...The task of testifying to the Gospel of God's grace!

As I sit here with tears in my eyes, I have decided that good-byes are so hard! I feel like my life is full of good-byes! We are officially done with ministry! I have gotten a little sicker so we have decided to go to a big city earlier to be closer to the doctors. God finished strong! Throughout the whole summer we have had 117 salvations and done over 150 house Bible studies! However, numbers are not the important thing! The important thing is the glory that God has received from this summer! Saying good-bye has been so bittersweet! Oh how I long for a few more months of ministry to these beautiful people here! I will write another wrap up blog when I have a little more energy. For now, let me give you a few highlights from this past week!

One day we were walking down the road and we saw 2 very familiar faces. It was Divennia and Igene from our last burungie! They had walked for 2 hours just to see us! They spent the afternoon with us doing house Bible studies. They spoke of how those 2 women get together daily to study scripture together! That was such a huge encouragement to us to see that our prayers have been answered! We prayed that when we departed from Kimba that the people would continue to dig into the word!
Also, one of my teammates and I were able to sit down with the burungie caption and talk for an hour or so. He spoke of how after this term he wanted to become a pastor! That would be like one of our governors telling us they wanted to be a pastor. He has been so thoughtful towards us. Nightly, he would gather the whole burungie together for our Bible studies. We have had up to 60 people at some of them! He truly is a leader here in the Philippines who is seeking the guidance of our Lord! I praise God for him!

There are so many other stories to share but they will have to wait! Thank you so much for all your prayers! Continue to pray for our team as we travel and as we go through debrief! God moved in such huge ways this summer! Praise God! I will be sharing about what God has done on Sunday, August 5th at FBC Fairview at 6pm. It would be such a blessing if you could come! My cousin, Ace, just accepted Christ this past week and he will be baptized that night as well!

Acts 20:24
I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

WOW!!!

So we arrived at our new burungie this week. We have spent one week ministering and, Praise God, we have had over 50 salvations! It has been a very tiring week but God is getting lots of glory! This burungie is so different from our last. First of all, it has a lot more hills! Lets just put it this way….the pastor we work with came and visited us yesterday and he said, “Megan, you are diminishing.” Hahaha Also, it is a poorer burungie, therefore, less people speak English and it is harder to communicate. Also, we are staying in the burungie captions’ house and there are always a ton of people and noise. Sleep does not come very often for me because of the noise and God has really been dealing with me about my future. One night in particular, I felt like Samuel. Please pray that I can hear God’s voice clearly and not let my desires get in the way of His desires for my life!

Here are a few of the absolutely amazing things God has done this week. We are able to go into each classroom at the schools and we have experienced 16 salvations from the older kids. Also, we are having an adult Bible study every night at the basketball courts. Our very first night we had 15 salvations. One thing that we have experienced in this burungie is people being absolutely broken by the Word of God. After sharing with people about the hope they have in God, many of them have broken down. The Spirit is piercing hearts in a huge way! Just yesterday I was able to sit on the porch with 4 women and share how they can have assurance of their salvation. They all admitted that they do not have personal relationships with the Lord and God used me to share with them how they can. After the Bible study, we just sat on the porch and talked and laughed…..the translator had to help a lot! I felt like we were all close friends and just enjoying the day! When I left they said, “We may not see you in America but we will see you again in Heaven someday!” Wow! If that does not put a desire in your heart to see ALL nations come to know Christ, I do not know what will!! God is so good all the time!

We only have one more week of ministry and then the rest of the time will be travel and debrief. I will arrive back in Birmingham on July 30th! Pray that God will give us strength to give Him our 110% this last week! Pray for even more souls to come to know Him! Pray for my whole team, some of them are missing home a lot right now! Pray for God’s will! I am forever grateful for all your prayers and love! Thank you so much and God Bless!

**The people from Kimba, our last burungie, really love us! Four of the boys have came and visited us this week!

Finishing Strong!

God finished strong in our Burungie. Monday is our off days so ministry started on Tuesday of this week. One of the ladies we have been ministering to wanted us to hike with her to an unreached part of the Burungie. So Tuesday morning we set out with our backpacks packed and ready to stay for the whole day, considering it was a long hike to that part of the Burungie. We arrived and her family had prepared a snack for us. Then we decided to go door to door evangelizing. Turns out we found this huge group of people. It ended up being the whole Burungie in one spot. Thank you Jesus! We asked to do a Bible study and they greatly accepted. Before my team member got up to lead the Bible study she looked at me and said, “I might need help with the salvation part of the message. I do not really know how to do it with a big group.” I gave her an eyebrow raise, which means yes in the Philippines. I immediately began praying. I always feel so inadequate when it comes to presenting the salvation message. Also, I began to tell God that I knew He was teaching me things this summer but I could not put my hand on what is was. When it came time to lead into asking questions to the people I jumped to the front of the crowd. In fact, I don’t even remember getting up. I began to go through the Romans Road and other scripture with them. Honestly, I am not really sure what all I said! God took over my whole body! When it came time for decisions, there were 12 people who accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior! We have not seen this mass amount of people come to know Him at one time yet! It was such and encouragement to our weary bodies! Immediately after we left the place, God began to put together all He was teaching me, so far. These lessons are way too much to write but I will def share when I get back! It was such an amazing day that I will never forget!

Side note and funny fact: If you remember I broke my foot in Nov. well I feel down the mountain when we were hiking because of the rain. THEN one of my team members broke on of my toes (on the opposite foot). Hahaha It always happens to me!

Leaving Kimba, I can now say the name of the Burungie, was extremely hard for me! I know this probably does not surprise you but…I cried! I have made so many friends there and have seen God move in such a real way! He drastically moved among the people and in my heart as well! I had both cried and laughed a lot there! Upon our departure from Kimba, we were showered with thank yous and tears! God moved and I am so blessed to have been a part!

Seeing as though we are over half way done with our summer mission here in the Philippines, I can say that I am mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally exhausted! We just spent a few days at a resort as time to rest and be ready for part 2 of the summer! It was so peaceful and much needed! I have to admit….I got a pedicure. On the bright side, it was the equivalent of 6 American dollars! We had time to talk to our team and just allow God to feel us back up. Currently I am on an island outside of Siqijor because I came here today to get checked out by a doctor because I have not been feeling too swell! No worries, I am fine just a few minor things going on and I have gotten some prescriptions and I am heading back on the island with my team tomorrow! I am so excited about what God is going to do in our new Burungie!

Pray for the unity of our team….it is getting harder as the summer goes on! Pray that God will prepare the hearts of the people in the new Burunige! Pray for our health and strength! Pray for a house church in this new Burungie! Pray for God to move in ways I have never experienced! Pray for my family at home! Pray for God’s will to be done and for Him alone to receive all the glory!