In the midst of setting up the apartment we have been included in pastor meetings, a couples cell group led by Fred and Barb and the 1st tier leaders meeting. The way the church is set up here is that Pastor Fred and Barb both discipled 12 people into leaders and then they branched off and gathered their 12 leaders and so on. So Fred and Barb gather their 12 leaders each saturday to continue to minister to them to keep them on fire for God. Last Saturday during the meeting they had a welcoming party for us, they gathered into groups and acted out different cultures of the Philippines for us to guess and then they had to make up a jingle of welcome. It was so fun. It is so amazing how God created flippinos to be so welcoming and will sacrifice everything to make others feel so special.
Adam has been practicing driving with Fred's old mazda standard truck just around the neighbourhood. He has been doing very well with me giving directions. We have been learning quickly that the North American courtesy is not applicable, we have been honked at a few times when we were waiting for a way to be clear. They don't do that here they just force themselves through the traffic, but we don't want an accident.
It has been a great priveledge to be able to sit in the pastors meeting every thursday. We are hearing many testimonies and just continue to see what OLM's (oceans of life ministries) vision is. We have to be honest that we have struggled to not feel inadequate in their ministry and knowing our role in their ministry. This has been a huge step of faith but now that we are here, we can lose the fact that we still need to maintain faith to keep building our ministry role and it is God the Almighty that will guide, give wisdom and knowledge. When hearing the testimonies from Pastor Johnny and Pastor Bill (Youth Pastor) in what God is doing in the Children and Youth from their street ministry church continues to inspire us that we are not ministering to people for our sake but to show them the Glory of God so that He recieves the credit. We should not be reaching out for others to notice us but for them to notice God. These Children who are only ages 7-12 are on Fire for God that one of the 12 yr olds have gone out on the streets and have preached the word of God which crowds have gathered to hear. Another 14 year old boy was a prominent gang leader in the area that has been lead to the Lord and is now bringing some of his former gang leader members to church with him. His is an amazing testimony that you need to check out. Its on the http://www.olmfmc.com/ website please read his and a fe of the other testimonies as they will break your hearts.
Today we had the opportunity to meet these street children. Oh they are so precious!! They had a huge welcoming party for us with songs and games. It was sooo much fun and seeing their little faces smiling and laughing was just amazing. Its these kids who have been ministering to their parents to get them to come to church. They even go so far as knocking on doors!! Its just so amazing that these little kids are doing the work that we as adults should be doing.
Here is the ministry team that we will be mainly working with, left to right: Tata, Pastor Johnny,Che Che,Pastor Bill and Cha Cha
Here is a picture of the clinic/office that they surprised us with this morning. They built it in preparation for our ministry.
