Wow, has it really been almost 2 weeks since my last blog post? Eesh. I guess I got out of the habit while we were MIA in China. Allison wrote a blog about our day yesterday, I hope you will enjoy reading an example of how God frequently takes control of our days.
to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,
according to his power that is at work within us.” Ephesians 3:20
Like
many days on the World Race, yesterday did not turn out the way that I
had envisioned it; tt was actually MUCH better than anything I could
have imagined.
Lauren and I spent the morning designing a new ad sales brochure for the Jeepney Magazine, a new street paper aimed at providing employment to the homeless and exposing social justice issues in Manila.
We set out about 11 AM with big plans to sell ads to some local
businesses and meet up with a new contact for coffee about 2:30 pm.
Somehow, we always manage to work in a coffee date with anything we
plan.
Keeping in mind that it takes at least an hour to get anywhere
in Manila, we made record progress getting downtown, grabbing some
lunch, and working to print our nice new brochure. We were
unsuccessful with the printing, but that didn’t stop us; we were ready
to sell, sell, sell. We had exactly one hour to hit up some
restaurants and get back across town for our coffee date.
I
was completely unprepared for the welcome we received at the Filipino
businesses. We quickly realized that our light skin color was working
to our advantage and we were treated incredibly kindly everywhere we
went. The restaurant managers were incredibly respectful and seemed
genuinely interested in helping the magazine. Because most were large
chain restaurants we were pointed towards the corporate offices, but we
may some good head away in creating some buzz for the magazine.
The
downfall of our light skin color resulted in an incredibly overpriced
taxi ride across town, but I guess you have to take the bad with the
good, right?
We were to meet a new contact and friend, Janette,
at 2:30pm. She was not quite done in a Bible study yet so she met us
and escorted us to the last 10 minutes of her Bible study. We
intended to sneak in the back and not make a peep. God had other plans
and we essentially stole the show. oops! The lovely girls in the
study were so intrigued by our traveling and stories that we talked
with them for over an hour. Most were new believers, or
non-Christians, and they had many questions. It was our pleasure to
chat with them and share all that we had seen God do over the past few
months.
After that, Janette told us her plans had changed a
bit and she needed to get back to her house to host a Bible Study for
some family members. 
A
pastor friend and his son were in town and scheduled to speak at her
house that afternoon. We nodded in agreement and off we went. Her
pastor friend ended up being a magician and used magic to present the
Gospel. She had asked him to come and speak with her family and friends
that did not know the Lord. As we drove we also discovered that he
also ministered in deliverance as well. Deliverance was something I
was not exposed to until this year on the trip and I still wrestle with
many questions. We used the horrible traffic as the perfect time for a
lesson on deliverance for Lauren and I.
As we arrived at her
beautiful home we were served spaghetti and chex mix! Both things we
miss from home! We sat in on the Gospel presentation from Pastor Peter
and are still trying to figure out his magic tricks! It was refreshing
to spend the afternoon with someone who so badly desires for her family
to come to know God that she will pay a pastor to come and do private
Bible studies in her home. Pastor Peter drives in from over 3 hours
away each week to meet with them. Please pray for Janette’s family and
friends. She is a walking testimony and living out the Great
Commission in a very real way.
As we zoomed back to church
for a night prayer meeting we shared our lives with Janette and vice
versa. The Lord certainly had better plans for the day than we could
have imagined. We also did manage to get some work done and Janette is
going to use her Filipino connections to get us some appointments next
week with local businessmen.
Stay tuned as next week we play
dress up in Janette’s closet and try to remember how to be
professionals in the business world. That is bound to be a good video
🙂
