RALPH ZYROSS FERRARIS

For two months, I asked God what He wanted to do as a project that will contribute to the
Mom’s and youth here at the center.I started the plan b letting everyone understand.So we invited a person from the Department of Agriculture to train us.

Two days after the training we started to build the garden.Knowing  that we had a limited area for cultivation, wedevised a garden set-up that required less space. Our garden is the lifted kind.

We didn’t directly cultivate on the ground but we created elevation by mounting pipes as bases. We now have one set-up made as a start and we are praying to have more.We will also install fences around to safekeep the garden.

Now we are waiting fo God’s bountiful harvest!

Summer is complete, and I am so blessed with what God has done with our camp season. This summer we had the theme: Funtastic Farm – focusing on growing in the knowledge and love of God. I had the privilege to be one of the lead characters in the skit being a scarecrow named Mickey. He helps a boy Santimo in discovering how to make a tree grow and bear good fruit. It is such a an amazing sight to see children coming to the Lord, knowing more about Him, and accepting Him as their personal Lord and Saviour.

We had 10 camps this year all over Panay Island. We held our first camp at the center with 130 kids. The same week we went to Leganes, a 30 minute jeepney ride from town to do an outreach camp for 60 kids. It was our first time in Leganes, and the kids loved camp, especially the water games. Compassion kids ministry was our third camp,and to my surprise, some of the kids in Compassion don’t belong to a family,rejected by their parents, and sexually abused or abandoned.

Our fourth camp involved 5 churches in Antique. There was a kid in Antique that touched my heart. I saw him with a chest scar over his heart, so I approached his mother and asked what happened to him. His mother told me that he has congenital heart disease. It struck me that even in his early childhood he had already went under so much pain in his body and even more to his parents. During camp however, I saw his face light with joy as he danced, sung and learned about Jesus. It’s as if all the pain in his heart was completely wiped of his face.

For 4 years, the Ignite a Movement (IAM) team has been ministering to the Ilonggo youth here in the city. This year’s theme was RESOLUTION – the state of being “resolute” which means firm in purpose and belief, or firm, unyielding, determined. This was the most awaited event of every youth in churches here in Iloilo. Every night hundreds of youth came and had their first encounter with the Lord. Previous years, the IAM team came with over 30 people from the USA. This year however, the IAM staff was localized having only 2 Americans assisting with the event. A large number of local churches were involved in ministering to the Ilonggo youth giving a sense of ownership, and responsibility to the local ministers in the area.

IAM is a 5-day camp and every night during the sessions lots of new believers came and accepted Jesus Christ in their lives. They conducted New Believer Classes during the afternoons and, as a youth coordinator here at Camp Sonshine, I was glad to bring my youth group to the event. Some of them brought their friends and they accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Saviour.

It was a blessed experience for me to be able to be used as an instrument in the lives of the children and the youth of Panay. I am grateful for you all being my partners and supporters in prayer and finances. Thank you for praying for me, and the numerous youth and children from our summer camps who have decided to grow in Christ.