As of January 1st, we are in our 4th country, the Philippines! We took a few buses and two planes to get here. It was a journey and a half but it was fun to see everyone on the squad after a month. Our ministry this month is with Sunshine Baptist Church.
When we got to the church, they had a large sign being held by a bunch of children that said, “Welcome American Missionaries.” Everyone was and is so excited to meet us. It turns out that they have been praying for us to come for 18 months. We are the first American missionaries to this city that they know of. It is amazing to think that we are an answer to prayer. It is also a blessing to have such a blatant example of God going before us into a country.
The next day, they threw a huge celebration to welcome us. They sang songs and did interpretive and traditional dances that they have now promised to teach us. The whole church was involved, including the older ladies who did a dance which the church members, along with us, found very hilarious. They also had us do dances and worship songs as a squad. They then prepared us a huge feast that tasted amazing. We have found out over the past few days that they are sooo welcoming. They love having us and are excited to talk to us. It was a fun night.
This month, we will be reaching the local school age/college age students. My team, along with Team River Dancers, is partnering with Sunshine School. We are teaching and going into at least 7 other schools to share the Gospel in the classrooms. They are very open to the Gospel here, partly because we are American. We will also be doing a big 4-day youth event that sounds like Big Stuff or a church camp where they are broken off into grades. Between the 6 teams that are here this month, we are going to supposedly reach 15,000+ people. This is crazy! So many people will hear the Gospel this month. Yesterday, we actually got to go on the radio to give our testimonies and share about the big event.
This month will be a lot of fun but also very full. Please pray that we are able to have enough endurance to make it through. Please also pray that people’s ears will be open so that they can hear the Gospel. We have a huge opportunity to share the Gospel this month and are ready to see what God is going to do!
Thank you again for your support and prayers.
Blessings,
Elise
