Hungry for the Word of God

This afternoon a group of us - Justin, Ali, Cindy, Dawn, Chang Su, Charles, Arwel, Dahlia and Patrick - joined the teenagers' Bible study at Rudi and Nitts house. We started off with some enthusiastic worship and then we presented a drama about how the things that we or others may view as rubbish - our height, hair colour etc- God fearfully and wonderfully made. We need to ask God for His revelation of how well He made us.

Next we looked up a number of scriptures which told of our value to God. Justin demonstrated that despite scrunching, chewing and trampling a 20 peso note, it retained the same value. The same with us - no matter what we do and what happens to us in life, we remain valuable to God.

We then split into groups to pray. Patrick got a group of older teenage boys to pray Psalm 23 over each other. It was so encouraging to see as many as forty young people with their Bibles, worshipping with great fervour and responding so keenly to questions.

Another Farewell - Praise God for Those Who Joined Us!!!

After just 2 1/2 weeks many of those who joined the CDTS and IPHC for their outreach to Mindanao in the Philippines have departed. After seeing what seemed to be an unusual number of healings and 100s receive the gift of spiritual healing through salvation by faith in Jesus Christ, 20+ faithful missionaries are returning their homes in South Korea, Norway, England, Oklahoma, Australia, Malaysia, and California. About 40 foreigners will remain in the Philippines until August 24th and 25th.

We had a great time of reflection together and those remaining were greatly encouraged. One shared how the group had been such a welcoming family; another cried as she said she had never seen or felt such love. One said he would never forget his time praying for and carefully washing a 60-year old man covered with skin sores.

Another prayed that God would enable him to see men and women healed and eyes filled with tears as they received the gospel of the Kingdom in his homeland of England just as they had here. Yet another spoke of how Jesus had given us a message of home and that we had borne it well.

One young woman who had never been a part of a YWAM group before said she had a new appreciation for hte power of prayer, and yet another said she would never forget the look on an elderly Filipina's face as she met Jesus for the first time. Another young lady, returning home to study nursing, spoke of a God-given love for the Filipino people and said she would love to return to minister here.

Finally, one of the staff shared about a family in Marcos Bridge, one of the poorest communities in which we have ministered. He spoke to a woman there who shared that last year when the team from TKL had arrived she was planning to leave her husband and family. One young woman from England had shared her testimony with her and given her a bible. Because of that she began reading the words of Life and remained with her family. She is now following Jesus. Her life was forever changed.

With that the "Mega" numbers of our outreach closed fittingly, with a strong reminder that God's Word never goes out void but always accomplishes God's purpose. That is a message that inspires us all to keep running the race in Mindanao well. And with that we remember that while our numbers may be decreasing, we are still following the same Jesus and therefore we still will be doing a "Mega" outreach in Christ. Jesus is here and He is Immanuel. He is God with us and because of that we will continue to have a Mega-impact!!!! Praise God and thank you for your continued prayers!!!!

After the return of the group from Illigan, ministry here in Cagayan de Oro (known as CDO) has begun to get into a routine. Each day, we have breakfast at 7am, followed by praise and worship and a sharing from the Word. Then we have some scheduled quiet time, after which we gather in our ministry groups and prepare for going out. This may mean putting a drama together, thinking up some games we can play with the invariable throng of kids and working out the logistics of going out.

After lunch, we head out to the different ministry locations in the jeepneys and minister in the afternoon for three to four hours. This usually involves us going from house to house, asking people if we can come in (invariably we can - people are so open to us)and share the gospel with them.

Often we end up praying the sinner's prayer with them and for the needs of the family as well as buying them some rice and giving out clothes. Our Filipino friends are doing a great job as our translators and co-workers, sharing their heart for the Lord as well.

This Sunday saw several of us just here for the mega-outreach leaving to return home, many to the UK but also Australia and the US. Those left went to local churches to preach and to share their testimonies. The afternoon and today, Monday, is time off, so people have been relaxing in their rooms and swimming in the pool. A small group were early to rise in order to have a go at white-water rafting. A few are going to the beach, while others are catching a film and doing a spot of shopping.

Farewell Volunteers!

The mega-outreach is now officially over, the volunteers, well most of them, left yesterday. it was sad farewells, but we hope most of you get the chance to come to the Lodge for graduation. we had a fantastic celebration in Villanueva, the music made your ears bleed, but the dancing was legendary. it was so hot, but such fun.
Thank you to all those who came to share this experience with us, we couldn't have done it without you all. We have some fantastic memories to share with you all.
i will always remember how Tom ended up with his arm in a bandage after i arm-wrestled him!!
The outreach continues, but i guess you guys are home safely, not eating rice and resting after a hard slog sharing the gospel with some many people.
Well done guys, we love you!

Back in Cagayan

Ali P says:
we returned to our regular routine this week ministering into homes in different neighbourhoods. we are still seeing people get healed and saved every day. God is really moving here.
I have been into many homes this week and have found myself following in Jack's footsteps, many people remember him coming to their villages and i met one man who recognised his photo, Jack had visited him last year. This week i have had to deal with chickens running free in the houses, pecking at my feet while i talk with the people who there. This is quite off-putting, but no spiders to contend with this week, just chickens and wallowing pigs!
It is great to go out with the families, the children are a real source of interest, they all have blonde hair and are so fair that all the local children can't take their eyes off them. I had a bit of a strange experience myself being so fair when i went into Tagoloan the other day, we were waiting outside for our Dutch family, surrounded by locals and i noticed a small group of under 5's sitting at my feet, one of them had a pet baby white rabbit (maybe it was for dinner), then one of them rubbed the back of my leg, then did it again, then sniffed their hand, then elbowed the next child to do the same, i have no idea whether they were trying to rub off my white skin to find brown or what, buti didn't smell good - layers of sun cream, then insect repellent, then sweat is not a good combination, but they didn't seem to mind, they just kept doing it and giggling. they were too young to speak English.

Ali P says:
We had been asked to take a short trip out to the city of Iligan to work with many local churches in the worst areas of the city. So some of us set off on Friday for a weekend that we will never forget - now entitled the Ivasion of Ilegan!
As we arrived at the city gates we were met by huge banners welcoming the YWAMers, with them the CRU crew, armed guards and dozens of vehicles all with flashing lights and sirens. we were then led in a huge convoy into the city, all traffic was moved out of the way, people were kept back and trafic lights ignored. we were taken straight to the city hall where we were met as dignitaries by the mayor and the marching band. (not to mention the TV cameras) - it was all a bit sureal, but then after we were introduced to every council member and speaches were had we were taken to a meal where there were more speeches, singing and prayers. only then were we escorted by our guards to the house where all 70+ of us were to sleep on the floor!
the accomodation was great - i got a bed! (it seems i could pull the age card)
we were taken into 3 squatter areas for ministry, we had a foreigner, an interpreter from our YWAM team and a local guide so that we didn't get lost in the tangle maze that was our community area. oh, of course we had armed guards and the CRU team to ensure we were all in the right zone where our safety could be assured.
we felt very secure, but it is so strange to be the 'foreigner', i'm still not used to it. we had to sign in and out every time we went anywhere, we were constantly counted, they didn't want any harm to come to us, and it didn't.
we did 3 trips into the local squatter areas, ministring door to door, giving out bibles, sharing the good news and leading people to a new life in Jesus. many healings took place and many lives were transformed as they realised the hope there is in Christ.
we had the pleasure of a performance from this tribal band who were christians in the evening. they came in full costume and sang and played the night away. we all got up to dance. it was a great party, Tom was celebrating his 21st birthday, so we had to give him the bumps too. i think he'l forgive us - he is English after all, he should have been expecting it.
we also got to go to a youth group and participate with the preaching and testimonies, the worship was awesome!
sunday was an amazing day. i had to, no i offered to give my testimony in a church. we were split up over about 30 churches, all wanting preachers. so i went with Nicky - she was to preach and i was to give my testimony. we arrived at this little church in the mountains on the way out of the city. we were led to the front, given gifts of towels with the church name embroidered on them and there we sat wondering what would happen. we had been told the pastor would translate for us! then he came over and asked if i taught sunday school - yes was the reply, of course i do. i couldn't lie, so then i had this idea that somewhere the other side of the wall was a room with about 50 kids in it that i was then to keep entertained for the next hour, and my testimony wasn't particularly child friendly! after some confusion the pastor insisted that i 'taught sunday school' in the main church building, it was full of all ages, except kids! what was i to do, so i said i would give my testimony now - which i did , then Nicky preached, then we prayed for anyone who had felt touched by the message, then we sat down relieved that God had spoken through us. more worship followed, then the guy behind me - he was one of the local 'helpers' told me that sunday school was now officially finished and the church service was to begin, they were expecting us to preach now!!!!!! as you can imagine we were a little stunned as we had already done all that we had prepared. so we prayed very quickly and felt God tell us what to say, so Nicky got back up and preached for a second time, then i got up and preached (for the first time ever) too. there was more worship, and an offering song, and a hello song, and a goodbye song, and i haven't even mentioned the spider incident yet.
ok, the spider incident - anyone who knows me knows how little i like any creepy crawly thing of any sort, particularly spiders, the smallest one will cause me to react, well in the middle of one of the worship times during the service i met Mungo, he needed a bit meaty name, because he was indeed a big meety spider! i heard Nicky whisper "spider!" i looked down at my feet, i had a long skirt on, and saw the largest spider in the universe sitting next to my feet. inches away! my bag which was open lay next to him, i realy didn't want him to go in there, and was wondering if he had his buddy already taking up residence there, but no, Mungo decided to move, I, on the other hand could not! i was stuck to the floor i didn't scream or jump or run for the door or knock over furniture or anything, i just watched as Mungo rose to his feet and trotted off towards the pulpit (that was where the ants were!) a man came a shooed him away with his bible, and apparently Mungo left under the door jar. he was at least 4" across and dark brown - on recounting the story later the man behind me told me it was poisonous, i asked if that meant he would bite me and it would hurt, or would i die, he answered "yes". i didn't want to know what he had answered after that - but thank God i am alive and well, and not bitten by Mungo or any other creature (well apart from a few mozzies). at the end of church we had the obligatory photo shoot and went outside to have fresh coconut juice from the man with the machete and the the tree stump, and the coconuts of course. Boco it is called here! that's when i spotted our armed guards hiding at the side of the church! nice to know they weren't trained in spider duty.
the guards were however a very friendly bunch who were happy to pose for Charlies Angels photos and also happy to learn that traditional English pastime of '3-legged racing' - well you don't get if you don't ask, and i asked!!
we did a prayer walk in the city, but of course this involved the armed guards and the convoy, so at night we were escorted through the city streets and all traffic was again held up, but we got to pray, rather a little too conspicuously, but at least we were safe. all i can compare it to is driving though blackpool illuminations - wierd yet wonderful!
on the way home we had the opportunity to do the local waterfalls - it was our day off after all. we were given the 'dignitories' trip to the HEP station and saw the waterfall in all its splendour, they opened up the gates so we could see it at full strength, it is usually much smaller, but it was beautiful. then we went to another falls, called the Hidden Falls, that's because you have to walk down 365 steps in the middle of the jungle where you find this beautiful scene that is a backdrop for a 'timote' shampoo advert. the colour of the water was tourquoise, impossible to believe, it was at the bottom of the ravine, we went swimming in the pool and some went on the bamboo raft right under the spray of the falls. we had our picnic lunch, then had to climb back up the sid eof the jungle. the butterflies and dragon flies were the most amazing colours - cerise, purple, yellow and electric blue. it was the most beautiful place in the world (so far)
it was so nice to have such an idylic day as the drive home was the most frightening one of my life, ever. several near head on collisions were averted, so please keep praying for our safety, it is important. the traffic here is - interesting! i am glad to be alive, it was a scary ride!
so the invasion ofIlegan was complete and normal life resumed back at Cha-Li beach.

Jesus heals !

I write this amidst all the buzz and excitement of our post-ministry time, when groups feedback all the happenings of the day. In our first two full days of ministry, we have seen some dramatic healings and several people have come to Christ.

Maged, our leader, has just had confirmation from a pastor that a sixty-year-old man, who had been paralysed by a stroke down one side of his body four months ago, had indeed been healed. One of our students had gone to visit the house of an elderly couple on Sunday. She felt out of her depth in this new experience but was prompted by one of the Filipino volunteers to pray for them. There was a strong presence of the Holy Spirit in the room and our student was reduced to tears as she cried out to God for His saving and healing power.

On returning on Tuesday, she shared some scriptures with the couple, prayed for the old man and asked if he wanted to accept Jesus. He made a commitment to the Lord, after which he was able to get to his feet and walk. Amazed at this, his wife also gave her life to the Lord, with her husband looking on, tears streaming down his eyes. As a result, the above pastor reports many in the community wanting to attend Bible studies.

Another group report up to fifteen people coming forward to give their lives to Christ today after a powerful drama on the death of Jesus. In the same community, a woman was healed of her back pains and accepted Jesus as the Lord of her life. Here too, people are hungry to study the Bible. A further woman in a different area was healed of hip pains.

So morale is high. And on Friday we are due to go and minister in another city for three days at the invitation of the mayor and all the churches working together.

Thank you so much for your prayers and continued support - God hears and answers them. It is so encouraging for us all to begin to see the fruit of our forty days of prayer and fasting we completed before we left the UK.