We went to an area of Cagayan de Oro that I am not even sure I know how to spell; therefore, I will just write about it without naming it. It was right on the ocean, with a dark gray sand. I went with Joey, my interpreter, and two other Americans up the beach for quite a ways to find this area of about ten homes. As it turned out Joey had gone there a year ago with another team and had given some of the people there bibles. Last year when they went it was right after a typhoon had devastated the area.
We began sharing the good news of the Kingdom of God and were blessed to find out that one of the main men in the area had received a bible last year and had been reading it. God had given him a hunger for His Word. It was amazing. As I shared new scriptures with him that he hadn’t read or been taught, his eyes lit up and he would call the others around to listen to him read it in Cebuano. It was so fun. We were making disciples.
The more we talked the more God’s Spirit told me this man loved His Word. I felt compelled to share Colossians 1:27-29 with him and realized that this man should be a pastor. We began sharing that with him and he was so excited. He said that his wife had suggested he teach before and that he had been going, when he could, to a pentecostal church. We talked more and decided that he could start with the ten homes there, simply teaching and preaching. Many didn’t have bibles, and we only had one NT with us, so we left it with the promise of returning to do more teaching the next Friday and that we would bring more bibles.
I really wasn’t expecting to find an area ready for a church plant yesterday, but God had already prepared the way. Almost every day, in the morning, I feel the pressure of spiritual warfare telling me I don’t want to go out, that I’m too tired, that nothing will happen, that I have nothing to share, but every day, once I go in obedience, God is there, working ahead of us, making things happen and we simply get to be there enjoying His great handiwork. Praises to Him!!!!