Childrens Bible Study

Sunday- August 15

The following Sunday we decided we would have our first Bible study with the children in Morenteville. Joan, who is p. Benjis wife, his daughter, Trisha, and myself went to our meeting place to reach out to the children. Within a few minutes of being there - some of the older men in our adult Bible study started going around the neighborhood inviting all the children to come and participate. I was completely shocked because I never said anything to them. They are new Christians but they are already serving and ministering to the people around them! Praise God. We talked on creation and made handouts for the children to color. There were only 15 handouts and we had over 30 children come! I thank God for all that He is doing in these peoples lives !

1st Bible study w. Morenteville

One of the small barangays that we are working with is called Morenteville. It is a very poor and dirty area. We have shared the gospel with many of the Filipinos there and were looking forward to start our first Bible study with them. Pastor Benji and I told them that we would be meeting at 3pm on Friday afternoon. I was a little nervous how many of them would actually show up because p. Benji told me that sometimes it is hard to get them to commit to a meeting. We went to our meeting place and we had 10 show up! It was so encouraging and after we were finished they were asking to learn more about the Bible . Four of them were new and had never heard the gospel before so we shared with them and they accepted!During our Bible study with the adults many children came and stopped by and watched and listened to us. This is when we decided we should start meeting with some of the children and have a different Bible study with them! We are now meeting with them on Sunday afternoons at 3pm!

105.9

Friday August 13

Pastor Benji took me to the radio station that he used to work at. I thought we were just visiting to say hi - but they asked me to sit down and they interviewed me over the radio and asked me what my purpose was for being here in the Philippines. I was able to tell them that I am staying in Pinamalayan to share the gospel. They had mentioned that I could come back and share the gospel over the local radio station! The radio station has their office next to a technical college. As we were leaving there was a group of college students out in the hallway waiting to go to class. I asked if I could share with them the gospel and they said yes! 10 of them prayed to receive Jesus - one of them was already a Christian, which was very exciting!

Down-time

Thursday - August 12

Right now our schedule everyday is working from 9 am - 4 or 5pm. When I get home I usually like to go running or be active in some way. One of the girls that lives in the dorms with me asked if I wanted to play basketball, so we went over to the basketball court and there were 4 girls already playing- so we joined them and played 3 on 3. I immediately felt the urgency to share the gospel with them because it was more important than playing basketball at the time. I asked them if it was ok to share and they said they did not know for sure they would go to heaven and that they wanted me to share with them. All four of them prayed to receive Christ! how exciting!

Meeting Needs

Pastor Benji and his wife Joan are very good friends with me and my family and we have known them for ten years. They live here in Pinamalayan where I am staying. They are very well known in the community and everyone that knows them respects and looks up to them! Last Thursday a Muslim girl, Joanna, came to their family asking if they had clothes that she could have. Pastor Benji and Joan have 3 daughters, so she probably thought they would have some for her. They were able to give her a few items of clothing. Afterwards Benji told me what happened and he wanted me to meet her and share the gospel with her. We have our "meeting" place that we are able to rent from one of Benjis friends where we can share the gospel, and currently hold our Bible studies! We met the young girl at the meeting places along with 2 older gentlemen, Yoni and Wilfredo, who happened to be hanging out. We shared the gospel with all three of them and all 3 accepted - even Joanna, who is a Muslim.
( all three of them have also been attending our weekly Bible study, but I will share about that later! =))

Pastor Benji told me that Joanna didn't have any pants so I felt compelled to buy her some jeans. We went to the market and the area where they sell clothes is what would be considered a thrift store in America. We were able to pick out 2 pairs of jeans for $4 and went back to give them to her. Joannas face immediately lit up and continued to thank us for the clothes. Not only was God able to meet her physical needs but also her spiritual!
Yoni, me, Wilfredo, and Joanna
Me and Joanna

Orphanage in Pinamalayan

There is an orphanage that we go to in Mindanao every year, which is very special to us. Where I am staying, on a different island than Mindanao, there is another orphanage about 15 minutes away. I didn't want anyone to get confused on the two =) They have asked me to come and speak with the children once a week, to teach whatever I want, so we are doing discipleship with them! The children have terrible backgrounds, for example one girl was sexually abused by her father, while other children are there because their parents can't afford to support them. All of them are Christians, which is exciting. Last week was my first day with them and we went over the gospel and why is it important to share it. Afterwards, they practiced with each othersharing the gospel. Two of them would come up to the front of the room and pretend they were sharing. Only one of the older girls has ever shared the gospel but the rest of them have never shared before. By the end of the session it was so exciting to see the shy children becoming more confident in sharing the gospel. Many of them are high schoolers, so pray that God would give them boldness in sharing. In the next week or so we will be taking the children outside the orphanage to practice what they have learned and to actually share the gospel with people who have never heard!

Radical Transportation

In America I have only driven either a truck or a minivan (aka - party van). This past week we just got a motorcycle for me to drive while I am here in the Philippines because it is cheaper than having to use the public transportation ( a tricycle ) . I learned how to drive it the first day we got it =) Even though my dad builds motorcycles and we have had them at our house all the time while growing up I have never driven one by myself! I was a little nervous but it is easy to drive! I drive it to go to all the different areas I have ministry and keep it with me where I am living. Let the adventure begin....

Divine Appointment

This past Tuesday we were going to start our discipleship with some of the young people that we had already witnessed to. When we arrived at our meeting place none of the young people were there except for two. These two young men had not heard the gospel before and were not part of our discipleship group, so we shared with them and they accepted. Their names are Lexmar and Georgie. Afterwards we told them we are having a Bible study/ discipleship every week and invited them to come. They both told us that they were leaving this week- Lexmar just received a job working on a ship and Georgie is going to Manila for college on Sunday! I was sad that they were not able to join our discipleship but excited at the thought that God had a reason for them to run into us. It was to hear the gospel before they left! It was truly a divine appointment and I thank God for it!

Internet Cafe

This past week I have been able to have more access at the internet cafe here in the main town - which is such a blessing especially to communicate with friends and family. One of the first days I came I was so excited to check my e-mail that was all I was thinking about. Immediately one of the internet workers was asking what I was doing here and so I told him and was battling with should I share the gospel with him now or wait until after I check my e-mail. I decided to share with him and he accepted Jesus as His Saviour. His name is Kelvin and he is married. While I was sharing with him we were interrupted because more customers came. All of a sudden I heard someone saying hello to me - and it was an elderly man that recognized me from the medical clinics that we did the past two weeks. He was calling me "pastora" ha- because anyone that shares the gospel and is a female is known as a pastora.. oh wel. the elderly man came back after a few minutes and gave me a bag of avacados and thanking me for everything our team did.

After Kelvin was done with some of his customers he turned to me and asked me why am I here helping people. I sat there for a minute and the first thing that came to my mind is because I love Jesus. Even though that may sound cliche - that is the reason I am here. I am not doing this for my own good or self worth- but to bring glory to God! It made me think that people like Kelvin are looking at our lives- are you living a life that people would be able to look at and think - they are living their life for themselves or for others? Don't get me wrong there are plenty of times I live my life selfishly and I have been thinking about his question ever since.

I had told Kelvin to share with his wife and people he knew about what I had shared with him. A couple of days later I was able to return to the internet cafe and Kelvin was there with his wife. I talked to his wife for a little bit and Kelvin told me that he had shared with his wife the same good news I had shared with him!! It was so encouraging and I was very excited! Everyday here in the Philippines has been an adventure and God has given me so many opportunities! I am thankful for all the He is doing!

Medical Mission

From July 24 - August 4 a team of doctors, nurses, and dentists came together to have medical missions in local areas around Pinamalayan. We would start around 8 in the morning until 3pm. The community would first have to register, have their blood pressure taken, and decide if they wanted to be treated for medical or dental. Before they could see one of the doctors, they would have to see a counselor, which is where I come into play. I would share the gospel with the patients, which was an awesome opportunity- not only were we able to meet their needs physically- but more importantly their spiritual needs.


Before I begin to tell you about the medical missions I want to first describe to you the team that was brought together. The only person I knew prior to the medical mission is Lesia Mooney, who is from Jacksonville, FL, other than that I did not know who I would be working with. On the medical mission team there is a doctor from Texas- Karla Morrow and her husband Rodney, a nurse from Jax Fl Lesia Mooney, a Filipino doctor- Doc Ryan, a Filipino dentist- Isah, a Columbian dentist, who is a missionary to Indonesia- Claudia, another Filipino doctor-Eva, and her classmate from college, who is also a nurse - Dexter, pastor Benji and his wife Joan - who is also a nurse, and mom and myself who were the "counselors". I wish I could tell you everyones background and how they even came about to being on this medical mission team but it was only because of God all of these people came together.


Our team met up in Manila and we had to travel to another island,Mindoro, where we had our medical mission. It takes 8 hours of driving plus a ferry ride. While we were on the boat I was talking to some of the members on the team and getting to know them more. One of them was Dexter, who is a nurse, and as we were sitting on the boat we started talking about our personal convictions on a specific topic. Mind you I did not know most of the people on this team and so I assumed that they all had a relationship with Jesus. The more we talked the more I came to realize that he did not have a relationship with Jesus. He had told me that he had heard the gospel before and so we went over several verses. During this time Maureen had overheard us and she asked him if she could share with him as if he had never heard before with an open mind. She shared with him and Dexter made a decision to accept Jesus! Our team was very excited. There was a reason for each member to be on this team, and for Dexter it was to be saved! I thank God that we were able to meet him. It is exciting to see how none of this was in our power to bring this team together.


riding on the boat before talking to Dexter Our medical mission team

Orphanage

I am behind on my blog ... so here it goes

The second week we were in the Philippines, from July 17 -July 23, we went to our orphanage in Lamsugod Surrallah Mindanao. It is called UDH (Uncle Dick's Home) where we currently have 46 orphans, but possibly two more by the end of August.All of the children are absolutely amazing and even though they have the most challenging backgrounds they are the most loving children I know!During our stay we were able to go to 3 schools and share the gospel seeing right at 1,000 people make a decision for Christ! What a blessing!! We also were able to help a church plant for a tribal group called T'boli. There we were able to give away food, clothing, and school supplies. The people were so gracious and excited about receiving the different items - items that I take for granted.
On one of the days we were accompanied by Bert, who runs the orphanage with his wife, and he took us to a school where we could share the gospel. He said it was in the mountains and that we would have to walk because vehicles are not able to go up there. In the back of my mind I was thinking ok no big deal we'll walk and it will be fun =) I have walked up several mountains in the Philippines but none like this one. We parked our vehicle in front of someone's home at the foot of the mountain and started walking. The view was incredible, but I quickly came to realize that it was at a steep incline the whole way up. We only saw about 10 people total the whole way up and they were all on horses. Every single person stopped, asked, and looked at us like what were we doing walking all the way up the mountain. It took us 2 hours to reach the top and the whole way up my heart was racing. We had to take several water breaks to make sure we were staying hydrated. As we were approaching the top I could hear the children talking at the school we were going to. It was music to my hears. We were welcomed by the principal and teachers where mom shared the gospel with them and they all accepted! Afterwards, we went to the classrooms where I shared with the children and most of them prayed to receive Christ. The teachers came up to me and said " do you know that you are the first foreigner they have ever seen" I quickly became overwhelmed with the burden of the gospel - what If I had never climbed that mountain - or someone else climbed that mountain - would they have shared the gospel? It was a very humbling experience and I thank God for it! Being drenched in my own sweat from head to toe was worth every second of it!When we left the school and reached the bottom of the mountain there were several Filipinos sitting outside. They saw us walking and asked what we were doing - we told them we went to the school at the top of the mountain and they did not believe us. It is such a difficult walk with a steep incline, rocks, and mud that they don't even walk it- they will only ride a horse.
I say all of that to say this - if sharing the gospel and even just one person will be saved from Hell it is worth all the sweat, fatigue, and mud.

this is baby Bob- one of the orphans
more of the children

teachers and the principal
the children =)