Psalm 91 starts out,
"Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
 Surely he will save you
  from the fowler’s snare
  and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers
and under his wings you will find refuge...."

This entire chapter is one of the closest to my heart. It is comfort in a time of pestilence, plague, roaring lions, lurking cobras, impending war, looming economic depression. We all know fear. We all know trouble. We all long for the refuge and safety in the middle of it. That refuge is closer than we know.

God is speaking to me recently about shadows. Shadows come in the valley, and the valley? Well, we'd rather be anywhere but there. When the sun is bright on my face and the valleys are in my rear view mirror, I tend to feel safe and secure. But sometimes things are grey and out of focus and I can't see the way ahead so well. 

Corrie Ten Boom once said, “When you are covered by His wings, it can get pretty dark.”
Sometimes it is dark because He is so, so close. He is challenging me, calling me closer, and when my eyes squint to see past the grey, He whispers that even the dark is just a testimony of His nearness.
His goodness is better than I thought. It's good when the sun is shining, and it's really good in the shadows.

Dwelling in the shelter of the Almighty means living close-up in the presence of the Holy Spirit, connected to our Father's heart. This is not a place I visit or just read about, It's not a place I frequent with my outside face on; it is my dwelling place. My home. My habitat. My place I run to, stripped down, pulling the door closed, leaning back, and breathing in, because I'm home. That place. Right under His wings.  

Our life here in Mindoro is beautiful, and full, and joy-filled. Our children are thriving and flourishing. There is no place I would rather be than here; living this life of worship and obedience.  But our life is blended in with the lives and hearts of those we're called to serve. Inextricably entwined and meshed together. It's not "Us" and "Them"... It's "We".  

The families that we serve have become our friends... the Mangyans who come to our doorstep also eat at our table and have become our brothers and sisters. Their burdens become ours. We share their heartaches and joys. They've tasted more heartache than I've ever imagined, and as I walk beside them and cry out to Jesus, He is showing me how close He is. 

Recently there has been a virus affecting several of the Mangyan villages. We are not sure if it is a Covid variant or something else. Many adults and even more children have been dying. 
In the past several weeks, many families have hiked out of their mountainous villages, many hours away, to come find us and get help for their family members. 
Several weeks ago, a young couple hiked from their village of Sipit, carrying their 3 year old daughter, Reyna. She was barely conscious... She had diarrhea for two weeks and was close to death. We took her for lab work and started her on IV's and medication. Her Hemoglobin was 2. for reference, a normal hemoglobin is around 13. People with a hemoglobin of 2 are no longer alive. 
We prayed over her, and sent her for an emergency blood transfusion. We prayed, and wept, and prayed. 
That day we got word that three more little children died suddenly from other villages. Their parents did not bring them for help in time. 
But Reyna lived.  She is healed, and well, and back in her village, climbing trees and chasing goats. And my heart rejoices for this life that was saved. Thank you to all who prayed for Reyna!

A few months ago, we hiked in the mountain village of Pagturian, about a 45 minute drive from
our home. Our team partnered with a local leader, and went house to house conducting
checkups for the sick. We had planned to go to another village that day and Holy Spirit told us No, we were to go to this village instead. We listened.
We were told about a pregnant woman who was experiencing swelling and difficulty.
Our family and team of midwives descended a muddy, slick trail, and entered a dark, smoky hut.

Sheila was laying on a bamboo platform, largely pregnant with her fourth child. Her other three children
played at her feet, naked, bellies swollen with parasites, feverish eyes.
Sheila’s mother took Francis’ hand and pressed it to her cheek. She began to cry.
In a mixture of Iraya and Tagalog, she said through tears that she remembered us.
She had moved her family of ten from their home deep in the mountain village of Sipit
(about a four hour hike from there) just three days earlier, to find us. They knew that we
would help them. They had no way of contacting us, so God led us straight to them.

Years ago, her husband was carried down from their village by friends of ours. and sent to the provincial
hospital with a foot wound.
For many days, he was not given any medical treatment or care by the staff. By the
time Francis learned of his wound and drove to the hospital to see him, his wound has
worsened. The staff had not cleaned his foot or given him any medicine. Francis
bought supplies and cleaned his wound. The surgeon came to explain that he needed
his leg amputated. By this time, he was septic, they did the operation, and he died.
This family, like most of the indigenous peoples of this island, are wary, fearful, and
untrusting of the hospitals because they are most often treated unjustly. 

Sheila had never had any prenatal care, and looked to be close to term. She had
severe swelling/ pitting edema from her feet to her chest. Her blood pressure was extremely
high. All signs and symptoms pointed to Preeclampsia— a dangerous complication of
pregnancy that could kill both her and her baby.
It was important that they receive medical care in hospital immediately, but even after being
educated about her condition, they refused to go the hospital. We understood why, but explained that she could die. They refused to go/
We chose to give Sheila the best care we could provide, to honor her and do all we could. We
started her on a special protein diet, anti-hypertensive drugs, vitamins. We came to see
her every few hours to monitor her and baby. Within a day, she was in labor. We
drove Sheila and her family to our home.
We pushed meds to bring her blood pressure down, and Sheila birthed a beautiful baby
girl, who had a cord wrapped tightly around her neck three times, as well as meconium
stained amniotic fluid that posed risk for severe infection.

Sheila began to hemorrhage postpartum, which is the result of high blood pressure,
malnutrition, anemia.
She was given four injections to stop her bleeding and we performed multiple
maneuvers to contract her uterus and stop the hemorrhage. Thirty minutes later, she
was smiling, nursing her daughter, stable. Alive.
After checking her blood levels and ascertaining that she was severely anemic, we transferred Sheila to the hospital to receive a blood transfusion— she agreed.
Sheila is now home in her hut in Pagturian, surrounded by her children, regaining her strength. She and her baby girl are survivors.
Had they stayed in their remote village, had they not chosen to come get help, the chances of one or both of them dying in childbirth are high.

We cried together and worshiped at the goodness of God, ecstatic that after thirteen years of building relationship and serving the Mangyans, they are trusting us and coming for help before it's too late. 

Daily we walk with these beautiful ones on what feels like a tightrope between life and death. We get to see God miraculously heal and move powerfully, daily.  And then sometimes we do not see the healing we prayed for, and the mystery, the shadow of His wings, we breathe Him in and rest in His goodness, holding onto Him in the dark.

I (Leah) have been struggling with autoimmune disease for several years, and just recently have seen a Rheumatologist. The blood work seems to be pointing to Lupus. We believe that God is healing me, and we are worshiping and living in His incredible goodness on all the days, even the ones that are filled with body pain and exhaustion. God is showing me His goodness and kindness, His gentleness, more in my weakness and limits than I have seen or tasted before. I'm thankful.
Can you join us in praying for complete healing?

In super exciting news, our wonderful friends, Scott and Ruth Buchanan, and their kids Izzy and Isaiah, have moved from Australia to Mindoro to partner with us in ministry. They are friends, ministry partners, and family for us, and are such a gift to us and the Filipino people. We are so honored to walk beside and serve with them! 

As costs are soaring in America, they are here as well. Our island's power company is rife with corruption. Prices have tripled because of fuel costs, and yet we are without power twice, sometimes three times each day. More and more families are coming to us weekly for food, as they cannot afford their basic needs. 
We share what we have so that no one goes hungry; in the kingdom of God, there is always enough. We will continue to give and to pour out. 

It may look crazy to be thinking of expanding when everything in the world is so unsure and unsettled. But we know that God's kingdom looks upside down. We are about walking in obedience, and sowing seeds for what is eternal.
We are meeting with a foundation and working towards an agreement to purchase land to build a Wholeness center, Maternity center and clinic. 
Please pray with us as we begin to fund-raise for our land! 

Would you consider sponsoring a family by providing food this month, providing medicines/ hospital costs for one sick Mangyan patient, or would you consider giving a monthly gift so that we can continue to feed, give medical care, and nurture those that God has brought to us? 
We can keep serving the poor and broken, keep showing the love of the Father, because you are holding onto us, praying for us, and giving. We are so grateful for each of you. Thank you for partnering with us.

Blessings, Grace and Peace as you rest in the shadow of His wings.

The Daytecs

​

Beautiful friends we love,April has arrived, and as many of you on that side of the ocean are looking for signs of spring and promises of warmer weather, we are looking for a breeze. Any breeze will do, but when they come, it kind of feels like the air wafting from the mouth of a volcano. Summer in the Philippines… it slows us down, makes us hover around the water jugs, zaps our energy, drives us to look for the wind.
I’m feeling my limits in 115 degree heat. 
We’ve recently been studying Mark 8, where Jesus miraculously feeds the four thousand.The crowd was hungry, their location was remote— no food, no stores, no means. 
The disciples were agitated, “Send them away,”  they said. 
They walked and lived with Jesus, but often failed to actually see Him, because the needs, problems, issues around them distorted their view of Him. 
They experienced His touch, and yet missed His invitation to trust deeply, to come, taste and see.
They are there at the feeding, but acted like the wilderness generation of Israelites… they acted a little bit like us: They looked around at the situation and grumbled, thought small, made their own plans. They saw the King of the universe through the lens of their circumstance.
The disciples saw the limits, they saw the lack, they saw how impossibility... They looked for the bread when He was standing right beside them.
Jesus didn’t rebuke them, but instead He asked what they had with them, what they had in their hands. 
“Seven loaves and a few fish.”
Jesus made sure those small loaves passed through their hands and they never ran out. There were 12 baskets left over.
Jesus was right there all along, with them. He was the bread. He was the miracle.
We so often bemoan our limits and lack, and shrink back from faith, when Jesus looks at our limits as an opportunity to showcase Himself. God knows your limits, He knows your struggles, He may not remove them, because He wants to show HIs limitless power through your cracks and fragility. He isn't limited by your smallness. 
I have struggled for many years with my Tagalog language skills. It has been a source of shame for me as I wrestle and strive and try, as I battle my foggy, tired brain. There are other missionaries who master it so fast, a few who have subtly shamed me and questioned if I should be here if I speak it so poorly. I’ve cried out to Jesus much. And I've just cried. I've tried to hide my insecurities and inglorious bits, but here they are....12 years later and I’m working with a tutor. 
Last week I was asked to speak for a Women Of Faith gathering for the pastor’s wives in our area. It’s something I enjoy and do often. These women are my family here, they are gold. They have given me the honor of being their spiritual advisor and I am humbled and honored to serve and champion them, to pray with and love them.
Holy Spirit was leading me to share a powerful message on the spirit of offense and how satan lays the bait of offense to trap us (Matthew 24). When we allow a spirit of offense in our hearts, we grow hardened, become easily deceived, and our Love grows cold. I believe the church is being divided and attacked through a spirit of offense.
I looked out at the faces of these women I love, around 70 of the most beautiful and strong leaders in our community.  Several of the women in the group were Mangyan indigenous women, and I wanted them to fully grasp the power of the verses I was sharing. They do not speak or understand English. My Tagalog was choppy at best. 
Holy Spirit made it clear that I was to speak English. 
I began to pray out loud, “Holy Spirit, I welcome you to come and move powerfully, please translate for me, and transform every heart with your words.”
The Holy Spirit came and moved, all around the room, women began to weep. Roots of offense, bitterness, unforgiveness, resentment, began to be pulled out. Repentance and forgiveness flowed, freedom came.
Wives went home to their husbands and conversations, prayer, and repentance lasted long into the night. 
A dear friend, Nanay (Mother) Florence, is a Mangyan indigenous grandmother, leader, and pastor. She and her husband lead a church high in the mountains, and she is in our home each day... she is strong and fierce, soft and sensitive.
She also does not understand more than 10 words of English. She and her husband both come from lives of brokenness and rejection. Their home is often shadowed with strife and arguments, anger and hurt. They love God, and also desperately need inner healing. 
She was weeping in the back row, undone by the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit translated every word directly into her mind and heart and lifted out roots of shame and offense. She went home and extended grace and forgiveness to her husband without saying a word. Holy Spirit spoke to her husband through vivid dreams that night, convicted him, he came to her, and for the first time hugged her close, wept, and repented. 
She came to our women’s Bible study yesterday to share her story, and tell of God’s goodness to bring hope and healing to a marriage that seemed hopeless.
She has lived a life marred with shame and rejection, but is now beginning to understand her identity as a daughter of God, and walk in freedom, confidence and boldness. 
The tears have come easily and fast over the past few days, as I see His goodness. I also see how often I limit God because of my limitations. His power and goodness is limitless and He wants to use our meager loaves and fish, our limits and lack, to display it.
He’s reminding me of the time He answered me and multiplied the spaghetti when we were feeding the hungry and knew it wasn’t enough. He’s met us in big and small moments when we looked to Him, and sometimes I miss it.  I don’t see the miracle of Jesus right beside me, In me. He wants to be my next breath.
 Don’t wait until you have enough. Don't miss how He's moving right now.
He is asking me, asking you, “What do you have in your hand?”
Use it and give Him your mustard-seed of faith. Watch Him bring the miracles and power.


Our team has been praying for many years for land to build our own maternity center, ministry/healing center and home. 
Two years ago, at the start of a pandemic, God said that the time to step out is now. 
We began to look for land and pray and fast more fervently. 


We are now praying over a plot of land that was once a ministry center, built by missionaries to be a place where Jesus is made known. It has been lying dormant for years now, and we are asking God to give it to us if this is it. We feel that it is.
Our hearts are peaceful, filled with anticipation and joy as we envision all the ways it could be renovated, built back again to be a place of healing and life. 
We meet TOMORROW with the organization that currently owns it— please pray that God will make it clear if it is for us, and for the financial provision needed.


Our team of six incredible women are growing in this season like never before. God is bringing a fresh anointing as they grow in their love for Jesus and each other. They are ministering to the community powerfully, and we are so proud of them. 
They gently and expertly palpate pregnant bellies, pray for the broken-hearted, walk people through inner healing and deliverance, cry with the hurting, feed the hungry. 
We continue to walk in faith, as we do medical outreaches in tribal villages several days a week, bible studies, lead home fellowship, buy van loads of rice to give out, and help empower and disciple Mangyan indigenous leaders. As we pray over sick patients, we are seeing healing and deliverance. God is moving!
Since the beginning of the pandemic two years ago, a large part of our ministry has been supporting the local churches in our city. The majority of these pastors and leaders are living well below the poverty line, and many of them supported their family through driving tricycle (motorbike and sidecar) for public transportation, as well as being in full time ministry. Since there are so few tourists and travelers now, they have lost their business. Most of them struggle to feed their families, while continuing to pastor their churches. 
We are led to love and give to them generously, so that they can continue to pour out the love of Jesus to the community. We financially support many of them monthly, and also provide food for their families. 
If you would like to give towards supporting a pastor’s family, or any of these other outreach projects, please connect with us.
Thank you for continuing to pray, intercede over us, remember us, and give financially. We thank God for you every single day. 
Through you, we are able to extend the hands and heart of Jesus generously. We’re so grateful for you!

​

Over on this side of the world, the winds and seasons are shifting and changing. Habagat, Monsoon season, is here. The air is hot and stifling, Close as we would say in Pennsylvania, and the rains and storms are moving in. 
Almost every night, lightening tears across the sky in jagged flashes, reflecting off the sea below our home. 
Across the Bay, we can see a thick haze that is settling low and dark over the mountains, a volcanic cloud of sulphur dioxide from Taal Volcano, that has been threatening to erupt since last year. Twice last week, small phreatic eruptions happened as magma rises.
The earth has been shaking, quaking, groaning. 

The last several months have been full. I look back and see, spilling and overflowing from the edges of our life, goodness. So much goodness.
Our team has been going deeper into the heart of the Father this year, learning God's love so powerfully. The Holy Spirit began to speak to so many of us individually that He was shaking things, moving, bringing in a new season where He would pour out His Spirit. We felt as the shaking began, and the excitement and joy was immeasurable. He began to forge in us a ravenous hunger for more of Him. 

At the end of April, many of our teammates as well as Francis and I, contracted Covid. My case was moderately serious, and Francis was severe. Most of our team felt mild symptoms and recovered quickly. 
Francis was in bed with high fever for 18 days, and did not leave the bed for 21 days...he cannot remember any of it. As I sat in bed beside him, treating him, watching him struggle to breathe, and saw the gravity of his condition, I heard the Holy Spirit say,
"Worship. Even this I am using for good. Worship."
Francis could not speak, and rarely could respond... when He made a sound, it was "Abba", 
God rescued, He brought us through, but before He did-- He held us and poured out His presence and spoke in the dark. He always speaks in the dark..
We are still weak, and having many residual Covid symptoms months later, but getting stronger.

For the past several months we have also been walking beside a beautiful family as the wife/ mom battled cancer. Rowena was a dear friend of mine, and when her breast cancer recurred, we walked through every part of the battle with them. Her children are 10 and 4. She was only 37. 
I had the profound honor of sitting with her and walking through inner healing of her heart, breaking of bondage from the past, and reconciliation with her husband, family, and the power of releasing blessing and love over her children. 
The week before her death, each day was filled with powerful times of connection, love, reconciliation, healing and freedom. She held my hand and shared that Jesus had released all the pain and heaviness in her soul and brought her freedom so miraculously.
We had been praying for healing of her body as well, but one day before her death, she looked at me and her face glowing, said that she knew Jesus was calling her home with Him. He had healed her in so many miraculous and powerful ways... He had healed the things that will last. He had healed things that were eternal. She was ready now... 
We provided palliative care in her home where her family could surround her with so much love.
A friend and I sat with her and provided oxygen, IV fluids, pain medicines, and facilitated an environment of worship, peace, and grieving together, blessing and releasing her to take Jesus' hand as she took her last breath. Rowena went with Jesus last Thursday. Our hearts grieve with peace and hope.

There is no palliative/ hospice care in the Philippines, and we are often called to help families as they walk through this difficult and sometimes frightening time. 
We provide medical care, but mostly offer Jesus... His love comforts, blesses, and holds us up. We cry, hug, pray, worship, and facilitate a space where nothing is left unsaid, where love and blessing are released. 
We feel profoundly honored that we get to be present and serve others as they go through birth, and some as they walk through the valley of death.

 As our team has been growing hungrier for God's heart, Holy Spirit began to pour out powerfully... Many people are coming to our fellowship each Sunday, and each Sunday, and throughout the week there are powerful breakthroughs, Inner healing, physical healing, deliverance from demonic spirits... God is taking orphans and making them Sons and Daughters, and people are walking in their identity as God's children. Many are choosing to be baptized.
We are in a season like no other... There is shaking, and new, fresh wind is blowing though this place.

 One pastor and his wife walked though powerful healing in their hearts and were able to experience God's love more fully in the past month. They sat at our table yesterday and cried, sharing that for the first time, they are now able to connect with their 20 and 18 year old children, and share affection and love. They are able to forgive those who have hurt them and walk in freedom. Their children are beaming, crying, celebrating the love their family now has.
The Holy Spirit is healing the hearts of fathers and sons, mothers and daughters. He is filling His children with His love and freedom.
There is nothing, nothing, that I love more than to see people set free by the love of our Father. Ever single thing He tells us is true... He has so much love and freedom for His children.

As the earth shakes, the winds blow, we are setting our faces excitedly on Jesus, and so grateful that we get to live this adventure  and walk with Him.

Our children Julia, Avea, and Justice are growing and flourishing. They climb mountains beside us and bring so much joy to our hearts. 

We have been able to fund expensive medicines, medical tests, dialysis treatments, and hospitalizations for more than 100 people (like Rowena) who could not afford it on their own, in the past couple months alone, as well as provide home health care, and continue to buy truckloads of rice every 1-2 weeks to distribute to the hungry. We're thankful for all of you and your generous hearts that give-- God is using you as you pray and give, to fill hungry bellies, help sick bodies, and show people the love of the Father.

We're so grateful for you! 
Grace and Peace,