Two months have passed. The dust has settled. Your jet-lag is long gone. The swirl of American life, I'm sure, is spinning at a rapid rate. The heat, dirt, smells, stomach problems, hard floors, bucket baths, crowded subways, off-tune karoke, 3:30 wake-up calls from roosters, spicy food and unfamiliar languages are all gone. Some of you are missing those things!
You have told your stories, showed your pictures, and tried to help others see and experience the same things you did. Now... I want you to slow down a little bit today. Reflect on your two months overseas. What remains? What things rise to the top? What is God still saying to you and teaching you?
Let us hear from you. Post your comments.
Moving forward:
How are you doing on living out the habits of a World Christian? Look at lesson 12
Have you thought more about what is means to "live life by the compass?"
Have you read Live Life on Purpose? Go to www.nehemiahteams.com and click on reflection guide. Include some of your thoughts on chapters 1 and 2.
Encourage others by telling what you are doing:
Where have you mobilized over the last two months?
Are any of you leading a World Christian Bible Study? Let us know.
Future Plans: Let us know if you are looking at the Journeyman program. We know of some great places. We would like to help point you in a strategic direction.
I returned from the Philippines one week ago. This is my final message to recap on everything that God did this summer and thank you all once again for your participation in that work through prayer. God was really up to something this summer! He did big things in a small amount of time.
At the New Faith Family Children's Home in Malaybalay, the ministry there was not broad, but rather deep, as the four Nehemiah Team members serving there invested patient and persistent love in the lives of the 14 children at the home. I got to join with Kelsey, Courtney, Sarah and Eric in sharing Bible stories, memory verses and worship songs with the children most every day. When we held the children, we were conveying God's loving embrace. When one child punched another, we taught the children healthy discipline, which most of those children never new outside the orphanage. When one fell off the swing, we comforted him, with care they had also rarely seen. I grew to love those kids – especially Eric John, my favorite. In many ways, this team planted seeds deep into the hearts of those kids that I believe will move them toward God as they continue to develop.
In Butuan City, the Habitat for Humanity team assisted Habitat staff in constructing three houses during their “55 days.” They helped Habitat plant trees on top of Mount Mayapay. They built relationships with children in their neighborhood. They also had a crucial role in the ministry of Shiloh Baptist Church. Every Saturday they would play basketball games in local barangays (town areas), arranged by Shiloh. At these events they prayed openly as a team and often got to publicly share the gospel before or after the event. The team did visitations to church members on the weekends also. They helped another local church give food to street children, leftovers from a local restaurant. A visit to a funeral opened the door for a bible study with the family of the deceased, the first seed of the team's ministry in the barangay of Lilo. Now there is a church plant being started in the village, with at least four families who have opened their doors for Bible studies! One of their translators, Jonel, has moved to the city to help start this church.
The Agusan Agriculture Team had extraordinary strides in ministry. With them I traveled 2 ½ hours from the demonstration farm by motorbike to a village called Bolobo, which has only recently reestablished farming after being a communist rebel village at recently as five years ago. Kuya Rinel, the Filipino site coordinator for the team, has been traveling to their village on weekends, bringing them community development, teaching, and the gospel. He is the saint of that village. We stayed with the barangay captain (head of the village), and I got to encourage the small church there (whose building is about the size of a shed). I even shared the gospel with a whole group of people at a farming cooperative meeting. They listened with eagerness you'll rarely find in the states.
The Ag team baptized a new believer, named Dariel. Clint remembers playing basketball with him and thinking “I hope he doesn't play next time. He's a jerk.” But the next time, after Matt shared his testimony, Dariel came up to him afterward and broke down crying. They had two Bible studies a day with Dariel every day for the next week, along with his friend Brian. Dariel showed a true spiritual understanding of things. The first week we were there, Brian had welcomed us to his house and plucked coconuts out of some of his trees to give to us. He was the first relationship the team established, and the team saw him also grow from nominal faith (he was drunk when we first met him) to raising insightful questions and reading his own copy of the Cebuano New Testament.
The team also saw the salvation of a man named Rey and his wife, who lived very close to the Ag site. I got to play a special role in Rey's discovery of the good news. Not to mention Jun-Jun and his wife, whose house was packed out with visitors for a Bible study, or their donation to a church that was couldn't to be built just because there was no money for nails.
I saw God use me to affect three other people for Christ, through giving my testimony at a medical clinic one week. I had the opportunity to lead Bible studies, speak publicly about Christ, pray with believers and non-believers throughout the trip. I think God used me in a special way to be a encouragement to each of the teams as I rotated between them. I was like the “reinforcement” or the “guy from HQ” that was able to pray with them. Of course, all the while I was updating the Nehemiah Teams blog, documenting with photos, and taking video of the teams.
God worked on my heart this summer. I have come to a some strong conclusions that will shape the course of my life – namely that my life's mission and work is to be directed at the unreached people of the world. In other words, my chief aim is to penetrate the culture of a people who today have not shot at hearing the gospel, and communicate the message of eternal life. I don't know what capacity that will be in, per se, whether it be mobilization, creative promotion, or face to face overseas work. However, I see the priority as the latter, and until God directs me specifically, I am planning on traveling overseas to find such a people group and connect with them, to discover the need before I aim to meet it in any particular way. I will still complete my Communication Studies, Advertising and Public Relations major at Liberty, but Advertising will now be a tool in my bag to work toward the unreached, instead of a career in and of itself. I've written down my resolution to go to the unreached with some scriptural reasons why I will stand by this resolution. Hold me accountable to uphold this decision in the future!
Thank you so much for your role in sending me to the Philippines. Your prayer helped make all of this possible. I thank God that he worked willingness in your heart to bless me – and this trip was indeed a blessing to me. In more ways than these, I saw God at work as his servants stepped out in faith-filled obedience. Let's thank him for all that he did this summer! I pray that God would reward you because of your sacrifice of time spent in prayer. And even beyond your reward, may he shower you with unmerited favor and grace. Again, thank you.
All glory to the King! His servant, laboring for the Gospel that has transformed us,
Every person in the room had a chance to speak, except the server. That's how hospitable the Habitat for Humanity Butuan office was during their farewell lunch with the Habitat team yesterday. The board members coaxed the team to say whether they were single or not, to many laughs by all. The team was treated to an exquisite meal in the special events room of "Uncle Sam's" restaurant. They also received certificates of appreciation for their volunteer work and copies of a press release about their work this summer. "Hopefully you will come back next year," said one board member, "and I've included the donation form here," she said pointing to a paper--more laughs.
This kind of event is a typical example of the generous and welcoming nature of Filipinos, and how much Habitat for Humanity appreciates the assistance of the Nehemiah Team. Today the team heads back to Manila... so long Butuan, and thank you Butuan Habitat for Humanity!
Volunteers from Butuan Gospel Church took the Habitat team out to feed orphans last week. Some of these children are addicted to a certain kind of drug. They hang out in the same place at night, so it's easy to find them. The team helped bag leftovers from a restaurant and take them to the kids. "If you didn't have a heart for feeding street kids, you would then," said Zechariah. It's quintessential ministry, literally fulfilling the commandment to feed the hungry!
"Great things can happen in a short amount of time," Kuya Lyric told me. Sounds familiar to the Habitat team - it's one of the foundational "why's" behind the creation of the Nehemiah Teams, and they've seen it come true. A church is about to be started in Lilo, a barangay near Butuan City, as a result of what happened this summer! Lyric's church, Shiloh Baptist, has turned its prayers on Lilo as their "field ripe for harvest."
There are four families of peace who are open to Bible studies and they want Shiloh Baptist to start a church there. Shiloh has responded to this budding opportunity by raising up over 20 volunteers who visit the area every Sunday afternoon to build relationships. They've set the town as their church-wide focus. Jonel, one of the translators for the Habitat team, is seriously praying about moving into the city and working full-time with the church plant.
"They wanted to thank us because they didn't do these Sunday visitations until we came," said "Big Ben" from Habitat. Shiloh's outreach efforts were springboarded by their partnership with the team. "We outnumbered them the first time - now they have a whole army," said Drew.
It all started the first week that the team arrived. Lyric visited someone in the hospital with Nehemiah Team media member Ben [not Big Ben]. He met a man in the same hospital room and shared the gospel with him. Lyric later returned to find that the man had died only hours later, and he kept contact with the man's family, visiting the funeral. At the funeral, the family invited them to return to teach a house Bible study.... they returned several times, and the first family of peace was found.
The Habitat team and Shiloh began to branch out into the community and do house visits to welcoming Filipinos. "It was a relax-day, and it was before payday so they couldn't afford to go anywhere," said Lyric, smiling. "And it was raining. I don't hate the rain because when it's raining, the people welcome you into their home. You know you've got at least 30 minutes with them."
God is truly up to something in Lilo. Habitat has seen, in less than 55 days, the movement of God. Seeds are sprouting through the dirt. Habitat has helped literally "open doors" for the gospel-- if this were the only fruit Habitat saw, it would be great cause for giving thanks. So: Thank you God that you can make great things happen in a short amount of time!
Can the summer be over already? Teams have begun traveling to Manila to get together once again before heading for the U.S. These days of debrief will be filled with sharing experiences, reporting on what God has done, media presentations, and making decisions based on what the Father has done in individual lives over these past 7 weeks.
Pray for safety in travel as teams arrive in Manila- July 25 & 26
Pray for the friends they are leaving behind... saying "Good bye" is difficult after cultivating relationships over the past 2 months
Pray for students to be open to hearing from the Lord during these special sessions over the next 3 days
Debrief sessions will be taking place July 26-29 in 3 different countries (Philippines, Argentina, & another Southeast Asian country)... pray for all of these students & those leading the sessions. Aug 3-5 will be the final debrief in Japan for those who have served in Japan & South Korea.
Thank you for praying for all of the teams over the past 2 months. God has done awesome things and we look forward to sharing more of what He has done in the days & weeks to come. Please continue to pray during these next few days. Our debrief is very intentional. It's our desire for the Lord to use this time to solidify decisions that have been made over the summer and help students see what some "next steps" can be for them in their growth as a World Christian.
Timor, the host of Krista, Ashley, and Emily (Em-ay-lee, as they say here) and Vero (short for Veronica), was a mostly Catholic island. The team stays in an "orphanage" which is really a home where parents can let their kids stay and attend school if they can't afford to pay for it themselves.
The team visits villages and refugee camps. At the refugee camps, they sang songs, told a story, and just hung out and loved on the kids. They also hand out papers with readings on them and small snacks.
The girls had a lot of down time because school was not in session and the kids had gone home for the holidays. However, they'd accomplished a lot-- Krista even bought them Uno cards and was teaching them the colors in English. Wise birds, eh? :)
Next I flew to Flores, where I am now. The first team I stayed with (Barbara, Tiffany, and Damaris) live in a Catholic school for the hearing and seeing impaired. Barbie (as she is called) signs with the deaf boys as they whittle away at wood (and they are quite talented) and Tiffany can be caught crocheting with the deaf sewers or talking to the blind children. They are so good at dealing with them. We watched some competitive volleyball and I almost died, but don't worry. It's all good.
Now I'm staying with Samantha and Santi at an orphanage, similar to the one in Timor. However, many of the children here have lost one or both parents, and through support are sent to school here. Unfortunately, they are often told they are too stupid to pass (which isn't even true) and receive little support from the local community. I've met a 16 year old, Dewi (Day-we) who always wants to practice her English, and she helps with the orphanage when she comes over too.
For more information on these teams, go to www.buleh-buleh.blogspot.com
