Matt and Ellie Heywood News January 2026

Matt and Ellie Heywood News January 2026

Happy New Year! We hope you had a refreshing Christmas season and a great start to 2026. We’re so grateful for your continued prayers and support as we step into a new year full of expectancy for what God has ahead.

An Unexpected Journey

At the start of January, during our first week back, we found ourselves on an unexpected journey to the mainland in Manila. Our passports needed to be with our visa agent, but due to an issue with the postal service on the island, nothing was being sent out.

Instead, we had to catch the boat to Manila to deliver our passports in person. Thankfully, everything went smoothly—we were able to hand them over to our visa agent and use the trip to stock up on supplies we needed for the house and school.

The very next day, we received a message from our visa agent with surprising and wonderful news: our Missionary visa had been accepted. After all the travel and planning, all we could do was laugh and thank God for His perfect timing.

Youth Café:

This month we launched a new Youth Café in town, located right near the high school our students attend and hosted at a local café. Our first evening was a relaxed social with cake, board games, and a short devotional to close the night.

The café will be a regular space for students to connect, build friendships, and explore faith in a welcoming environment. We’re excited to be starting Youth Alpha here in the coming weeks and ask for your prayers for the young people who will take part.

City Gates Academy: Learning to Make Puto

As part of the City Gates Academy curriculum, the children were learning about baking while reading The Little Red Hen, where she makes bread. However, since we don’t have access to an oven, we had to improvise!

One of the parents kindly came in and showed everyone how to make Puto instead. Puto is a Filipino rice cake made with simple ingredients such as flour, egg, water, and vanilla extract and instead of baking, it’s steamed. The children loved learning a new method of “baking,” and the end result was a simple and very yummy cake.

It was such a joy to learn a local recipe and to be taught by members of the community. Moments like these are a beautiful reminder of the value of learning together and embracing local culture.

Christmas Appeal:

A couple of months ago, Elim Missions raised funds to help missionaries host a Christmas meal for their families or for people in their communities they have connected with throughout the year. Thanks to your generosity, we were able to use these funds to bless the children who attend City Gates Academy in Coron.

We took 18 children (along with their parents) to McDonald’s for their end-of-year Christmas party. While that might not sound very Christmassy to some, it is considered a very special treat for these children, as many of them would not normally be able to afford an experience like this, especially with all their friends. In this time, we played games, gave out prizes and importantly had the opportunity to share the Christmas message with these families

These are children and families we connect with regularly and are slowly getting to know day by day. We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who gave towards this appeal. The children had a wonderful time, and your generosity truly made a difference.

Bike 🛵

Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated towards our moped. Having this will make such a difference for us, making it much easier to get around the island as we meet with people, visit students, and explore the community.

If you feel led to give towards our moped, please click the button below. We’re so grateful for your generosity and support—it truly helps us in our day-to-day ministry.

Prayer Requests

Please keep us in your prayers as we look toward starting a Café Church in town. We ask for God’s wisdom, guidance, and clarity as we take these next steps, and for the right connections and relationships to open at the right time. Pray that God would lead us clearly, prepare the way ahead, and use this vision to reach and bless our community
As there are many coughs and colds going around at the moment, please pray for God’s protection over our church community. We ask for His healing hand over our bodies, strength for our immune systems, and rest and recovery for anyone who may be unwell. Pray that we would remain healthy and able to continue gathering, serving, and supporting one another, trusting in God’s care and provision during this season.