This Week: The GLS Reaches Leaders in 6 of 7 Continents

The GLS will have our biggest week thus far this season. The GLS will reach 11 countries, 20 cities with some 4800 participants. Below you'll find a run down of where we'll be.

Oct 19-20
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Oct 21-22
Almaty, Kazakhstan

Oct 23-24
Canberra, Australia
Melbourne, Australia
Perth, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Recreio, Brazil
Sao Goncalo, Brazil
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Sofia, Bulgaria
Prince George, Canada
Thunder Bay, Canada
Guatemala City, Guatemala
Jos, Nigeria
Boracay, Philippines
Mpumalanga, South Africa
Angelholm, Sweden
Gothenburg, Sweden
Orebro, Sweden
Skelleftea, Sweden

As was widely publicized in the news, The Philippines has been greatly effected by the recent typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng. A country made up of a series of islands, storms of the magnitude of these can greatly damage the poverty-stricken cities there. From landslides in the more rural areas to massive flooding in the poor, urban cities, citizens of the Philippines have sustained massive damage to their already limited worldly posessions. Our GLS partner organization, APPEND, a microenterprize organization, is on the front lines of the response to this disaster, working to rebuild all that was lost.

The home of an APPEND client.

An APPEND loan officer trying to reach the home of a client.

The staff themselves has been giving not only of the resource of their time, but monetarily as well. Below is an excerpt from a newsletter detailing how they are being the "big C" Church in their community:

APPEND network staff that were also affected by typhoons contributed money and we also share our clothing with our poor clients. We decided not to spend a single cent for any Christmas party in our offices but rather use this budget for relief and rehab. We learned from the Word of God that “giving” is a privilege of the rich and the poor and if an opportunity “to give” arises we have to grab it and not contemplate on it. We have repacked and distributed relief bags containing noodles, canned goods, mats, towels, drinking water, cleaning items, slippers, off lotion, rice, milk, cooking oil. Other relief bags contain underwears and clothings for those who were not able to salvage any of their clothings. We distributed 8,100 relief bags in Metro Manila and 13,100 in Central and Northern Luzon, Philippines.

Continue to pray for The Philippines, that God will flood the country with resources to recover all that was lost. Pray for our partner organization, APPEND, and its employees that God would strengthen them as they respond to this disaster. Pray for The GLS in The Philippines, that the war-weary leaders in attendance would gain endurance for the fight they are in and would be envisioned by the Holy Spirit. Pray that they would have eyes to see all the God wants to do in their country.

The GLS in The Philippines is in Boracay this weekend, October 23-24 and in Manila, November 6-7.