I woke up Saturday feeling heavy. I wasn’t sure why but the last thing I wanted to do was hike through the rain to do outreach. Leaving almost 2 hours after the time they said we would leave didn’t help my mood. As I road in the back of a multicab through Malaybylay City, I asked Papa to PLEASE lift this mood. Man did he show up…
About an hour later, we arrived in the middle of rice fields at a small building Benhard (a man we are working with doing different ministries this month) informed us was the local church. It was smaller than my living room back home but in the doorway stood 30 beautiful Pilipino children so excited to see us. We spent the next hour watching as they sang praises to God in a language I don’t understand, listened to the story of Jesus, and memorized Jonah 2:9 together.
As the children got to work coloring a thank you card to Jesus, Benhard asked Isaac, Abby, and myself to go to a nearby village to visit the children and let them know we would be having bible study next Saturday. We eagerly followed Benhard through a banana field, waded through a river, walked through a squash field, waded through another river, and walked through a rice and corn field before we arrived at the first village. This village already has a children’s bible study in place but no building to meet in. Since it was raining, we just stopped by to say hello and let them know we would be back on Saturday.
We headed to the next village that Benhard informed us not many people like to go to because it is so far away. As we walked through fields to get there, we saw an active volcano in the distance. We walked through muddy paths between huts to reach some people. As we stood in front of a hut discussing what the Lord is doing in this little village, summer of 69 blared from the hut next door. We took time to pray for the village and agreed to begin a children’s bible study there next Saturday!
As we waded back through the rivers and walked through field after field to head back to base, I felt God gently whisper ‘this really is your life’. Tuesday I swam out of a cave, Saturday I waded through rivers to reach people who need Jesus, and yesterday I went scuba diving. It’s almost surreal. I haven’t always been the most adventurous person, but God chose me to do this crazy adventure! He is taking me on the craziest adventure of a lifetime. On a day when I felt heavy and didn’t want to put my all in, God reminded me just how blessed I am. He showed me just how amazing of a Dad He is and romanced me in so many ways. God is so good!
Tomorrow we will make the trip all over again but this time we will start the children’s ministry in that last village. Please be praying for our time there. I know God is going to show up so big!
Heart and Soul,
Kristi
