For those of you who are reticent to believe that hell is real and that Satan is on the prowl, please open your eyes to the reality of this true story of Arvin and his amulets. In the Philippines, there are many who believe in witchcraft and those who practice it seem to have much power..but the power of our one God is so much greater. Please read this and spend some time in prayer for our missionaries in the Philippines, Kelly and Bellie Neal.

Dear Brother,

Arvin, the man Sister Luann and I visited up the mountain of Carmen, died. Arvin was worshiping God and was smiling when he passed away.

Kelly and I were there during his interment.

It was after the burial of Arvin that his aunt found three amulets in his backpack. I had asked for the amulets when grandpa was ill three years back. At that time Libby, Arvin’s brother, handed me an amulet that I prayed against and burned. I did not know it was actually Libby’s amulet. Grandpa had distributed his remaining amulets to his son and two grandsons, Libby and Arvin, when grandpa was sick and bedridden. It was passed down like an heirloom from generation to generation. When I asked for the remaining amulets, Libby reasoned out at that time that the other amulets were buried under the ground close to their hut. The amulet was  thick squared plastic containing oil. When I burned one amulet, that I thought came from grandpa, it slowly shrunk and shaped itself into the form of a demon with two horns, two deep eyes, a nose, a gaped mouth and a sharp chin. It was only now that Arvin had passed away that Libby confessed about the amulets.

Libby on the other hand now realizes the gravity of the amulet’s “vengeance.” He has decided to turn his life around and go with our Savior, Jesus Christ. He is now a believer and promised that he will stay close to Jesus. In fact, he is attending our Saturday worship now.

As to grandpa’s greatgrandchildren from his grandsons, they are all males. Something must be done with the remaining amulets and with the kids’ spiritual life. They need to know Jesus. It is not safe to wait and pursue this later. We must reach these grandchildren now.

As to the amulets, nobody would dare pick them up to bring to us. Besides, Kelly and I both have the flu. I feel the need to fast for this assignment. Then with much prayer, we need to go back up the mountain to get the amulets.

I still don’t know a lot of things when it comes to witchcraft and warfare. I know only that I have to depend on our God for guidance and protection.

Our God reigns!

In His arms,
Sister Bellie

What would you do if up the street from you, people were practicing voodoo and placing curses on you because you believed in Jesus Christ? This is the situation for Kelly and Bellie Neal. They are often NOT welcome with their words of life that stem from our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that we could be so bold HERE!

Please visit the site if you desire to help: Agape Outreach Ministry.

As part of our ongoing communication effort with the front lines of this ministry, I want to present the latest story from Bellie who, with Kelly, reside in the Philippines with their hearts for God. Here is the story of Christine. Please note, though no sponsor was immediately available for Christine, that did not stop the missionaries from offering hope and encouragement to this poor child. Please check your heart, as you read this story, and see if the Lord is asking you to sponsor a child (like this one).

Dear Brother,

I am constantly amazed at how the Lord sends these little ones. We have many new kids now. Again, I know that some will not remain but as long as the seeds of truth are planted in their hearts, we will always be hopeful that one of these days they will come to love the Jesus that died on the cross for them.

It was my birthday and Kelly said I will have to go to the parlor for my birthday treat. I was needing to have my ingrown toe nails worked on and also needed to visit the internet place to email some notes. This particular afternoon, I was walking with Kelly towards the highway when I remembered that our room was not locked. Kelly had to go back and catch up with me later.

I headed myself toward the woman that does pedicure work when the banana cue vendor and her sibling stopped me. I was thinking, “What is this all about?” They told me someone needed our help because there is this family that is very poor and they have almost nothing to eat. I was thinking they were speaking of a grown up woman so I politely said that I do not really need any house help, and besides, many of our kids have parents needing work. If I needed some help, I would employ one of the parents to help their family. However,  suddenly I smelt oil. When I smell this particular oil, I know that the Lord wants me to do something. God wanted me to do something right then.

The women referred to the girl that was sweeping near the street. I then realized they were talking about a young girl. I told them I will have to wait on Kelly to decide on matters like this. While we were talking, Kelly passed by us. He did not recognize me and, in fact, never even looked at us women talking by the road. When he reached the corner of the highway, however, he turned around and saw me. I walked towards him and jokingly said that maybe he is still thinking I am slim so he did not bother to stop by the big woman. Then I told him to take a look at the girl sweeping the roadside and I told him to love on her.

Kelly did not understand what I had said. He just seemed so surprised when he saw the kid. I was already by the beauty parlor when he brought the kid to me. He said he would be going back to the girl’s place to talk to the mother. I told him when I was done with the pedicure, I will proceed to the internet place.

A little while later he came to the internet place and told me that her mother had simply handed him a bag of clothes. He said he felt as if the kid had just been given away.

We came home that night with a very shy girl that looked like a captured rat. It took her some four days to really be at ease with us. Kelly said, “Oh boy, can she eat!” I asked the neighbor about the little girl’s background and they told me that the father of the kid abandoned them for another woman. The father left all of the children, but one, to his first cousin. The first cousin is also the breadwinner of a family that has an ailing mother that needs care. With four more mouths to feed, the cousin find it hard to make all ends meet. They are all sustained with only porridge or noodles and there is never enough. They sometimes miss their meals. The mother was still looking for a job at that time.

Even if this child, who’s name is Christine, has no sponsor yet, Kelly went ahead and enrolled the kid in school. No kid that lives with us should miss school. Christine is now happy, going to school and diligently doing her homework. She is now assured that her meals will be provided and that she will be provided for. She now eats at a slower pace. She also easily learned the songs we sing during devotion. I sometimes hear her sing while I am washing dishes. This is her new family and she loves it.

I pray Christine will be one of the kids that love the Lord from a pure heart.

Love in Jesus,
Sister Bellie

P.S. There is a whole lot more of neat events, but I am short of time. I will try to take a picture of Christine sometime for you to post. 

Visit Agape Outreach Ministry to see how you can help!

From right to left, Bellie Neal, Reymond, and the principal of the school.

The following story can help you put your finger on the pulse of the ministry.

Dear Brother,

Attached is Reymond’s picture. He used to be one of the headaches of the teachers. Whenever there were misbehaving boys called to the principal’s office, Reymond was one of them. He became a sponsored kid when he faithfully attended our Saturday Bible storytime. Here is his story:

The sponsored kids always drop by the house daily to ask for their school allowance. It is just a small amount to buy them snacks during recess time. We give it to them every morning as this gives us the chance to see them and evaluate how they are doing. I noticed that Reymond was thin and pale. I told him that I wanted to eat lunch with him everyday. If I had errands to make in the city, I left the house only after lunch so I could spend time with Reymond and also prepare a healthy meal for him. At first, I needed to stretch my patience. The boy was rough and hard core.

Reymond grew up with a single aunt who is also raising her two little girls. Reymond’s grandfather lives with them as well. Reymond’s aunt is the breadwinner. She earns her living by working and cleaning yards in the neighborhood, which is not everyday.

They live in a squatter’s area, meaning people built their huts and houses on land they don’t own. The neighborhood is a rough one.

Reymond sometimes missed lunch with me. He loved to run around with his rowdy friends. I fussed at him about that, though, and told him I was concerned about who he was running around with. Soon, Reymond moved in to live with me. There were other kids in the house that also moved in with me so I could care for them and keep an eye on them.

Devotion in the house is every evening during school days. My emphasis during this time period was on meditation on the Word of God and so it became more of teaching and preaching as the Spirit lead me.

One time after devotion, the kids told me that Reymond was crying by the well. He was hauling water for the house. I was busy cooking supper so I decided to ask him about that when I had the time. Supper time came and he was still crying. I asked him who quarreled with him or if he had any problem that I could help him with. He said he had no problem, and nobody had quarreled with him. He said he was crying that night because he learned that when God forgives, God also erases and forgets our sins just like we never sinned at all. When I realized that God had touched him that night, I almost could not eat my food. I wanted to cry with him, but the other kids might not understand why Tita and Reymond were crying.

Since then, Reymond was a changed boy. He became good natured, responsible and Godly. He studied better and did his homework diligently. Reymond graduated from Grade VI with a medal and six ribbons during Recognition Day. When his name was called, many pupils clapped their hands. He was also loved by the teachers. Reymond’s life became a living testimony to many. We are so proud of him, but I know that our Father is more proud of this changed life.

All glory and honor and praise be to the one true God who keeps us all in His perfect love.

In Christ,
Sister Bellie

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I had asked Bellie about the nine day prayer vigil for Lemuel’s mom, who had passed away recently. Here is her response:

Dear Brother,

Kelly will be with me later to answer you regarding your setting up Paypal on the website to be able to receive donations online. He is right now homevisiting our other kids in Danao City. I had gone marketing with him earlier and I went to pay rent while he is homevisiting. Lemuel is with me.

The nine days prayer is the usual tradition of the Catholics praying for their dead loved ones, so “they will go to heaven without delay and stay shorter in purgatory.” That is how things were explained to me when I was a little girl. That is also how the prayers seem to convey.

We’ll email you later.

In Christ,
Sister Bellie

Visit the website, Agape Outreach Ministry.com.

There is a spiritual battle going on and some areas of the world have a greater Satanic influence than other areas. The Philippines have much demonic activity and fear, but we know the Lord is the victor, conqueror, our redeemer. Today’s blog entry delves into the spiritual lay of the land there in the Philippines a little. We must not only sponsor the children, and Kelly and Bellie but we must pray for them all as well. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus, is faithful!

Dear Brother,

It’s only now that I found time to email.

Lemuel’s mother passed away Sunday last week. We prayed for her freedom, but the Lord had a different answer. She is now free from jail and free from the cares of this world. Lemuel will soon be with me after the 9 days prayer. (I will ask Bellie what’s behind the 9 days of prayer). Kelly and I visited him today and right now he is beside me in this computer place, playing a clean computer game.

Luann (the lady who went to visit Kelly and Bellie) and I had been very busy. We pray that God will schedule our activities. I don’t know what to tell you first because everyday is full of exciting events. One particular day comes to my mind now and it was when we went up the hills of Carmen. We rode in a motorcycle up the hills to visit Arvin, the cousin of one of our kids.

Arvin’s grandfather died of liver cancer 3 years ago. His grandfather had amulets that he gave away to a woman that massaged him. Shortly after that he got sick and died. I had a word from the Lord that curses were being sent against the whole family and it will attack all the males. The following year, Arvin’s father died of liver cancer. Now, Arvin is complaining of pain in his stomach. The ultrasound result is not good. We went to his place with his aunt and family. From Arvin’s looks, it was also cancer. The main purpose of going there was to present the gospel to Arvin so he will receive the Lord and also to pray for healing. Sister Rosenda asked me to tell Arvin about Jesus. When I started opening my mouth to talk, the roosters and dogs in the neighborhood started to get so noisy that it was hard for me to concentrate. I told Luann after I finished with the thought that moment, we needed to pray because the noise bothered me. Luann started to pray silently and the dogs and roosters quieted so I continued without stopping. While I was explaining to him what happened to his family, the Lord told me that the curses were from the demon spirits in the amulets that were very angered because Arvin’s grandpa “gave them away.” They were coming back to the family to stage a “genocide” against the males. It was a very important revelation.  It was also then that Sister Rosenda revealed that many of her uncles and clan members who also had amulets died of liver cancer. After Arvin accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, he asked God to forgive the sins of his forefathers, and asked God to break the curse from him down to his next generation. We then ordered the demon spirits to leave in the name of Jesus, then we prayed for his healing.

It was a very hot day when we traveled to Arvin’s place. Earlier when we were leaving for Arvin’s hill, Luann asked if she needed to go back to the house to get a sunscreen lotion to protect her skin from sunburn. The house was another block. We prayed instead that God will give her with heavenly melanin pigments to protect her skin from the sun. Her arms were exposed to the sun while traveling. When we came home that day, I noticed her skin was colored the same. No sign of heat exposure. I compared my skin reaction, and I was more brown than ever except for the skin under my wristwatch. God did provide a heavenly melanin for Luann! 

The husband of sister Rosenda now goes up every week to lead the Bible study at Arvin’s place. It is so neat to see brothers and sisters in the Lord working together in spreading the gospel.

Since we left that hill, I started to have a little pain in my abdomen. I felt a small lump in my abdomen. Because of the discomfort, I often thought of Arvin since it was also in the same spot where he had a tumor. I also began to have diarrhea that was different because it was not from an infection nor from too much cold. I got healed because I believe Luann prayed. The healing was also sudden. Then last night while we had dinner, Kelly had a severe pain in his esophagus.  He had been prayed over in the U.S. and he got the word from the Lord that he will be healed. It bothered him again after over a year. He wondered why it came back. Luann told me to pray for Kelly. I touched his belly. I felt the lump at exactly the same place that I had felt mine. I thought of Arvin again. That night, Luann started to write our daily events here in the Philippines. She had a headache and was sleepy when she reached the part of writing about Arvin. That was it! The demon spirits are around us trying to hurt us in every angle, and trying to stop everything that we might be able to do to tell others about how they operate. Who knows how much we have shaken their world! So I said enough because they have been long overstaying in my territory and ordered them to leave in the name of Jesus. The headache left.

We praise God because with Him, we are an overwhelming majority. We thank Him because we know He had wrought the victory when he died on the cross and rose from the grave. We are mighty glad that He gave us the authority: That whatever we bind in earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever we loose on earth will be loosened in heaven; that if we will only let God be God, we have the authority in the name of His Son, Jesus. We serve an awesome God and He is so good.

Please continue to pray for Arvin, for our protection, relationships, and for His work here.

God is great!

love in Christ,
Sister Bellie

Do visit Agape Outreach Ministry’s website.

Kelly missed his flight to the Philippines due to passport expiration problems. A traveling companion, Luann, who wanted to see the work the Neal’s were doing with the Lord in the Philippines wondered why Kelly wasn’t at any of the points they were going to meet enroute to the Philippines. Here is Bellie’s note on how God’s hand was involved in this whole matter:

Dear Brother,
I don’t know if this is for the blog. You know what happened to Kelly and his soon-to-expire passport. I was so alarmed when he called over the phone and told me that he was not allowed to fly out of the country. My mind was running wild and so rattled for Luann who was traveling with him coming to visit us because then, she would arrive in my country alone, not knowing her connecting flight, nor which terminal and which airline to go to. God spoke very clear to me, though, “She will be all right. I am in charge” – like everything is arranged. The Lord spoke peace but I wanted to carry the burden of being worried for her, and I was so worried.

I had asked a cousin who lives in the big city to meet her at the airport. I called the cousin about an hour after Luann’s plane was supposed to come in and my cousin was still out in the street, under the rain, waiting for a taxi. I begun to fuss at myself like why did I not follow  my plan B and that was to board a plane and be in the big city to meet her. My cousin ‘combed’ the place, asking for any white woman if she was Luann. She found Luann after 2 hours.

Luann on the other hand had been wondering why she never saw Kelly from Detroit to Tokyo to Manila but yet she was assured that everything was alright and that God was with her. She started getting concerned when she was paged by “Kelly” and Kelly wasn’t there. I believe my cousin had paged for her under the name of Kelly. Luann and my cousin took a taxi to the other terminal for the domestic flights. Luann paid over $60 for the excess luggage. Those were toys for the kids and other things that people had given for us here. Kelly had forgotten to tell her about the difference in the allowable luggage weight between the internal and domestic flights. Nevertheless, Luann felt that the extra luggage was important to bring along. She arrived in Cebu all right.

She was all smiles when I saw her. I was so worried that she wouldn’t ’survive’ in the Philippines but I was so amazed to find out she could be a Filipino by heart. She is so quick in learning the language that after 4 days she could make many sentences and words in Filipino. The kids adore her. I noticed she has the same taste in clothes, the colors and style is so much like my personality. I did not know that the Lord made her go shopping for my clothes, me that she has never seen, never knowing my size and taste! After 2 days of failing to get clothes for me, she asked God to accompany her and pick the clothes for me. It’s just great, so great! She and I are of the same size and weight!

We talked of many things, from testimony, to the Lord’s dealing and much more. It has been years since I last bonded with somebody like me. I feel energized and refreshed, and I am so full. We sense the presence of the Lord so thick in our midst. The Lord sent her here for a big purpose.

God is establishing linkages and connections between warriors and intercessors around the world. It feels like God is about to do something big and the kids are included this side of my island.

It was the Lord’s will for Kelly to be there (in the US) for a while longer so Luann and I could bond and compare notes. It is also the Lord’s will for Luann to stay up to 30 days and not 21 so Kelly could still have time to fellowship and bond with her for a few days before she’d fly back.
It feels like everyday God is doing something new for all of us. Each morning we wake up and wonder what would He do today.

I will post you more about the events next time I visit this place where I send these emails.

                              the Lord bless you,
                              Sister Bellie

Be sure to visit the website, AgapeOutreachMinistry.com.

Dear Brother,

I was on my way to the dressmaker to pay for the graduation clothes of my girls graduating from the elementary school when I received a text message from a mother of one of the kids from the next town. She wanted to borrow the sponsor money of her daughter because they had no more rice to cook for the next meal. I text back and told her that the sponsor money is only for the kids and are not to be borrowed or used by even another sibling. I only have a little money left for the day but I could share it to her. I told her I am scheduled to go next town only in the afternoon so if somebody could come to the house and get the rice. She agreed and said she will be in the house at 11:00 A.M.

As I was riding in the tricycle towards the market where the dressmaker is, my mind raced as to how to deal with this new family. I heard she can’t be trusted and that I should be careful. On the other hand, I don’t really know her. I only knew she had a hard life raising 5 children for many years because her husband was imprisoned, accused of being a rebel. Her husband is now released and is working in the construction, but most of the time he is also in between jobs.

My mind was pondering on how to deal with her so she won’t abuse my favor. I was asking the Lord for guidance on this when suddenly a thought came to my mind. I have goat meat in the freezer! I could give her 2 packs and 5 kilos of rice. I will only have to buy 2 kilos for me. The thought made me glad. I didn’t know why.

After making a deal with the dressmaker and paying her, I proceeded to the photocopy place. I had some papers that needs to be photocopied as required  by the Security and Exchange Commission. On my way, I happen to see fresh shrimps and I bought it for Kelly since he is coming next week. I also bought eggplants and bananas for the kids at home. I reached home past 11:00 A.M. The high school daughter of the mother was there. I served her cooked bananas, asked a boy to buy the 5 kilos of rice and 2 kilos of rice from the store in the neighborhood, then I dug up for the 2 packs of frozen goat meat. She smiled wide. The Lord told me to give her fare money. Indeed when I asked, she had none. The kid left happy. I was too. I think if I were to choose between helping even if I might be used and not helping for fear of being taken advantage, I’ll take the former one. I think it is safer that way.

There was one thing that I forgot to do and that was to pray with her that the rice will multiply and last long.I know many  think I am weird but I had proven God’s word is true. I used to cook 3 cups of rice (3/4 kilo) and fed 16 people full, with a fourth of the cooked rice remaining in the pot.   A mother could not believe what she saw. I could not describe her look or how she may have felt when she asked, “Are you that close to God?” I said “Yes I am, and yes, you can be, too.”

Sister Bellie

Please visit our website, AgapeOutreachMinistry.com.