Meet my friend Mhiko. Mhiko is 20 years old, Filipino, a native to the Tacloban area, a survivor of Typhoon Yolanda, and a construction worker at the Lighthouse, our ministry site. Mhiko is also a brand-new believer in Jesus Christ. Here is just some of his story.
I met Mhiko one of the first nights we were in Tacloban, and we quickly became friends. He is funny, loves to joke around, and enjoys practicing his English and learning about American culture. As I got to know him, I learned that he didn’t really have a relationship with Jesus.
One day a few weeks ago, we took a break from construction and Mhiko, several of my squadmates, and I went right across the road to go swimming at the beach. The rain was pouring, and the creation around was truly spectacular. My squadmate Will began to pray, praising God for all the beauty He made around us. After Will prayed, Mhiko prayed in his native language, thanking God for sending our World Race squad here and for our friendship. After that, Mhiko really opened up his heart to us. He told us his story of surviving the storm and so much more. I could see God working in his heart, slowly changing him.
The next night, our squad had worship night, and I invited Mhiko to join us. As soon as worship started, I saw him praying, holding back tears. After a few minutes, he left and walked outside, on his own. I could feel that something significant was happening inside him, so I followed. I found him sitting on the ground outside, just weeping. I gave him some space, then he soon joined me and a few other guys. We all huddled together, and Mhiko began to pray out loud.
“Lord, thank you for sending these World Race guys here. Even though I am so bad, they accept me and they love me. God, I see that I am so bad and have so many sins. I have been trying so hard to be good and to do good things, but really I’m just so bad. Tonight, I see that I just surrender. I surrender my whole life to you. I love God. I love God! I love God!”
That night, Mhiko was born again; he was given a new life! Even that very night, I immediately was thinking about the importance of discipling Mhiko. I thought about the parable of the sower, where some of the seed falls among the rocks and does not grow deep roots. I wanted Mhiko to be able to grow deep roots. So, in the past few weeks, God has been using me to disciple him!
Many nights after dinner we studied the Bible together, one-on-one. We looked at a list of verses that answer the question, “Who am I in Christ?” We talked about how we are the light of the world, children of God, part of the body of Christ, and many more things. And honestly, I have never seen someone so hungry for the Bible! Mhiko sometimes had difficulty understanding everything in English, but when he didn’t understand he asked questions. He did everything he could to learn everything he could from our time together!
As we met one-on-one, I realized that that is exactly why I came on the Race. Really, that is exactly why I was created. Jesus said “Go and make disciples of all nations.” Our time together has often been the best part of my day!
Mhiko has one more week with our squad, then he will be moving to Cebu, another city in the Philippines, to try to find a better job. I am so excited to continue to grow alongside him! Mhiko is my close friend, and he is a disciple of Christ Jesus. Our journeys will continue, and I have so much hope for the future. More updates to come on Mhiko’s story.
