Magandang Umaga!

Magandang Umaga Mga Kaibigan!

(Good Morning Friends!)

I thought I might share a little bit of the language here. I have been taking lessons during the week to learn a little Tagalog.

On Monday Chelsea and I were able to share Christ with our entire class at CLB, and half of this class is already attending a bible study at our house. After sharing the gospel with our students we offered the students to stay after class if they would want to talk more and pray together. After class we had 5 students stay and ask to begin a relationship with Christ. Praise God! He is definitely at work in the hearts of students at CLB. Our class at CLB has now become a bible study in itself; the students are looking forward to learning more about God even when coming to class. Before class on Monday I was able to meet with two different students I have been developing relationships with Camille and Mia. These are two students God has placed on my heart at this school and I pray that I will have an opportunity to share with them the love of Christ as well.

Galatians 3:23-25

“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”

Romans 3:19-20

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.”

I pray that the students at these schools can know that since Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins we are no longer subject to the law and that the law was put in place so that we would know of our sin and turn to God. Now since Jesus died on the cross we live by faith rather than by the law. I pray that the students would know the truth of God’s word and that they cannot reach God by their own human efforts but only by faith in God.

During the past week our team was able to go to Tagaytay and see the volcano that is on an island within the island where we live. Going to the top of the mountain to see the volcano was beautiful! While on the mountain I was cold for the first time since I have come to the Philippines, it was definitely a nice change :)

Update

Sorry I have not updated in awhile, life here is continually getting busier. During the past few weeks we have become busy with teaching classes, bible studies, meeting with students, and taking a day off at the beach. We have now started teaching at Westmead, which is a very small and poor school. During our first class my team member Chelsea and I got to share about Christ with the students. The students in the class were interested in hearing about what we believed and asked many questions about the bible that we were able to discuss. After class we were able to share the gospel with students on the campus, though sometimes it can be difficult to understand peoples responses. While sharing with people here in the Philippines can be easy because people are open to talking, it can also be difficult because people think they already know everything they could about God and are very resistant to change. Sometimes you are not sure whether or not people agree with what you are saying because here in the Philippines it is custom to agree with anything people tell you whether or not you actually agree.

Day at the Resort

While teaching and meeting students at CLB we have seen the most response to the gospel out of all the schools we have been to. When going to our class this past week we found out from one of our students that they would not be able to attend class because they were going to the wake(showing) of one of our students, Aldrin, whose mother who had passed away. Instead of having class we were able to join the students in going to the wake. (here in the Philippines schedules don’t matter and anyone can attend just about anything) We were really glad to be able to go and meet the family and mourn their loss with them. From going we were also able to spend the rest of the day with the students in our class.

bible study with CLB students

Lately I have been convicted of the way I often say that I want to become more like Christ, to draw closer to him. Yet I feel that we only want the traits of Jesus that seem appealing. We want to be more loving, understanding, wise, knowledgeable, traits of Jesus that will keep our lives just the way they are. Though that is not all of Jesus, were saying that we only want the parts that will be easy. Jesus was a man who laid down his life for the purpose of making the glory of God known. He gave up everything his family and comforts, the things of this world. He was persecuted, poor, homeless, faced hardships and even death. Do we really want to become more like Christ? Or do we just want to be more like him in parts that are convenient to our lives?

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

During the past week Chelsea and I adopted a little kitten his name is Goliath. While we were walking back from a friends home we saw a little kitten that could barely walk almost get hit by a trike. Chelsea decided she wanted to take the little kitten home and now we have a pet. We are hoping he will he will be okay; he is pretty small and may not survive without his mom. Here’s a picture of little Goliath:

Prayer Requests:

-For our classes to continue, since our classes are extras their schedules they will often times get cancelled or moved giving us less time with students

-Aldrin and his family whose mother passed away this passed week

-To be satisfied in Christ alone as being here can often become lonely

-To have opportunities to share Christ with students and that their hearts would be ready to of Christ in a new way

-Continuing to share Christ with students and not become discouraged

Praises:

-We have been able to get access to more schools to teach and share with students

-I am gaining close relationships with friends here in the Philippines that are encouraging and inspiring

Campus Ministry

During the past week our team was able to begin teaching at more schools here in Batangas City. The conversational English classes at the Universities are optional and as a result we are able to talk to about God in our classes as we wish. As long as the students are practicing their English skills we can do what we please in the class. By next week I will be teaching 5 classes in 3 different Universities WIU, LPU and CLB.

Thursday we began teaching at LPU and my first class was a full class of 40 students and our classes are usually only about 20 students. I feel this class will be a challenge for the next 6 weeks as it is difficult to have an interactive class with 40 students. My other class at LPU is only 15 students which is much more manageable. On Thursday during our class we were discussing a story based on values and as a result we were able to have a conversation about sin. Through our conversation we discussed James 2:10 and discussed how God views our sins. After class the students stayed around to talk and I was able to share my testimony with them and talk to them about how God has changed my life. I am really excited to see what God will do with this class and I am looking forward to spending more time with these students. I’m really excited to begin teaching these new classes and sharing Christ with the students at these schools.

Prayer Requests:

-Relationships with students in the schools to grow stronger and be based in Christ

-To find creative ways to share with students in the classrooms