We are up early, yes, but we also are down for the count early. 8PM. here feels like midnight.
Yesterday (with the girls' team) we entered the house of a sweet woman we ran into while buying junk food from a sari-sari store. Evan opened with the story of Jesus and the two criminals on the cross. This woman, Ate A, knew all the facts. Jesus is God's Son. He died on the cross for the sins of the world. He was perfect; I am not perfect. But she said she thought that, maybe, if she tried her best to follow the 10 Commandments, little by little God would accept her into his Kingdom.
Evan and Ate Gigi got to explain that Jesus had already lived life perfectly for her, and instead of trying to be good enough, the Bible said to put her faith in Jesus and her perfect substitute. She wanted to. We all bowed our heads to pray, at which point I will confess that I stopped hearing the words anyone was saying and started seeing candy in the backs of my eyelids because I was in and out of sleep. I picked my head up when I heard "Amen"s to see that our new sister was beaming and tears were running down her face. I kicked myself--"Could you not keep watch for even one hour?"
Praise God for never slumbering nor sleeping, who promises to strengthen us in our inner being through His Spirit, who is at work raising dead hearts to life while my weak body is nodding off. And praise Him for our new sister, Ate A, who couldn't help herself but lept up from her seat to hug all of us in her joy.
And please pray for us. Pray that we would get the rest we need and that God would sustain us each and every day. Incidentally, the time that you all in the States are going to bed is about midday over here, the hottest time of day and the hardest, I find, to will myself to get up and do anything. Pray for energy! And please pray for Ate A, our new sister in Christ, that her roots would go down deep and she would continue strong in the faith.