CFNTRAL CHURCH OF CHRTST

UAO S. OAKDAl.K AVE.MI-DFORO, OPHCOM 97^01

FfARCH 75, 1983/IDp o cr iqg3

Our Dear Friends,

Due to postal regulations are havlnp, to adiust the heading on Marv's newsletters, wepray you will be patient with us as we adiust to Che necessary changes. We quote from arecent letter from them*

''it has been a long time since you last heard from us, and what a time it has been! The monthshave flown by as the Lord has blessed and guided us these months(like lb children with themeas les)In October we took Samuel for his first surgerv for his hare lit and cleft palate. ThisFebruary I took him back again for Che second* What a difference It has made in his appearance and ability to speak! We praise the l.ord tliat the doctor &anesthe.sloLoglst both donatedtheir services. Also the Masonic Lodge paid for all the hospital expenses and medicinesfor the second surgerv. The Lord does provide as He has promised, even through non-Christ Ian?In the next letter there will be pictures of Samuel.

Most of you kniease know cri.it we arethankful for the love gifts given us. There are stillBERT & MARY

gifts In the barrels my parents sent tliat were not yet at home when T left almost a month a-go. So your 'thank you' may be coming. We do praise the Lord for all the love shown us byHis family. Also, Christmas was exciting with o\ir special visitors. We were so busy! I donot know how we would have been rendv without mv parents* help. We may have to have thericome back each vear to lielp, Tliank vou to all of you who sent gifts and monev to make ourChristmas full and special. Tt was a great time of remembering the great gift the Fathergave us In His Son, and Christ's gift of His life for us.

We had some sad times In those months also as we lost several children.Joseph, Agripina andRlcheJle all left in Nov. ft Dec. Richelle was a verv beautiful healthv girl when she left.Thank you to all of vou who prayed for her. Now we prav that some how they will all be ableto know and love the Lord. After Christmas our hoy Elmer left us. He was one of our firstchildren and it was hard to let him go. Although Elmer had known the T.ord he had decided tofollow the ways of Satan. Because he refused to repent & change, we(hts grandmother, & hisaunt) all "decided it was best, especialIv for the other children, that Elmer leave. We praythat some day he will return to walk in tlie Lord's love. Please keep htm in vour prayers.

On January 31 we were very happy to have Menchl rejoin our family. We had prayed for herevery day and the Lord answered our prayers(that she would be able to receive Christiantraining & know Him better) in an unexpected way.This month of March has been a real dlllv, but all I can doIs praise theLorci. As I am writing this I am at the hospital at Clark Air Base, where I have been since the 3rd.Our boy, Romy, got sick & in a couple of days was havingconvulsions. The doctors at home suspected meningitis, epilepsy or some kind of poisoning. To make a very long storyshort, we were flown by Air Force helicopter from Aparrl tohere. (They were planning to take us to Manila but becauseRomy's tempurature was 106F & he was barely alive theflight surgeon has them stop here at Clark where we wereadmitted as 'civilian emergency',) How we praise the Lordfor providing the transportation f. for getting iis into thebest hospital available in the country...and that Romy isalive! If we had gone on to Manila we would have been wherewe were with Roger h I really doubt that Romy would have

lived. He was in Intensive care for 10 dnvs most of that Signing the contract

we were both in isolation. We will he liere tmtil the end of the month & then will be back2 or 3 times for check-ups, Thev thought he had meningitis but now think encephalitis, butit is still a mystery. Space does not allow for telllnp all the blessings and ways the Lordhas worked in this. It has been hard but T praise Che Lord for His strength that has heldme up. His healing power working In Romy, the wonderful people here(Christian & non-Christ-tlan)and for Bert who is at home taking care of things there. Romy has a long way to go vetin getting back to the active normal boy he was, but we have asked the Lord for, and arethanking Him for Romy's complete healing. Please continue Co hold him up before the Lord &pray that others will be closer to the Lord because of our time here at the. hospital.

This week Minda, our oldest, graduated from high school at Northern Tsabela Academy. How sadI was that I could not be there for my first daughter's graduation. 7 thank the Lord for heraccomplishments and also for this Christian school that has been a great help to her. Wealso had one graduate from 6th grade, Clorla is a little afraid of that big step into highschool, but the Lord will strengthen her.

Joy Collins left this week for three weeks in Japan & then a six-month furlough in Che U.S.We will really miss her, but are glad she can go 6 see her family and get some rest for awhile. She has been such a great help In so many ways. Please pray for her as she travels.

There is mvich more that could besaid, but space, 6 my absencefrom home, will not allow. I dopraise and thank the Lord foreach of you who are partnerswith us in any way. I thank youfor giving of yourselves, yourtime, money ^ love as we work together in the work of our Lord 6Savior, Jesus Christ. As we a-gain remember and celebrate thetime of His giving His life thatwe might have life eternal, mayeach of us renew our commitment

of our lives to His service. Howgreat is His love for us.!"Bert sent a message that Mary wasstill at the hospital on March 29.Please pray for Bert as he assumesfull responsibil icy "at the llonit;, without adequate preparation time.

He is truly a loving father and conscientious administrator.

Thank you for vour faithful support In concern, prayers and sharing. They are strengthenedand warmed by your very evident love.

If any of you would like to write to them(Marv and Bert) their address is: M/M Bert BurerosP.O. Box 49, Aparri, Cagayan, 1118 Philippines, Tf vou have need to contact their forwarding agents their names are: Bob & Jean Prultt, 2784 S, River Rd., Grants Pass, Oregon97526

t-

CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST1440 S. OAKDALEMEDFORD, OREGON 97501

ce-r"^

Jr

Non-ProfIt OrganizationU.S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 561Medford, Oregon

Our Dear Friends,

CKNTRAL OF CHRIST14An So. Oiktlale Ave,MFPFORR, fiHECON 97501

6^193

^Ugs J98i

Ap.aln we must chanr,e the format of MFSSACF FR:>M MARY AMP BFRT in order to meet postal rep.ula-tlons. We may quote from their letters, hut may not lust print their letter under Medford,Orepon, Central Church of Christ Postal permit. So we quote:

"Then they cried to the lord in their trouble, and He saved them from tlieir distress. He sentforth Ills Word and He led them; He rescued thtm from the p,rave. T.et them give thanks to theLord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of !!is \jorks with songs of joy," (Psalm 107:19-22) THese words really describewhat tiie Lord has done for us and how we need to thank Him, because of the healing He hasbrought to our Komv." (Romy was hospitalized for more than a month at Clark Air Base Hospitalapparently struck down by enceplialltis, which nearly took his life.) "Klien Romy was releasedfrom the hospital April 6, this three-year-old was like a new-born baby. The doctors said itwould be at least 6 months l>efore v.-e would see improvement, andthen not to expect much. We prayed and claimed the Lord*spromises for healing through Jesus Christ and rejoiced greatlyon June 7 when Komy was again walking by himself. l-Ilien we wentback for his check-up on June 9, what joy and amazement thedoctors showed as they saw how Romy was Improving. How thankfulwe were to he able to give the praise and thanks to the Lordand to show His love and power to those who do not believe. Weare so thankful also for ftie doctors vjho helped us through. Wepraise the Lord that He is continuing to heal IJomy and that heis almost back to normal. We have watched him grow up all overagain, but with joy as we see the T.ord at work in him. Pleasepraise the Lord w1tli us and continue to pray with us for Romy'scomplete healin>',.

We go for a check-up again on August 10 and are praying that hewill he a very normal 3-year-old by then. We prayed in thefirst montli he would bo walking again and he was. We prayetlin the seconcJ month Cliat he would be talking and toilet trainedfor the next check-up and he was. And we know tlie Lord willdo this also. It was hard going through the sickness & timein the uospical .vith I-orav (especially after going tl.rougii itwith !iis brother, who died) and seeing him like a babv again. But the T.ord beard our cry andsent His Word to lieal and rescu

Felix came to us at the a(e of 12 P< was here Ayears. Two weeks aRo our littlr' *mnr. /nohad been with us almost 3 years, was returned to his father because lie is now a '' to care,for him. It was so hard to iiavp him leave. We firav that even thouph lie is oiilv 5 vears old

remember the love of the T.ord for iilm aaii will continue to follo'T the truths of theV '^ord that have been taupht him. We p.ave the father a Bible, lie was verv plad to pet itwanted to read it to know the truth of Cod's hb'rd. We only wish thev lived closer so v^ecould teach them."

"Pulce joined our family about a month ayo. Shf i-zill be ^ years old this month, but her mental ape is about 1 year old. She was livlnp with a doctor and his familv who took her in after her mother abandoned her at birth. They have found they cannot care for her now, hutthey hope to be able to care for her apain in the future. They live close ^ we prav that wewill be able to share with them the lovinp praco of our T.ord .Tcstis Christ. Next came 7enaida,who is 10 years old. She was sold at one time^ by her mother, but an uncle (a Pentecostalpreacher) boupht her back and has .kept her. Now they are in very had financial trouble & so,on recommendation of the MSSD, she is here, l^vd1a, the Neprlto girl who was here before, hascome back, after heinp pone a year. We have made a special case for her so that she can petan education and someday be able to help her oivn people. She is now 11 venrs old, likeZenaidn, irf prade 1. F.upenlo joined us just a week npo, the product of a hrol-cn home. lieis 11 and in prade 1. Pray with us that we may raise these children to v/alk in the steps ofOur Lord. Right now we have a total of 3^ children."

"The weather has been very hot lately, pettinp up to b5inside in the mornlnp and hotter out in the siin(withhigh humidity also). Sometimes it is almost too hot toto wear clothes and all you want to do all dav is takeshowers. Angel decided it was too hot for clothes , sodressed like his relatives."(Anpcl is a Neprlto, andthis is Indeed the wav his relatives dress. They areimpoverished, uneducated hill people, the orlpiaalFilipino, small and dark.)

Fveryone is wishing to know how Bert is doing with his bignew family and responsibilities. We will quote from oneof Mary's personal letters: "Bert is doing greatsure am Jglad to have him for a lot of the discipline, jl'o is also rworking on the kid's records and attends meetings, etc.. ^Sure am thankful for him,.and the example of a happily mar--rie-.l cotip'I.G for't]u~l:icls since most come from nad home

backgrounds."

And, quoting from a personal letter to his wife's parents,a message from Bert himself: "I wish I could thank all thepeople there personally for making the work here possible.Please thank them all for us."

Now from both of them:" W'e want to thank all of you foryour faithful giving tliat has enabled us to continue thiswork and to help these children, '-/e need your prayers &financial support; the gifts of clothes and toys help usso much. One thing we could use are educational toys thatdo not have many pieces to them(they are easily lost withso manv little hands). Thank you to all who have sent bibsand plastic pants and pictures for the childrens' projects.You are all so wonderful fc we praise the Lord for you. Tfanyone is interested in sponsoring a child the cost for fullsupport is $50. Rut any amount will he gladly and thankfuUv accepted. 'av the Lord blesseach of you as you serve Him in vour ovm special ways and as you work with us fe. teaching &sharing the love of Christ vitli these children"Tliank vou for vour commitment of love and prayers and gifts for the worh x'lt.h the children.If any of you. would like to write to ^'ary aid Bert, their address is t'/v Bert Bureros, P.O.Box A9, Aparri, Cagayan 1118, Philippines. If you have need to contact their forwardingagents, their names are: Rob and Jean Prultt, 278A So. River Rd,, Crants Rass, CR 07527

CFNTRAL CHURCH OF CHRISTlAAO S, Oakdale?'rdford, Oregon 07501Missions Department

lorlzons Magazinemissions ServicesBox 2427

Our Dear Friends,

CENTRAL CHURCH OF CHRIST1440 So. Oakdale Ave.Medford, Oregon 97501

October 17, 1983

^303

OCT 20 1983

Again we bring you MESSAGES FROM MARY AND BERT by quoting from their letters, because we arenot allowed by postal regulations to put out their newsletter as such under our mailing permit. So we quote:

"How quickly the time has flown and it is already time we communicated with you all again.These past three months have been wonderful, with the Lord, through His wonderful people,meeting all our needs. There have been, as always, the hard times and good times, and becauseof the Lord's constant care and strength and love we can praise Him for all of them."

"Since the last newsletter we have had 10 new children, Renie, 8, and Magie, 11, were broughtby their mother in July because their father is a drunkard and beat her until she could standit no longer. Having no where to go and no one to help her, she broughtt the two youngest toU8(the others are already out on their own, or with other relatives)."Next came Jun Jun (said like June) who just showed up at our door one Friday afternoon.We found out he came from Tuguegarao, a town about 1 1/2 hours drive from here. He had runaway from home often because of a bad home situation. He was very happy here and said hewanted to stay. Jun said he was 7 but my guess was a young 6 years old. Two weeks laterwhen sent to take a bath, he just disappeared. We were all so surprised because he was veryhappy and had adjusted well and was not fighting or having any problems. We have prayed forhis return so he can leam of the Lord's love but as of yet we have not seen him. Just praythat the little he learned of the Lord's love in the two weeks he was here will stay with himand lead him in the right path. It is amazing how quickly you can come to love a child andbow it hurts to have them leave."

"The day after Jun Jun came we received two more boys, ages 8 &from Kalinga-apayao province but their motherhas been living near here for the last yeartrying to make a living and keep the family together. She is a widow and because of lack ofrain and thus lack of crops and jobs she couldno longer care for all her children. Bothboys are in Grade 2, from a Christian home background and have fit in very wellr."

"We were all so happy when Relly Boy joined ourfamily because our baby was already 1 year oldand Relly was 3 mos. No baby was so loved byall his brothers and sisters and fought overas to who got to hold and feed him. The fatherbrought the baby but later told us he wantedto sell him for 1,000 pesosCabout $91.00). Howthankful we were for working with the MSSD(So-cial Services) because he could not take thechild away without their permission. As it turned out he came back with his wife and a letterfrom the MSSD for Kelly's release, and how reluctant we were to let him go, fearing that thefather would run off with him again and sell him.We only had him one week but we all cried when he

"Arsenieo, 6, and Jocelyn, 5, were brought by their father after the mother died from cerebralmalaria. The grandparents took the two youngest. The father has no work and no way to lookfor a job with the children. Then again we were very happy when 3 mos. old Anthony, illegiti-

'mate son of college.students, joined Us September ISi. The .next .day Aldrin, about 4 years old.Joined our family. He is mentally retarded and is not walking yet. We have started him onexercises and although he does not like them he is improving, almost crawling now. So we havebeen busy receiving and losing children. Thank you so much all of you who have helped make itpossible for us to help these children, both physically and spiritually, allowing us to havethe joy we have in them as our children. We now have 42 children. All beds are full and we

are using one folding cot(and two of our children areaway from home)".(After Mary sent those figures 4 morechildren were added to the family 1)

"In July we were able to purchase a Toyota Tamaraw,which is sort of a modem Jeepney. It is crowded for

all of us to ride(when we only had 36 kids) but we are80 thankful for this service vehicle and have also enjoyed using it a couple times to go to the beach and towatch programs and services at the Seminary. It cost

about $1,500 and we have had some special gifts comein to help with the cost. Thank you to all who helped

Our "new" (used) car

Johnny and Salvador are

Playing in the sand at the beach

left."

e the Lord fo. supplying -ecial neea. Uving 1^ V'tllT Z Zn7ZTnlZZ?ZTJt ZZ7ZryZj. rZuy in P.e PMUppinea... .avoToan driver.

"In August Bert haa "although it^reaUy''''taockea him down for awhile,correctly and he as soon back on i j ^t- nan be fatal) Every day I thank therd%:rrura^wra:rfuf:^:ra:a^Lrrth^^r ^r rSi^aren an^ am amarea at how He prepareaUS both for this work together."

"e have haa some wonaerfui visits from f-eTr S anr^vfffrt; L^ra:uh^rei."LS%:efraraSriro^c oher. - re"'for '^lfL's^ara^l'sirgl' Ho '^we :raise the Lora for the life He has given Homy, andpray that Romy will also give his life to and for the Lord.

- - vv^n vea'- w^th more than 1,000 students again.Our two Christian high schools ^" ""1^ drought and because of that the farmers are not ableOur only problem is that we are suffering g ^ Ariel is studying at Southernto plant Ld so no income and thus no money rfirr^aT He is also their representativeIsaLlla Acaaamy and in the Srd place in Mini d;inrweU in her studies at thein the tennis tournament and on the ^f\ririol and selil for the Lord. Also just yes-Seminary. We pray that both ^^^^^rfrom the elementary schools in this area, including our

cltltfllrmlt^ Hegion^al and then the winner goes to theNational in Manila.

people are really beginning to suffer -cause^^J^Verfpln llfldVuiTrplli: T*but the people have not been ^ l nf no income and high prices people are really hurt-October(as well as salaries) and only eating twice a day, and some not thatIn,. .n, nf Xt mS it .!! nr no,.!,. L-n. '"T I" ">

I- Ti>W7iTTffi

The Home with the terracing work completed

The terracing in front of the house isnow finished. It really looks nice andshould keep the ground well for many yearsto come. We hope, when Joy Collins comesback in October, t^ get some fruit treesand flowers planted on the terraces andthen it will look even nicer. Some daywe will even get a playground fixed up.

Again we want to use those feeble wordsand say "Thank you" to all of you whoare partners with us in any way in thiswork of the Lord. So many of you deserveand should receive personal thank yous,but again we ask your forgiveness as ourdays just do not seem long enought to geteverything done. Even as prices and salaries have gone up we have not suffered

May the Lord bless each one of you. We loofc torwara"Thank you". nbildren in all the wonderful ways you do. IfThank you for upholding Mary M/M Bert Bureros. P.O. Box 49. Aparri, Cagayan,

Pruitt, 2784 S. River Road, Grants Pass, Oreg

Central Church of Christ1440 S. Oakdale Ave.Medford, Oregon 97501Missions Department

Horizons MagazineMissions ServicesBox 2427Knoxville, TN 37901

Non-profit OrganizationU.S. Postage Paid

Permit No. 561Medford, Oregon