Doors are open

Day 5 and 6

The last couple of days have included some great ministries for Chris and I to enjoy.

Yesterday morning we rose early at about 6.30am, feeling a bit overwhelmed with the full-on day ahead.

Marcelo and Simon picked us up to visit the mayor of San Pedro and pray for him at his home. He has a great relationship with Pastor Marcelo and he was happy to let us pray for his leadership of the city. He has a heavy burden and it was great opportunity to pray that he would look for guidance and strength in God. I am finding the openness to the gospel and to Christians is far greater here than in New Zealand. 

We then went to a small suburb in San Pedro to attend a women’s bible study. Pastor Topher lives in the area and would love to see the women start attending the church. Chris gave his testimony and I gave a short teaching from the word. Be praying for these ladies that they would grow to treasure Jesus above all things.

We spent time going around visiting people in the church and praying for them. It was great to see how encouraged they were to have support from Marcelo and the other pastors.

The cost of food here is unbelievable compared to back home. We had a big lunch between 6 of us, with coke, and it cost $7NZ (300peso). We found out minimum wage for workers here is just over $10NZ a day. After lunch we went to the prison.

We previously bought 200 bars of soap and 400 packets of toothpaste to give to the prisoners here in San Pedro. On entering the lock up it was hard not to be shocked. There were two cells, one the size of a walk in wardrobe and the other the size of a bedroom. In the cells there were 50 men and women. This was a great opportunity for the gospel. Chris shared about being a prisoner of sin, and the prisoners prayed with him. We also sang a song ‘Give me Jesus’. I told them a story that highlighted loving your enemy. The response was very good, everyone to my knowledge took a New Testament bible. I remember hearing one prisoner say “stop giving us soap I want the bible”.

My accent is a continual struggle for the Filipinos to understand. I am now talking at a pace similar to a snail. I am slowly learning how to get across messages in English so they can understand however, Chris is doing better with the language and he puts on a hearty American accent to help people understand him.

Today we had our first contact with a uni campus. One of the reasons we are here is to survey the need and opportunity to share the gospel in the campuses. So this was going to be a great day. The doors are wide open for the gospel in the Polytechnic University of the Philippines San Pedro. We were given a whole class for 3 hours today to talk about God. Of course we did not talk for that long haha but we shared a testimony and Chris shared two-ways to live, a six picture guide explaining the gospel. Pastor Cesar, a very funny man who is continually trying to get me married, shared a message in Tagalog. After fun and games with the students we were invited into another class where they gave us 30 minutes to take over and share the gospel! I did a testimony and Chris shared two ways on the black board.

During the games with the students the punishment for losing was having to spell your name with your backside. Chris stood in the middle of a circle of 30-odd students waving his bum around to most people’s elation. I don’t think many people thought they would see that when they woke up this morning. Pray that it has not damaged too many dreams.

 It is a huge encouragement going place to place with Chris. He is struggling a bit with dizziness but when ministries come God continues to give him strength. The Filipinos really appreciate his interest in the language and God is really using his messages of the finished work in Jesus and resting in Him. We are growing as brothers in Christ.

This afternoon we took part in a small bible study in a suburb called Estralia to finish off the day.

Please pray:

Thank God that he has given us so many opportunities to share the gospel. Thank Him for Chris finding strength enough to preach

Pray for the students we talked to that we would see them again and they would accept Jesus as their saviour.

Pray for the prisoners who invited Christ into their hearts that they would be set free.