In the Philippines, it’s

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GUESTBOOK.

Darrell and Sandy Blatchley  Family Circus Children’s Ministries
Philippine Address: PO Box 80542  -  8000 Davao City, Philippines
Phone (63)(82)305-1529 - familycircus@agmd.org

 Website updated: 11/26/13

Progress Reports and Information:

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Notes for Summer - 2012

Hello friends,

I just finished a quick note to a close friend in ministry. In my email, I shared some information you might enjoy reading.  Hope it stimulates your thinking and your heart for the work of Jesus!

Dear ______,

Rarely does it take this long for me to reply, the contributing factor in this delay was primarily computer challenges, besides a wonderfully busy time of ministry, which included a “Surprise” we just sent you a 18 ton container of food, which meant that 1. We can reach our goal of distributing half a million meals to the malnourished children, widows, pregnant and nursing mothers, and others in distress, it also meant that we needed to come up with $5,250 to clear customs.

Sandy went and talked to the Mayor and she officially put us on their feeding program. It didn’t save us any money on this particular container but it gives the Mayor and city an additional brownie point for being a “child friendly” city. And again reminds the city of what the ministry does for their kids.

The computer issue was Microsoft and my 3 year old laptop running Vista. It was crashing on me almost daily, plus other bugs caused by Microsoft updates, that we could undue only to have the updates kick back in the following day, so then came a reformat… Oh I don’t like doing that. And we installed Windows 7 and I began shifting over to Apple. Now that was a bright spot in my day, but the learning curve and the transfer of data, especially email and addresses. It’s looking better but… the current 400 in my inbox (a fraction of what it had built up to) let’s you know I’m just getting out of the woods.

Speaking of woods we’re in Soldotna, Alaska in a cabin at our youngest son's home. I look out the window, to see the woods. It’s been cool this past week, in the lower 60’s. Cool compared to the equator. But by next week we’ll be in Omaha in the 90’s followed by Texas the following week. It’s still summer down there.

. . . And in regards to churches refusing ministry to certain groups. For overseas churches, many can blame it on culture that minimizes the value of certain age, or people groups and many of our prior missionaries carried some of this from the USA. When we first became missionaries, being a missionary to the children was not really considered being a real missionary. So it was plant churches focusing on adults if you wanted to pursue the call. Fortunately we live in a different age.

If you still are not in that ‘age’ the best way to change others to see the error in their heart is to live out the truth and show them by your actions that there is a better way. As we were told 17 years ago when we arrived in the Philippines after already having been missionaries for 10 years in Thailand. “Change in Asia take time". In effect we were being encouraged to slow down or perhaps find something else to focus on. The passion of the call would not allow us to do otherwise, or else another generation would be lost. So we first tried to teach and train the nation church to do it, with limited and mixed results. When God, 7 years later, finally had us plant a church in a small dirty building for the children, little did we know what would happen virtually over night.

In sequence:

• 1st Week 161 Attendance
• 2nd Week 550 Attendance (Panic asking God what to do).
• 3rd Week 770 Attendance (God’s direction double services).
• The first year reaching 1,000 attendance
• 2nd year 2,000
• 3rd year 3,000

And a high of 7 services with 4,150, which was wearing us out, and we cut back about 1.500 attendance and settled at about 3,500 in attendance, and dropped it to 6 services (one was held outdoors) until we could move to our own property and the circus tent capable of holding about 4,500.

First week we were in the tent we thought, “Great one service a week. Nope, first week we had standing room only with about 7,000 est. attendance.  We average a bit less than 5,000 each week now but we are working on the infrastructure for those who are not yet coming knowing that there is yet to be a larger harvest. We have to cancel one weekend of services a month due to financial short fall. But we’ve talked it over with the Lord and when he supplies the funds we will go to the level we can afford with out driving our budget both personal and work too far into the red. That’s an interesting challenge as the need is truly great and Hell is hot and eternity is forever…

Your friend in the King’s tender harvest,
Darrell & Sandy Blatchley

Specific Needs
 

From time to time our supporters request a list of specific needs to help our kids. 

We are happy to oblige – respecting

Click HERE for . . .

immensely their serious efforts at

stewardship in Our Father’s business. 

So here’s the current list:

For the King and His Kids,

Darrell and Sandy Blatchley

Family Circus Children’s Ministries Specific Needs List - Fall 2011
$1,000	One ton of rice. Provides about 15,000 - 18.000 meals.
$5,000	Five tons of rice, providing the base of 90,000 meals.
$500	1,250+ sandals. $1 = Two pairs of sandals. (A life saving gift.).
$50	Dental care treating 40 - 50 children.
$5,000	Provides dental treatment for 4,000– 5,000 children.
$500	Provides transportation to bring in about 3,000 – 4,000 children to Family Circus one time.
$5,000	Provides weekly transportation for 2½ months for 3,000 - 4,000 kids to come to Family Circus to hear about Jesus.
$500	One month of 1st aid and emergency life saving medical(as needed) for 3,500 – 5,000 children.
$5,000	10 months of 1st aid and emergency medical (as needed) for 3,500 – 5,000 children living in poverty.
$5,000	Props and prizes to teach 5,000 children weekly for 2½ months.
$5,000	Creation of a garden to grow about 5,000+ lbs of vegetables monthly feeding hungry children.
COMMERCIAL CAFETERIA EQUIPMENT FOR FEEDING THE CHILDREN
$2,250	Commercial gas grill
$1,500	Two commercial gas fryers @ $750 each.
$1,750	Compressor for 12 X 9' walk-in freezer and 12 X 10 walk-in refrigerator.
$5,000	Playground equipment - (Swings, playground slides, merry go-rounds etc). For kids, so poor many have never experienced a park with this equipment.

Notes for Summer 2011

Hi friends,

Updated progress on the bakery: Thank God for friends who were instrumental to bring it to pass. 

From one dreamer to another. It’s not a new discovery but I’ve found that the bigger the dream that God gives to us the bigger the battle we often must go through to see it through to completion.

.
The Bakery progress History including pictures as it stands today:

1.  Prayer of dedication Jan 2008

2.  April 2008 the walls started going up.

3.  Nov 2008 much of the inside of the first floor of the Bakery was in place.

4.  Dec 2008 John Gordon’s gift of cafeteria equipment including walk-in oven, etc. etc. arrives made possible with the Masters blessings.

5.  January 2009 the second floor under construction

6.  Late 2010 Three Phase Electricity reaches the property

7.  April 2011 Bakery progress continues
Reading between the lines you can likely figure out there have been some battles, stopped work orders, enemy hindrances. We’d love to sit down with you both and share where this journey has taken us.

Now a few years later we are still daily working on completing the dream put in motion by friends giving from their heart  (Donations in value exceeding $100,000+++).

Last year we were able to have a 3 phase power line brought to FC property

(Price $13,500).

2010 Funds donated by Speed the Light for a 3 Phase generator w/enough power to operate the entire bakery plus, since blackouts are not uncommon. (Gift $21,000+)

The electrical is still lacking to be operational, yet we hope to see it completed this year. (Lacking $4,500+-  personal estimate. Main double throw switch $1,000)

We use the cafeteria (for cooking rice), we have extension cords to run the lights and rice cookers and a couple chest freezers. As funds are received for the bakery construction we advance. Due to vacating the Acacia property we lack storage space which we are working to remedy.

Your friends in the Kings tender harvest,
Darrell & Sandy

Summer 2010

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.                           Philippians 4:19

Greetings friends!

We had three fairly strong earthquakes on our island this past month, with one of significant duration.  They were each of 6 to 7 points in the Richter scale.  However, no casualties or property damage were reported.

And during the same month when our ground was periodically shaken, we saw God move in a magnificent way.

Many of you know that we are attempting, with God’s provision, to put together a tract of land on which to build various permanent structures to house this ministry.  In addition to the Big Top Tent, in which we currently hold services, we want to build a permanent – well – Castle structure, with a large sanctuary, classrooms, and office space. 

And this month we are so thankful! With the gift of God’s provision and many generous hearts, all property which we had agreed to buy and were in the process to purchase is PAID IN FULL.

This is an enormous accomplishment and our hearts are so GRATEFUL to GOD!

Only two lots remain to complete the purchase of the entire property, as you can see in the two drawings to the upper right.

We are praying for funds to purchase the pie shape property near the top of the drawings, which is $25,000 including the taxes. Current tax value of that titled property is about $250 per square meter. The owner was asking $150 per square meter, but recently he verbally agreed to settle for $65 per meter.

The property has about 300 square meters which would square off our property and give us more useable space. We are praying that our AG leadership gives us an OK and that God will bring in the resources. We have some very unscrupulous/dangerous neighbors who have been eying this property and, if they got it, their past actions have proven that they would not be a blessing.

We’re prayerfully considering this purchase and ask for the Lord’s leadership and provision.

The remaining property, C-17 in the middle, is still too expensive.  We tried to buy it, with a 5 year balloon payment, for about $75,000. But the owners said they had to look out for number #1 and they wanted all of the money all in about 2 – 3 years of payments. We had no resources to comply with their request, so we never entered an agreement and dropped the subject.

We are praying for a miracle.

In addition to these property purchases and plans, the city transformer has been paid for and installed and will soon be hooked up, providing a much more reliable source of electricity. We were only off about $9,000 in that cost estimate, it actually cost us $11,500 but once again God provided.  We now have the two generators. Praise God!

Funds for the video projectors have been supplied and those items are purchased. We still need someone to hand carry them out from the US.

One of our next important projects is the drilling of a deep water well, cost $2,500

And then there is the castle - our dream. We will need about $175,000 to build it.

And in these recent heavenly provisions we are once again reminded that all of our dreams, all of our visions, are for the King & His kids,

Darrell & Sandy Blatchley 

Another Way to Help!

IPods4KeyChildren’sWorkers

- is birthed out of a desire to provide ministry to those who are serving the Lord reaching children and often living in low income poverty based areas. Children’s ministry and the workers often have the smallest budgets, yet are motivated by large hearts. This ministry can be a blessing many individuals who otherwise would not have access to the Bible in Audio, worship and sermons to encourage their own personal walk in the Lord!

Because iPods are not likely to go out of style any time soon, we recognize that most of us who have one do not get rid of them nonchalantly. However, we have a friend that is skilled and able to take used, refurbished or even broken iPods and fix, re-condition and load them with the Bible, sermons, teachings and worship! It is our prayer in 2010 to receive many iPod’s through recovery and giving, to put them in the hands of children’s workers who would not be able to be able to purchase them on their own.

We encourage you to host an “iPod Donation” Find-raiser/Fundraiser. Our friends will include additional accessories with the iPod, such as waterproof cases, ear buds, speakers & extra chargers. If you would like to give a gift of a used or new iPod, please contact us via email familycircus@agmd.org If you know of a someone that has an extra iPod that they may like to put into the ministry, please let us know and we will definitely help to make it happen.