MAAYONG GABII
Good evening!! As I write this it would be evening over in the Philippines. Because we were unable to have any internet access I am just now able to give you an update on the trip. I wish I could have given you a day-to-day update because there is so much to write about, but hopefully this will still give you a good picture of what took place.
Our team: Jay, Quinton, Stephanie, Caitlin, Roz, and Nate
GOD IS IN CONTROL
As our team of six arrived in Davao City after almost 23 hours in the air we made our way to a small village/campground on the side of the mountains. We quickly realized that many of our preconceived ideas about the trip were wrong. We thought we would be teaching in Davao but instead were taken to this campground two hours outside of the city, surrounded by two prominently Muslim communities. Secondly we thought we would be teaching mostly pastors and women, but instead found out we were also going to be teaching a large number of youth (ages 12-24). When plans change there tends to be disappointment for unanswered expectations, but in this case, God changed our hearts quickly. We began to see God’s hand fully at work in the lives of those we were getting to teach.
Brother Quinton teaching pastors and women alongside his translator
Brother Quint, as they would call him, was able to teach the pastors, youth pastors, and women on several lessons of discipleship over the span of the week. He was so encouraged by their hunger to learn. He began to hear how many had already begun the ministry of discipleship and were seeing so much fruit through multiplication. It was so encouraging to not just teach about discipleship but hear stories of how it is already taking place.
A picture of the downline of disciples of Pastor Ben (some unable to be present)
POTENTIAL OF ONE MAN
One story in particular is about Pastor Nick, whom Quinton had the pleasure of building a relationship with. Nick shared how one night he happened to come across a drunken man in the road whom he actually almost hit. He felt God telling him that this man was “a person of peace.” To him this meant that God was lying on his heart to reach out to the man, share the gospel with him, and begin pouring into his life in a discipleship context. He found out this man was a mechanic and so for the next several weeks Nick took his car to this mechanic (even though there was never anything wrong with his car). He did this to begin building a relationship with this man. He soon was able to share the gospel with him and the man accepted Christ. From there a discipleship relationship took place and now that man is overseeing almost 300 people for the sake of Christ. Nick truly saw the masses through this one individual! This preaches so clearly the potential of one man!
Brother Nick sharing his testimony to the entire camp of pastors and youth
Apart from Quinton, the rest of our group had the opportunity to teach mainly youth and young adults on discipleship. Everyday we split them up by gender. It was incredible to see the hunger of such young people. We are excited as a team, for we believe there are many of those youth who are already applying what we were able to teach them just last week.
Roz and some of the girls after a teaching session
AS YOU GO
A theme phrase our group began to live by was “as you go.” Quinton challenged us from the beginning to not let this trip be all about evangelizing and teaching once we arrive at our destination but that we seek to share the gospel “as we go.” As a team God gave us several opportunities to share our faith in the airport, on the plane, and in the city. We pray that seeds were planted and will continue to be watered. Once at the camp we were also in awe of God as we got to see eight youth commit their lives to Christ for the first time. God was really working and we were humbled to be a part of it.
Our team in front of the conference banner
LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATH PRAISE THE LORD
This was the theme song for the youth conference. It holds a whole new meaning for our team, as we were able to sing it with an entirely different culture all the way around the world. What a beautiful picture of the heaven. On the last night of the conference they held a worship concert. The daughters (ages 20 and 24) of Pastor Ben and his wife Esther led worship along with their worship band. It was breathtaking to sing with the voices of young people in another language who are so passionate about their Almighty God. As a team we were asked to be apart of this concert. Although some of it was out of our comfort zones we performed a step routine, and then some of us from the group performed separate songs and dances. As a whole we were able to end the concert with “God of this City.” It was a powerful way to bless them with the hope that the God who has “began a good work in these people will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil 1:6).
The entire group of youth at the camp where we taught
LIFE ON LIFE
One of the greatest surprises for our team on this trip was that we had the opportunity to live life with the people. Because we stayed in this small village we did everything with the people we were serving and teaching from morning until night. This allowed for many relationships to be built. Several of us have already begun keeping in touch with those whom we became close brothers and sisters with in the gospel. We had never before been surrounded but such joyful people. They had such a desire to love and serve us as if we were royalty. Their hearts showed us the sacrificial love of Christ as they served us in every way. It was evident that these people find their joy in Christ. I pray that joy rubbed off on each of us.
Nate and Jay spending time with some of the boys after a teaching session
SACRIFICE
Although I could write so many powerful experiences from this past week, there is one that sticks out above the rest. On our very last day our group split off into four groups in order to cover going to four different churches. Quinton and I were able to go to Pastor Ben’s church. As we drove about five minutes from their house, the jeep dropped us off on the side of the road. One of Pastor Ben’s daughters asked me if it was ok that we walk the rest of the way. Of course I answered yes. Little did Quinton and I know that walking to church meant trekking through the heat for nearly 20 minutes in deep, slippery mud along a narrow pathway with little to hold onto to keep balance. Surprisingly this became one of the neatest moments in our lives for worshipping our God. To be apart of a sacrifice that these people make every week just to worship God with other believers. Now, I could not help but move much slower than Pastor Ben and Quinton. So they went on up ahead and the daughters walked with me. Once we got to the village where the church was located the daughters went to a neighboring house and asked if we could use their water to wash our feet. The two daughters got down and washed my extremely muddy feet for me. Talk about servant’s-hearts. Then as we arrived at church the first song I heard them sing was “God is So Good.” This could preach all day!
Walking in the mud on our way to church
Regardless of air-condition or zero circulation churches; regardless of driving in cars or walking in mud; regardless of eating Italian or rice and chicken everyday; regardless of living in Memphis or a small village outside of Davao; GOD IS SO GOOD!
