On the streets

Jun, Jack and Nanette presenting the gospel to one of many groups of listening kids today

These teens gave me their undivided attention for a good 20 minutes. The reality of the brevity of life combined with their lack of assurance regarding their eternal destination brought a change of countenance to their faces as the gospel was presented.

Bro. Jun witnessing to Jimmy - an excon that the Lord brought to Jun as only He can.

Sister Nanette beginning to teach a group of kids and onlookers gathered on the street

Bro. Jun talking to another group in a different area, Sister Nanette finished the session by explaining the gospel using the wordless bracelet

The Rock of Ages Prison ministry staff (and kids) all together after dinner. Eating out is a very rare occurence for them and it was a blessing to be able to fellowship with them after a day on the streets.

Presenting the gospel yesterday wednesday at a small park using the Evangecube as a witnessing tool

How good it has been to be on the field for these two weeks, to be engaged in the work, to have the blessing of seeing God move in peoples lives and working side by side with faithful brothers and sisters. While I long to see my family, I would rather it be them coming to the Manila airport rather than me returning to Rochester. I will return and we will continue to pray for God to bring us here in His earliest acceptable time. Deputation has afforded relationships we look forward to seeing grow, challenges that we pray we learn and grow from and a realization of just how great the need is around this country and world which should in turn bring us to a whole new soberness and fervency.

I want to praise the Lord for the great day we had in the streets today. Jun and I were joined by Bro. Jack and Sister Nanette. We went to a number of different areas in the La Loma community and presented the gospel to many groups of varying sizes and ages. Sister Nanette is very gifted with the children and we had plenty to teach. It thrills my heart to see how they will gather round, listen and find enjoyment in things as simple as giving five, comparing their height to mine and asking questions. I had a great time at our first stop having the kids helping me with tagalog - we reviewed numbers, colors and animals. One thing I notice more and more about the language is that there are words that are incredibly similar in spelling and pronunciation but radically different in meaning. At New Bilibid prison on thursday I saw the word Dalaw on the wall and immediately assumed it to be some grammatical form of Dalawa which is the number 2. It actually means visitor... Then I learned that the word for Duck and the word for Rice cake are very similar also. Not to mention that how fast you say a word can mean the difference between the number 7 and the word for whistle. I certainly have a lot to learn.

We praise the Lord for the response to the gospel we have seen almost every day we have been out as well as for the crowds of teens and adults that made their way into the audience today especially. Brother Jun had a great extended witness with a young man that spent some time in prison and he was very receptive - please pray for this man Jimmy and all those that have made professions of faith and have heard the gospel. The wordless bracelets were a wonderful tool to use in presenting the gospel and then having candy/goodies and handmade ornaments to share with the kids was in some small way a demonstration of love toward them that I hope will in their minds be associated with the message they heard of the perfect love that God commendeth toward us through the gift of Christ.

It has been a privilege to minister with my brothers and sisters here, they are living proof that the richest of people in this world are often those that have nothing of material and vain value but are rich in faith, diligent in their labour of love and filled with the Holy Spirit. Please pray for Jun, Joyce, Jack, Virge, Gemma, Nanette and Yoli as they minister in the jails, prisons and on the streets of Manila.

I have more pics and testimonies that perhaps I will share in later posts. God truly has been amazing.