Ed and Mila Vailliencourt: April 2007
Dear Prayer Partners,
"Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." - 2 Corinthians 3:5
TYPHOON RECOVERY - By the grace of God, we have recovered from the enormous devastation brought on by the last super typhoon that hit us. Thanks to many of you who have given sacrificially, Trinity Baptist Church in Legazpi was completely repaired and so was the church in Tiwi, except for a portion of the roof, still waiting on supplies from nature. Our home was the last to be repaired, and it is in the very final stages of being painted now. Our electricity was restored February 13, nearly two and a half months after the typhoon hit. We again thank you for your gifts--which also enabled us to purchase a much needed larger generator that provided us power during the day. Nights were cool enough to sleep without running the generator.
MISSION CONFERENCE BLESSING - During our recent mission's conference the entire Ballecer family came forward to be baptized. Our guest speaker commented, "That is the first time in all my years of ministry to see an entire family of seven be baptized at the same time." We are continuing our discipleship of the Ballecer and the Magayanes family. Please pray for Jen Magayanes, a 28-years-old single woman. As I write this letter, my wife just received a message informing us that Jen has a cancerous tumor beside her throat and must have surgery as soon as possible. Both she and her father are not employed, and they do not know where they will get the money for such an operation.
BLESSED VISIT - Our son-in-law, David, daughter, Tammy, and their four children spent nearly 3 weeks with us in January and February. We had a blessed time together, getting to know our grand-children once again. We also were able to visit Mila's family on the island of Negros, so that they could meet David and the kids. Unfortunately David and two of our grand-children returned to the States with some tropical illnesses, but I believe they are all okay now.
NEW PLANS FOR FUROUGH - Since the hit of the latest two typhoons to our area, September 30 and November 30, we have decided NOT to go on furlough this fall. We need to be here during typhoon season to handle any problems that may arise. Therefore, we are tentatively planning a four-month furlough from May through August of 2008. We pray for the cooperation of pastors to inform us of their desire to have us report at that time.
In His Service,
Ed & Mila Vailliencourt
P.S. Last minute addendum to my prayer letter:
Upon reading my April prayer letter sent out via e-mail, my daughter sent me a note that I had not mentioned how the typhoon relief funds had been used other than our church and home. That was an oversight on my part. As the funds were received by us, my wife and I visited each of our church families in the three locations, helping each one with an amount according to their need. Some we gave more than to others because of the amount of damage they had experienced. In all, we gave to nineteen families. Only after helping them to get back on their feet, we began work on our churches. Our own home was that last to get any repairs. We still have money set aside to buy property and rebuild our church building in Guinobatan, which was destroyed by typhoon Millennium in September. We are also preparing to do more repairs on our fence in our Tiwi church. We purchased a generator for a sister church in Malilipot, started out of Trinity. The remaining funds will be used in expanding our present church buildings. None of the funds that were received will be used for personal use except that which was so designated. We thank all of you who have given sacrificially to the rebuilding of lives, homes and buildings.
Dr. Ed Vailliencourt