This past weekend was by far one of my favorite weekends since I’ve been here. There’s so many good things and fun stories that I know I’ll always remember. I wanted to share the experiences with you guys and everything that happened this weekend.
We took a two hour drive to another island to help out a small church and do a feeding, lead a Bible study, and have a trip to a waterfall.
A little background on why & how we even went- a few girls on my team went to an optional feeding several weeks ago at this church, and while they were there the pastor asked them if our team would be willing to come help lead a service.
On the drive there (it’s a beautiful drive along the coast), we stopped for a minute at a little beach with some small caves. It was beautiful, and there were some pretty cool seashells that I grabbed (actually, the coolest I’ve ever seen.) There were also puppies. If you want to hear about that story, message me privately. It’s sad. (However, one thing I’ve learned while being here-actually because my team points it out- is that I love and care SO deeply. Like, of course I knew that, but I didn’t realize how prevalent it was until my team started telling me. Sometimes it sucks because I care so much and things hurt, but it’s how God made me so I’ll embrace it. I’m glad to have that gift.)
ANYWAY. We make it to the church for the feeding. It was super short but sweet. We head over to the place we’re staying which was a woman’s house who rents out bedrooms. There was no running water (which is normal for Racers, so my team is blessed that we have running water at our usual house), but it was a cute little place.
Later that same day we head to the waterfall. Once we arrive by car, It’s about a 35ish minute trekking experience (around and over rocks, through water, etc) and it was NOT easy. Our tour guides make it look easy, but it definitely was not. I may or may not have almost fallen about 5 times (seriously) and then actually did fall once while trekking. My friend decided it would be a good idea to take a picture of me on the ground. I’m so clumsy.
We make it to the waterfall and let me just say, WOW. Stunning. Pictures don’t do it justice. It was a tall waterfall with a pond at the bottom that we were allowed to swim in. The water was cold, but after trekking it felt great. While I was attempting to get in, I slid on a slippery rock and fell in… surprise. I went to the side where there were some rocks and was able to climb up and jump off which was scarier than expected. I loved it. Swimming underneath the actual waterfall part was when it hit me. I am in the Philippines on the other side of the world swimming in a waterfall.
I let that sink in for a while under the waterfall. It was such a precious moment.
Right before we were about to leave, one of the girls decided to get baptized which was also a sweet moment.
That night, we planned our bible studies for church the next morning (super last minute.) I signed up for the adult study and we based our study on community and prayer. Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:29-31. I talked about prayer, boldness, and healing (Acts 4:29-31) and how we as His children ARE bold and we should pray boldly because we have the Spirit inside us. Going off of that, I said that when we pray we should pray for each other. No one specific person has a more powerful prayer than another. We ALL have authority through Him to pray over the darkness. I encouraged the Bible group to continue to pray for each other because it is SO powerful and it builds community- something I’ve learned since being on this trip. Community is hard, but it’s such a blessing. At the end, we asked for prayer requests and they ended up coming to us girls individually & we prayed for them. It went better than expected and the Holy Spirit totally took over.
After this, the other bible groups (kids & young adults) came in for the service. A few of our girls did two worship songs, four girls including myself shared a short version of our testimonies to the church, and then the sermon happened. It was just such a good weekend. Everybody got along, memories were made, we had so much fun, Jesus was glorified, and the waterfall was so beautiful. So far, this weekend was the highlight of this trip. God was so present.
This whole trip I’ve been wanting to have an adventure day and I’m so thankful that I was able to. I’ve realized how much I really do love nature because I see Him in it. I can’t look at a waterfall or the ocean and not think about Him. He created that. He is beautiful.
On another note, I would love to be praying for you because PRAYER IS POWERFUL. Feel free to message me on how I can pray for you. If you text me, I can only receive non iMessage texts. You can also email me at [email protected]
Much love for you all
