Oh dearest supporters and readers. I apologize for my lack of writing in the last weeks. There has been so much going on in my mind and heart that I have come to a place of not knowing how to communicate all of it. But the value of my communicating the story that God is writing of my life is much more important than my not knowing how to write it. So I want to commit to you that I will be more active in speaking and writing what God is doing on this trip, even if it is written imperfectly. And believe me, I will do my best to write it perfectly.
This next blog will speak about a little more of what God taught me in Australia and then I am so excited to write about the Philippines! For a better understanding of our ministry in Australia simply scroll down to the blog named “Who Will Remember Them?”
Walking off of the plane in the city of Manila in the Philippines I took a deep breath and felt free again. I wanted to dance a little, sing alot and just be who I am. The weight that had rested on me in Australia was gone. Why, though? Almost immediately questions started to spin through my mind. I mean, what about the Philippines was so light? Or what about Australia was so heavy? What kind of impact did we actually make on the people in Australia? Did I just make up this feeling that I had there? Yet as I thought back over my time in the Bagot community I began to realize that God had given me the education of a lifetime….
One of the teams on N-squad is named Ginosko. The word ginosko is the Greek word for “to know“. But this kind of knowledge is the kind that speaks of experience. So when Paul says “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings”, he is asking to experience Christ in everything He is. His power. His suffering. His life.
I say all this to say that being in Australia was like going to school for me. But all that I learned was from an experience that I will never forget. So here are pieces of the schooling I was gifted with in the last month…
From Joy– She is a Christian woman in this community whose light shines strong. God had healed her from cancer a year ago in a way that baffled the doctors. When she gave her testimony she strongly spoke about how her God was powerful 
and that no witchdoctor could do what her God did. The children that lived with Joy were different than any of the other children; their eyes had purpose behind them and their behavior was less rebellious. As I watched Joy…
and that no witchdoctor could do what her God did. The children that lived with Joy were different than any of the other children; their eyes had purpose behind them and their behavior was less rebellious. As I watched Joy…I Learned– The power of joy. Joy’s name not only spoke of her character but through her shining light I began to see how having joy takes away the permission I can give to darkness in my life. When joy is present, hope also shines and the hopelessness that the enemy uses in his attacks is demolished. I learned that when Satan makes himself real to this community through fear and apathy, God makes Himself more real by bringing confidence and determination. Joy’s life shone with that confidence and it was impacting her community in ways she cannot even see right now.
From Agnus– She is a recovered alcoholic who now walks through her community telling people about Jesus and sharing
God’s Word with them. Through what we understood of her testimony, she found herself almost dead in the hospital because she had been hit by a car while drunk. Yet the woman that we interacted with had clear eyes and a smile that drew us to her. She stood before the church on Sunday mornings singing and playing the keyboard and clearly walking in victory from the darkness that once had held her life. The second Sunday we were at church, Agnus was commissioned along with another woman to start a Bible study in their community. As I began to know Agnus I learned…
God’s Word with them. Through what we understood of her testimony, she found herself almost dead in the hospital because she had been hit by a car while drunk. Yet the woman that we interacted with had clear eyes and a smile that drew us to her. She stood before the church on Sunday mornings singing and playing the keyboard and clearly walking in victory from the darkness that once had held her life. The second Sunday we were at church, Agnus was commissioned along with another woman to start a Bible study in their community. As I began to know Agnus I learned… I Learned– That a follower of Christ not only walks in gentleness and love but in the power of His saving grace that has brought freedom. Agnus’s life was displaying that she truly was “not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16) The gentleness that shone from Agnus revealed God’s life-transforming power through His love. When Jesus says “I am the way and the truth and the life” I could see the change that had happened in Agnus because of her choice to follow the way of Jesus while living the life He had offered based on truth.
From Richard– He is our guitar-playing friend who I never saw sober. He came to each of our meetings and even in his 
intoxicated state played the guitar quite convincingly. When we could understand what he was saying, he spoke about the guitar and mumbled “God bless you” often. While we prayed for him, we saw no visible change in him in the time we were in Bagot.
intoxicated state played the guitar quite convincingly. When we could understand what he was saying, he spoke about the guitar and mumbled “God bless you” often. While we prayed for him, we saw no visible change in him in the time we were in Bagot. I Learned– When Jesus says “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick” (Matt. 9:12), he was speaking about broken people like Richard. Richard was in desperate need of both physical and spiritual healing. Yet even as we prayed for him, we did not see healing happen. Why not? Did God not see that Richard desperately needed to be saved from himself? The only conclusion I can come to is that in Matthew 10:8 when Jesus talks about healing, He tells me “freely you have received so freely give“. And so we learned to freely pour our prayers before the throne of grace and trust God’s timing and purposes.
From the Children of Bagot– The children in this community are a harsh and jaded mob of young people. What they learned from their parents they practice daily. They hit each other often and pull one another’s hair as signs of affection. 
They are quick to get angry when wronged and even quicker to get even. They are so starved for affection that even negative attention was desirable. When asked what they wanted to do when they grew up, few of them had really thought about it. They were slow to trust us even though we gave them no reason for distrust. Yet by the end of our time there, our hearts loved them and were intensely broken over what seemed to be a hopeless situation.
They are quick to get angry when wronged and even quicker to get even. They are so starved for affection that even negative attention was desirable. When asked what they wanted to do when they grew up, few of them had really thought about it. They were slow to trust us even though we gave them no reason for distrust. Yet by the end of our time there, our hearts loved them and were intensely broken over what seemed to be a hopeless situation.I Learned– Jesus “came to serve and not to be served and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). So if I am saying that I want to walk like Jesus did and do what Jesus would have done, then I too get to serve instead of being served. I get to love without thought of being loved back. And the rights that I so strongly claim are mine (rights to comfort, or security on my own terms), probably aren’t.
From our contacts Dr. David and Isabel– And last but certainly not least, our contacts in the month of Australia. This 
couple that we met are the retired version of Superman and Wonder Woman. Dr. David is a surgeon by night and a missionary by day, or a surgeon by day and a missionary by night… whichever is needed on that day. More than half of the time we worked in the Bagot community, Dr. David worked on less than 3-4 hours of sleep. When he wasn’t doing a surgery, he was driving the people to the different places they needed to be. Or he was praying for those who needed healing. Or he was bar-b-queing hot-dogs for the children to eat after they played. Isabel, his wife, was a retired nurse who had recently stopped her schooling to become a lawyer because the ministry at Bagot was taking up so much of her time. As I watched this couple consistently pour out their lives as a drink offering to the community…
couple that we met are the retired version of Superman and Wonder Woman. Dr. David is a surgeon by night and a missionary by day, or a surgeon by day and a missionary by night… whichever is needed on that day. More than half of the time we worked in the Bagot community, Dr. David worked on less than 3-4 hours of sleep. When he wasn’t doing a surgery, he was driving the people to the different places they needed to be. Or he was praying for those who needed healing. Or he was bar-b-queing hot-dogs for the children to eat after they played. Isabel, his wife, was a retired nurse who had recently stopped her schooling to become a lawyer because the ministry at Bagot was taking up so much of her time. As I watched this couple consistently pour out their lives as a drink offering to the community… I Learned– “Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will certainly save it” (Mark 8:35). David and Isobel did not stop. They gave of their time, energy, resources, and strength and the reward they were immediately receiving was nothing compared to what they poured out. Yet when Jesus tells me “wherever your treasure is, that is where your heart is” I could see that the treasure of this couple was certainly to see these people know Jesus. And as they gave their earthly treasure to this community they were most certainly storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).
