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SimMs
Missionaries to the Philippines
MAY-JUNE 2026
DEAR PASTOR AND BRETHREN,
Greetings from Bohol Island. Praise the Lord for your faithful support of us and the ministry! We never take for granted the sacrifices that many church members make to have a critical part in fulfilling the Great Commission. Thank you for allowing us to be your missionaries in the Philippines.
We have been very busy since our last prayer letter. Our focus here has always been the ministry. The house that we have lived in for the last 4 years was originally rented in 2022 to combine our personal living space with an adequate place for the church services. In January of 2025, we completed a small church building on land purchased as a permanent location for New Testament Baptist Church. The church property also has two other small buildings for various ministry needs. One of those building is basically a duplex. We decided it was time for us to stop renting and move onto one side of that duplex. It has been a big adjustment, but this has allowed us to take another step in establishing a fully autonomous ministry in
Bohol. We are using what was our rent to proceed with construction on what will eventually be a parsonage on the church property. One day the ministry here must be prepared to function debt free and without the American dollar.
One of the ongoing problems here is the utilities. Our electrical power is very unreliable. It is often turned off for as much as 8 to 12 hours, many times without warning. Most Americans have no concept of what it is like to live in a poor foreign country. We are not complaining, just stating a fact. In the last couple of years, solar energy has become a very viable alternative here in the Philippines. We have the perfect weather- hot and sunny- to make solar energy available all year. Houses that install a full solar system often report
a very low power bill and are even able to sell any excess power to the power company. It is expensive to install a full system, but that is our goal. We have been slowly buying some of the components. Please
pray with us about this need. It is hard to get things done without power. We need both physical and spiritual power. Amen.
We continue to spend 3 or 4 days a week visiting and doing Bible Studies. Please keep praying for our various outreaches around this island. So many people here have religion without any Bible knowledge. We are faithfully planting and watering and trusting God to give the increase.
In his service
MARCH - APRIL 2026
DEAR PASTOR AND BRETHREN,
Greetings. We are happy to report that the Lord has allowed us to take an one month furlough to spend
time with our family and sending church, Empire Baptist Temple. This is my first time to be back in the
USA since arriving in Bohol Island 8 years ago. Life and the ministry have many ups and downs. Things
often don’t go as we anticipate. I’m glad that God’s ways are higher than our ways. The Christian life is
about being willing to adjust our plans to fulfill the LORD’S PLAN in our lives. We have missed our
family and our church, so we are grateful for this short break from the ministry.
We were able to attend church services at Empire Baptist Temple for about 3 weeks. It was great to reconnect with our church family. While there, Pastor McCandless allowed me to preach several times
and give an update on the ministry in Bohol. Hopefully, we left behind a renewed vision and burden for missions.
Our only complaint from our time there, was the weather. It was my first time to see snow in 8 years. It reminded both my wife and I of how much we hate South Dakota winters! We will be happy to get back home to the Philippines and get warmed up.
Three of our children along with their spouses and 11 of our grandchildren are a faithful active part of our home church.“Children’s children are the crown of old men…” Proverbs 17:6. Though separated from our family much of the time, it is one our greatest blessings to see them continue to love the Lord and serve
Him. Many of our older grandchildren have a solid testimony of salvation and a couple of our grandsons believe that the Lord has called them to preach. Amen.
After our time in Sioux Falls, the final few days of our trip have been finished up in Salt Lake City, Utah. As I am writing this prayer letter, we are spending our last day with our daughter and son-in-law and
their three children. A few years back our son-in-law, Nolan Ruby, surrendered to the ministry. He has been here for over 5 years faithfully planting Wasatch Front Baptist Church. The ministry is going great. A young growing church is always exciting to see. The greatest need in the USA and around the world is more Baptist churches boldly proclaiming the Gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth…” Romans 1:16
Bro. Jerecho and his wife have been overseeing the ministry in Bohol in our absence. “Wherefore, my
beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence.”
Philippians 2:12. Praise the Lord for some faithful members in Tagbilaran city who have been helping
with the day to day responsibilities and with the church services. We are very proud of them. It has been
another important step in their training and spiritual growth.
In His Service,