Arrival

Day 1 and 2

And so the Philippines 2012 trip has begun.

Chris and I left early yesterday morning from Christchurch into a sea of cross-culture and difference.

We stopped in Melbourne and Singapore before flying to Kuala Lumpur to spend our first night.

The KL airport was a joke, we had to take a train ride just to find our luggage.  Found a good few chairs to sleep on and nothing was stolen that night.

The culture along the way became more and more shocking as well.

At one stage in the airport we walked through the food court to see members of the Malaysian army sitting down for some Maccas. One of the blokes sits his M-42 Assault rifle on the table pointing it across the room and leans over to take a sip of his coke.

The following morning (today) we got up early. The bus we were supposed to catch (5.30am) didn’t turn up on time so we ended up catching a taxi.

God’s sovereignty was awesome because by the time we got to the plane (at a different airport across town, go figure) we were well late. We only had 40 minutes until the flight left and the check -ins had closed. We were sprinting around and stressing out, but then went to the Father in prayer.  5 minutes later, after more prayer, Chris opens his eyes…

A lady stood next to him and he asked her for help. She surprisingly took us off to a private line and checked us in, saying the check in had closed but for some reason saw it fit to open it back up again.

This exemplifies the point of our trip, resting in God’s sovereignty as we seek to have him glorified. He is in control and all we need to do is call on his Name.

Only a few hours ago we ended up in Laguna, Manila. The pastor of the “Holiness of Jesus Christian Church” from Laguna drove 4 hours to pick us up then drove us 4 hours back to where we are staying.

Marcelo has already expressed a desire to see a campus ministry and to see someone come to begin the work here permanently on the campus.

We will begin helping out in Marcelo’s various ministries tomorrow. We are volunteering at a soup/feeding kitchen for the local street children and families. Marcelo says we will be able to share our testimonies and are eager to do so.

Give thanks that our whole trip was funded fully by the body in New Zealand.

Please pray today that our testimonies tomorrow would shine God’s grace.