.fighting.for.a.life.

Saturday July 17, 2010

Today during the day we went back to the houses that we prayed at yesterday and conducted Bible studies. I then walked with most of my team to a house way back in the jungle down this dirt road to a house where a Christian family lived. Jason and Rhen had encountered them the day before and were to conduct a Bible study with them today. They also felt that there was evil spirits in the house, so some of us wanted to go with them. We went to the house and Jason led the Bible study. There are 5 people living in the house: the parents, two daughters and a son. We prayed for the family as a whole, and then for Bernadette, the oldest daughter who is 30. The mother told the story of her daughter and this is what we found out.  Bernadette was a very smart and bright girl; she graduated high school, but at the age of 18 was raped. The mother also said that something else had gone on in their daughters life that they are not sure about, but now Bernadette has almost no memory, she doesn’t speak, and really just acts as if she was born with a mental disorder. It is clear however that she is demon possessed, you can definitely tell when you look at her eyes. I locked eyes with her one time from across the room and was very freaked out; it was a super eerie moment. We prayed for her and the guys moved into the room where Nelson was. This boy was about 20 years old had been born with polio, and somewhere somehow has also become demon possessed and the parents believe that both of their children were possessed about the same time. The demon that lives in Nelson is very aggressive and the parents have had to chain their son to the bed. The guys prayed for him for about 30 minutes as the demon manifested itself, they continued to pray, but eventually, Nelson, or the demon told them to get out of the room and leave him alone. Jason know that the demon saw Jesus in them . . .

Bernadette and her mom

While the guys were in that room praying, us girls sat with the mother, Bernadette, and the other daughter. The other daughter had been listening to the conversation and prayers and finally broken down crying telling us that she is so frustrated and angry that people in the village where they live make fun of her and her family because they are Christians and love God, but her brother and sister are both crazy and possessed. It was so sad to hear because this girl and her parents love God. We prayed for her and then for her mom who had suffered a stroke and was scared that she could die and not be there to watch over, care for, and love her kids. I thank God that we had the opportunity to be with the family even if it was only for a little more than an hour’s time. We did not see any miracle or freedom from demon possession, but I know that God move in that house and that the Holy Spirit was at work in the younger daughter’s heart for sure. We were able to bring love, comfort, and hope to a family who has been through so much in life. I know that God will continue to use the family in the village and that He will move in their lives. I pray blessing over the family and the blood of Jesus over the daughter and son that they may be free from any demonic spirit, God, I know you can bring healing, may their hearts be opened to you!

Jason and Rhen went back to deliver a Bible to the family

Tonight after dinner we all piled in and onto Pastor Rowen’s car/van and headed into the jungle up a road to a farm where we fellowshipped together as a team with the pastor we had been working with for the week. It was so peaceful to be up in the jungle on a bench made of a couple of 2x4’s sitting under a little covering. It was a clear night, all of the stars were out, the moon was out, and you could hear all of the crickets and frogs making noise. It was truly beautiful and peaceful! God’s creation is amazing! We all sat around singing, worshipping, and sharing about what God had done in each of our lives that week in Loboc. It was great to just sit in God’s presence and have reflection time with our team.

.door.to.door.

Monday July 12, 2010

Handing out tracts

Today was a stretching day for me. We got up this morning at 7am had breakfast on the deck and then left for the church. We split up into four teams with some nationals and went door to door all day praying for people and handing out tracts. Ashley, Miles and I were in a group with Mark Novem. We walked around the villages behind New Life AG and down by the houses that are right on the ocean handing out tracts and inviting people to New Life.

Lady in green healed of asthma

There is something here that they call the American or the White factor. People are more apt to listen to us and hear what we have to say as opposed to when the nationals go around and talk to people. It was awesome that people wanted to listen to us and ask us questions. We had three really awesome encounters today. The first was for a woman by the name of Maria Suzanna. We had met her Sunday after church. She had slipped into service a little bit late that day, but after service, Ashley Miles and I all had a chance to pray for her and for healing in her body. She had suffered a stroke and had lost most of her vision. She also had really bad asthma. Another thing that she wanted prayer for was her daughter who is an unbeliever. Through this I still thank God that even though there is a language barrier here in Bohol, that we are still able to somewhat understand enough to be able to minister and pray for people. Today without knowing where we were or what house we were at, stopped at her house. The one thing on this trip that is hard on others and me is that we do not get follow up on what we do or whom we pray for, but today we did. Maria explained to us that after we prayed for her on Sunday after church that she went home and we able to breath freely and that the cough that she had subsided and she had so much relief! She had been praying for years that she would be able to breath normally, and standing there getting to here this from her was incredible and it was evident that God touched her! We prayed with her again that God would receive all of the glory and the awesome thing was that her daughter was a witness to what went on that day and I hope and pray that she might come to have a relationship with Him!

Man with wound

Another encounter that we had was with a man who lived behind the one of the Catholic cathedrals in very unsanitary conditions. We met him as we were walking back to New Life because we were done doing ministry for the day and it was time for dinner, but God said not yet. This man came hobbling over to us asking for 10 pesos so that he could get some medicine or as we found out he actually wanted to buy alcohol to numb the pain that he was in. As he came closer to us, we could see that his eyes and obviously his vision was horribly messed us, but also on his leg was a large open pussing and oozing wound. As we talked to him, we could tell that he had some psychological problems and drunk. The wound that he had was there for a little over a month and was growing larger and larger. We asked him if we could pray for him and he said yes. Our whole team showed up and we all laid hands on him and prayed for healing to come to this man and freedom from needing to drink. In short, healing never came, but we had the chance to take him to a local medical center and we all paid for him to get his leg cleaned out and bandaged up. We prayed for him on last time and let him be on his way. God did not move in the way of a healing possibly because if the man was healed, I really doubt that the glory would have gone to God. I also don’t think that the man would have changed his life around and seen that God renewed him. I cannot say though why there was not healing, but I am thankful that we were able to pray for him and get him some medical attention. We were able to show love to him even though he may have not been able to understand it.

The last encounter that we had was impactful was with a woman who we were able to talk to, share the love and life of Christ with, and then pray for. We showed up on her porch and she invited us to sit after asking us what we wanted with her and why we were coming. She wanted to know if it had to do with religion and was a bit hesitant, but let us sit. She was Catholic and we just asked her questions about what she believed about Jesus and where she thought that she was going when she died. We sat and talked and each of us were able to share what God had done in our lives, what it means to have a relationship with Christ and also that we knew without a doubt that we know where we are going when we die. It was a really great time to sit with her and pour some truth into her life!

.childrens.ministry.

Monday July 12, 2010

Acting out animals for Noah's Ark

Here we are back in Bohol. We arrived here on Saturday after an amazing week with the Sack’s. We are staying in a really cute little cottage right in the ocean. It is beautiful here. While we are here, we have been working with New Life AG. After we arrived on Saturday, we were broken up into teams. Three teams would do children’s ministry and the other one with youth. Ashley and I traveled with three nationals to a small village in the jungle. A tiny dirt path led us to a house where there were about twenty children. I was nervous and we had nothing prepares. We didn’t know what we were going to do, but it was all on Ashley and I. The nationals didn’t help us and knew almost no English. We found out that the language that we have been learning the whole time we have been here is Tagalog, but on this island, they speak Visayan. Thankfully, the teacher of these kids knew enough English to translate for us. Ashley and I quickly introduced ourselves and sang some children’s songs, teaching them all of the motions. Then the kids sang for us some songs in Visayan and then the teacher had them recite scripture for us. Ashley and I taught them the story of Noah and the Ark and had the kids act out the story and the animal noises. We had no concept of the time or how long we were expected to be there for. Apparently it wasn’t time for us to leave yet, so with questioned look on our faces, somewhat frantic on what to do, Ashley and I did some more songs for them and then told the story of David and Goliath. Finally we ran out of things to do and we had the kids teach us a game, which we played until Miles and pastor Rowen showed up.

Teaching a Bible Story

Ashley and I would end up doing the same thing again on Sunday afternoon in a super remote area. It has really shown me that God will use us if we are willing. Ashley and I were in no way prepared to do children’s ministry seens how we are much more youth/college oriented, but we jumped in like we had done it a thousand times over!

.dependent.

Sunday July 11, 2010

Ashley and I visited a small village yesterday. It was down a little diet path up to a house where her and I would do children’s ministry for about an hour. This would be quiet an experience for us because we had no idea what we would be doing until about 20 minutes before we arrived at this house. We went in completely blind with nothing prepared and just gave the time to God that He would helps us in the message that needed to be brought to the children. We spent the next hour introducing ourselves, teaching them some song with movements and actions. The kids sang for us and told us all of their names. Ashley and I had the chance to tell them two Bible stories, Noah and the Ark, and David and Goliath that we had them help act out. Then the kids quoted different scripture verses to us and I was very impressed by how much they had committed to memory. The teacher would call out verses and one of them would just stand up and say it. Many spoke Visyan, but a couple could speak the whole verse in English. This scripture memory think really got me thinking and I realized that I would not have been able to do what these kids half my age or less we doing. I know a lot of scripture, but really couldn’t tell you where it is found. We, I, have become so dependent on our computers, iPods, or phones, that we just type in what we want to know and the technology does all of the work. Most of the children and people I have encountered here will never have that opportunity in their lifetime to look up scripture let alone anything on a computer. It may sound strange, but I was very jealous that they knew so much scripture! I just think that if I was somewhere and didn’t have my Bible or anything and had to rely on only what I knew, how would I do? How would you do?

.university.belt.&.chi.alpha.

Another week spent in Manila in Ortigas at the Sack's house. We stayed with a rookie missionary family who have been here a little more than a year, Jerome and Heather Sack, along with their adorable children, Halle, Hawk, and Manny. It was really such a great week spent with them, and I know they are going to do great things in all the years they are going to spend here serving the Lord!

We also spent a good part of the week working with a college campus organization called Chi Alpha. For those of you who don't know, Chi Alpha (XA) is a Christian Fellowship for college campuses all over the world. Its name comes from 2 Corinthians 5:20 which says, "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God." It's a place for students to go and have fellowship, grow in discipleship, and praise the Lord together. Anyway, I'll talk more about what we did with XA below.

We celebrated the 4th of July here! It happens to be Independence Day from the U.S. here, too, so there were celebrations. We celebrated with a BBQ with many missionaries. The ironic thing was that the host missionary was British, so he called it Thanksgiving instead, being thankful of course for getting rid of the rebels ;) But, seriously, it was really a great time, and we had a wonderful time meeting and talking with missionaries. We ended the time playing Settlers of Catan. I'm even more thoroughly convinced now that it's a missionary game, seeing as the only time I play it or hear it mentioned, it's around missionaries. This is a good thing, and I was very excited to play!

After church on the 4th, we went to a memorial cemetery of WWII. Many, many soldiers are buried here, especially those who are unknown. It was a beautiful cemetery and definitely moving reflecting on those who fought for freedom, both Filipinos and Americans.

On Monday we teamed up with another missionary couple, the Daileys. They work with children's feeding programs all over Manila. This day we went to the largest squatter area in Manila, Baseco. We held a program for the children, teaching them about David and Goliath, singing songs, making balloons, painting their faces, playing games. It was an awesome day. We also got to help serve them their food. Ashely and I also taught a women's Bible study for the moms. It's amazing how the children live there. There is no running water, no toilets, hardly any electricity, and the living conditions are unbelievable. Trash is everywhere, and the houses are simply shacks made out of whatever is available. Over 30,000 people live there. The feeding program and the church that hosts it really makes such a difference, as they've been able to minister to the families and even provide school for the children. I so enjoyed ministering there!


Tuesday was spent at PUP, Polytechnic University of the Philippines. It has one of the strongest Chi Alphas in the U-belt of Manila. We did mostly promotion and outreach to the freshman all day and then held a service in the afternoon. It was a privilege seeing what God has started and is growing at that university!
Wednesday was spent at another university, University of the Philippines Los Banos. It has a well-established XA. It's such a beautiful campus, and it was awesome walking around it all day handing out the Book of Hope and inviting people to the service that evening. I've noticed that people are way more open here to receiving things and listening to you, definitely more so than Purdue. Two girls I met even came to the meeting that night and looked like they're going to get plugged in to the body there. It was awesome! We were blessed to hear their worship team play that evening; it was so genuine and beautiful. I can't wait to see how God is going to move in and through this group!


Our last two days were spent in the public high school realm, handing out the Book of Hope. It was an awesome couple days of meeting students and talking to them. We were even able to have them fill out contact cards and prayer request cards and have them turn them in to hopefully get them connected with local youth ministries and counseling if needed. God is certainly using the ministries down here to touch lives, and it was awesome to be a part of it for a couple of days!


So, it's goodbye to Manila for now. I praise God for the awesome ministry opportunities we had while we were here. But for now, it's off to Bohol and then to Baguio and then a tribe way up north! Our team will be splitting up the last two weeks, so please continue to keep the team in your prayers as we fly and boat to different islands.

.hope.in.a.stranger.

On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to a church and do door to door ministry. They said we would be handing out tracks and asking people if they needed prayer. This was something new to me just because we don’t really do that in the states. We were divided up into three groups and a couple of the people from the church joined each group. My group consisted of Jason and Miles.

The first couple of houses we went to, we just prayed for health, financial breakthrough, and for safety among the family. We probably went to a total of fifteen houses in about three hours. There were a couple of people that we prayed for that really stuck out to me. One lady had five kids and two of them had boils on their bodies. We prayed for them to be healed and for the mother as well. Another home we visited was a couple. The man had meningitis and had no strength. He had been to the hospital a week earlier. We prayed for healing for this man as well. Although we were able to pray with many people and so many were willing to have us into their homes and let us pray for their needs, there was one that really stuck out to me. We met a woman by the name of Grace.

That day, those minutes would literally change the course of her life. Grace initially just wanted prayer for her tuberculosis. We spent some time in prayer for her health and healing. The ladies from the church then spoke to her in Tagalog asking her about her family and other things. Grace went on to tell us that her husband was a drunkard and that one of her kids had recently been bitten by a dog an had to be taken to the hospital. As she spilled her heart, it became evident that her family was suffering and because of her physical condition she had not been to church in over a year. I felt the strong urge to pray for her again, but waited to say something as the ladies were still talking. Grace went on and then told us through tears that she had been contemplating suicide by drinking a bottle of silver polish. It was shocking and heartbreaking and all that is in me hurt to see this beautiful young woman, mother, and wife who was in so much pain. We ended up spending a good amount of time in prayer for her. We prayed that she would experience freedom, love, peace, joy in life and joy in Christ. We wanted her to know how much she was worth and how much God loved her despite everything!

A breakthrough came for her as we prayed and she told us that she felt like she had a new purpose to live that there was joy, which you could see on her face, and that she really wanted to get back to church no matter what it took. She said that God really loved her and that there was restoration! Praise God!

I am so thankful that despite the fact that I was exhausted and sick that day that my condition does not hinder the power of God and what He can do in a life!

.bethel.bible.college.

June 28 - July 3
We finished our week at Bethel Bible College in Valenzuela City, Manila on Saturday. We had an amazing week working with Pastor Bill and Lavonne Boyer, directed by our fearless leader Brent Wood! We did a lot of different things this week, and we DEFINITELY grew so much as a team.

To start the week, we ministered on Sunday at Jesus Cares Assembly of God in Manila, right down the street from BBC. We did testimonies and special songs for both the morning and evening services. In the afternoon, we got to take part in the youth service, with one of our team members doing the sermon. We also had time to fellowship a little bit with the students and play games with them (namely NINJA!). Also, the girls there are all very gifted in using the tambourine and even tried to help us learn a few moves to some songs. Then on Wednesday, we got to go there again for their prayer service. I really enjoyed the time we spent there. It's such an awesome church, and God is doing some great things there!

We spent a lot of time on the BBC campus during the week. We got to interact with students when we saw them, and even got to go to a couple of chapel services. But most of the time we were there, we were doing work projects for the college. We broke and removed cement, leveled dirt, planted, painted their library, and a few other miscellaneous tasks. Even though it was hard work out in the sun, it was really cool to be a blessing to the college and get some things done that they needed done.

A couple of the days, we got to go out into different parts of the city and minister to people. We went to a couple of squatter villages to simply offer prayer. People there were so accepting and kept pointing to different people to be prayed for. We actually got to pray for one lady who kept hearing spirits in her head and was being lead by them, so we prayed for her to be set free. However, we ended up finding out that she had been to the witch doctor that morning and didn't want to give up what the witch doctor had given her to get better, so there was nothing we could do when she wasn't willing to be free. We also prayed for a lady with cancer living there, and she was very encouraged by us coming. By looking in her eyes, you could tell a definite change of emotions. They went from being afraid and exhausted to eyes full of gratitude and joy for us coming to pray for her. It was so touching.
Another day we went to a nearby town to work with Bethel Christian Church. We simply split into groups and went around to different neighborhoods offering prayer and handing out tracts. One group got to pray for a lady contemplating suicide, and were able to show her the value she has in God. Another group got to lead a man into salvation. And still another group got to pray for a couple leading a Bible study, that many souls would be touched. I really enjoyed working with members of the church and ministering on the streets.


On Friday, we got an opportunity to do something pretty neat, at least in my mind. We got invited to do a Bible study at the City Hall for the City Engineers. It was pretty simple. We just came and sang a song, shared a testimony, and gave a small message. But it was really neat to be able to do that in a government building. Also, pastors are invited into the schools to do "Value Lessons", and the Gospel is allowed to be shared. It's so ironic, because when we explain how cool that is that those things are allowed, Filipinos simply say, "Oh yes, Philippines is a free country." In their eyes, America is not free, even though we pride ourselves so much in that.

Then came the time to leave on Saturday. We had a little excursion to Greenhills shopping center, where many items are inexpensive. We had a good time shopping, but we always enjoy riding different forms of transportation to get places: taxis, tricycles, LRT train, public bus, jeepneys, and the like. We always manage to squeeze in wherever we go. :)


Now we're in a different part of Manila in Ortigas for the week.

.squatter.territory.

Wednesday June 30, 2010

Today started off as an ordinary day, just like all of the other ones since we have been here at Bethel Bible College.  Breakfast at 6am, devotion at 7am, class till 9:30 am, and then working outside to finish painting the library and then off to lunch. After lunch and naptime, we had the opportunity to visit the squatter territory over by the river. The squatters here are the poorest people. They have made their houses themselves many out of cardboard, tin, concrete, and whatever else they have managed to find in order to provide shelter for themselves.  All nine of us, Brent, and three of the students from Jesus Cares church went for about an hour and a half to go pray for people.

Every time you go into a squatter territory, you have to get permission from the so called chief who is in charge of the territory. Someone went in to get permission while we waited outside. When he came back, he informed us that we should go to a different squatter territory because there was a lady there with cancer, so we left and walked to the other territory.

After we received permission to go in, we were immediately confronted with a lady who had an evil spirit living in her. She said that the spirit was controlling her mind, whispering things to her, and would lead her places. Brent told us the entire situation, and we were ready to do some spiritual battling!  We all prayed for her for about 15-20 minutes and then eight of us left to go find the house of the lady who had cancer. I was in this group. We walked through the dirty narrow streets and down a path back in the territory till we came to a little 7x7 room. The lady’s name was Rochelle. She was 36 years old and had been battling breast cancer now for 5 years. Yesterday she went through her 5^th round of chemotherapy and was in a bit of pain when we arrived. We asked her if we could prayer for her and so we crowded into this little room and laid hands upon her. As I prayed I looked at the pictures of her and her husband that sit on the shelf beside where she sat. We would later find out that her husband left her when he found out that she had cancer.

We prayed for about 25 minutes with her and one of the girls in our group translated what Rochelle said after. I guess she really didn’t need to say anything though because I know that the Holy Spirit had moved in that room when we prayed for her, her facial expression said it all. I first encountered what looked to be a devastated, pain-ridden lady of whom cancer is eating away at. The last thing I saw was pure joy, tears that said how grateful she was that there were people out there who would come and find her. We met her at her point of need and loved on her. God was moving in that room and the translation was that she was so happy and felt like she was strong and had something lifted off of her. I knelt there on the floor holding her hand crying with her and just realizing how much life means.

We walked back to the first lady and continued to pray for her. We asked her how she was feeling and had her pray to Jesus as we prayed that the spirits be bound. After another 15 minutes. They asked her how she was, we were making no progress, she told us that she had visited the abulario that morning and he had given her a gift. This gift was a bullet. Brent asked her if she would give it to us explaining to her that it was a curse on her and that the spirit inside of her would continue to bother her unless she gave up the things the abulario had given to her. She refused and told us that she had to go.

It was good just to have an experience in the squatter territories. It really makes me appreciate all that I have and have been blessed with. God is good all the time whether there is healing immediately or not. I was blessed by the woman who had cancer.