Now we went all the way from Central America to Asia.. Woooweeee! so 9 flights and a few bus rides later...we arrived in the Philippines...
It was sooo totally different from the other countries we visited. Everyone is so tiny! The Phillipino people are most definitely of the friendliest people in the world ( I can say that now because this year I've kind-of been around the world:D)
The first few days we were in Cebu, Lapu Lapu City ( so nice, they named it twice). Our time here was spent doing crusades with the Church of God. It was quite cool. In the afternoon we would go and hand out pamphlets and invite people for a free film (or Pree Pilm, as the Philippino's would say- they don't say the letter 'f':)) and in that way lure them in and before they know it.... They've heard the Gospel:)
The crusades entailed Worship and a drama, then a movie that portrayed the Gospel. After that someone would share a testimony the someone would bring the Word. Very cool. After that we prayed for people. We really saw breakthrough and many healings. It was really cool how God planned everything out. We had just come from Guatemala where we learned about the spiritual gifts and healing and now we get to put it into practice!!! Isn't God cool?!
After Lapu Lapu City we set off to a little island called Olango Island ( one of the 7107 islands in the Philippines:)) it was a lot more remote And we got there by boat...haha that rhymes:)
So I don't think that I have mentioned how extremely hot it is in the Philippines... Very very very very hot. At first I could not believe hoe incredibly hot and humid it was.. I just couldn't. The sweat would be pouring all the time... 24hours a day. It was crazy.
Our ministry on Olango Island was working during the day and crusades at night. Now, Olango Island is a coral reef that is now above the water and is now called an Island, but the whole thing is coral:) We stayed at Church of God ( there are many Church of God churches in the Philippines:) it's like a branch) The people there want to start an orphanage there so our job was to dig the holes for a fence to go in....
When they first told us that we are going to dig 60cm deep holes in coral I thought they were crazy. It really seemed impossible. So we started on the 24 holes we needed to finish before our time came to leave. We started work at 5 a.m. because it was so hot:) We chipped and dug and chiseled at those holes like there was no tomorrow. Endless hitting at the coral with a kufut. It was so cool to see how God will equip you id you are willing. In the end we finished 22 of the 24 holes. Praise God!
In every country the physical work we did was a representation of the spiritual battle that was going on. In Guatemala it was the sifting and in the Philippines it was chipping and crushing the hard heart of Catholicism. Preparing the soil for the seeds to grow.
God bless the Philippines!