My Time in the Philippines

Hey guys. As this newsletter is posted, I am now just finishing up my time in the Philippines. I want to share an update of my time in the Philippines and share how it varied from the other countries I’ve been to so far (Thailand and Malaysia). Starting with the differences, first of all the Philippines is largely a Catholic/ Christian nation, which therefore resulted in the people being so much more receptive to hearing the gospel and receiving prayer. Secondly, the Philippines had more poverty, which provided more opportunities to minister to the physical needs and then to the spiritual needs. Next the Philippines is very friendly to foreigners. Many people would come and ask us where we were from and welcome us. Kids would often just run up to us and ask for our names and want to play with us. Additionally in the Philippines, the teams within our squad were switched as well as our roles. In the Philippines, I was asked to be the team leader, which carried a lot of extra responsibilities and such. Having shared now about the difference of my time in the Philippines, I want to share about the ministry I was involved in, some testimonies, and some prayer requests.

The ministry organization I was involved with was called Kids International Ministries. The ministry organization had several different ministries within it, and I’ll share the ones we were involved with. The main ministry we helped with included doing feedings. In these feedings the ministry made food and sent us with a pastor to villages or locations to give out the food and to look for opportunities to share the gospel, share testimonies, share words of encouragement, and pray for people. We were also involved in their orphanage, which included both a boy’s home and a girl’s home where we played with the kids and shared devotionals with them. Another ministry they had called Adonai housed women who had kids out of wedlock. We occasionally went and talked with the women there and encouraged them/ had fun with them. We were also connected with Rockfish Church which hosted Friday night youth services which we helped set up and shared testimonies at as well as had Sunday morning services. Lastly, the ministry had another location called Tondo, which was a poorer area where they have similar feedings, youth services, and various outreaches.

Two testimonies I will share occurred at feedings of two separate jails. At the first prison, our group attended a prison of about 50 men present in a big jail cell. We started with some worship songs and testimonies, and then I was able to preach the Word. At the end, I preached the gospel and gave an altar call and 30 people responded to wanting to follow Jesus. Praise God! We also were able to go to CICL which was a juvenile prison for teen boys and were able to worship, preach, give an altar call, and pray over the boys. Many responded to the message which was encouraging!

In Tondo, our team was able to visit and stay several nights at the boys and girls home respectively where the local Filipino missionaries were on the ground there living with others that they were discipling. According to the missionaries there, we were the first group from Kids International to stay overnight there which was an honor! When there, we did feedings, attended and spoke at their youth service Youth Lab, led Bible studies, and played games/ built relationships with the people there. I was thankful I was able to share the sermon at the Youth Lab service about Making Disciples as I shared about it and encouraged the local people to disciple and outreach to those in front of them in this area.

Specifically, our group was able to lead 2 Bible studies in Tondo. I was able to lead the second Bible study and when praying about what to read, I decided to go over Matthew 5. What is cool is the night before leading and deciding what to do for the Bible study, I had a dream about me walking around in a dark place but having a light around me. The next day after deciding on Matthew 5, I later realized that part of the chapter talks about letting your light shine to others. When I realized this, I believed it was confirmation that this was the passage for me to share. About 20 people attended and listened intently and seemed to receive it well. We were able to pray for everyone present in the Bible study. I always love leading Bible studies, so this was a great opportunity for me.

We had a cool opportunity from Kids International to be the first group they sent to go to the Aeta tribe in Pampanga and outreach to that tribe. We were able to go 3 days and 2 nights to this community and had instant favor. When we first arrived, it was uncertain where we would be staying, but we were able to meet with captain who was the head of the tribe. After the local pastor talked with him, we were able to sleep inside a preschool which was a blessing to be in a safe indoor space. During our time, we were asked to share a testimony and share the gospel at an outreach at a basketball court. When our group prayed about who would share, 3 of us in the group heard that Brice should share the gospel and Sarah should share a testimony. It was cool and confirmation that 3 of us heard the exact same thing! That said, later that day when we did the outreach, 37 people responded to the message of the gospel and said the salvation prayer! The next day we were able to do a feeding at the basketball court and in the community where we also looked for opportunities to pray and preach the gospel.

There is so many more testimonies and stories I could share, but I will leave it at that. The Philippines was a great country and personally my favorite country so far. I want to say as a praise report that the vertigo that I experienced all throughout Malaysia almost immediately left when I arrived in the Philippines. I appreciate all you who prayed for it! As for future prayer requests, here they are:

1. For God to grow the seeds sown in the Philippines.
2. For God to heal me of a head cold I have had for the last month as well as to heal my back which I partially injured about 2 weeks ago.
3. For God to open doors and opportunities as I head to Ethiopia.
4. For God to help me lead and help me with the decisions and responsibilities as a team leader.

For photos, feel free to follow my Facebook and Instagram account. Thank you everyone for reading my latest update! God bless.