Buloc

If anything in this world help reality smack me in the face like a brick..... it was the trip to Buloc.

After driving about 15 minutes down a long bumpy road deep into this jungle of tropical plants and banana trees there is a Oder that informs us that we have come closer to our destination. I look out of the window of the van to see the most beautiful mountain towering over this desolate area. Its called the "Holy Mountain" is what I have heard...... it reaches, what seems like, miles into the sky and you cannot see the top because it has a blanket of clouds draped over it.

We turn one last corner as I take my attention off of the mountain and all of a sudden we are surrounded by a small city of garbage. Buloc is a dump site for all the surrounding cities of the Philippines. The smell is more than I expected. It had rained a few days before we arrived and the Oder was in the form of fumes going through our nostrils. And all I could think of was, "people live here?"


We get out of the van one by one, and the look that is on the faces of the team is something that is indescribable. No one is talking for the fear of what they are going to see that is dwelling deep in their stomachs. There is the sound of loud buzzing that is so loud that you can almost not even hear your own thoughts......... flies.

We walk down a rocky path and there is a strip that is cleared out.

People start appearing before us, children start walking up to us...... this is the community that lives in Buloc.

Dirty little faces and precious little eyes looking up at us.




Everyone is excited to see Noreal and Reena return. They are the married couple that lead this Life Group. A ministry to the almost forgotten.




We separate the parents and the children. Reena and Danielle take the children to a circle and Danielle teaches them the song "Jesus Loves Me" in sign language. They loved that.


There was this little boy that set back from the group watching, he was shy. I walked up to him and gave him the sign that means "handsome" with my finger and thumb, he gave it back to me with a big bright smile.





Not too far from the children sat the adults. Pastor Dave spoke to them about the depth of God’s love for them, the value God has for them. That God delights in His creation and does not see them as the world sees them. He told them of the change he saw from when he was there two years ago and that he knows God has plans (Jer 29:11) for them that are excellent. Their eyes were starring deep into his soul. The Holy Spirit was ministering. There was a peace that fell over the crowd.







We handed the children juice, snacks and a small cloth teddy bear that a lady made them. They took the teddy bear and buried their little noses into it and took a big inhale..... "smells so clean" they all said.

I really understood why America is so blessed while I was here. The American dollar stretches so far in this country. OH- the things you can offer to ministries such as this, with even the smallest offering. PFM is a faith based ministry. God is doing some amazing things through them.




There are 3 choices we have when it comes to missions.... God's command.

~GO
~Send or
~Disobey

A Day at the FTC Compound....

Today we spent time with the children at the orphanage. A little bit of down time with the children felt good for all of us. You could see they were so excited to share with us a little piece of how they live in the every day life at the camp.

Lanie showed me her room. She had it fixed up as cute as she could. She keeps Sara’s crib neat and all of there clothes clean and folded. She has a spot where she puts her pictures and Sara’s baby toys. She is just a wonderful mother at the age of 16.

David Jr, Daryl and Charles hit the basketball court with a few of the boys. I was pretty shocked to see Charles hang with the rest of them. It was a good time, and apparently a good work out.

A few little girls climbed on Pastor Dave as if he were human monkey bars…. Not very often you see a 6 foot 2 white giant in the Philippines, so to see him bring himself down to their size so that they can share some play time with him, really brought some excitement to their day. So take note….. the big serious Pastor walking through the halls of CCWC……. is really a big softy.

Some were in the yard flying kites that were made of plastic baggies and Danielle was inside with Andrea, the camp mother, preparing some school supplies that were donated for the school.

After spending some time getting to know the orphans a little better, we all headed over to the church to show them a drama. But this time was a little different. Because Frontline raises up these children evangelize, they have a heart to share everything that they receive. These kids visit the hospitals and join in crusades, this will be an awesome tool for them. So we taught them the Puppet Master drama. They love it!!! It will take a few more practices before they get it, but they seem to be catching on pretty quick. Pastor Jill Buyea would be so proud at our teaching skills.

I cant express how blessed we feel to be here today. To be able to see what God is doing. There is this boy, his name is Roldan and he has a smile that will light the room. He is on the Frontline dance team Ministry as well as a leader in the hospital ministry. He is 13 years old. I asked him where his parents were and he said,” I do not know, I come from a broken family.” I told him that I am so proud of all that he is, and how I see an amazing man of God when I look at him.” And he said to me,” I am a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.” I looked at him with tears of joy filling my eyes and said,” thank you. just thank you.’

Feeding the street children.....

This was a night that we will never forget. Jeff Rice pulls up to the camp in his Jeep. We are running late but there is no van for us to get in. Jeff mentions that he once fit 19 people in his Jeep. Well, that shouldn't’t be a problem there is only 9 of us. “Lets take the Jeep and get to the streets!!!!” Well we get everything ready and start piling in… Deb and Danielle in the very back on side seats, Angi sitting on Deb’s lap, Blanca, Mark and Charles in the middle and Pastor Dave in the passenger while Jeff drives. Ok, this is getting worse and worse even as we leave the driveway, bumps are getting bigger and Angi is getting heavier and heaver on Debs lap. “Wow, it didn’t seem this tight before” Jeff said, “but I guess the 19 people were all child Filipinos.” Um, yeah, that does make a difference Jeff.

We laughed and headed on our journey. But now with a few more tactics from the enemy… Its getting hotter and hotter piled on top of one another and then suddenly we hear the awful dreaded sound of the engine puttering… yes… we ran out of gas! “Not sure how this could happen, I just put in 1,200 pesos!” Well Jeff, that’s really only about 11 dollars and that only gets you about 4 gallons. Thank God we were right in front of a gas station so the guys get out and push. So we put in another 500 pesos and headed to the streets excited to see what the enemy didn’t want us to see.

We pull up to the curb of a dirty street, before we could get out of the jeep we can hear the laughter and yelling from the children who spotted Jeff’s big orange Jeep. They yelled,” Kuya Jeff!!! C

kuya Jeff!!! FOOD FOOD!” (kuya means BIG BROTHER)We get out and we are surrounded with bright little yes on little dirty faces. We loved on them as our hearts where breaking to see the innocence behind such a dire situation. Their clothes were torn and they reeked with the smell of urine. Some of these kids are involved in forced prostitution, some are scent to the streets to beg for food and money, and do not dare to come home to their parents empty handed. Many of these children are addicted to rugby. That is a type of glue that they sniff to escape their life, escape the hunger, escape this reality of desperation.

But I tell you, when Kuya Jeff pulls up….. The world as they know it disappears. One moment they can be loved, one night they can have a full belly, this is the chance to truly feel loved. He sits them in a circle and has someone on the team share a bible story. Suddenly Jeff ask a question,” have you guys ever seen an ALLIGATOR?” they say,” noooooo….” “Would you like to see one?” They say,” Yesssss!!!!”

“How about tonight we EAT ONE!!!!” and he pulls out a big alligator made out of bread. It was such a neat moment for them.

What an amazing night that we will never forget…

Life Groups

Every Friday , some people in the community gather together in front of a small shack that a family lives in. Chairs lined in a circle and the people started to get seated. Hearts were open and willing to receive the word of God. Pastor Dave shared today, about being a light in their community. At the end of this devotion, Pastor Dave asked if they had any prayer request and some of the ladies talked about how they try to invite people over to join the Life Group and talk with them about the Lord Jesus, but they get made fun of and talked about. This was a big deal to them, they really wanted to know how to handle this, how to be a light when their surroundings seem so dark. We talked about getting together and praying for them, about how STRONG prayer in groups can be and that God is the only one who can soften their hearts. We told them how they can still have a kind and compassionate heart even though others may persecute them , that even Jesus was persecuted for His faith in God.

It was a wonderful message. And it was received with such humble personality.

Happy Father's Day

Hello everyone.....

we have been super busy and no time for going in to town to use the internet...but I have so much to share and so many pictures. I will post tomorrow.... when I have time.




to my baby girl destiny~ i am praying for you and I love you dearly. I am having faith that God is healing your little precious body as I type this. God is doing amazing things here , i cannot wait to share with you. And know that as a team we can feel your prayers. YOU are a part of this work with your faithfulness. I am going to try to call you soon. I love you and devon with all my heart. God bless..... Gotta run baby doll. xoxoxox Call your daddy.

Mommy

The Prison Ministry

Thursday morning we woke up and had our morning worship and devotions as usual. Then each team member went off to his or her daily routines. Today the sisters washed the school walls down with bleach to prepare for the painting tomorrow, and the brothers laid bricks for the foundation of a dorm they are building on the Frontline compound. There is always some construction and big projects going on here, its just another day in the life of the team. Growing and expanding for the harvest of the Lord is the mindset of everyone here…….. This place runs like a fine tuned machine. One heart…. One vision… winning souls for Christ!

 

Today we went to the San Pablo City Jail. It was a great day for the prisoners to celebrate their freedom through Christ. It is also the Filipino Independence Day! Some of these inmates have been here for over 2 years just waiting for a court date, and some of them are innocent. Jeff Rice leads this ministry, and he opened by thanking them for allowing us once again to fellowship on their “campus”. I thought this was a neat way to address them. For just a moment he allowed them to feel unchained, by not calling it the Jail.

 

All of the prisoners gathered in the courtyard for the finale of FILIPINO IDOL!  This is something that Jeff was really excited about. He has been working with these prisoners for quite some time now, fine tuning their heart with the word of God, growing leaders within men and women who have felt as if they have no hope or value to this world anymore. Jeff says that as we fine-tune your walk with the Lord, we will give you a chance to fine-tune your God given talents. They started with about 20 inmates signing up for singing, guitar, drums and dancers. And some musicians and choreographers from the Frontline worked with them for about 2 months! And each week one would get eliminated… they were down to 5 and tonight was the finale. What a neat thing to see. They sang tasteful songs and danced almost a Jive style dance. They worked hard and this was their reward. They respected Jeff and they felt the honor and the privilege of this opportunity to glorify Christ.

 

 Jeff said that by doing this project, he was able to see people stand up in leadership rolls, watch how they interacted with others and from all the observation, he is choosing inmates to take on a leadership roll in bible studies there at the prison. What God has done through Jeff and the Frontline is turn this prison into a training camp! When they are released, the idea is to send them off into ministry. In hopes that they will take their “MESS” and make it their “MESSAGE”!  Amen?

 

 

Messages:

We love you to all of our friends and family back home.  

Nick~ check my hotmail account under the drafts there is  a letter there for you from me. I love you honey.

Jen~ Tell the kids I love them and I miss them. Alllll of them. You are the best!

Liv~ We all love you.

Blanca says she is so happy to hear that her daughter is praying for her. She loves you and Daddy.

The Hospital Ministry

So we pile into the van again and head to the hospital. It is quite a different world, traveling through the streets of San Pablo. Nothing at all like back home. The markets are full and the streets are packed! We are unable to reach a speed past 15 miles per hour because the traffic is so bad. But that makes it easy for us to be able to really soak up our surroundings. We arrive at our destination. A shabby 4-story building. San Pablo Hospital. We split up into groups and we each went to a different floor to minister. Some of the children from Frontline were the team leaders. At the ages of about 13 through 16, these girls really took a leadership roll. These are the FUTURE LEADERS of the Frontline!

 

The walls were bare and the paint is chipping. The rooms are packed with beds as well as the hallways, every place was occupied. We laid hands on the sick and injured and we prayed for the will of God to be done. We also prayed, as the Lord led us, for the family members that surrounded the patients.

 

We gathered in a circle by the lake after we ministered, to do a little debriefing as a team. One of the things that we all seemed to have noticed was the strong spirit of religion among the families.  At times when we were praying for the sick, we could feel its hindrance hovering over us. It was a definite that some of these people believed in God and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but there was NO relationship involved in this belief. Most spoke of WORKS and how they do things for GOD in serving at their churches. We discussed with the team at Frontline what we were discerning, and they said they would join us in praying away this spirit of religion.

 

Lanie was one of the girls who lead the teams. I found out a little more about her that makes her even more remarkable to me. I told you before how she was homeless when they found her on the street. Well, Jeff Rice actually ran across her lying in the street. She was stoned from sniffing glue. The street children do this to cure the hunger pains, and then they get addicted. Lanie’s parents left her and she was to take care of herself. While in the market searching for food she found a lady that was wiling to provide for her. She was a Madam. (Female PIMP) She sold Lanie to men in hotels several times a night. Lanie received 500 pesos a night. This is about 10 dollars. This is how she became pregnant with Sarah.

 

Lanie is now born again Christian and an AMAZING young lady of God. She is a wonderful mother and has such a desire to serve the Lord with all of her heart.

 

God is so faithful to His children.