We have had an amazing week and a half in Aninuan, Puerto Galera, but it has almost been too relaxing at first for what we were hoping for and anticipating. Pastor Al is big on relationships in the community, so we have been doing alot of living life in the community and bringing light by the way we are living our lives and building relationships with the people. we have had a few projects like hauling rocks and leading worship and sunday school for the children, but we were getting antsy (no pun intended) for a schedule and hard work to throw ourselves into. well we got our wish as we assisted in clearing out basically part of the rainforest by Pastor Al’s house to make a futbol field. It was a ton of hard work, but many ant and spider bites later, we got to the see major results of our work which was really good for us.
I have found that for some reason, which i am sure is God, that i am so much more calm here about that things that would totally freak me out at home. we have geckos that chill out on the walls inside the house at night and chase bugs around, which would send me screaming to another room at home, but turns out is really good nightly entertainment here. we have learned many lessons about language barrier communication, and learning to be patient as filipino time is a little different from the American time we are used to. we are learning to adjust to no set schedule and much more laid back lifestyle. Our time in Puerto Galera has been amazing, everything from the the people to the food, to the scenery, and we feel so blessed to begin our race here. We know that there are many hard months to come, and we want to continue to fulfill the purpose that God has given us in this place.
The church has an average of 500 members, but only around 50 are true Christians. This is a major area of prayer as we are feeling that the Spirit wants us to try and impart a spirit of worship on the congregation, but we are having to figure out the best process to go about this. Worship is a word that has been prophesied over my squad, and something that my team is very passionate about. We were able to hike to the top of a mountain, at 4 in the morning i might add, in order to see the sunrise and worship God as we watched His amazing creation. That same night we made it to beach to see one the most amazing sunsets I have ever seen. God has just made His presence known to us in so many ways already. We are praying that the opportunity will arise to impart this spirit of worship that we feel into this Aninuan congregation. As an all girls team, we really wanted to do something for the women of the congregation and community, so we are hosting a womens day today, Friday, to wash their feet and paint their toenails and try to make them feel special. We would appreciate prayers that through this we will be able to tell them why they are so special and explain the precedent behind why we want to wash their feet. I am praying that through the mountain top experience we had, we will be able to show the light of Christ through everyday life in the valley. Thank you for all of your prayers for me and my team, we are so grateful for all of our supporters. God is already doing great things and we cant wait to see what the next 10 months will bring. There will be more from Puerto Galera soon!
