Lighthouse Community Church

Philippines Update: Pre-Trip

From Berry, written on June 26^th . . .

This will be the last Pre-Philippines update because my flight into Manila is in 10 hours!

Thank you for your prayers for my preparation and for the people of the Philippines.  As Oswald Chambers said, "prayer does not equip us for the greater work- prayer IS the greater work."  It's amazing and daunting at the same time to know that I will be serving our great God overseas for a whole month.  The idea of God's glory and His love for His people is overwhelming at times.  Nevertheless it is a privilege and my joy to use my life to serve Him. 

Here are some things to pray for:

1. Kimmie- Kimmie left a few hours ago from LAX and she will be flying into Manila at 5:30am PH time (which is... 3:30pm Monday US time).  Pray for a safe journey and also for her heart preparation.  =)

2. God's glory- Pray that God will be glorified and magnified in our love and our service.  May I continue to ask myself "Do I love Christ SO MUCH that I must and am compelled to serve and tell the people about Him?"

3. My heart- Pray that my single desire is Christ and Christ alone.  Pray that my heart will be set on God and His glory, and that my eyes are always looking up to the Source of grace. 

4. Humility- As stated in Micah 6:8 "What does the Lord require of you?  To do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."

Some thoughts before I leave:

I do want to encourage you with Psalm 145 as it has encouraged me today.  Live every moment of your life for the glory of our God for He is good and He is faithful. =)

I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever.

Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They will tell of the power of your awesome works, and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They will celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.

The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

All you have made will praise you, O Lord; your saints will extol you.

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,

so that all men may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splender of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made.

The Lord upholds all those who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. 

You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and loving toward all he has made.

The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.  Let every creature praise his holy name forever and ever.

Please email me and let me know how you are doing.  Let me know what the Lord is doing in your life and how I can be praying for you specifically.  As you pray for me and Kimmie, I am also praying for you.

Blessings,

Berry

Philippines Update #1: Arrival

From Kimmie, written on July 2^nd . . .

It was a rather long trip, but without many problems at all. It has been rather rainy at night. I was even cold the past two nights, and I had to get up to get a blanket or sweater or something! That was rather unexpected.  Bug bite count: 0! woot!

We are in the middle of orientation / training. So far, these past two days, we have just been resting and learning about what goes on here. And things are going quite swimmingly.

Some things you can be thinking about:
- Team dynamics: Learning to lead effectively without actually spoon-feeding my teammates.
- Future programs: How I can get involved in what is already going on. I'm rather unsure of what to do and things like that.
- New friends: Coming back and seeing familiar faces, help me think of ways that I can continue what was founded last year.
- Jet lag. It's hard. Enough said. 
- Wondrous thanks: Just to be back and healthy

That is all for now!  Just wanted to send a quick update now that we've arrived :)

-Kimmie

From Berry, written on July 3rd . . .

Hi everyone!

Our team has arrived in Davao City, Philippines safely!  Praise God. :)  The weather here has been kind: warm during the day and raining at night.  Since we haven't had to go out at night for the past two days, we stayed in for some good ol' team bonding while it was raining outside.  BUT... the down side of rain is that it brings a lot of bugs... A LOT OF BUGS.  I've gotten 7 bug bites since I've arrived, so that's not very fun.

Overall, we have been resting for the first full day that we're here, getting used to the environment and the weather.  Kimmie and I got a chance to walk around the subdivision that we will be staying in for the month and I got a chance to see the housing around this area.  The public transportation here is quite interesting- we rode the "jeepney" to the mall to exchange out money.  The Jeepney is pretty much a jeep that has no doors and two long benches for people to sit on in the back of the jeep.  That is the main source of transportation here in Davao.  We also got a chance to eat Filipino homemade bread with homemade pineapple and mango jam. :)  Kimmie and I got a chance to help make dinner last night, and we had a chance to get to know the people who work at the SPTC (OMF team center).

Today, we had a full day of training (we're on break right now so I can email an update).  We went through culture and what to expect working with the Muslims in the Philippines.  We learned a lot about the different Muslim tribes and how we can connect with the people here.  We also got a chance to get a better understanding of the different ongoing projects that are set up here in Davao and the many opportunities we can serve in.  We will be mainly working with two couples who are long term missionary workers here: Ben and Cheche, and Emo and Kathy.  They are very warm and welcoming people, and they have made our stay here a smooth transition.  Tonight, we will be meeting with Ben to go through the street and homeless ministry orientation, so I'm looking forward to that.

Please continue to pray that God will be glorified through us as we learn to open ourselves to the people here and open ourselves to see God work.  I've been continuously reminding myself to preach the gospel to myself daily, for it is the gospel that can transform my heart as I reach out to the Muslim community and as I learn to love as Christ has loved in his ministry.  I am thankful daily for the grace of God and for the hope that we do have in Him.

Thank you for your prayers.  May we all continue to live our lives worthy of the gospel and worthy of His calling.

Until the next update... :)

Blessings,
Berry