As February is the love month, let us praise the Lord for individuals who showed their love and gave to Balikatan SPECIAL PROJECTS IN 2009. More specifically, the following amounts were raised: A) Project 11/9= $3,106 B) Typhoon Ondoy Relief= $1,400 and C) National Conference 2009= $11,100. In the midst of our country’s economic recession, God’s people have been abundantly generous. In addition, according to our friends in MEANS, in 2009 they had the greatest donation EVER in their 25+ years of ministry. Robert Morris in his book “The Blessed Life” discussed the power of offerings (such as donations to Balikatan, MEANS, and IVCF Philippines) as follows: “In Matthew 25, Jesus tells a story of three stewards. There is a principle of faithful stewardship that teaches that we should give more to God than just the title because tithing is simply returning to Him what is already His. If you’re not currently tithing, that is certainly the place to start. But if you look closely at Malachi 3, God mentions tithes and offerings (verse 8). It’s tithes and offerings that remove the curse, bring the blessings, and rebuke the devourer. God wants to bless and multiply our finances, just as He blessed and multiplied the two fish and the loaves.” Let us thank the Lord for blessed lives in Balikatan and its chapters as they continue to experience the joy of giving and the reward of receiving.

Let us also pray for an upcoming special project known as the Alumni Liaison and Communication Specialist (ALCS) position that the Board has decided to launch. We are currently in the process of recruitment and hope to fill this outsourced position soon with an IVCF volunteer, supporter, or alumni in the Philippines. The role of the ALCS is to maintain the Balikatan website, assist Balikatan in developing and maintaining a database of IVCF Philippines alumni who are residing in USA and Canada, and coordinate their integration with Balikatan chapters or groups in USA and Canada. Per Erickson’s report, there are at least a thousand IVCF alumni in the US and Canada many of whom are not even aware of Balikatan. With high tech communications we have these days, we hope to have ALCS contact these alumni and channel them to respective chapters in their city of residence. Please pray for guidance and wisdom in hiring the person God wants to be ALCS for Balikatan.

Lilia Salazar-Nigro, Board Member
Special Projects and Fund Development Committee

The Lord has blessed IVCARES with the experience of having a deeper appreciation of His grace and faithfulness. Faced with the challenges posed by health problems, schedules and resources, IVCARES embarked on a new program to raise funds for IVCF Philippines last year. Our usual caroling project that required us to go from house to house on the first three weekends of December would have been very difficult if not impossible for us to do. After much prayers and deliberation, The Lord led us to try a different way of caroling. Instead of going from house to house to carol on cold winter nights, we invited our donors and friends to a party and caroling in one of the members’ home. We praise the Lord for the many guests that came. They were treated to a sumptuous noche buena style dinner, caroling by the IVCARES choir, carols sing-along and warm fellowship. Our donors have been very generous with their giving. There were donors who were not able to make it to the party and just sent their donations and gifts. A total amount of $6,203.00 was raised. Praise the Lord indeed! From this amount, $253.00 went to the IVCARES operational funds. $5,950.00 was sent to Balikatan for IVCF Philippines staff’s thirteenth month pay.

Prayer Request:

Our group will be meeting, hopefully this coming Sunday January 31, to discuss the possiblity of hosting HIS sounds this coming fall. Pray for the Lord’s guidance and wisdom as we discuss and decide.

From: IV CARES Coordinator, Dr. Pete Parayno
Phone Number: 630-497-8432 paraynop@yahoo.com