It's much harder out here to live life past nightfall. Most places lack good lighting, and "brown-outs" (power outages) are so common. Cooking, using the toilet, washing dishes, reading--everything is harder by flashlight. At at a late Bible Study one night during a brown-out, I was sitting on the stairs overlooking the group, just beat. It was after 8, and people were still just trickling in. In the weakness of my flesh I did not want for there to even be a study that night. I felt it was just too late. My woven grass sleeping mat was calling out to me from through the ceiling. I wrote in my journal next to the date and time, "When I feel like Filipino time will be the death of me.. Give me perspective."
Not 15 minutes later I looked up at the Bible Study that had finally started. This is what I saw:
Nine brand-new baby Christians hunched over their new Bibles, hungry to learn more about this great God who had only just become real and personal to them, pouring over every word in flickering candlelight. At that moment, in the appalling weakness of my flesh, my eyes were opened to see the beauty of the work that was happening before my very eyes. By grace, he sent his Son Jesus to make it reconciliation possible. By grace irresistible, he drew my heart to himself. By grace I am here on this island, by grace I get to be a part of life-changing work and by grace in my moments of weakness and struggling I am given eyes to see.
Pray that these new believers on the Dolores River will continue to meet together faithfully to spur each other on.
Pray that the Holy Spirit would be powerfully present and active in their midst.