Wow this year has gone by fast! I've been out of the country 3 times this year to put roofs on and minister to people in Haiti, and gone and Preached to thousands in the Philippines twice! God has been so good to me and let me do all these things for His glory.

I am almost done with the newsletter from my last trip to the Philippines in November and should be getting it sent before the end of the year! I look forward to partnering with you in the future for the sake of the Gospel.

There is a trip January 15th to the Philippines, I am not able to go but my friend Emily White is going. She will go for the two week trip and then head to south Mindanao to minister to the BTEA orphans for 4 more weeks. she needs to raise about 500 more dollars to be able to go. I ask that you pray for her as she goes out to share Gods love with these people. Please pray about supporting her financially, this trip reaches thousands of students with the Gospel and changes many lives.

If you would like to make a tax deductible donation go to www.btea.org on the left hand side click short term missionaries and then scroll down to her name and enter the amount.
Thanks and God bless as we go through the Christmas season!

To know you in your sufferings.

I have fallen in love with this song called knowing you. its a hymn here is the link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGbuz8QuhmE

This is a great song! but buried within the fourth verse is a phrase that makes me a little uncomfortable. it says:

Oh to know the power of Your risen life,
And to know You in Your sufferings;
To become like You in Your death, my Lord,
So with You to live and never die.

As I think about what this phrase means and how it applies to my life ,I'am hit with two things.

One is that we can't be afraid to know Christ in his sufferings, because if we are afraid of what mere man can do to us we will never advance the Gospel.
The Bible says:
1Jn 4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.
So if we are made perfect in love, we need not be afraid of anything. I mean whats the worst that could happen? which brings me to my second though.

Second "To become like You in Your death, my Lord." Are we prepared to lose it "all" so that others can hear about Jesus. I think I can say that I am.

Php 1:21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

So the worst people can do is promote you to Jesus' feet.

God bless!

Wow, how great is our God? let me tell you. He gives grace to the most undeserving people man could thing of. Whitney and I went to a jail to speak on Bantayan and spoke to 88 inmates. we talked about How we can have life free from our bondage of sin and death. how we can have hope in our lives. these inmates only knew the shame their crimes brought on them. I talked about how we sin and how the punishment for our sins is death in hell and how we deserve it because we have broken Gods law, But that God loves us so much that he gave his only son to die for us, and how we can find forgiveness for our sins by placing our trust in Jesus. Men responded in tears that some one loved them enough to send His son to die for their sins and loved them so much to give them a home in heaven. A woman who murdered her husband came to Christ and threw her sin at his feet and instantly her countenance changed!

To God Be the glory, Thank you for the blessings that flow from you, and the trials that we don't all ways want, but you give the grace to endure. Lord strengthen me for the journey you have before me that I may run it in a way that is pleasing to you and you alone. You have given me great men to mentor and guide me and sharpen me for the challenges you will send my way. Lord my prayer is that whenever I open my mouth words may be given to me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, Pray that I may proclaim it fearlessly as I should. Amen

"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom His whole family in Heaven and on Earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the believers, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."
Ephesians 3:14-21
These verses have been on my mind lately and I wanted to share it with you.

How great is our God!

I still stand in Awe of God has done in just five weeks.
We had several teams throughout the five weeks with around 100 missionarys.
We were in the provinces of Aurora, Nueva Vizcaya, Nueva Ecija, Zambales, Bataan, Cebu, Misamis Occ and on the islands of Marinduque and Romblon. Throughout these Provinces we were able to Share the Gospel in 3,461 schools, share in markets, hospitals, tricycle stops, and even prisons! We were able to share with 1,311,237 People, with 1,166,632 Publically indicating they placed there trust in Jesus alone for salvation!!

We have so many stories that we can tell of Gods grace coming to these people, here is one of mine:

I went to a sped school where there were deaf, blind, and mentally challenged. The school was next to the central elementary school of about 900 students. These student picked on the sped students and made them feel unloved and unwanted. When I got to the classroom they all had their heads down. I got up and shared the Gospel and how God loves them and knows everything about them. Then we got to sin and how it seperates us from Gods love, and how we our punishment is death in hell. Then I told them how God loved us so much he sent His only son Jesus to earth and how He died on the cross for us, And rose from the dead three days later and that by placing our trust in Jesus we can have the free gift of eternal life! The look of pure joy that came across there face's as they realized that someone did love them and wanted a relationship with them was overwhelming. When I asked who placed there trust in Jesus? a blind boys hand was the first to go up quickly followed by the others in the classroom.
that is just one of the stories that sticks with me.

In the harvest

Benjamin H. Pickett

Is Jesus worth this to you?

Is Jesus worth this to you? That is a question I read on a flight here.
I soon realized that this is a loaded question. Because if you say yes off the bat you might want to read farther first. The cost of following Christ is great. Jesus was homeless, persecuited, and finally killed for us. Are you prepared to possibly have only your needs supplied. What are your needs? Well according to the bible it is food and clothing. That's it. I personally have never had to live on just my needs. But I have had to live out of a suitcase. And every time I do it helps me realize just what the apostles live through but they truly had only their needs supplied.

So the question is are ready to give it all for the sake of Christ?
In the harvest.
Ben Pickett.

Update

Hello from the Philippines.
We have made to mindanao and have been preaching for two days. My two man team has done 21 schools since yesterday. God is really working here.
Pray for energy as we are still really tierd.

God bless
Ben

Haiti Trip

Hello Everyone,

I just got back from my trip to Haiti. We had a wonderful trip and much was accomplished.
The trip consisted of 10 men and 2 ladies from Alabama and the three of us, Buddy, Micaiah and myself, from Melbourne, Florida.

We drove down to Fort Pierce and flew out on Missionary Flights International. Once we landed in Haiti we began the trip to the compound with consists of driving down a road infested with potholes. When we arrived at the compound we went straight to work on the roof of the old Seminary building. The next day we got up and went to bible study which we had every day at 6:30. After bible study we ate breakfast and started our day.

While putting on the roof, we were constantly battling the rain to get things done.
Once we put the rafters and purloins on we were ready for the tin. Putting the tin on the roof was easy, except the rain made for a slippery surface.

We also were able to minister in the tent city. This is where they fly in people from Port Au Prince to perform amputations and use for recovery. Spinal and neck Surgery's are performed on a U.S. Naval ship off the coast. It was hard going in to these tents and buildings and seeing kids with one or more limbs missing, but they were always cheerful and smiling. I met an eighteen year old young man named James. He had lost his dad six years ago and his mom died in the earthquake. He is now the sole provider for his eight brothers and sisters . I started to share the Gospel with him and he told me that he was saved and wanted to talk to me. I expected him to ask for money but instead he only asked for my prayers for he and his family as they travel back to Port Au Prince and start life over again. Please remember James and his family in your prayers.

I left Haiti the next day thinking: I will probably never see him or the other kids on this side of heaven but one day we will meet in eternity.