God is making it exceedingly clear that He is the one working in Eastern Samar. He never ceases to remind us how small we are, and how great His plan is. He is humbling us and revealing to us His faithfulness in new ways every day.
There are countless ways that He has moved, and every one of them points to His power. We have prayed for specific people to be raised up as leaders, and we have already heard about their growth in the Word and their obedience to follow Christ. We have seen their Bibles getting use and their community growing. They've even gone out of their way to travel to us, tell us about their Bible studies, and thank us for coming to serve. The Lord has used them to encourage us.
God also challenges us and gives us growth in prayer. In prayer, we act on our faith. We've entered so many homes to tell people about Jesus, and encountered extreme physical ailments. Even people who don't know the Lord know to ask for prayer. James 5 tells us, "the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick," and, "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." In that dim thatch room, laying my hand on a woman who had suffered a debilitating stroke, I quickly realized that I don't often pray by faith.
So I changed. I prayed for God to move in her life. I prayed, in the name of Jesus, that He would heal her and be glorified. I've lost count of the suffering people I've prayed for. There always seem to be more, and my faith is tested every time.
We don't always see God's response, but we can know without a doubt that He is faithful. Naynay S has had a cyst in her nose for the past year, and has also suffered from strokes which have impaired her control over the right side of her body. She was unable to leave her chair, so we went to her home daily, to share what Jesus has done for her and pray for her health. Before too long, her cyst disappeared and she regained her strength to walk! The next day she was baptized!
I don't fully understand prayer. I don't know exactly what it does or why it works, but I know that it holds incredible power. When God moves in response to our prayer, He is not working within our frame of reference. He is giving us an opportunity to more clearly see Him working. I will never cease to fervently pray, and when my God answers, it is only He who will receive the glory.