My team finished a great ministry month in the Philippines last month. As many of you already know, we worked with Crossover Mission, doing street evangelism at night to the g.r.o.’s (guest relations officers a.k.a. prostitutes) and teaching English, Math, and Health Science during the day at the Alternative Learning System (ALS) at the Baguio Health Department. One of my students, Irlinda, a 47 year old single lady, shared with me how she was sold into slavery at the age of 10 years old when she was promised her school would be paid for. She never did go to school. Year after year, Irlinda tried to escape the abusive household she was a slave for and the few attempts she made ended up with more abuse and even death threats. In the translation of her story, I didn’t quite get how she successfully left the household she was a slave for and at what age she left, but I do know she worked for a Christian lawyer when she was 33 years old and it was through this lawyer that Irlinda came to know forgiveness through Jesus Christ. She told me that at one time she wanted to get revenge on her uncle and his family and kill them, but now, she forgave them and prays that they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Now at age 47, God has blessed Irlinda with the education she always wanted and a life of freedom from bitterness, anger, and hate. The innocence, pureness, and dreams of a 10 year old has returned to Irlinda at age 47, and this is only the beginning to Irlinda’s redemptive story. You are probably wondering about Diana, the lady who I shared the Gospel with the first Friday night we did street evangelism and who accepted Christ in her life? Well, she came the following Tuesday to Crossover Mission’s office to have a Bible study with me and she came two more days after that, but she didn’t return after that week. The last Friday we were in the Philippines, we had an only-women’s event. There were a small number of guest relation officers (g.r.o.’s) and entertainers that came from the redlight district (all very young girls in their late teens and early 20s). There were also a small number of volunteers that came from the community of believers, from churches we visited and helped with leading worship, youth ministry, Bible studies, and prayer ministry. Ratio was like, 1:1. Talk about a nurtured environment that made personal bonding time possible. Something that is extremely important to the Lord. I thank Him for that image and for bringing in laborers to partner with Crossover. We had been praying for that almost everyday faithfully and we got to see the fruits of our labor. Dr. Marita finally saw answers to her prayers after 10 years! Praise the Lord!! I believe last month was about building bonding. Now, we are serving in Cambodia. We got to stay a few days in Phnom Penh and had an opportunity to visit two museums (S-21 and The Killing Fields) that had history of the Cambodian genocide that happened between the years 1975-1979. It was sad to hear and see about the many stories that went on there. And just to think that genocide is still happening around the world today makes history even sadder to know about. May 8th, we headed out to our 10-day ministry at a village just an hour and a half from Phnom Penh. I will update you at the end of this month as to what fantastic stories come from here. I love you all and am looking forward to reuniting with you all very soon.
