Ferd & Christie Basto – Philippines

Bio coming soon.

Spring 2022

July Letter 2022

Hello Praying Friends, The month of July has been quite a trek with some high mountains and low valleys. Two of the low points have been the weather and the COVID restrictions, both of which are unstable and ever-changing. We are entering our third week of a steady monsoon. There has been no end to the downpours and we are trying our best to serve and maneuver through the floods and downpours. Along with the miserable weather conditions, the government has again enforced a lockdown here in the Philippines. Due to the rise of cases with the new COVID variant, Delta, Manila and surrounding areas are completely sealed up with no entrance or exit. There are also several areas here locally which are closing up daily, depending on cases. We experienced a scary situation on Monday when we were trying to get to one of our favorite markets, only to have soldiers with guns tells us to turn around and leave. We could not enter the town where we get supplies. So far, the village we live in is not under lockdown, and we are praying it stays that way. Thankfully, neither the weather or the restrictions have stopped our work here. There have been so many reasons to give God praise and glory, as He moves in the midst of all these trials. One of the huge praises is that we were able to get the folks of Mountain View Baptist under the roof of their new church building! We started work in May and are in absolute awe how the Lord provided and gave us strength to get so much done in less than three short months! hree weeks ago, the members met for the first time inside the building for their Sunday worship service. We praise the Lord that He allowed us to finish the roof before the heavy monsoons started! The people now have a safe, dry place to meet under!! There is still much work to do on the interior, and they need doors and windows, but at least they are under a roof and able to be safe from the heavy rains! God is so good! We also give God all the glory that He is still saving people and allowing us to minister even during these uncertain times. We stay faithful with our process of building relationships, earning their trust, sharing Christ and discipleship. One example is Mary Ann. Christie met her while out visiting in the next village over. She befriended her and began building a relationship. After a few weeks, Christie was able to share the gospel with her, and Mary Ann was so receptive! She asked questions and listened so attentively. What a joy to see Mary Ann tearfully repent of her sins and ask Jesus to save her!! Now, she is part of one of the discipleship groups we have going on each week. Christie hosts the groups for the female new converts. She teaches a 16-week discipleship course that helps ground new believers in God’s Word. This past month we were also able to resume our outdoor children’s Bible clubs, as long as it stays under 10 children in attendance. We have to divide the children up into groups and are holding between 7-8 clubs each week. With the new lockdowns going on, they may have to stop again, but for now, we are able to have meetings. Please continue to pray for us as we serve and work here among the Pangasinan people of the Philippines. Pray that the lockdown will not be enforced here in our area, like it is in other areas. This would mean we would have to cancel all our church services, discipleship classes and Bible clubs. That would be devastating. We truly covet your prayers for safety and God’s hand of protection. Thank you all so much, Ferd and Christie

We know the importance of spending time getting to know folks and building relationships with them. Please pray for us as we continue to go out, house to house, and pour our time and love into the lives of the people.

I continue to teach the children every week in an evangelistic outreach. We have learned that children are a bridge to reaching families, and we have definitely seen this in Palapad! Each week, mothers, fathers and even aunties come with the children to listen to Christie teach.

As we shared in our last prayer letter, the Lord provided a little classroom building for us to hold our discipleship classes. It has been the biggest blessing! Every week, we meet for Discipleship classes with the new converts. Christie teaches the ladies and Ferd has an adult class.

This past month we are experiencing our first loss in Palapad. Our dear little Pat, an absolutely precious and energetic 94 year old lady, passed away over night. She was one of the MOST dedicated people I have met in the 20 years we’ve served here. She would walk in the rain to my discipleship class, never missing a single meeting. She was the first to arrive at Ferd’s Bible study. She always had a big hug waiting for me and would literally run to me when I arrived. I will so miss her here in earth, but the joy that she is experiencing right now.. the things she has seen! Her faith has been made sight! 🙌

Ferd and Pat.

Christie has been holding a series called "THE LAMB" for the last 3 months with the children. It gives a clear explanation about Who Christ is and why He came to die for us.

I brought my little stuffed animal to demonstrate how the innocent lamb had to suffer for the sins of the people. They learned how the sins of man were transferred to the lamb. They all practiced putting their hands on the lamb’s head just like they read in our Old Testament passage. They are clearly understanding that sin demands punishment and death. BUT GOD made a plan for man to escape this tragedy. He provided the LAMB! It's incredible exciting to introduce them to THE LAMB of God Who came to not just cover our sins but wash them away! Our precious Savior, the Lamb of God- Jesus Christ ❤️ 🐑 The kids have learned so much and are really understanding! Salvation is much too important to not take the time to explain it clearly.

We also had a trying month with horrific flooding. We had several back to back typhoons and monsoons hit which left our whole province under the state of calamity. All the roads were closed and we found ourselves in danger several times as we had to drive through extremely high waters. How we praise the Lord for His protection!

Our Dear, Praying Friends, We wanted to give a brief update to let everyone know what our past month has looked like. The Lord graciously allowed us to fly in to the US to attend our son, Sean's graduation. It has been an absolutely treasured time for us, after being on the field for a year and a half and missing him intensely. We were so proud to see him and eternally grateful to be able to be part of this incredibly milestone in his life.We weren't sure how long we would stay, as we wanted to help get him settled into his next stages of adulthood. At that time, we had absolutely NO IDEA what he was going to do. Little did we know that the Lord had it all so perfectly worked out. The Directors of both the Theatre and Christian college where Sean graduated asked to meet with us and Sean. In that meeting they shared with us what a tremendous asset Sean is and how they do not want to let him go. Our hearts were just exploding with pride and joy to hear them describe Sean‘s level of talent and his advanced gifts. He has excelled and reached professional levels of graphic art design, animation, costume design, sets design and acting. They asked if he would please consider staying on with this ministry as staff.

We had no idea that they would invite him to stay, but this has been a specific prayer of Sean‘s as he feels such a tremendous burden for this ministry. He’s very passionate about the arts specifically within the realm of Christian drama. He wants to use his unique talents to glorify God, and this ministry allows him to do just that! The Academy of Arts Ministries not only serves the Greenville area, they also send out seminar teams all over the United States. We can’t think of anyway we could be more proud then knowing our son is using his talents to proclaim the Gospel of Christ with a ministry that has incredible Biblical integrity and has not caved into compromise as many others have.

We have spent the past month helping Sean get settled and ready to stand independently as an adult. Those who have young adult children, know how difficult this transition is and how vital it is for us parents to guide and help them to break free from us and branch out on their own. So we wanted to let everyone know the great news of how the Lord is working so miraculously in Sean‘s life, and how thankful we are for the prayers for our son over these past 21 years. It’s hard to let him move on, but, oh how grateful we are to see the Lord’s hand on our boy! We are now ready to return to the mission field, though it is difficult to leave him behind, we have a true peace knowing that he is in the center of God's will. We had actually planned to fly out this past week, but the price of tickets had quadrupled this month due to the high cost of fuel, so we will leave in July as the price of the tickets go back down then. This little bit of extra time has allowed us to gather supplies for a shipment, so we can send over much needed materials for both us and all our churches. With constant lock-downs in the Philippines, we will be thankful to have extra food and supplies on hand. Thank you for your prayers over these past few weeks. We wish we could have had time to see everyone, but this was such a short, very busy trip to help our son. We appreciate your prayers and will update everyone again once we reach the Philippines. Ferd, Christie and Sean Basto Planting Churches in the Philippines