Philippines Sept. 25 - Nov. 17 Babies, Miracles, and Fried bananas...

Thank you for continuing to journey with me through life! Here is a little bit of what God did through our teams in the Philippines!

We arrived in the Philippines after a few long days of travel and said a sad goodbye to half of our teammates as our class was split into two different sections of Manila. After driving two or three hours in the dark, we were welcomed into the small one room church. Tired, hungry, dirty, and confused as to where exactly in the world we were, we start rolling out our sleeping bags on the floor our “home” for the next two months knowing we would have to roll them back up every few days. We woke up still tired, not quite sure where to get breakfast, and having no idea what we would be doing that day since we had no connections…but we pushed on. We started our time there by taking shifts reading the bible out loud over the city from cover to cover day and night till we were finished. Those who weren’t reading went out to prayer walk and to scout out the area for connections.

From starting with nothing and just going out following the guidance of the Holy Spirit, by the end of three days we had more connections than we knew what to do with!! Here are some stories of connections that came from those first three days:

-We were walking home from dinner the first night there and saw a blind dirty beggar on the road. I walked past at first but God told me to go back and pray for healing. So I grabbed two other team members and we went back and prayed for him in Jesus name and that night we saw God open the eyes of a blind man! I almost fell into the busy road when he raised his hands to heaven and shouted “praise God!” again and again. Obedience to God, even if it sounds impossible and crazy, produces miraculous results that sometimes we get to see, but even if we don’t see, if we are stepping out in obedience, He is still working miracles!

• The next day my partner and I were out bible reading and we saw a man walked past and I waved and smiled. A few minutes later we saw him again and he walked straight up to me and we started chatting. After encouraging him with what I felt God wanted to share with him I prayed for him and then he left. We kept up relationship with this kind man and one day he pulled me aside and through tears started to tell me how he had been living in such depression and didn’t want to live anymore, but after meeting me he was free from that and joy and life had come back to him. He said there was something in me that he didn’t want to live without and I was able to tell him that is it the Holy Spirit in us and he can have it too! He started going to church and bible study and the church is continuing to follow up with him! Before we left he gave me a huge painting that had taken him 7 months to complete! God has given him such talent and has such huge plans for his life, please pray for this man, our sweet friend! I had no idea that a simple prayer would do so much in this mans life! The power of God working through us is mighty and life changing! Healing someone instantly and completely of depression with just a 10 minute conversation and short prayer is not something I can do, even if I have all the nursing knowledge in the world. That was God and God alone!

• As some of the girls were prayer walking during those first three days, God led them to a small birthing center where they were immediately welcomed. By day three we delivered the first baby of our school here! These lovely midwives at that clinic called us every time there was a delivery for our entire stay there and we all took turns hoping on Trikes going with the leader to deliver babies. We delivered and welcomed in Jesus name 16 precious little lives and it was there that I delivered my first baby: Evolet Sarah. By the time we left the midwives were starting to play worship music in the delivery rooms as they had watched us do, they started welcoming babies in Jesus name, and they took down the huge Buddha statue that was in their front room for “luck” without us even asking! The leader had been in faith for it to come down the entire time and she asked God for it to be her birthday present and it was on her birthday that they took it down! PRAISE GOD!!!!

• Also in those first three days, some of us were out prayer walking when one of the gates to a house opened up. The place caught my attention and I felt prompted to find out more so I asked the man at the gate what it was. We were led inside and brought to a group of women who immediately sat us down with them and brought out snacks and coffee. We came to find out that it was a doctors house and he voluntarily paid for a ran a free clinic there every week! It was through this relationship we were able to attend several of his clinics and share Jesus and pray for all the patients. Through this connection we were also able to hold a health teaching/gospel-sharing seminar for the community that about 30 women attended.

These are just a FEW of the many many stories I could share of what God did! Everyday we would come home and share stories with each other of someone’s sight being restored or someone who was paralyzed be able to move or walk again or stories of people truly having an encounter with God for the first time and experiencing freedom and joy in their hearts and feel/hear God for the first time! We had the blessing of being a part of a medical mission where we saw over 1,000 patients and a conference called Global Youth Outreach where 100s of youth were touched with God’s perfect love! My team was amazing and they were so bold to step into things God asked them to do, even when it sounded crazy (like spitting in someones eyes and seeing healing!). God is pursing His children in the Philippines and we were so honored to be apart of His work! We had our share of sickness, injuries, and exhaustion, but it went to show that we couldn’t do any of it on our own strength and will; it is all by the grace and power of GOD!

By His daily grace and guidance the two teams of the Birth Attendant School were able to share the gospel/pray for over 4,000 people, many of whose lives are now forever changed! There is so much that God did there that we will never know about until we get to heaven, but we give all glory to God for the work we know He is continuing to do in each of those precious peoples lives!

We are now back in Perth for Christmas and I will be sending out another update soon to talk about what we have been up to here and some things God is doing in my life personally.

Thank you to everyone who has been supporting me financially, praying for me, and encouraging me! I really couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do this without all of you! Each of you are a part of this work God has been doing!!

If you ever have any questions or want to hear more stories I would love to chat with you!

Blessings