Habitat: God is Moving in Many Ways

As the first month of the Nehemiah Teams draws to a close, God is moving in many ways with the Habitat team in Butuan City. Praise God for how He is orchestrating opportunities and wielding the Habitat team as His tool. He is up to something here… the communication of His good news of grace, in word and deed!

Ahead of schedule
The Habitat team was congratulated on being ahead of schedule with the completion of their house. There is also a video of Pedro helping pour concrete.

Friendship games
Meanwhile, Travis, Ben and Bruce met up with week-long missionaries from First Baptist Church of Ft. Payne Alabama last week to play a series of Philippine-American friendship games. The Habitat athletes used the “ups” they’ve honed at their many local games, traveling to rural barangays for the games.

Tree planting
Last week Pedro, Drew, Zechariah and Junel went with Habitat for Humanity in Butuan City to help plant trees on Mayapay mountain. This was a continuation of the team’s good relationship and cooperative efforts with Habitat for Humanity officials.
Preaching at Shiloh Baptist
Several of the members of the team have had the opportunity to preach the sermon at Shiloh Baptist Church on weekends. This photo is of Bruce, from two Sundays ago,

Three Bible Studies
The team has been very successful in starting Bible studies in the community. A couple of weeks ago they visited a funeral with members of Shiloh Baptist Church, taking the opportunity to arrange a Bible study in the family’s home—last week they held that Bible study. Below is a picture of the funeral, taken in the home where the Bible study was held.

At one of their barangay basketball events, they met youth from the community and opened the door for another Bible study. An 18-year-old opened up his house to them, and they did a study led by Junel Tuesday night.

They have another Bible study pending at a local gas station.

Praise God that he is working in the Habitat team so mightily to build relationships in the community and proclaim the Word! Some of the children at Tuesday night’s study said it was the first time they had read a Bible.

Praise God for these many ways he has been using the Habitat team to proclaim the word! Ask God for the team’s continued passion to pursue opportunities to “connect,” and that God would open even more doors.

The house where the funeral and Bible study were held.

Home Bible study

Also remember the team’s continued prayer requests:

• Having unified hearts and minds as a team in seeing the lost as Christ sees the lost
• Pray against the movement of Satan, and for spiritual protection in their home barangay
  
• Sensitivity to the Philippine culture, and, to know when things will be offensive
• Obedience to authority and cleanness of heart and tongue within the team
• The team's relationship development with Randy, their neighbor/construction worker

Rain, Rain Go Away

In the United States, especially in the South, children often have snow days – days when school is cancelled because of vast amounts of snow. In the Philippines, children have rain days, as the Love the Children team experienced Tuesday. School was canceled on account of all the rain which flooded the location where school is held.

The night before the loud rain and thunder kept some of the kids from sleeping. Some thought it was just another rain storm. The teachers at the school knew it was much more than that.

1a.m. Tuesday morning - the teachers were brought to the orphanage to stay in the guest house because their rooms at the school were filling with water.
5a.m. - rumors were that the school had flooded and the kids would not be having class.
6a.m. - news was confirmed, no school for the children that day.
9a.m. - all of the children and the Nehemiah Team loaded up on the bus setting out for their mission: to clean up the school.

When arriving at the school everyone saw the news was definitely true, the school had been flooded. Water filled each room of the school building standing several inches on the concrete floor. The kids jumped right to work. They were very innovative using whatever they could find to scoop the water off the floor and fill up buckets. Some used toy cars to push the water across the floor, one boy filled up a boat and sailed it across the water to empty it and another used a plastic microwave to hold water.

When full, the buckets were carried outside and dumped, then returned to the classrooms to be filled again. After a few hours of this cleaning method the floors no longer held water. Students sorted through a storage room that held books, clothing and toys. Some were damaged but the majority was saved. The kids were excellent working together as a team to accomplish their goal and no one was hurt during the process. Love the Children is hoping school will resume very soon.

Doing God's Work With the Local Church

The Love the Children team has experienced several weekends full of singing and laughter. They all have fallen in love with the local Southern Baptist church and it’s members. The group wasted no time getting involved with the body of believers and already has several roles to fill. “The church has taken us in and has been incredibly welcoming,” Hannah said. “We have already become a part of the church and a part of God’s work there.”

Kyle, Hannah and Sydney are all responsible for teaching a Sunday school class. Hannah teaches the youngest group ages one to six, Sydney instructs the older kids ages six to nine and Kyle gets to share knowledge and learn from the young professionals’ class, consisting of college students and young adults.

After the services each week the group shares a meal with the church family then goes to the near village to love kids and get to know families. The team invites kids from around the village to come together and sing fun songs. “They catch on to the songs so quickly,” Sydney said. “We taught them a few songs just last week and didn’t expect for them to remember, but they did. They asked to sing them all again this week.” The songs teach the children biblical lessons including the fruit of the spirit and that Jesus cares for them.

The team also teaches a Bible story each week. This weekend they shared the story of Rahab with the children. The kids learned to be courageous and risk their lives doing great things for God. “The kids are very eager to learn new songs and Bible stories,” Hannah said. “And we are very eager to teach them.”

In addition to spending time with the children in the village, the team has done door-to-door evangelism and met with believers to encourage them. They are able to go into homes and talk about their past week at the orphanage and to pray and encourage the people they meet. Each week they try to visit the same homes to establish relationships with the people living there.

The team said people from the village are beginning to ask them to come back to hang out with them. They have seen great progress in such a short time. Pray for the team as they have more opportunities in the coming weeks to revisit the children and their families.

Geography, Body Parts, and Aviation

Students competing to see which airplane would fly the farthest.

Kyle, Hannah and Sydney have been teaching at school with the kids from the Love the Children orphanage. Each week the team teaches educational lessons to the kids through listening activities, songs and games. They have one to two hours every day to help the children learn useful facts, as well as practical skills.

“Our team is trying to provide the kids with information they would not otherwise received,” team leader Kyle said. “They are very good tactile learners and follow instructions well. We use lots of hands on learning, such as coloring and moving around, and focus on things everyone should know, no matter where they are from.”

So far the kids learned parts of the body. They were taught about their internal organs and what roles they play in life. The brain was one of the favorite body parts they studied. After the lesson, students knew what each part of the brain controlled. Later, Kyle led them in a game where they had to match up body parts with one another to better help them remember where each body part was located.

Students have also had a few geography lessons. The team helped them learn where they live in relation to the Philippines and to the rest of the world. A small globe was bought for the classroom so the kids would always remember where they were and where the Nehemiah Team from the United States lives.

This week the class learned about aviation. Kyle introduced them to his friends Orville and Wilbur Wright from the United States who invented the airplane. Each student created their own paper airplane with construction paper, crayons and lots of colorful stickers. The finished products were very creative. Smiles were on everyone’s faces as they went outside after class to fly their planes through the air.

Sports Fest Pictures

Kyle, Hannah and Sydney of the Love the Children team, along with media missionary Christine, participated in a day of sporting events with the local Baptist Youth Association.

The Crutch

Acts 3:6 - "But Peter said, 'I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene - walk!'"

Traveling to different villages and islands, having an entire village show up to watch the Jesus film on a 17" television screen, holding Bible studies, presenting dramas, playing basketball, and teaching the children songs - we have seen God move in people through all these activities this summer, but I don't think there is anything more personal or powerful than praying for healing for someone.

This has not been a focus of our ministry, but it seems that everywhere we have gone the sick and disabled find a way to come to us. We explain that we do not have medicine or money for treatment, but like Peter, we give them what we having - the healing that comes in the saving grace through Jesus Christ. I cannot say with certainty that we have seen any obvious results of prayer like this during our time here this summer - nothing as dramatic as the scene in Acts 3 or even what I have experienced in the past. I simply pray that God is glorified through the healing of these people.

The sick and the poor were always coming to Jesus because they had no other option. We can see that this is still true today. Many call this "a crutch," or merely a way for them to cope with their condition or with their death. My response is that we all have our crutches. It is just that we do not usually identify them as something we are relying on. For some it is our money, our education, our family, or simply our reputation. For other it takes a more spiritual form - christian music, youth group, BCM, choir or the church (as an institution) itself. All of these things are temporary on this earth. There is only one "crutch" that is acceptable, that does not change, and will sustain us forever. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).

Amy Carmichael, missionary to India, wrote of missionary service that 'the Cross is the attraction.' The Cross is the biggest, toughest, strongest crutch we can ever lean on. Anything else is merely a poor substitute for the real thing. The Cross must be the attraction - not just in the mission field, but in our daily life as well. Jesus told us, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?" (Luke 9:24-27)

Deny yourself and accept the Lordship of Christ. Be willing to suffer in the cause of Christ, and when it gets tough (and it will) don't be ashamed to lean on the Cross for comfort and support. You can't find anything stronger to lean on.

By: Matthew

The Island

Today is our final day on the island. We were awakened by the beauty of a rainbow. The call from God saying YES I LOVE YOU and here’s to prove it; as if He saving us was not enough, but He proves Himself everyday not because He has to, but because He delights in making His children happy.

As I sit on the beach I am reminded of all the promises I am able to take complete assurance. God will NEVER leave us or forsake us. There is No temptation to great that God can’t help us through. I believe the rainbow is a reminder that this world is not our home and that He has gone to prepare a place for those who love Him and call on Him for salvation. So next time you see a rainbow take pride in your God and know that He has gone to prepare a place for you in Heaven.. and that he will come back to get you; so that you can spend eternity in His arms.