Coming to a Close

This weekend we had a fellowship with our Bible studies in Pili. We were encouraging them to take their faith a step further in the first act of obedience. They said they were not ready but all of them came to the Bible study and the husband of one of the mothers was taking notes! It is so awesome to be apart of their spiritual growth.

We also had four of them attend church with us this morning! My prayer for them is not to form religious habits but to see the importance and life-changing experience they can have in their relationship with Jesus. I could not imagine a life without Him. Through the good and bad He is worth living for!!

This morning the pastor spoke in Matthew 5 - ye are the salt of the earth. After the service, the church thanked me for working with these mothers and sharing the gospel with them. This service was two-fold for me - it encouraged me and reminded me that when I return to the states, even though I don't know what is the next step- what I'll be doing or where I'll be working etc., I am still supposed to be a light to those around me. Secondly, everyone is supposed to be a light. So many people here have called me a missionary and even so far to say a "pastora" I feel I am inadequate to be called either. I simply just graduated from college and felt Gods peace to take time off from what the world thinks I should pursue immediately- wealth, a successful career etc. and follow God's leading to simply tell others about Him!

As this experience and journey is coming to a close I am excited to see how God will continue to work !!
CherryAnn, Melody, Baby, and Agnus!

October 26

I have kept a list of people that I have been praying for to have an opportunity to share with, especially since I only have a few days left here in the Philippines. One of which is a group of girls that work in the market. They have all been very nice and always say hello to me when I walk by. Today I walked by and they were all sitting and talking so I felt that God was giving me this perfect opportunity to share. When I asked about their eternal security they didn't know where they would go but they told me they would like to know how to go to heaven. I shared with them and all four prayed to receive Christ! I am thankful for the gospel in its simplicity and availability to anyone!

Psalm 90:12 So teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

October 22

We had our Bible study with one of our ladies, Lenny, and right away I noticed another lady, who I had never seen before. After we were done they told me it was Lennys sister-in-law, Charrevette. She looked like she was getting ready to leave but I asked if I could share with her for a few minutes. I shared the gospel and she chose to accept!

Not only have these Bible studies allowed us to further the gospel but it has been teaching me and growing me as well! The topics have been for new believers and how to grow in their relationship with God. Some of the topics were the Holy Spirit, prayer, and memorizing scripture, all of which have been an encouraging reminder for me to take advantage of these in my Christian walk!

Last night I was struggling with my thoughts about coming back to America. What will I do? Where will I work? What is the next step? I started to pray and ask God to help me trust Him with my future. I went to go study the next lesson that I would be sharing for today and sure enough the lesson was on "Trusting God". It's not just a one time decision when we choose to follow Christ- but a continual action in our everyday lives. One of the verses in the lesson is Psalm 33:18- But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love.

God is carefully watching over those who fear and trust Him! I began to think about one of the characteristics in this verse- God's unfailing love. I started to think about other characteristics of God, He is compassionate, forgiving, merciful, just, provider, trustworthy, etc. The more we know God and His characteristics the easier it is for us to trust Him. We will have nothing to fear when we realize who He is.

October 19

Lemuel and Dennis

This morning we went to our Bible studies, one of which is a mother by the name of Divine Grace. She is 24 yrs old with two boys. When we shared the gospel with her several weeks ago she told us that she wanted us to share with her husband so they could have Bible studies together. Her husband works in town and is never home, except for today. After we had our Bible study I was introduced to her husband and God had laid it on my heart that this might be the one opportunity to share with him since he is never at home. Not only did we get to share with him but another husband of a wife that we have Bible studies with!

Discipleship

We have been able to start many Bible studies in our two areas of ministry. One of which in Pili, we have encouraged them to come to church. This past Sunday we had six of our mothers come to church with us! We had a seperate s.s. class with them and then we all went to the main service. All the women told me they enjoyed it and were encouraged by it! One of them just recently lost her 17 year old son to a motorcycle accident. Her name is Agnus, and when we first visited her and shared the gospel she was crying and looked like she had lost all hope! The next time we saw her she was smiling and looked as if a burden had been lifted off of her! The same with another mother, who's husband left her because he told her he didn't want to support them anymore. Her name is Menchie, she too was crying all the time and was having to take depression medicine. We were able to see her again today to do a Bible study and she was very excited to see us! She was smiling a lot and thanked us over and over for coming to visit her! It is amazing to see the gospel change peoples lives!

I was thinking about Cristine Joy the other day and it hit me, some of the people that we have been able to share the gospel with, we would have never have met if it weren't for this precious baby! They wouldn't have had a chance to hear the gospel and have eternal life. The same with Agnus, someone brought us to her because her son had died, if her son had not have died her and her husband probably would have never heard the gospel! In terrible situations, God is still able to use them for His glory!

Divine Appointment

This morning Benji and I went to Pili, one of the areas we have been working in. We were able to visit several mothers and have a Bible study with them! It is so awesome to see them grow! As we were finishing up, there was a very bad storm coming so Benji wanted to try and beat it and get to shelter. What might've seemed like an unfortunate experience, being stuck in the rain, we were able to use that time for God. We found this wooden shelter with only one side having a tin roof, while waiting for the rain to stop. There were three young men there, Jeffrey, Jude, and Jerick, also waiting. God allowed us to share the gospel and all three of them accepted!

Cristine

Cristine Joy and her twin Crisel Jane

Grandma, Josie, another sister of Precy, Crisel, Cristine, Precy

This week Precy, her sister Josie, and Cristine came home from Manila. I went to visit them the first chance I could. The doctors told them that her head circumference needed to be no more than 50 cm to have the surgery. Cristine's head was 75 cm! The doctors told them the only thing to do was to enjoy their time with Cristine and to just wait. It was frustrating to hear because even as we were sitting around talking, Cristine was moving around and making noises like a normal healthy baby does.

I was reading In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day by Mark Batterson and it was talking about how Gideon and his army was reduced to such a small number. Why? because God probably wouldn't have received the glory otherwise. The men might've boasted in themselves and thought how powerful they were to defeat the other army. Sometimes God allows things to happen that we don't think are positive or even possible because He wants the glory from the situation. When the odds are stacked so high then people will know that it was only because of God! That is my prayer with Cristine that through this whole situation whether it ends in our minds what we view as negatively or positively God will receive the glory!

Answered Prayer

Jervy, Julie, Me

This week God has greatly encouraged me through people, situations, but most importantly His Word! It is so critical to read His Word- even though it is so cliche but I couldn't imagine trying go through a day without learning something from Him!

Thursday and Friday Pastor Benji was sick so we were unable to do ministry. I missed seeing our people that we get to see on a weekly basis. During those two days I was able to be in more prayer! God kept bringing to mind this lady by the name of Julie, who owns a store in the market, and she also supported baby Cristine. I specifically prayed that God would give me an opportunity to share with her! Saturday when Benji was feeling better I was able to go see her! It was as if she was waiting on me. We talked about baby Cristine and then I asked her about her eternal security. She said she didn't know for sure that she would go to heaven and I asked if I could share with her and she said yes! God also allowed me to share with her employee Jervy. They both listened so intently and after they prayed to ask Jesus into her heart Julie told me that many religions come to her shop and try to encourage her but she didn't want anything to do with them. She continued to tell me that every time she saw me she knew something was different and there was something inside her that wanted to talk to me. She said she knows now that the feeling she had was so that she could hear about Jesus! I praise God for the opportunity to be used of Him but also answered prayer!

October 2

Over the weekend I have come to the conclusion that the Christian walk isn't always easy or perfect. This shouldn't be a surprise to me but unfortunately it was. I have struggled for many days now feeling hopeless and discouraged. My thoughts have been of loneliness, is God really using me, is the work here all in vain, or why are things not going the way I want it to go?Sometimes what we want in life isn't always what God wants. The outcomes in life could be far from the "happy ever after" endings. This weekend I came to Manila, just to get a few things taken care of- paying the extension of my visa, picking up my new debit card because my other one expired, and checking up on Cristine. On the nauseating bus ride to Manila I received a text from Precy, Cristines mom, and it read :



"We are here now at Philippines Childrens Hospital and the doctor said they dont want Cristine to be operated also... they are the same as PGH ( Philippines General Hospital). I've tried to ask them to just give Cristine even the shant to drain the water of the head but they dont want to do anything because it can cause complication. I'm sorry maam but Im also disappointed , we really love this baby"



There are no words to say how I felt . How could this 7 month old baby not receive help? I thought for sure God would heal her considering how He brought together so many people from America and the Philippines to raise money for this little girl and both hospitals have rejected her. This coming Monday the family will come home in Pinamalayan where I am staying.



Everytime I think about the situation I feel sick to my stomach. I first of all just want to thank everyone who did support. I don't think this was in vain and I think every detail, from the people that supported to the timing of how we met this family, was all in God's plan. Please continue to pray for the family as this will be very hard for them!



Even though things in life may not go according to how we want it: death in a family, loss of a job, aquiring an illness, etc. and even though I am not perfect, not always having the answers, feeling lonely, helpless, and discouraged- I am thankful to have a God that is faithful, just, merciful, almighty, and most of all a God that loves me just the way I am!