the lesson from Proverbs with that of the starfish and said, “Ayesha, you are like the starfish. As you learn little by little, and fill your mind with good and godly thoughts, you succeed at your goals!” As she saw the smile appear on Ayesha’s face she thought, “Chock another one up on the success chart for Mommy #2! All our tests in life can be our testimony in life.” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: B. #225 8 MIN, 9 SEC. May 3, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. Join us on T/Th nights! The river is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDPeB9Jmr5g C. #219 1 hr, 30 min, 53 sec. April 14, 2022. COTW Short-Term Missions Trip (overseas). LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. Join us on T/Th nights! Fernando Correa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrmsGl7rKlE&list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA&index=225 D. BCA Teachers & Staff Retreat 2022 https://youtu.be/GBwLcAYu5p0 Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #10-12 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father’s House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids’ gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,950.
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 5/5/2022 | Happy Mother’s Day (5/8/22). Teacher Appreciation Week (May 2-6, 2022). 5/8/22: Barner Family at: Valley Alliance Church in Nelliston, NY
NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for “Dodong,” a Filipino man (husband of one of the church leaders) in our rural Tucanga church. His head was injured while cutting down a tree next to the church. Praise God that while we are in 8 months in the USA, the church leaders whom we have trained are carrying-on well with the themes: MAY & JUNE - The 10 Commandments, JULY & AUGUST - The Beatitudes, SEPTEMBER – Evangelism, OCTOBER - Mission's Month, NOVEMBER - Thanksgiving “Buwan Ng Pasasalamat”, DECEMBER - The Advent Season. Praise God also that our son PJ has now graduated with honors (all As) from the 1st & 2nd stages of the year-long LIFT (Leaders in Further Training) program in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. After the May break, he will be working at Camp-Of-The-Woods for summer camp until starting his new job as worship leader at a church this fall. Praise God for a fantastic Sunday in Etna, New York! After the service, my cousin Beth treated us to a delicious lunch of salt potatoes & roasted chicken. Mmmm, mmmm, good! And then our kids & their kids played games for the rest of the afternoon. “Today we will remove your cast.” Our daughter Abigail was so thrilled that finally, a month after the foot surgery due to her skateboard accident, her cast was coming off. Yet she also was concerned that maybe the doc might slip & cut her foot open again. Of course, they are professionals & that does not happen, but still… While in the waiting room, it was near lunchtime & a food channel was on the tv. The television chef took a “leg-sized” hunk of tenderloin beef & sliced it with an electric knife. PJ, Abby & I looked at each other & said, “Right!” All went well & Abby was even able to keep her cast with all the artistic signatures on it. She now has a sci-fi looking “boot” which she’ll be wearing for the next 5 months. Still on crutches, but she’ll walk confidently across the stage next week as she receives her college diploma! Meanwhile back in the Philippines, The BCA school janitor (Bong) arrived just after 6am to clean up the offices & classrooms on the 1st, 2nd & 3rd floors, & to prepare the daily attendance sheets. Checking his watch, he rushed downstairs with the thermal scanner to check the temperatures of each of the teachers & staff as they came through the gate. After entering the signatures of each employee, along with their health “QR codes” into the protocol logbook, he took-out the garbage & then joined the Monday morning Bible devotional time in the teachers’ lounge. “Proverbs 3:6,” began Teacher Helen, in her Bible message, “tells us to put God first in everything & we will be ABSOLUTELY AMAZED at what God will do through us!” “Sometimes ABSOLUTELY AMAZING things seem mundane,” thought Bong as he replanted flowers & clipped their dead leaves. “Need your help,” a voice from behind Bong startled him as he knelt in the dirt of the school’s rooftop garden it was Doris, one of the school secretaries. “There is a transport strike due to the increase in fuel prices. None of the public jeepneys are running. I need you to drive me downtown on your motorcycle, doing errands.” Actually, according to the Philippine Enquirer newspaper, “It’s not a transport strike, rather just a ‘tigil pasada’ (no trips),” in various localized areas. So, for the next few hours they stopped at various offices to pay the water & electric bills, as well as the teachers' monthly medical insurance bill. Zipping back to campus, Bong checked-off the names of kids whose parents had submitted their exams. “ABSOLUTELY AMAZING.” Thought Bong, as he checked the lights, water faucets. offices and classrooms. Yup, everybody is gone home now. Nobody in the building. Nice & quiet. Well, when we serve Jesus, even the mundane tasks are exciting. After all, we are serving the KING!” And then our ABSOLUTELY AMAZING janitor rode home. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA #223 9 MIN, 2 SEC. April 26, 2022. COTW, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. Join us on T/Th nights! Deerfoot Songbook. I LOVE YOU LORD • DO LORD https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/412739317349287 B. Communion Service at Etna Community Church, Etna, NY May 1, 2022, Part 1. 19 min, 15 sec. C. Communion Service at Etna Community Church, Etna, NY May 1, 2022, Part 2. 24 min, 28 sec. D. Communion Service at Etna Community Church, Etna, NY May 1, 2022, Part 3. 30 min, 57 sec. Present Need: $335 for: repair of BCA Bus “C”: $32 oil change & filter, check fluids, S-Oil Blue #6 Cl-4/SL 15W40 ga $45. Oil filter element $21, fuel filter $102, X-1R Engine treatment $23, Deisel system treatment $19, Bactakleen Ultra-Mist Sol. 50M $46. for three doorknobs for BCA $47. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,950. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 4/28/2022 | Happy Philippine Labor Day (5/1) USA National Day of Prayer (USA: 5/5). Philippine Presidential Election Day for 67.4 million Filipino voters (5/9). Crossing Bayabas is now at Code Red (Critical Level) & increasing. All Volunteer Groups along Lipadas River are advised to prepare evacuation areas and conduct pre-emptive evacuations to the communities living near the river bank. Praise God that PJ is now at the 3rd phase (of 4) of his discipleship program with Camp of the Woods: Phase 1: training from August, 2021-February, 2022. Phase 2: missions trip to Dominican Republic in April, 2022. Phase 3: rest with family in May, 2022. Phase 4: work at camp for the summer from June-August, 2022. Praise God too that $7,500 of the $10,000 needed to dig a much-needed well at our Philippine orphanage was sacrificially provided by three generous sources: two families & a church. Only $2,500 left to go! Praise God also that the Good Friday worship service back in our Philippine church featured 7 speakers, most young people in their 20s. Also due to heavy rains, the Sunrise Service at 3am was moved to 6am, so adherents could get out of mud in their shacks, where they had faced waist-deep water. Thank the Lord that finally, the DEMOLITION PERMIT was granted by the Philippine government (after 6 months of waiting) to prepare to build a building for parking area/church/teacher’s apartments next to school. Praise God that, after receiving a notice from the Philippine Post Office that the USA was no longer accepting mail from the Philippines, we received clarification that since the San Francisco international branch was closing, that temporarily only those 28 states serviced by that branch were not accepting mail. Since the USA has 50 states, I researched which ones still could be sent (to the remaining 22 states) & the Davao City branch gladly accepted those 300 letters we had waiting to mail (mostly to New York). “Zao shang hao.” Before the worship service started this past Sunday in Kingston, New York, I asked a few Chinese church members how to say “Good Morning” in Mandarin. So, during the message, I greeted everyone not only in three Filipino dialects (there are hundreds), but in a dozen other well-known global languages. My focus was on reaching people where they are, with the Gospel. Meanwhile overseas in the Philippines, BCA’s Teacher Jovi was challenging her 3rd graders to also try & think like others think. Jovi herself had felt chilled that morning en route to work due to the heavy rains. “Oh, it is sooo cold!” she exclaimed as the foggy, “frigid” 80-degree temperatures caused her to button-up the top button on her jacket, throw on a hoodie & put socks on her hands. Looking up into the sky, she noticed that even the birds were flying high to get out of the drizzly rain. Huh. Meanwhile we were facing snow & sleet in below-zero temps in NY. Go figure. Nonetheless, trying to think like others think, Jovi listened to the parents of some of her students. “My child is so tired of answering module worksheets & wants to be in class again!” Jovi responded, “The school year is almost over. After a short break, we can start up again in August & it is almost 80% certain that we will be in person face-to-face with classes again!” cheers went up from many microphones. Riding on their excitement, Jovi leapt into the lesson for the day, DEGREES OF ADJECTIVES. “Students, your POSITIVE DEGREE is the adjective HAPPY. You are HAPPY that you are a child of God.” Declaros responded, “Yes, Teach. I love God sooo, so much!” “Wonderful, Declaros. Now there are COMPARATIVE and SUPERLATIVE degrees of these adjectives. Comparative compares things, while Superlative makes these things SUPER. So, who can put the comparative word HAPPIER in a sentence?” Declaros came back with “I will be a happier Christian when we start school again.” “Great. Now how about a superlative degree of HAPPIER?” The response was. “I will be HAPPIEST when we not only meet again in the next school year, but also not at home anymore, but in person!” Suddenly, since Declaros was so excited, he waved his arms around, & he knocked the cell phone onto the floor. His classmates laughed because heir fellow student just had a dirt floor at his home & also was in bare feet. “How about this,” quipped Cassandra, “We will all be HAPPIEST-ER if when Declaros comes back to class face-to-face & in-person this next school year, he remembers to put his shoes on!” Laughing inside, Jovi finally signed off with her class, corrected a few modules & headed downstairs to go home. She was intercepted by one of the bus drivers, “Tatay Boy”. Boy asked her, “Teacher Jovi, where did the pandemic come from?” Jovi responded, “From China, I guess.” To which he responded, “Nope. The PAN-demic came from the PAN-dera!” They both laughed hysterically. [Explanation: PAN is Filipino for bread. PANDERA is a bakery. So, PANDEMIC is from the bakery! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #221 4 MIN, 19 SEC. April 19, 2022. COTW, Speculator, New York. Late Night Worship. Join us on T/Th nights! EASTER SONG https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/723485072400954 C. #222 10 MIN, 22 SEC. April 21, 2022. New York. Late Night Worship. Join us every T/Th! HIS MERCY IS MORE • PSALM 34 Today we're at North Country Bible Fellowship, Speculator, New York! https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/723485072400954 D. Communal Church Child’s solo, April 24, 2022. Davao City, Philippines. 2 min 30 sec. Present Need: $300 for 300-ft-deep well for orphanage to water gardens & animals. Of $10,000, $2,200 left to go. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,950. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 4/21/2022 | Happy Passover 2022 (4/15-23) 4/24/22: Barner Family at: Kingston Alliance Church in Kingston, NY Praise God also for the great fellowship time we had with the congregation of the Rensselaer Baptist Church in Rensselaer, NY. Some members from this church had my dad as their shop teacher when they were in their teens. The church itself has faithfully sponsored a child at Barner Christian Academy for many years. Praise God that our daughter Abby's ankle-bones & tendons are gradually healing-up in their anticipated 6-month recovery, from her skateboarding accident last month. Also praise God that she & her brother PJ (fresh from his exciting Dominican Republic missions trip) sang an inspiring duet at the Rensselaer, NY church we visited on Easter Sunday. PJ then returned to his yearlong discipleship training program in the mountains of Upstate NY. Praise God for the following special financial gifts given (by you) through Christian Aid Mission during February & March: for a. Orphanage: $1,000 (which we used for the orphans’ food & for continuing construction of the wall.) b. Gas for school Buses: $917.70 c. Emergency Medical needs for Poor Children: $45, d. Food for Poor Children: $72. Praise God that, after 2 days of severe headaches from a reaction to the COVID booster shot, I (Paul) am ok now. Now for the shingles shot… Also, PTL that a New York church gave $5,000 for a much-needed well for BCA’s orphanage. We are now halfway there! Only $5,000 more to go! “Papa! Papaaaa…pa-pa…” As 50-yr-old Remigio frantically dug with his hands a few days ago through the mud of a landslide in the dark of nighttime, deep feelings of remorse & grief & loss washed over him as he could no longer hear the voice of his 8-yr-old granddaughter, silenced forever, along with his 16-yr-old daughter & nearly 100 other Filipinos by the Tacloban, Leyte landslide mud from Typhoon Agata (international name “Megi”). After 20 minutes he could no longer hear little Tabang’s cries. So, he started digging in the direction of another voice, only able to rescue 2. The young grandfather had asked his family to join together in his home for his Golden Birthday celebration. And yet that very house, in the evening, as they slept, collapsed under the weight of tons of mud: a literal “liquid mud mountain” which torrential rains caused to melt like “wax from a candle” over the entire village. Instead of a birthday, it was a double funeral. When the loud rumbling noise had begun at 3am, one of his sons was saved when he covered himself under their fallen refrigerator. When the rains finally ceased, a neighbor Mantesa & her sister Karen had come in from out of town for the sextuple funeral of her mom, 3 sibling & 2 nieces. While they looked into the caskets they were informed that their dad’s corpse was just uncovered from the mud as well. 2 other relatives’ bodies had washed into the sea & may never be found. “We will go home & never return, because we no longer have a family & home to go to. We will just continue with our lives & offer it all to God even if this is really hard for us,” The attitude of continuing to trust God even when not understanding God’s overall plan was seen by Christ’s disciples when they mourned His death on Good Friday, & then their confident hope was rewarded three days later on Easter Sunday when they saw their living Jesus face-to-Face. An attitude of trust was also seen in BCA’s 1st-grade teacher Janice. “God is Good all the time!” she exclaimed in her daily journal. “It’s Monday, a beautiful day to celebrate. Today I made an exam for distribution tomorrow by our bus drivers, & for local families, to be picked up by their parents.” Contained inside each packet were Math, Filipino, English, Music & other subjects. Mostly Multiple Choice & matching, but a few short answer questions as well. Instructions on the top of each stack of papers was a note: “After getting the exam take a picture & a video for proof that your kids answered their exams.” So, the parents responded, doing what was asked. It went so well that she asked them to take videos of their kids reading & send back to her via Facebook Messenger “…so that I can update them & gave them time to have one-on-one in-person remedial reading” Janice was thrilled when she saw Ezra’s video introduction saying “Hi Teacher. I'm practicing reading now,” (accompanied by her beaming, smiling face). Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #220 19 MIN, 44 SEC. April 14, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. Late Night Worship Join us on T/Th nights! THE DAY HE WORE MY CROWN · OLD RUGGED CROSS · RESURRECTING To celebrate Good Friday and Easter, we are singing a song from a cantata led by Cindy Rydelnik! https://www.facebook.com/pj.the.barner/videos/295736312738804/ C. Faith Fellowship Church, April 17, 2022. Davao City, Philippines. Easter Sunday, Sunrise Service, PART 2 2 hr, 12 mi. 9 sec. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live?ref=watch_permalink&v=542790447206694 D. Faith Fellowship Church, April 17, 2022. Davao City, Philippines. Easter Sunday, Sunrise Service, PART 1 21 min, 18 sec. https://www.facebook.com/fafdavaocity/videos/801713490790557/ Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #7-9 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father’s House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot-high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids’ gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65). BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race, for Bus Garage. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,950. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 4/14/2022 | Easter Sunday (4/17/22).
NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for those cleaning up from Typhon Agaton, which has left 23 dead in the Davao Region & Eastern Visayas, based on the report from the Police Regional Office 8. In Baybay City 3 residential areas were buried in a landslide (from flash floods) in Barangays Mailhi, Kantagnos & Bunga. Two people also died in Monkayo, Davao de Oro & another one in Cateel, Davao Oriental. Rubber boats, vehicles & other equipment including handheld radios were deployed by local police for rescue operations.1,515 families, representing 5,703 individuals were moved to evacuation centers. Praise God also for the great fellowship time we had with the congregation of the Delhi Alliance Church in Delhi, NY. Many members of this church sponsor BCA students, and also prayed for my recovery last year from covid. “Whoah, it’s a sleet storm!” We were to speak at a church in Delhi (Upstate New York), & stayed over the weekend nearby with friends Jake & Suzette. While going out for a drive in the evening, on our way back it began to rain, then snow. But no, it wasn’t snow but sleet. Coming down a long, steep, slippery stretch in the Catskill mountains, “Uncle Jake” mentioned, “By the way, there have been some fatalities on this road in the past…” we decided to switch drivers. At the bottom of the hill, we all breathed a sigh of relief. After the weekend I brought our daughter Abby to the doctor to get her stitches removed (skateboard accident) & to make a new cast for her calf, She’ll be on crutches for the better part of this year. I then checked the email for our teachers’ daily journals back in the Philippines. “My 6th graders,” began Teacher Dianne, “are getting ready for the Holy Week [Easter week]. Many families are traveling, so I gave them extra time to process their weekly modules.” Still, a few students had additional excuses “My Dad has a fever & we are all caring for him” or “It is muddy around our bamboo hut & we are stuck due to the rain. See you in a few days!” Dianne figured, “Ok, enough excuses. Instead of waiting for the students to be ready based on their grades, I’ll just administer the exam & then the students themselves can see where they need to improve, based on their grades.” A challenge though, for if they do really poorly, they might get frustrated and give up hope. 6th grade is extremely important in the Philippines, as it represents the last grade before a student transfers to a higher lever institution. It was not like trying to squeeze Science into Christian Discipleship, or Mathematics into the Ten Commandments, but rather reminding the kids that all things come back to the God that made them…even science & math, which are tools which man has made to understand God’s creation. Christ is our firm foundation…kind of like once again being on the safe, level road at the bottom of a steep, sleet-covered Catskill Mountain. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #217 20 MIN, 19 SEC. April 2, 2022. Speculator, New York. Late Night Worship Acts 1, Joey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVhZnJ1CfSQ C. #218 14 MIN, 27 SEC. April 7, 2022. Speculator, New York. 𝕃𝔸𝕋𝔼 ℕ𝕀𝔾ℍ𝕋 𝕎𝕆ℝ𝕊ℍ𝕀ℙ Late Night Worship Acts 8 &9. Joey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylPGNMaGI-k D. Faith Fellowship Church, Davao City, Philippines (Cebuano). Youth Sunday & Palm Sunday. April 10, 2022. 1 hr, 28 min. 22 sec. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=494333022230260 Present Need: $300 for (installment #48 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $30,100 remaining. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,950. Coming Up:
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| 4/7/2022 | Palm Sunday (4/10/22). Philippine presidential & local elections are scheduled to be held on May 9, 2022 4/10/22: Barner Family at: Delhi Alliance Church in Delhi, NY NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for the new wall being built around BCA’s orphanage on Samal Island, for the past 2 months. The surveyor may have mistaken the property line, which would men the already-built 250-foot section would have to be torn down & rebuilt a few inches closer. Praise God for Abby’s recuperation from her skateboard injury (broken ankle). She is now out of the hospital & will be on crutches 6 weeks & should be fully recovered in six months. Praise God also for the great fellowship time we had with the congregation of the City Harvest Church in Albany, NY. Earlier this year this church gave to help build bookshelves in BCA’s classrooms. “There were complications…” The surgeon explained to me why I’d been waiting 6 hours for our 21-yr-old daughter Abigail to be released from surgery. On Tuesday she broke her ankle (& fibula) in a skateboarding accident. Under general anesthesia, her calf was cut open to screw in a metal plate. After just over an hour, the surgery was a success! But as she was waking up, Abby began coughing & noticed doctors & nurses & lots of beeps around her. “Hmmm,” she thought, “Something is definitely wrong. And what is this thing in my nose?” As her lungs were filling with liquid, a large, Darth Vader-type of mask was placed over her head & face with tubes of air being pumped into her. In the middle of the night she’d be afraid to go back to sleep, for fear she’d once again wake up gagging, or not wake up at all. And then you prayed… Five days later, on Sunday, Elvie & I drove her home from the hospital. She will be in a cast (& on crutches) for 6 weeks & should be ok in 6 months. Every few days I walk her a few miles down the street in a wheelchair. She’s also learning how to push the wheels herself. Meanwhile in the Philippines, BCA’s communications secretary Orbina had asked another secretary, Faith, to help her stuff envelopes. The 558 sponsors will be receiving their students’ report cards, Valentines & Christmas pictures (showing backpack, stuffed animal, new clothes, food & Bible). Orbina & Faith finished 18 letters in one day! On Tuesday, Doris will hand carry them to the post office for mailing across the Pacific Ocean to the USA. Orbina’s husband is one of the church elders & Faith is also the church secretary. While I, as senior pastor, am in the USA finding sponsors for the remaining 42 kids lacking support, These leaders are faithfully running the ministries of our 30 churches, meeting the spiritual needs of 1500 people. In order to prepare the letters for the sponsors, Orbina & Faith welcome the visits of the pastors of many of our 30 churches. These pastors bring in the cards, pictures & letters from the students. Every few days another pastor under our ministry will go over their lists & respective packets, one by one. Pastor Cayao came onto the campus after a half-day journey over mountain dirt roads & across the channel via barge, & then through the city to our campus. He is heading four churches: Kaputian, Bandera, Sion & Tucanga, as well as one new Bible study group. Tired from his journey, he appreciated the refreshments that were given, Filipino-style, to travelers. Typically, this is a cold glass of Tang-like “8-Oclock” juice & “pandesal,” a sweet roll. After saying goodbye to Rev Cayao, Orbina headed back to her computer. Suddenly…ZAP! It all disappeared. The masterlist of 558 students just vanished! Orbina’s jaw dropped. No! No! NO! So, she began her long & patient process of rebooting her system & trying to rescue the lost files. 3 hours. THREE HOURS. 3 hours later she had all the hard copies of the files retyped onto a brand new masterlist. The list changes almost daily, due to people’s changes of address, children who are replaced due to graduating or moving, etc. Some of the files had been saved on her email, since I had sent the revisions from New York. Fortunately, the internet was back up & running after having been down for nearly a week. Serving Jesus often involves leaping over barriers. Whether the internet goes down, or ankles are broken, we are a team & as a team, we get through this together, reminding ourselves that, through God, “all things are possible” (Mt 19, Lk 1, Php 4 & Mk 10). Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #215 12 MIN, 8 SEC. March 30, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! The Blessing; Good, Good Father - Christ Tomlin… https://www.facebook.com/ruth.labarr/videos/1058737468321884// C. #216 13 MIN, 16 SEC. March 31, 2022. Rensselaer, New York. Late Night Worship #216, Ruth & Briana. Holy Spirit - Bryan and Katie Torwall… https://www.facebook.com/ruth.labarr/videos/682398929843135 D. City Harvest Family Church, Albany, NY. April 3, 2022. 1 hr, 51 min, 23 sec. Rev. Ernie Fink & Rev Paul Barner. “Inward Witness” https://www.cityharvestalbany.com/ E. Faith Fellowship Church, Davao City, Philippines (Cebuano). Communion Sunday. April 3, 2022. 1 hr, 32 min. 21 sec. Hazel Paciente. https://www.cityharvestalbany.com/ Present Need: $889 for extra food for poor children $267, Repair & Painting of Northeast section of BCA roof $180, Faucet $3, BUS “C” insurance $260, BUS “Fi” gasoline $49, BUS “M” deisel gasoline $36, BUS “L” deisel gasoline $20, BUS “Ph” gasoline $70 & Tire repair $4. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 3/31/2022 | 4/3/22: Barner Family at: City Harvest Family Church in Albany, NY NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray for our son PJ who is at this time on a short-term missions trip in the Dominican Republic, taking pictures & videos of the team as they work with the poor street children there. They will not be bringing any pictures back with them, but instead will leave the productions for the joy of the people whose lives they are influencing for the Lord. Praise God for the two New York donors who each gave $500 for phase D Elementary & Library of BCA’s new tribal campus! Praise God also for the great fellowship time we had with the congregation of the Ohio Alliance church in Cold Brook, NY. Many in the church already sponsor BCA students & were thrilled to hear how the school is doing during the pandemic. “But that is ok,” consoled Johnjohn. “The break will give us all a chance to pull ahead of our classmates in school.” The kids had been working on building the cement wall every Monday, Wednesday & Friday, while Tuesdays & Thursdays were earmarked for studies. Of course, their regular chores (like scrubbing their clothes and feeding the animals) are every-day events. These kids are smart. Some are at the top of their classes (grade-wise) in school. Covid has kept students out of the classrooms, especially with the threat of coronavirus BA.2 Omicron subvariant, now the dominant version [55%] of the coronavirus cases in the United States. So, the students are able to study at their own pace from home. Meanwhile on the main BCA main campus itself, Teacher Helen followed-up her own 30 5th-grade students’ work. At the school’s front gate, tables were set up for the teachers to distribute packets of folders with quizzes, worksheets & exams which they had diligently prepared & printed, collating them for those neighboring parents to pick up. “YES!!” breathed Helen, as she noticed on her list that every single packet had been retrieved by the parents. Then on Tuesday Helen was freed-up to teach remedial tutorial classes for those students who were slower learners. She set up a table & 2 chairs, for her to interview Nino. “Nino, do you know how to read?” He said “no” in a shy voice. “Who helps you in your modules?” asked Helen. “Just me”, he answered. “Where’s your mom?” Nino explained that his mom is working, which is why he came to school today. Curious, Helen could see that Nino could read a little bit. “Who taught you to read?” “Nobody. I taught myself…but I can’t read very well.” Realizing that she was not working with a slow learner, but rather a very astute self-learner, Helen dove into the lesson for the day, “I will help you today.” They started reading. He read the story perfectly, word-for-word, pausing to wait for Helen to read it first & then he followed. At one point, Helen explained the meaning in his tribal language, & immediately his face brightened with understanding, from the start until the end of each paragraph. Oh, Nino was so happy. It seemed like a race as his comprehension already could tell where the story was leading. As the fun of reading continued, he suddenly fell off of his chair. The floor was a little slippery. Due to his excitement, he had been moving all around in his chair, and the cement floor had just been waxed the night before by the school’s janitorial crew. At first Helen cautiously came toward him to see if he was ok, but then he looked up at her from the floor & burst out laughing. So, Helen set aside the table & chairs, and they both sat on the floor. As Helen later explained her actions to her fellow teachers, she said, “I felt so much like a kid again myself. And a great lesson that Nino learned was, that reading can be done anywhere. You do not have to feel embarrassed when you love to read. Bring a book with you everywhere, & increase your knowledge!” As Nino had kept reading & listening to Helen’s stories, his teacher feel like she was with her nephew having Storytime in the middle of the jungle. The excitement, interest, & curiously revealed on his face. He enjoyed it for sure, & she did too. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #213 55 MIN, 44 SEC. March 22, 2022. Camp Of The Woods, Speculator, New York. SPECIAL LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! PJ Barner is feeling grateful with Jaquelin Westeren and 4 others, Marcchu 22t5mS ha92pt 5s7:a0l11 05PM · Speculator · LIFT Worship #6: La República Dominicana TRAIGO MI PERFUME • SI LE TENGO, LO TENGO TODO • TU ME AMASTE • NO HAY OTRO NOMBRE (No Other Name) • EL PODER DE TU AMOR (Power of Your Love) • LO HARAS OTRA VEZ (Do It Again) • YO QUIERO MAS DE TI • YO ME RINDO A EL (I Surrender All) • LA BENDICION (The Blessing) The LIFTers are going to the Dominican Republic! LIFT Discipleship Program will be joining Students International on Sunday for two weeks of service and seeing holistic missions in action. My good friend Benjamin Smith led today's all-Spanish worship, featuring songs we'll be singing in the DR. We couldn't have this amazing opportunity without our support group of friends and family who are backing us financially & with prayer. Thank you so much for this amazing opportunity to work and learn with missionaries overseas! YouTube Link C. #214 9 MIN, 16 SEC. March 24, 2022. Camp Of The Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! I WILL FOLLOW • BUILD YOUR KINGDOM HERE LIFT is going to the Dominican Republic in 3 days, and this is my last time seeing some of these friends for a while. As we leave Camp, we remember that God's sending us out into the world on a kingdom mission! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LM1hmaOsEg&list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA&index=220 Present Need: $316.65 for next 3 sections: #4-6 (with foundation & posts) of 160 sections needed for perimeter wall for Father’s House orphanage. 160: ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids’ gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,745. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 3/24/2022 | 4/27/22: Barner Family at: Ohio Alliance Church in Cold Brook, NY Please pray for a church in North Carolina that is preparing for their annual Vacation Bible School. The planning committee has designated our BCA school for the recipient of the offerings! Specifically, they want their 40 children to give to help defray some of the expense of our Father’s House orphanage’s $17,000 new security wall, which is even now being built. Praise God for our delightful Filipino host family this past weekend as we spoke at Valley Cottage, NY. Games and food and fun! Praise God as well that, after a week’s rest, Elvie and I have begun our parttime jobs in the USA to pay personal expenses while stateside. When I drove Elvie to work on Tuesday, we got a flat tire. Even though my fingers were bitter cold, the tire was changed quickly & she arrived at work only one minute late. “Will the frozen water hold us up?” Elvie, Abby & I spared a day from our American speaking tour to drive up to the Adirondack mountains of New York & see our son PJ. There, he had snowshoes ready for us to walk out on frozen Lake Pleasant to an island a mile out. What a thrill! Meanwhile, back in the Philippines, our 2nd grade teacher Jezel was also enjoying excitement. Since the government had closed-up all school campuses for covid, requiring blended learning (online and/or hand-delivered worksheet modules), in all schools, we were thrilled to finally have a few remedial classes with special-needs students...”wearing big smiles: sweet like sugar cane”. She rode with the other teachers in the BCA bus about an hour to the local church which we run in the area of Tacunan. There, pre-arranged families brought their kids at specified times so that the church could still follow the occupancy restrictions. Reasons given for missing the online classes were often heartbreaking: 1. One of them wasn’t able to come as his lack potassium (due to covid-related food shortages) made him unable to stand up. After teaching their students, listening to them recite their favorite Bible verses & praying with each of them, the teachers enjoyed a meal prepared by the thankful parents (eating “deliciously”), then headed back to the school. How excited hey were to actually have seen, face-to-face, some of the students again! They teachers had made-use of the 8 one-hour lessons they had learned during the teachers’ retreat three weeks ago: #1- TEAMWORK (by Faith, the school secretary), The retreat was a blast, as they (along with their own small children) had ridden through the rain four hours away, watched fishing boats & hot-springs with waterfalls that evaporated before their very eyes. They took turns making breakfast, visited the beach, museums & a water park. They avoided the scenic mountainsides nearby, as that is where the NPA terrorists dwell. Every night they stayed in a different location. The first evening they stopped to see a pastor friend of Elvie & toured his church building, then slept on mats on the floor. This was only one of the many churches which they visited, but when Elvie fell asleep on the journey, they did not wake her up when they passed another church, lest she have them stop for another hour to chat with yet another pastor! As the busses pulled into BCA once again from the long & enjoyable trek, they all praised God for the smooth running of the engines. After parking, Ben wanted to drive some of the staff home, but wouldn’t you know it, that is when it konked out! Thank you, Lord. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #210 6 MIN, 7 SEC. March 10, 2022. Camp Of The Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! ABOVE ALL Mom and Dad are safely back in the USA! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3C4xi99bPg C. #212 32 MIN, 2 SEC. March 17, 2022. Camp Of The Woods, Speculator, New York. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! פורים שמח / Chag Purim Sameach! / Happy Purim. THE BOOK OF ESTHER Buckle up as I read the entire book of Esther... with maracas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv1uJxwO-nQ D. Community Bible Church of Valley Cottage, NY. March 20, 2022. 1 hour, 16 minutes, 5 seconds. “Marketplace Ministries”. Speaker: Rev Paul Barner. Intro: Elvie Barner. Solo: Abby Barner. Luke 19:1-10. Present Need: $300 for (installment #47 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $30,400 remaining. |
| 3/17/2022 | St. Patrick’s Day (3/17), Pi Day (3/14) 4/20/22: Barner Family at: Community Bible Church in Valley Cottage, NY. Please pray for the 300 Ladies present at the Women’s overnight Bible convention which Elvie spoke at the week before we left the Philippines. Her topic was “The Power of Prayer”. May these ladies follow-up on Elvie’s Biblical suggestions for regularly, habitually & effectually setting aside time to pray. Praise God that, before we left the Philippines, Elvie & I were able to spare enough hours from packing for an overnight stay at our orphanage, which is on nearby Samal Island about 15 miles from our BCA school. We took the 12 orphans swimming at an ocean beach & they had a blast! Praise God as well that generous donors identified BCA as recipient of their Amazon Smile charitable giving & BCA thus received $86.74 “smile money” for our new campus wall construction this past quarter! Praise God too that, although it was a last-minute idea that we get a covid test the day before we headed to the airport, that test (which had not yet been accomplished by many fellow passengers) kept us from much paperwork & expensive on-site testing. Also, since I asked the nurse to make it not painful, she was much more careful that the one six months ago! “Jason, you do not need me when you pray to become a Christian.” While on successive airplane flights for 19 hours from Davao to New York, our seatmates were willing to listen closely through the face masks & distracting noises to hear the Gospel message. On one flight Elvie’s & my “traveling companion” Adrian was kind, but didn’t respond when we spoke of our faith. However, Jason, a grandpa in his 50s, listened intently until I was sure that he’d pray right then & there in seat #57H. But he didn’t, since I am a pastor, & since he does not trust priests due to a bad confrontation when he was a child. So, I assured him, “Jason, when you get to your destination tonight & lay down to bed, think of what I said & talk to Jesus. Ask him to forgive your sins so that you can become a child of God. He promised that anyone who comes to him…anyone…will never be cast away.” Just a few days earlier at BCA though, Elvie had the pleasure to lead a dad named Kean to Jesus. Since Kean is a chef, he came to church a few days later & brought his family & plates & plates of food to say thanks to Jesus for his salvation! He was especially grateful, as due to his newfound faith, his wife who had previously left him returned & they were a family again, sitting side by side in the church…all in a matter of three days! We truly have a God who heals. A few days after our plane landed in New York, we (while still recuperating from jetlag) enjoyed the precious fellowship of friends in a church there. Meanwhile back in Davao, our go-to employee Doris was picking-up completed modules from the students, so that she could deliver them to the respective teachers at school. Doris called us in New York to give a glowing report of how well the kids are balancing their time with building the cement wall, as well as doing their schoolwork & also their chores around the farm. And while returning to the mainland, she brought with her the thank-you letters these kids had written, along with their report cards, to mail to their sponsors. When Doris submits daily reports, even while we were in the country, I have required that she send them via email instead of in person. That way it would be no major transition when we left the country for our American 7-month speaking tour. Praise God that, whether it be with Doris, the orphans, or even fellow humans with which we have shared our faith, the Holy Spirit works through the memories of our discussions even when we are physically absent. No excuses not to share. And one day in heaven…oh, won’t we be surprised! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. #209 9 MIN, 44 SEC. March 8, 2022. Capital City Rescue Misison, Albany, NY LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! GOD OF THIS CITY Just came back from a visit to Capital City Rescue Mission in Albany and boy, was I convicted. Again, big thanks to my pal Joey for the sound equipment and joining in! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLyLhdzmawg C. Faith Fellowship Church, Davao City, Philippines. Youth Talent Night, The David & Goliath Musical Theatre. March 6, 2022. 1 hour, 56 minutes, 16 seconds. Facebook Link D. Hillside Alliance Church Sunday Worship with the Barner Family. Ithaca, NY. 1 hour, 10 min, 42 sec. Abraham: “From Ordinary to Extraordinary”. Gen 12:1-9. With solo by Abigail. https://s3.amazonaws.com/HillsideAlliance/Messages/03_13_2022.mp4 E. Faith Fellowship Church, Davao City, Philippines (Cebuano). Youth Sunday. March 13, 2022. 1 hr, 34 min. 45 sec. Jairus Alvarado. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=1367033680414281 Present Need: $233 for 3 standing fans for BCA’s classrooms ($111), & $107 for food for the poor, plus doorknob for library & one for office ($15). Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. |
| 3/10/2022 | Davao City Day (3/16/22). 4/13/22: Barner Family at: Hillside Alliance Church in Ithaca, NY. Praise God for Elvie’s passport being released & also availability of the local Department of Health to give us covid tests required for travel within 24 hours of our 3/9/22 flight back to the USA. “Dear Jesus, I am a sinner…” On Thursday afternoon, Elvie prayed with the father of a BCA student to receive Jesus into his heart. Praise God! Another sinner saved! Meanwhile I was patiently waiting at home, since Elvie had the car & I was already late for a Community Leaders’ (DCL) Prayer dinner which I was supposed to be leading! Fortunately, I was able to contact another leader to fill-in for me until I could arrive…45 minutes late. Priorities are also decided in BAC’s classrooms. Teacher Romnick was teaching his 4th-Graders about the role of government to meet the needs of every citizen. Ashley spoke up. “Governments build roads!” Romnick was waiting for just this question. “Extremely good questions, students. The government does not just build. It makes the rules so that everybody can build properly. Sometimes they have to step in & do it themselves, but they were never meant to do everything that we can do ourselves.” Another student came into the conversation. Justin said, “Kind of like when we pray, huh? We don’t just ask God to do everything for us. He wants us to follow His rules & then we can have fun doing exciting things & changing the world!” “I couldn’t have put it better myself,” replied Teacher Romnick. “I couldn’t have said it better at all. In a way, you have done just that by teaching your fellow students by the guidelines which I gave you. Ashley ended with, “So now you can call me Teacher Ashley!” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. TU- #208 5 MIN, 17 SEC. March 3, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Join us on T/Th nights! MIGHTY TO SAVE Safe journey to PJ on his trip. Blessings from upper pines with guest Nate Schaeffer. LNW #208 (March 3rd) // Mighty to Save Present Need: $316.65 for perimeter wall for Father’s House orphanage’s next 3 sections: #1-3 (with foundation & posts) of 160 ten-foot long, eight-foot high sections. Needed for protection of the orphans & also to stop thieves from stealing any more equipment and/or animals, as well as to keep neighboring animals from coming in to eat the kids’ gardens. Cinderblocks: 95 @ 25 cents each = $23.75 per section, x, Cement 4 bags @ $4.56 each = $18.24, 8mm iron rough stability bars 3 @ $3.08 each = $9.24, 10mm iron rough stability bars 6 @ $3.48 each = $20.88, Coarse sand 1.5 cubic meters @ $22 each = $33, Tie wire ¼ kilogram @ $1.76 each = $0.44: $105.55 TOTAL per section (x 3 sections = $316.65. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. |
| 3/3/2022 | Philippine 36th “Edsa Revolution: People Power” Anniversary 2/25/22, 85th Araw ng Dabaw (Davao City Anniversary) 2/17/22. NOTE: 2022 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray, for our church youth group. Challenged to share their faith to both believing & unbelieving friends, they have scheduled quarterly (every 23 months) concerts to give glory to God. This Sunday (3/6/22) from 2:30-6:30pm is their next Musical Theatre - Youth Talent Night, with a theme of "GOD IS GREATER THAN HIGHS AND LOWS" Praise God for the following special financial gifts given (by you) through Christian Aid Mission during December & January: for Bibles: $100 (which helped pay for shipping of Bibles from USA, & which we inserted into students’ Christmas backpacks), for Buildings: $2,500 (which we used for a wall [total cost: $30,000] for the new Tribal BCA campus & worship center), Church Planting Projects: $3,000 (which we used for rebuilding the jungle church in Panantungun), for Tools for Ministry: $1,000 (which we used for shipping theology books & portions of church libraries from USA to Davao). Praise God also that Sylvester Neal, one of the past international presidents of Kiwanis sent a personal message this week stating that one of his fondest memories was when he came to feed Filipino children at Barner Christian Academy! Praise God too, that Elvie’s new Philippine passport has been released! Just in time, as we leave the country just 9 days from now! “You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving.” No doubt about it, BCA’s teachers really love their students, sacrificing their time & energy for their education. Early Monday morning last week, two BCA school buses carried food, bedding, teachers & their own babies on an 8-hour trip through the rain to Davao Oriental (Mati) for the refreshing, annual BCA Teachers & Staff Retreat. Of course, it was fun, traveling together & swimming in the ocean, visiting churches & seeing a museum, with skeletons of pterodactyls. Deep Bible study times led by fellow teachers each morning & evening strengthened them for their excellent performances which they will provide later in their classrooms. With the theme, “Teamwork: Striving for Excellence”, Monday & Tuesday’s morning & evening Bible lessons, were followed by the 20 teachers, secretaries & other employees breaking-up into half a dozen discussion groups after their lessons on unity & Christian growth. Less than a week later, during testimony time at church, 4th Grade teacher Romnick explained how, on Wednesday & Thursday, the lessons (based on 1 Corinthians 12) proved that, a team, like a body, has different functions. Together, the teachers reflected on ways that each one can use their unique gifts to work together, educating these students in scholastics & also in their faith in Jesus Christ. At the close of the retreat on Friday, just before heading home, the progressive lessons were brought to a climax with the subtopic, “Striving for Excellence: God deserves the best we can give”. Excellence requires planning & re-evaluating, based on the given tools & previous performance. Just like a student, teachers’ performances are evaluated with examinations. We have 3 grades: A, B & C. C is like a child’s understanding of the world: the basics. B is like an adult’s comprehension: Direction. A is an elderly person who uses his wisdom to teach the next generation. BCA’s Teacher Veolita (Veoly) works with the youngest of the students (preschoolers & kindergarteners). Returning to her classroom Monday morning, Veoly, refreshed, brought to the students their exams, so she too could evaluate their performances in “Striving for excellence”. Since some of the preschoolers’ answers were done in their parents’ handwriting, Veoly asked a pointed question. “How will your child learn if you do everything for them? We learned at the retreat that God does not hand to us everything on a silver platter. He has given us hidden talents which only are seen & noticed & strengthened when we are forced to need to use them. By helping your kids, you are empowering them. But refusing to allow your kids to do the work themselves, you are suffocating your child’s ability to breathe the air of creativity.” She explained that this tests & improves their fine motor skills through practicing writing. The parents promised to do better next time. After all… You can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving. As Veoly checked the new modules one by one & page by page, she saw that the kids do really enjoy answering them. Some of the modules that required art work, were submitted beautifully &…gotta admit… it’s really cute, with construction paper & glue forming collages of the letter Aa. This was after the online lesson in which she had the kids trace in the air the upper case & lower case letters along with sounding them out repeatedly, with the things (food or situations) that started with letter Aa. “Be your own fiercest champion!” Veoly had exclaimed. Before signing off for the day, her mind ran through the faces of her students: her “Hallway of Heroes”. There is the early bird Shane who, even though she clicks on from home, always wears her complete uniform. And then, oh, what a charmer, the face of Ayesha warmed Veoly as she put up her umbrella & made her way home. Ayesha’s smile. “Thoughts of Ayesha, who always kept smiling every time she looked at me. Oh, but her smile is sooo contagious!” Riding on the public jeepney, surrounded by chilly rain, traffic, horns & faceless passengers wearing virus-protective facemasks, keeping a social distance apart, Veoly ran in her mind through the list of grades she had encoded into the portal for each student. A…A…A…and then, oh, why not? A again! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. TU- #205 13 MIN, 36 SEC. February 22, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP Happy Twosday! (2/22/22) Join us on T/Th nights! 2 TIMOTHY. C. TH- #206 4 MIN, 22 SEC. February 24, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. LNW Join us on T/Th nights! NOTHING BUT THE BLOOD Coming in fresh with updated audio and visuals (just follow next links), courtesy of my friends at Upper Pines! D. Sunday Worship (Cebuano Language) at Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hill, Davao City, Philippines. 1 hour, 10 min, 47 sec. February 27, 2022 Children’s Sunday. Title: Enduring Love. SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. Speaker: Dan Dejolde. FEBRUARY 27, 2022 CHILDREN SUNDAY TITLE: The Enduring Love SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 13:1-8 Paul Barner https://www.facebook.com/fafdavaocity/videos/488144959358887 Present Need: $300 for (installment #46 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $30,700 remaining. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,745. Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 2/24/2022 | Annual BCA Faculty & Staff Retreat (2/21-25: Mati). A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA Present Need: $450 for ice maker, rice cooker & television for BCA Guest house. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,740. Ongoing BCA Construction Projects:
Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 2/17/2022 | Annual CMT Church Leaders’ Retreat (2/18-19: Samal), Annual BCA Faculty & Staff Retreat (2/21-25: Mati). American President’s Day (2/21). NOTE #1: 2021 DONOR RECEIPTS have been mailed out. If you have not yet received yours, or if the one you received requires revision, please submit any updates to blckids@yahoo.com. NOTE #2: 2021 USA Barners’ Speaking/singing tour tentative schedule at the end of this email. Please pray, for the 2 upcoming retreats: CMT (Church Ministry Team) Samal Island Fri/Sat 2/18 & 19// BCA (Faculty/Staff) Mati Davao Oriental Mon-Fri 2/21-25. Please keep praying, for government construction permits to be released soon for to build our Panantongun (jungle) & BCA (city) campuses. Please also pray for two of our nephews, Zack (age 10) & Eli (age 9) who are struggling in a Davao hospital with low red blood cell platelet count due to dengue fever. Praise God that last Saturday a dear, cheerful, extremely intelligent chemist & lifetime prayer warrior, Chet Bolen, ended his 98-year journey upon this planet & entered into heaven Saturday to be with his wife & also with his Savior for Valentine’s Day. Last year, Chet had given generously to help BCA meet the government-required sanitary campus protections from covid. “You just earned a coffee!” As her friend Nitz took a video, she encouraged her with goals. “Once you get 3 blocks cemented-in, you have earned pandesal” (small & fluffy, airy Filipino warm rolls which melt in your mouth). “Up the ante 2 more to 5 cinderblocks & you’ve earned sweetened coffee!” Having accomplished her goal, Elvie stepped back to get a good look at her masterpiece. As she did so, posing for the camera on the muddy surface, her left foot slipped into the ditch & she braced her fall by leaning against the wall of wet cement. One of the blocks toppled over, & without skipping a beat, Nitz replied, “Zilch that roll but you still earned your coffee!” Fortunately, we have 20 other local workers, productively accomplishing our goal of finishing the wall before Elvie & I fly back to the USA in the 2nd week of March for our 7-month speaking tour (schedule below). A few days later in BCA’s city campus, our teachers & staff were enjoying their annual “Appreciation Day.” Due to the city’s pandemic occupancy restrictions, we can’t get our hundreds of students physically on-campus, but were satisfied by the next best thing: virtual gifts of videos in song, encouragement, & the Filipino favorite: dance. You have never seen so many dancers as they have in the Philippines (well, maybe in Africa, but…). They dance about everything. And whatever they are not dancing about, they are laughing about. That is why it is often nicknamed, “The land of smiles”. 3rd-Grade Teacher Jovi in her daily online class used this Filipino specialty in her “Mother Tongue” lesson, as Quinnie was struggling in her reading proficiency. So, Jovi asked Quinnie’s mom, who was standing behind her in the Zoom lesson, to videotape her daughter’s perfected reading pronunciation, by singing the reading lesson. Teacher Jovi then, on-the-spot put the hard-to-pronounce words into a brief song, so that Quinnie could be sure the pronunciation rhymed & therefore was performed correctly. “So, you mean I will be a movie star?” asked Quinnie, excited. “Yes, but just for our class, ok? I will not send your reading video to Hollywood!” “Ah,” interjected her mom, “But I will never destroy this video, and we can show it to our great-grandkids someday!” Quinnie cried, “But mom, that means I’ll have to get married to some icky boy! No way!” Quinnie’s mom winked at Teacher Jovi before they shut of their computer with, “Hmm, we’ll see about that when she gets to be a teenager!” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. TU- #202 20 MIN, 56 SEC. February 10, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP. Voter's Choice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCx5wlm2MCI&list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA&index=209 C. Sunday Worship. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines Jairus Alvarado, February 13, 2022 1 hour, 16 min, 27 sec. https://www.facebook.com/jaykathleen.ocon/videos/973690326856121/ D. BCA Teacher & Staff Appreciaton message Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines. Reverend Paul Barner, Monday, February 14, 2022 “Nobody Like You” Philippians 2:19-24. 10 min, 58 sec. Paul Present Need: $730 for Module Printing Materials $194, Benevolent flowers for deceased church members: $60, Water Line Materials & Faucet $25, Painting Materials $85, BUS “C”: New Battery $138 & cleaning of aircon & freon $30, BUS “Fi”: gasoline $20 & oil seal & clamp $8, BUS “Ph”: gasoline $80 & change of tire $3 & accelerator cable $3 & repair of starter & wirings check up $34, BUS “M”: deisel gas $40 & rubber cup $8 & Brake fluid $2. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,740. Ongoing BCA Construction Projects:
Coming Up:
Barner Family 2021 USA TENTATIVE Speaking/Singing Tour:
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| 2/10/2022 | Happy Valentine’s Day & Teacher's Appreciation Day (2/14) NOTE #1: 2021 DONOR RECEIPTS have been mailed out. If you have not yet received yours, or if the one you received requires revision, please submit any updates to blckids@yahoo.com. NOTE #2: My Gmail account is closing, since I cannot access it. Google sent an access code to the very account I am trying to open, so of course I can’t open it. I will open a new GMAIL account soon. Please pray, that we will be able to remove the dozens of large coconut tree stumps from our tribal campus to finish building its perimeter wall before we leave on 3/9. Most of the labor here is done manually, but these stumps were just too big to move. After considering buying a chain saw, we instead hired a backhoe for $20/hour. Half the 25 tree stumps around the perimeter (where the wall is being built) are now gone. Please also pray, as the USA presently has a Travel Advisory, started on January 31, of Level 4 for all areas of Mindanao: Not to travel to the Philippines due to COVID-19 indicating a very high level of COVID-19 in the country. Also, to exercise increased caution due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, and kidnapping, set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). For those who do visit the Philippines, “Prior to their travel, they are required to obtain travel insurance for COVID-19 treatment costs from reputable insurers, with a minimum coverage of US$35,000 for the duration of their stay in the Philippines.” Please pray too that, by the time we leave in March, the orphans at our orphanage will be trained enough to be able to finish building our second wall, that around their campus. Praise God that Elvie had her passport renewal appointment a few days ago & they promised the release of her new passport on Feb. 17. Pls pray they follow-thru with no hitches so that we can fly back to the USA together on 3/9 for our 2022 speaking tour. “Oh yeah, we have four-wheel drive!” After spending hours carrying hundreds of hollow-blocks (a less- sturdy cinderblock) in our arms, the delivery truck arrived with more cement mix & more blocks. When one of the workers suggested that I (Paul) load up the back of our 4WD pickup truck to carry the load over the muddy paths, I objected, since the tires’ treads are very shallow. Yet with the added weight of the blocks, it had no difficulty. And enroute back, the workers rode in the back to give the needed weight for traction. Being a New Yorker, trained in driving slippery icy roads, I was careful to guide my skids away from the wall by aiming TOWARD it. Friday morning, in pouring rain 40 miles away at Barner Christian Academy (BCA), we had had second thoughts on driving up to the mountainous jungle to help build the ¼-mile long wall around the perimeter of the school’s new tribal campus. Starting out while it was still dark, we picked-up a worker on the way & used up the paved roads & then gingerly traversed the gravelly, then rocky & muddy paths to our destination. A few hours later the rain let up & the rest of the day was drizzly, yet comfortable to work in. Filipinos have perfected the art of snacking without gaining weight, so upon arrival we had our second breakfast of fish & rice. By now the sun was up & 16 of the 17 workers had begun the day’s efforts. They were each stationed in one of the 8 locations: #1-4 cutting, bending & shaping (by hand) the iron bars, winding them with wire to make skeletons for the posts, #5-8 digging the trenches, installing the metal forms, installing the wooden forms around them, sifting the sand, lugging the water, mixing the cement, lugging the mixed cement to the trenches & laying the block or plastering for the 8-ft-high wall. By now, after 3 weeks of work, the long, silver edifice looked impressive, nestled amongst banana plants, coconut & cacao (chocolate) trees. The workers’ national wages run between $6 & $15 per day, depending on their skill set. So, we feed them 6 meals a day (usually sweet fruit-laden bnignit pudding or noodles with meat) & also they sleep at the site, with just a roof over their head & a cement slab for their mats or hammocks. Inspecting the work while strolling alongside the foreman, I asked, “So are your workers responding to the Bible studies you have each morning?” His hemming & hawing revealed that they had slackened off on the devotions. So, during dinner, I asked the sweaty, muddy men, “How about a Bible study?” Since I am paying their salaries, they did not really want to refuse. Pointing out one of the specialist masons, I asked the husky man, “Old or New Testament?” This was an either-or question which did not take much background Bible knowledge. Smiling proudly, he chose the New. Next question: there is one female worker, so I asked Merrill, “boy or girl?” She chose a boy. Finally, picking one of the iron workers, “old or young?” So, the young boy from the New Testament of whom I told the story, was the nephew of the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts. After the story, quiz, singing & lesson, I focused on their personal walk with Jesus & closed in prayer. The next day, Elvie & I received pictures on our messenger Facebook page. The workers so enjoyed the Bible study that they were the ones to remind the foreman (an elder in his church & leader in the community) to study together before work. Since his voice carries, the neighbors also would come out to hear the “preacher man”! The pandemic still keeps students out of the classrooms, so BCA’s bus drivers have other jobs (planting flowers, cleaning, fixing the buses) & errands on & off-campus to keep them busy. They also deliver worksheets to the students. However, Ben the driver, being a good cement worker himself, joined the “wall team” a day or two each week. He especially appreciated the BCA workers, for just a few weeks ago, when his wife’s mom died, the BCA teachers piled into the bus & drove the four hours away so they could help lead & sing at the funeral. What love! Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. TU- #201 1 Hr., 0 MIN, 27 SEC. February 8, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. SPECIAL LATE NIGHT WORSHIP #201 - Psalms, Hymns, & Spiritual Songs (LIFT Worship #4). Setlist and theme planned by Julia McGaugh . PSALM 103 • PSALM 34 • COME THOU FOUNT • HOW GREAT THOU ART • GRATITUDE • GLORIOUS. Thanks to Fernando Correa for filming! Skip to 8:35 for the 1st song. Julia did a great job leading this. We have some old favorites, plus Kashawna wrote a couple beautiful songs she was willing to share with us. C. Sunday Message. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines Reverend Paul Barner, February 6, 2022 “Jesus Sets Us Free” Mark 5:1-20. 1 hour, 7 min, 23 sec. D. Sunday Performances, 25th Silver Church Anniversary. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines February 6, 2022 22 min, 20 sec. Present Need: $792 for: Materials for plastering finishing the wall at downstairs gymnasium office ($168), Food for the poor children ($437), BUS “Fi” -gasoline ($30), -rubber cup ($2), BUS “Ph” -gasoline ($60), -bolt ($1), Attendance at online Pastor’s National & Regional Prayer Conferences ($22), Microsoft Installer ($72). Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship in July 10, 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,740. Ongoing BCA Construction Projects:
Coming Up:
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| 2/3/2022 | Silver (25th) Birthday of the 1st Philippine church that we started in 1997 (2/7) NOTE: 2020 DONOR RECEIPTS have been mailed out. If you have not yet received yours, or if the one you received requires revision, please submit any updates to blckids@yahoo.com. Please pray for Elvie and I this week as we join the construction team on our mountain campus to build the quarter-mile long cement and steel wall around the new campus. Most of the work is clearing the trees and roots, since it is in the rain forest. Praise God that $2,000 was donated this week for the new building on the BCA campus! “To you I AWE it all.” At the end of one of a BCA teacher’s daily journals, this misprint spoke for itself. We are in AWE when we consider how we OWE God our all. Another teacher was examining the excuses of her students in why they were late in picking-up from the school the Modular worksheets for their children to study at home. Excuse #1- Lacking potassium. Getting dizzy & cannot stand up without holding onto something. Excuse #2- Newborn baby sister just died at 3 days old of a weak heart, so the family had to get permits to bury her at the graveyard, even during pandemic lockdowns. Excuse #3- Entire family got sick at once (not covid). All of these excuses were obviously valid, so after listening to their conversations & praying for each family, she handed to them the modules & exams, & added to her statement that they have to be careful of their health & trust God because He alone is trustworthy to help us & protect us. And finally, in 1st-Grade teacher Janice’s journal, she wrote of her “Araling Panlipunan” (Social Studies) class. “A family,” she explained to her 1st-graders, “has what members?” “Oh, our parents, of course!” said Zachely. “And there are our pets: our dog & rats & chickens…” said Nhicklozycr To which Teacher Janice interjected, “Your rats are pets?” “Well, not really. But they clean up the food we drop on the floor, so I guess that they, along with the ants & cockroaches, are our ‘Little maids’”. Then Samarah added, “And don’t forget grandparents & some other relatives who visit & never seem to leave!” Joined in by the students, “Four ants and rats… Three siblings… Two loving parents & me…” And then they all joined in, “In a little bamboo one-room hut!” As Janice signed-off for the day, she opened her grade book. Participation: A for all. Creativity: A again. Well, all get an A today. Goodnight gradebook. Hello real home, here I come! Once she arrived at the Teachers’ Apartments with her co-teachers, they gathered for dinner & Janice shared the events of the day. To which her roommate before saying grace, added, “They did forget one family member…” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA B. TU- #199 III 20 MIN, 24 SEC. January 25, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP I WILL CALL UPON THE LORD • ZION IS THE PLACE OF WORSHIP • COME BLESS THE LORD Vote for your favorite songs for PJ's 200th worship livestream! C. Sunday Message. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines Pastor Joy (Cebuano language) January 29, 2022 1 hour, 38 min, 42 sec. Present Need: $300 for (installment #45 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $31,000 remaining. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BFF: 2021 Christmas Backpacks for Filipino children (filled with school needs for the kids) 600 students @ $15 each = $9,000. Raised: $7,259.50. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship for 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $7,740. Ongoing BCA Construction Projects:
Coming Up:
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| 1/27/2022 | Chinese New Year (Tiger: 2/1/22) Please pray for wisdom as Elvie & I seek a male & female chaplain team (preferably a retired pastor couple) to replace our 2 BCA chaplains. Our female chaplain died of cancer & our male chaplain recently retired at the age of 71. In this ministry, most of the hundreds of adult decisions to become believers in Jesus are met in the discipleship sessions these chaplains have with the students’ parents. Please also pray for our annual government inspection by the DepEd (Department of Education) next week, that we as the school administration do not overlook any of their ever-revising requirements. Please pray for protection for the Filipino people from the new Stealth Omicron BA.1 & BA.2 variants of covid-19. It has been detected in the country, being carried-in by returning OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers) according to the DOH (Department of Health). Praise God that this week I finished reading the Bible from cover to cover 79 times! Now I am on my 80th. My short-term goal is to have it read 150 times before my 75th birthday (in 15 years). One new tidbit I came away with was that, in the last chapter of Revelation, it is not only the Spirit, but also the Bride (you & I) who says “Come,” as well as those who hear the message. What a delight that our message is the same as that of our Creator, to tell the world to come to Him. “Phew, the receipts are all rescued!” BCA’s 68-yr-old cashier Minmin was concerned, since due to the high humidity, the school’s receipts from the past 24 years were starting to stick together & smear. “My solution” she explained, “was to ask the secretaries & bus drivers to help me to gently peel apart every damp receipt & lay them out on the roofs of our buses, weighed down in the sun by small stones.” This took nearly a week, & she also had to keep checking the weather report to be sure that it wasn’t forecast to rain again! Just when she got them all safely dried & stored away, I was cleaning off the shelves of our recently-retired school chaplain, & sure enough, there were two boxes filled to the brim with receipts! Fortunately they, being on the top floor of the school, were “high and dry”. Since the Philippine government expects BCA to always carry a minimum bank balance totaling at least one year’s salary for its employees (in case of future shortfall or calamity), Minmin carefully keeps track of the school’s accounts to be sure that these guidelines are being met. Meanwhile, while I was transferring books from the library to the new shelves in BCA’s 2nd-floor classrooms, I found Elvie’s & my long-lost wedding video, from 26 years ago. In it, we saw Minmin! She was on the stage at our wedding, nearly 3 decades ago! This woman of God has been our prayer warrior since long before we had even thought of starting a school. After Minmin led the faculty Bible study this past Monday, she started-in with preparing the salaries of the teachers, as well as paying bills. Getting a bit dizzy, & in a little bit of arthritic pain, she set aside to take a little nap. Half an hour later, refreshed, she started in again, with vim & vigor. One of her largest responsibilities is to prepare a monthly financial report for me to scrutinize, analyze & also to reimburse any non-budgeted expenses. In the middle of this, Elvie & I arrived with a surprise. Since postage is cheaper from the USA to the USA than from the Philippines to the USA, we always prepare a small mailing to pack into our suitcases & mail as soon as our plane arrives stateside. Minmin asked some of the teachers & staff to assist with taping labels & stuffing these 600 letters. In thankfulness, we lugged three humungous pizzas into the area of the teacher’s cubicles. Oh, how they feasted & enjoyed this American delight! I also had three very special financial surprises for her. “Minmin, a special gift was given from a family in Alaska, to help our church plant in Communal to make the next payment on their property. Second, a church in Kentucky has agreed to sponsor twelve more students! And third, the new bookshelves that we have just built & filled with books from overseas? A church in New York has sent a thousand dollars to pay for them!” Whoopee! Is God great, or what? Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: B. TU- #198 8 MIN, 40 SEC. January 13, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP all for love C. TH- #199 5 MIN, 48 SEC. January 18, 2022. Camp of the Woods, Speculator, NY LATE NIGHT WORSHIP rock of ages D. Sunday Message. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines Dan Dejolde (Cebuano language) January 23, 2022 1 hour, 28 min, 31 sec. www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&v=326010499452760 Present Need: $687 for Printing Materials for Students’ Modules- $191, Repair/ cleaning of printers $48, Disinfection & Cleanup supplies $17, repair of old Home Econiomics building water Line- ball valve & faucet $9, Materials for repair of signage $17, BCA Northeast roof- additional painting materials $31, BUS “C” -renewal of registration $72 & -deisel gas $20, BUS “Fi” -gasoline $49 & -gear oil $5 & -gasoline/motor oil $23, BUS “M” - deisel oil $44 & -oil seal $14, BUS “N” – gasoline $10 & -1 set rubber cup $14 & -axle bearing $13 & -gear oil $8 & -fan belt $4 & -oil seal $2 & -brake fluid $8 & -silicon $5, BUS “Ph” – gasoline $83. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BFF: 2021 Christmas Backpacks for Filipino children (filled with school needs for the kids) 600 students @ $15 each = $9,000. Raised: $7,259.50. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship for 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $5,740.
Coming Up:
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| 1/20/2022 | Please pray for a favorable response from the missionary story which I recently submitted to NY Times, & also to Readers’ Digest. Also please pray for direction for the Philippine Department of Education (DepEd), as the president has now okayed “progressive expansion” of limited face-to-face classes in low-risk areas which are under alert levels 1 and 2. The DepEd & the Department of Health (DOH) will work together in assessing the expansion or pilot implementation of the face-to-face classes. Only vaccinated teachers & non-teaching personnel will be allowed to participate while the participation of vaccinated students will be preferred. Praise God that when Elvie drove our pickup truck a few hours away to the rainy, cloudy, mountainous (bukid) area of Tambobong to be the main speaker at the Samaritan-Circuit Women’s Prayer Convention there, she was also interviewed on a local shortwave Christian radio station. Praise God also that, when our BCA staff towed the orphanage’s bulky cement mixer from the nearby island (via barge) to the mountains (where our new campus’ construction is ongoing), we were able to replace its defunct tires, wheels & axle with ones from one of our older buses. Also, upon arrival at the site, a young mechanic flushed the motor of its bad gas, & for the first time in three years, it is now working again! 3 1-meter-wide sections of the new wall are already ½ completed! Praise God that Driver Ben and his relatives appreciated that our faculty & staff took the day off on Saturday to drive four hours away to the jungles beyond Mati to lead a funeral for Ben’s mother-in-law. To show their appreciation, Ben’s family sent bags and bags of fresh, exotic fruit back with the team! “Don’t stand under the durian tree!” Boy (that’s his nickname) is one of our older bus drivers, & he joined Elvie & 4 other BCA-staffers to assist the construction crew on the school’s new tribal campus in the foothills of Mount Apo. Using machetes to clear jungle branches & leaves, and lighting smoky green-wood fires to keep the mosquitoes at bay, the team dug channels and post-holes for the pillars & posts, mixed & laid the cement foundation & then laid the cinderblocks with the help of local teenagers, hired to mix the cement to stick the blocks together. After a sweaty, full day of work, the team was getting ready to head back on the hour-and-a-half ride back home down to the city. One Philippine delicacy is the expensive durian fruit. The trees are 80 to 160 feet high, so when the heavy, spikey fruit ripens and falls, it makes a loud crash. Each of the BCA staffers picked up some of the ripe fruit from the ground. However, as Boy bent over, he heard a rustle. A football-sized projectile fell through the branches of a chocolate (cacao) tree, warning Boy of the danger, as well as slowing the fruit’s inertia. He moved, so the speeding object did not hit him in the head. However, the spikey fruit did scrape against his arm & dark red blood gushed out all over him. Elvie rushed over & her sister Anilyn washed & wrapped the damaged arm. As a consolation prize, Boy got to keep the fruit. Our short-term goal is to have the entire quarter-mile long wall completed before our return to the USA in March. While we are in the USA, our staff will process the permits for the Administration Building’s construction upon our return to the Philippines in October. Please pray for this, as there is still a glitch in the finalization of the deed of sale since the seller is deceased & there is a misspelling in her name. Meanwhile on our main campus in the city, BCA’s 6th Grade Teacher Dianne was reading her daily devotions from Matthew 6: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” She’d just released the test papers for her students’ “Second Periodical Exam”. Outside the building, the noise of the government cement truck was bothersome & she couldn’t concentrate on checking grades. It was a little bittersweet, as the truck was finalizing the bridge which would eliminate much of the flooding in our area. Dianne’s husband is a taxi driver & since the taxi’s engine is being worked on, her kids had to cut back on expenses. “Ok Lord, You said I do not have to worry. You always provide! After all, we are worth more than sparrows, right?” So, focusing back on the math questions, she was up to the short answer section, “Applying Precents”. This was a challenge, since during the online lessons, many of the students could not participate while there was a power outage for much of the city. Also, some rural areas who did have power, had to compete with background noises of chickens squawking, younger siblings crying, dogs barking & car horns honking. At one point, a passing street vendor, carrying over his shoulder-yoked pails of vegetable juice (“taho”), called out in a loud voice, “Tahooooooo!” It was so loud that Dianne said, “Let’s just wait until he passes by, ok?” When it was quiet again, the students all laughed as Olean, quipped, “This taho advertisement is the proud sponsor of today’s lesson!” “Ok Lord, help me grade the precents with Matthew 6 in mind. If I grade on a curve, then those who had problems understanding can also do extra credit afterwards.” Also, her student Lyka had a fever & Jamella was bitten by a dog which required a hundred-dollar rabies shot due to her allergies. “Lord, I see now that as I count my blessings, then the not-so-great things are not after all, not really all that bad…every wake-up (gising) is a Blessing!” Wrapping-up the graded exams, Dianne clocked-out and headed home to cook for her boys, Vhon & 1-yr-old Sidi, along with daughter Silianne (“Yane”). Hugging her kids. She looked into her husband’s eyes & said, “C’mon now, is God good, or what? We have each other!” They all smiled together as they started their dinner. Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH: A. PJ & Abby’s singalong masterlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLItygvjoq26Ect13SsSOTweW7ZTbCUMSA TU- #197 1 HR, 1 MIN, 51 SEC. January 11, 2022. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP #197 identity in Christ (LIFT Worship #2), Setlist and theme planned by Jaquelin Westeren B. TH- #198 8 MIN, 41 SEC. January 13, 2022. LATE NIGHT WORSHIP #198 ALL FOR LOVE. Camp of the woods, Speculator, NY. https://www.facebook.com/abbigail.barner/videos/258698756407757/ C. Sunday Message. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines Elvie Barner (Cebuano language) WOMEN’S SUNDAY 1 Thes. 2:1-5. January 16, 2022 1 hour, 26 min, 15 sec.: PRAY WITHOUT CEASING D. Sunday Benediction. Faith Fellowship Church, Laverna Hills, Davao City Philippines. Paul Barner Women’s Sunday 3 min, 8 sec. January 16, 2022. https://www.facebook.com/100000033945519/videos/469475481206209/ Present Need: $546 for BCA Vehicle Preventative Maintenance: Bus “Ph”: 2 tires (500x12) @ $58) $116 & oil filter $8 & air cleaner element $4, Bus “N”: 1 gallon engine oil/gasoline $20 & 1 gallon gear oil EP90 $23 & oil filter $4 & air cleaner element & shock absorbers (2 @ $32) $64 & WD40 oil treatment $6, Bus “L”: 2 gallons deisel engine oil $48 & oil filter 4BC2 $6 & air cleaner filter $7 & 2 gallons gear oil EP140 $46 & fuel filter $8, Bus “M”: oil filter 4D32 $21 & fuel filter $8 & air cleaner element $8, Bus “Fi”: gear oil EP90 $23 & 2 tires (500 x 12) $116 & oil filter $6 & air cleaner element $4. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BFF: 2021 Christmas Backpacks for Filipino children (filled with school needs for the kids) 600 students @ $15 each = $9,000. Raised: $7,259.50. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship for 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $5,740. |
| 1/13/2022 | Martin Luther King Day (USA: 1/17/22) Coming Up:
Please pray for BCA’s 5 ongoing construction projects:
Praise God that it has been just over a year (1/5/21) since I was released from the hospital after surviving my serious bout with covid. Praise God also that 4 more book series have been delivered to BCA’s orphanage for their new library/bookshelves. Meanwhile 20 elevated shelves have begun installation on the BCA campus. The series are: Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Little House on the Prairie, CMA “Voices” & 3 children’s World Atlases. “Godzilla, the Terminator!” as the 3 little boys set up their intricately fabricated domino buildings, the chubby little 2-yr old toddler girl in her light blue t-shirt & shorts waddled over & promptly sat on each structure: a one-woman demolition team! To the few fearless dominoes left standing, she meticulously punched-out one-by-one with her fists. So, I nicknamed this little terrorist, “Godzilla”. Sunday after church the leadership team (CMT: Church Ministry Team) had lunch together & then spent the next few hours in our monthly leadership planning meeting. We also elected our 5-person governing board for 2022. After that was done, Elvie & I loaded 3 of the families (about a dozen people) into the black Chevy pickup truck & drove to our place for a kids’ video, games & dinner. As the 9-&-6-yr-old boys followed my lead in carefully planning domino chains & 4-story domino buildings, Godzilla figured it was her duty to snuff out any semblance of civilization from these rectangular white tiles. I countered the boys’ disparaging complaints with, “Half the fun of making domino buildings is to knock them down!” Of course, when she attacked my intricately-constructed, 5-level card building, that was a different story… The next day (Monday) at BCA, the school’s communications sectary Orbina diligently prepared her required 15-letters-a-day. With an average 18 working days each month, the secretary puts in 216 workdays annually (not including sick days). BCA students’ 541 sponsors receive monthly letters, sent quarterly via mail or email. That totals 2,164 letters. The students enjoy sending their report cards, personalized letters, cards & pictures. Sending pictures used to be so easy: after taking the pictures, you’d develop the film & then paste the pictures to the cards. But now with thousands of electronic files, carefully categorized & downloaded pictures are at the mercy of any passing magnet or system shutdown. Nevertheless, Orbina gets these precious letters processed & then gives the completed masterpieces to Doris to affix stamps & run them downtown to the post office for their trans-oceanic voyage. Once the 15 daily communications are bid a fond adieu, the remaining few hours of the day are filled with updating & deleting changed addresses which I have forwarded to her. Orbina also replaced students who have moved away or dropped out. Orbina’s husband used to teach at BCA & now is a 5th grade teacher in public school. The delightful young couple runs our 3rd house church from their small rented home, each Sunday transforming their small porch into an open-air worship center. Microphones, drums, guitar, pulpit & decorations assist the 30 worshippers, many of which sit on plastic chairs or wooden stumps out in the dirt of the next-door neighbor’s residence. Last week they made their very 1st down-payment for a new property to be used solely as a sanctuary. It’ll likely be fully paid within 5 years & then they can start to build. Richard & Orbina’s little place is pretty busy. Since the pandemic still outlaws regular classrooms, her 5-yr-old daughter GM was taught how to use a cell phone to get internet Zoom meetings for class. GM & her brother are home alone, with systematic visits from delegated trusting neighbors to see how they are, bring lunch, etc. Since they live down in a hollow, internet is pretty choppy, even when it is up & running. Yet Godzilla the Terminator comes in many forms. Richard has developed a growth on the back of his neck, which need to receive a biopsy sometime soon. Power outages cause the Sunday worship speaker to sometimes have to holler to be heard by those occupying the chairs outside. Orbina’s headaches sometimes keep her from coming into work. But when the day is done, & the family is back home from their exciting days of ministry, the warmth & joy of homelife causes all the obstacles & minor disturbances to fade into the background. Together the family opened the Bible for their evening devotions. Richard read aloud. “Recite with me Proverbs 16:3” Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. Godzilla, you have met your match! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $300 for (installment #44 of 155) $46,500 3-story, flood-proof (9-foot-high backfill) raised parking garage/ church sanctuary & teachers’ apartments next to BCA’s present building. $31,300 remaining. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BFF: 2021 Christmas Backpacks for Filipino children (filled with school needs for the kids) 600 students @ $15 each = $9,000. Raised: $7,259.50. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship for 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $5,540. |
| 1/6/2022 | Epiphany (Jan 6), Orthodox Christmas (Jan 7), Orthodox New Year (Jan 14). Please pray for the 4 new construction projects for 2022: A) Build cement wall around orphanage. B) Build wall for tribal BCA campus in Subasta, Davao. C) build 1st floor (parking) of new multipurpose building at BCA. 4) Complete construction of BCA Panantongan church/garage/tutorial center/parsonage. Praise God once again for the responses from my birthday fundraiser for Paul M Barner Ministries. This was the result: Bus garage for 2 new buses at Barner Christian Academy for poor Filipino kids in Asia. $404.40 donated, from 5 people. 3 people shared the fundraiser with others. 444 people were invited to the fundraiser. It was described: “I'm turning 60!! Flooding has hit Davao City very hard this October, 2021. My recent 70.3-mile Ironman triathlons have brought in donations so that our free Christian School, Barner Christian Academy, can purchase 2 new school buses. But we have nowhere to put them! This $30,000 will buy a lot on high ground and build a simple garage to keep the buses safe.” Once again, thanks to all who gave and prayed. “Last one standing!” After church on Sunday, a dozen members (teens, 20s & parents) piled into the back of our pickup truck, rode to our place & spent the afternoon with Elvie & I. We had both lunch & supper & snacks in between! We watched Narnia & also played 4 hours of UNO (combining 2 decks). Each time somebody won, they made up a new rule. Final rule: keep playing until only one person hasn’t yet won. That is the “last one standing”. This “grand loser” placed a pillow on the kitchen table, draped it with a towel, covered the towel with baby powder, & smushed their face in it to look like a Japanese Geisha lady. At church earlier, I had given everybody paper & pencils to make their 2022 goals (mine are at the bottom of this page). My first (of 22) goal was…you guessed it… make a list of 22, 2022 goals. DONE! Only 21 more to go. Of course, some goals, (like “turning 61yrs old”) will have to wait… The next day (Monday) at BCA, Teacher Jezel asked her 2nd graders, “Does anybody know what teething is?” It was fresh on Jezel’s mind, since her own daughter spent much of the Christmas holidays sick due to her baby teeth coming in. “Oh, I know!” piped up Jay. “Teething is when you pick on somebody who makes a mistake” Teacher Jezel corrected Jay with, “Now, I am not teasing you, but you got your “th” & your “s” mixed up. Teasing is when you pick on somebody & teething is when a baby gets sick because her teeth are growing in through their gums.” Jay was a bit distraught & quipped, “Are you going to scold me, teacher?” Of course, that was not her intent at all. So Jeezel, knowing that Jay loves acting, said on the Zoom meeting, “Not at all. Tell you what. Who wants to act out a play?” Of course, everybody wanted to take part, yet Jezel gave Jay first dibs, & he quickly forgot his previous question. “Include in the skit Teething, Teasing, Teaching and Teaming. We need a Coach, a Teacher, a Baby and a Bully.” On Wednesday the kids came back online with their scripts memorized & received glistening grades for their “Theme Talk” in Art class! Since they had typed out their scripts & included them on the group chat, Jezel could also check their pronunciation, reading & writing skills. She was sure to include the rule that as much as possible, the kids were to use words which adhered to the C-V-C (consonant-vowel-consonant) format. Since it was in drama format, the kids’ “special needs” were not obvious. Christopher’s stuttering was barely there & Angelo’s ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) was overcome by his sticking to the script. Meanwhile, their parents were just absolutely beaming in the background, as to their accomplishments. For those of 8 her 25 students that had no cell phones nor computers, she sent a copy of the script & the chat messages from the participants along with the weekly modules to each student’s home. Their project was to compose rhyming verses as background for the skit, which the “online kids” will put it to music. Great job! But unfortunately, since it was on Zoom, it was not recorded. So, I can’t provide a link for you to see. But then again, you could use your imagination, considering the thought processes of a 2nd grader & bury your face in the powder-pillow to laugh at the results! Jezel closed her class with prayer & the day’s Bible verses from Hebrews 10:35-36, “So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.” Until next time…Let the islands rejoice! A FEW TOOLS FOR PERSONAL CHRISTIAN GROWTH:
Present Need: $957 for Internet reconnection $85, Battery & general cleaning of Air conditioners $62, Materials for division of Kinder & Preparatory rooms $ 224, Electrical Materials $98, Carpentry materials- repair of rooms $56, Chain for gates $3, Food- lunch & snacks during the general cleaning $66, Construction materials for Grade 1 wall $140, BCA Bus “Fi” gasoline $40 & oil $10, BCA Bus “M” deisel gas $50 & ATF/ Automatic Transmission Fluid $5 & oil $8, BCA Bus “C” deisel gas $30 & oil $6, BCA Bus “Ph” gasoline $74 & oil $34 & gear oil $19 & GTS gas $43 & Sure brake $4. Wish to sponsor a Filipino BCA student? It's easy! Just send your first monthly $30 check to Barner Christian Academy, 5 Eileen Drive, Rensselaer, NY 12144, & you've given hope to a destitute Asian child. BCA’s new Bus Garage: Sponsorship for 2022 (Geneva, NY) Ironman race. NEED: $30,000 RAISED: $5,540. Paul’s GOALS FOR 2022: 1. make 22 2022 goals…DONE!// 2. Complete Geneva, NY Ironman triathlon race (#14!) to pay off BCA’s $30,000 garage loan// 3. turn 61// 4. Read thru the Bible 3x cover-to-cover (lifetime total so far: 81x)// 5. build cement wall around orphanage// 6. build road & wall for tribal BCA campus in Subasta, Davao// 7. build 1st floor of new multipurpose building at BCA// 8. complete construction of BCA Panantongan church/garage/tutorial center// 9. Begin 1st BCA rural outreach to preschoolers’ families// 10. bring weight down to 165 for July triathlon (173 now)// 11. Confirm visits to 29 USA churches for travel schedule during 2022 furlough to challenge for missions// 12. Send out all 2021 tax receipts by February 15// 13. Renew Philippine driver’s license (11/9)// 14. Buy return tickets to the Philippines for October, 2022 thru April, 2023// 15. Attend Abigail’s graduation ceremony from Community college in May, 2022// 16. Raise $9,000 to buy each of the 600 BCA students a new pair of sneakers for Christmas// 17. Work part-time in USA between church visits.// 18. read 100 books// 19. run 500 miles// 20. cycle 5000 miles// 21. swim 5000 laps// 22. Replace my laptop computer before it stops working (it keeps turning itself off & the sound doesn’t work). |
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January 15, 2023
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