Our
primary focus is college students. We are teaching conversational
English at local universities and trying to build relationships with our
students so that we can witness to them. The primary religion here is
Catholicism, but most people are open to hearing what we have to say
about having a personal relationship with Jesus.
Our
local supervisors, Kennet and Emely, are members at a house church
called Connect, which is the church Kim and Jeff planted when they first
lived here. Kennet and Emely are training us in evangelism strategy,
culture and language. We try to build relationships with students and
invite them to Bible studies we have at our house. At the Bible studies
we do vision casting, which is essentially teaching them how to share
what they have learned. Before they have confessed or been baptized, we
teach them the importance of evangelism.
Over the past two weeks I have
been challenged to view evangelism and the Christian life very
differently than I have in the past. The Christian life as we so often
live it--focued on our own personal growth and being satisfied with
inviting someone to church once a year as our contribution to
evangelism--is no Christian life at all. We are teaching new believers
that being a follower of Christ and an evangelist go hand in hand. Our
culture and language training has been so helpful in getting through
culture shock.We have learned a few Tagalog words (Tagalog, pronounced
tah-gah-lo, is the national language and is not to be confused with
Tag-along, the popular Girl Scout cookie) and are beginning to learn the
cultural do's and don'ts.
Although
we face language and cultural barriors and sometimes we feel homesick,
it is so amazing to see how God is working here. Being in the
Philippines is such a blessing and I can't wait to see what the next
five weeks hold. Every day we see God's grace and faithfulness as we
live and witness.
Please continue to pray for open doors and boldness to
share our faith. I am quickly falling in love with the people of
Batangas and I look forward to giving you more details in the weeks to
come. Thank you so much for your support and prayers during this
exciting adventure!
By Him and for Him,
Caroline