Breaking my coral heart in the Philippines too…

While working on the ship, I always knew that I loved the Pilipino people, I just never realized how much, until I got to spend 2 weeks with them.  What I experienced pierced my heart so deeply that I couldn’t spend a single moment in prayer, without tears streaming down my face.

 This was also the time that Clara and Anthony came to visit us.  What a blessing!  We just sat like little sponges around Clara all the time and tried to take in all the wisdom we can from her! 

Our time with them was so incredibly blessed, but very busy too.  The first week, we were in Lapu-Lapu city (Cebu – Mactan island).  We stayed at the Church of God, getting to know the local members of the church and being so blessed by Pastor Lito and his family.

In the afternoons, we went to distribute tracks in the community and in the evenings, we had campaigns, where our team led praise & worship, did dramas, gave testimonies, showed a salvation movie and then preached the gospel, followed by a time of prayer for anyone needing healing or encouragement – physical and/or spiritual.  This was really a time to put into practice all we learnt in Guatemala.  I, for one, am so grateful that Jesus loves me too much to just leave me where He found me!  I learnt that physical healing follows spiritual healing.

Our second week of ministry in the Philippines, we went to Olanga island – about an hour’s travel by boat.



Here we had construction work to do.  Because of the weather, it’s incredibly hot and humid, we thought that we’ll start work in the morning at 05:00, so that we could finish earlier  and not die of heat!

Wow!  I have new respect for guys that have to break rocks for a living.  The whole island is built on a coral reef.  We had to dig 24 holes, 40-60cm deep, into the hard coral stone.  It felt impossible, but through team work and the blessed power of Christ, we were able to finish 22 of the 24 holes.  We as team felt like the hard, coral stone not only represents a physical challenge to break, but it’s also a spiritual representation of the people hearts on the island.  Still, my heart continued to break for these people.

We even picked up and moved a house!

   

In the afternoons we gave out tracks again, and in the evenings presenting an evangelical campaign.  So the time in the Philippines was very hard, physically and emotionally.& nbsp; I hardly ever slept more than 4 hours a night.  This time taught me that if you keep your eyes focused on God and do what He asks of you to do (living in OBEDIENCE), you won’t need to sleep as much as you think you should.  God provided all the rest that you need!

• Next up, we have Thailand!  We are very excited for it, especially because we have a few family members coming to visit the team.
• Our leaders, Louis and Hanalie are also not with us, they need to apply for our visas and are going to do a short-term trip to Japan.  So, for the next 3 weeks, the White team (Gerhard, Erin and myself) will be leading the team.  Please pray for us to be honest and unified.
• Sharing the truth and not sugar-coating anything that needs to be said.  It’s hard, because I’m so used to sugar-coating, because I try to impress people.  Please pray with me that I now don’t go from people-pleasing to people-offending.

 God is good and with Him, there is nothing to fear!

 Blessings!

Linel*