I hope you are all doing well. I am finally feeling back to normal after arriving home from the Philippines a couple days ago. That long trip from southeast Asia is a doozy!
Myself, along with my daughter Sarah and my good friend and Unsheltered board member, Scott Campbell, had a wonderful two-week trip. I'd like to share some of our trip highlights with you.
Scott spent the first four days in the northern part of the country while Sarah and I spent them in the central region where our ministry headquarters is located. On the first Sunday I was honored to preach at the commissioning service for a young church planter named Raffy. Raffy has been a meal center teacher for many years and he will now be going to start a new church in a mountain area where there isn't a church. It was a great day.
Later that week, we joined our team for their weekly street ministry where they serve meals to the many homeless and extremely poor people who sleep on the city sidewalks each night. It's always heartbreaking to witness such utter poverty and hopelessness. This trip was especially hard because there was a mother with a two-week old baby boy. The boy was born in a makeshift house and has been sleeping on the sidewalk with his mother ever since. Our team is doing everything they can to help provide healthcare for both baby and mom.
On Wednesday and Thursday we had a two night revival at Crossroads Community Baptist Church with pastor Ner. Scott preached on Wednesday and I preached on Thursday. I believe the Lord helped the congregation each night as the altars were full of praying people.
On Thursday morning we had a board meeting with the board of directors over the Philippines ministry. This was the first meeting I was able to attend since COVID kept us away for the last three years. The meeting was productive and we covered some changes, finances, and future plans.
Of course, we spent some time riding motorcycles with the Filipino pastors. We visited some of the mission churches, stopped for breakfast, and had a tremendous time of fellowship one with another. It was so great to be reunited with our dear friends.
We saw at least six people get saved while we were there and I think there were a few more that are unaccounted for. All in all, the Lord really blessed this trip and it was great to be back. Thank you for your prayers that got us there and back safely with no major hiccups. We are praising God for his goodness to our ministry both here and overseas!