Dear Friends:
As 1987 begins, we are preparing to leave for the first AFM project in the mountain provinces of the northern Philippines. As partners with the great work of sharing Jesus with the countless millions who have never heard His name, we wish to express our deepest appreciation for the many people who are helping to begin the pioneer work of AFM. We know that any new work takes two key ingredients to become a success: faith and sacrifice. We need faith in the One who told us to “go ye into all the world;” faith in His power to accomplish this task to which we have been called.

This is an excerpt from a letter Marc and Aunie Scalzi wrote to their supporters 30 years ago, shortly before launching to the Philippine island of Luzon to begin working among the Ifugao people (see p. 36). AFM was a brand-new organization then, less than two years old. As our very first missionaries, the Scalzis didn’t have the benefit of years of institutional experience or the comprehensive training, mentoring and field support we now offer our missionaries. But they had the two most important ingredients—faith that when God calls He enables, and willingness to sacrifice for His glory.

Thirty years later, those two ingredients are still key to AFM’s ministry. Every new missionary and every donor must decide how they will respond to God’s call to help reach the unreached. Do we have faith that He will provide all we need to answer His call? Are we willing to place all on the altar for Him? Hundreds of Seventh-day Adventist Ifugao people are eternally grateful to the Scalzi family and their donors for saying, “Yes,” to these questions 30 years ago.

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