Philippines Missions Trip 2008

We went to the city of Bacolod in the Philippines. We partnered with a ministry called International Care Ministries, who serve the very poor of the Philippines. They really are an amazing ministry. Not only do they preach the Gospel, but they also have feeding programs, medical programs, and they are even building entire villages to house the poor.

We had a very busy schedule. The trip was only four days long, but it seemed that we packed a week's worth of activity into that four days! One of the first places we went to was a tuberculosis camp. This is a place where Care Ministries gives people good food and medical attention while they are recovering from tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a major problem in the Philippines right now. One of the boys had his growth stunted because of tuberculosis and he was smaller than our son Caleb (7yrs) although he was 19 years old. We prayed for each person in the camp, and sang some songs, and listened to some of their testimonies. They sang songs for us as well.

On Sunday we split into two different teams and went to some churches. The church that my team went to was in a small village named "Esperanza" which means "hope". The church we went to was actually held in a small Kindergarten that was made for the village. Through the Kindergarten some of the parents have become Christian, and now there is a small church of about 20+ people and also children. When we arrived at the church the Care Ministries staff asked us which one of us was preaching. We hadn't prepared to preach, because we were under the impression we were just visiting a Kindergarten. So suddenly I found myself preaching the sermon at this small church. After the message and some songs, we then prayed for everyone in the congregation.

On our final ministry day, we were able to go out to a very remote village in the middle of a sugar cane field. We were helping out in a medical program that Care Ministries was running. They basically checked people's blood pressure and temperature and gave them over the counter medication. It seemed everyone in the entire village had a running nose or a fever or some sickness. The living conditions were very primitive with the homes consisting of bamboo woven together for the walls and a tin roof. At that place I prayed for an old grandma who was having pains in her abdomen area, a headache, and she hadn't slept well for 5 years. After some prayer and conversation with her, she said that the pain was gone. We found out the reason she hadn't slept well for 5 years was because her daughter had died 5 years ago and she was worried her other daughter would die. She had been gripped by fear for 5 years. So we prayed against fear with her, and after quite a bit of crying, she left, and God set her free!

This trip to the Philippines was amazing. We had an amazing group from our church here in Hong Kong. I left a little bit of my heart in the Philippines and I hope to return there soon. Praise God for all that He did, and THANK YOU so much for your prayers!

Please visit the website for International Care Ministries and please pray for their work with the poor in the Philippines.