Healing comes naturally!

Healing really does come naturally! Really? Can I really get well naturally? Yes, you can! This was the theme for last week’s health expo here in Manila.

One student had this experience:

“I’ve seen God’s love for lost souls and for all His children when my partner and I were riding in a jeepney back to our classroom, coming home from outreach. On the way, 4 teachers got on the jeepney and sat across from us. As we rode along, we heard them talking about their need to change their diet because of their present health conditions. Upon hearing this, I whispered a prayer to God to help me interrupt their conversation and invite them to the health expo. Just a couple of minutes later, one teacher smiled at me, so I smiled back and then I got the chance to invite them to the health expo. They were all grateful for the invitation. I am learning little by little how to approach people in every situation. God is so faithful! He answered my prayers right then!”

Our PAFCOE students were heavily involved in the health expo from start to finish and what a blessing they were! This health expo was held in the Manila Center SDA Church’s parking area, which was covered with a gigantic tarp to protect it from the rain. 

Though the screening started at 5:00, all the health expo staff were there long before that time to get everything set up and ready for the people who would be coming later.

Setting up.

Everyone worked hard!

Since the church’s parking lot opens right onto the street, it was easy to invite the passers-by to come and join the program and many did. We used the NEWSTART acronym and had a booth for each letter. The students were assigned to do the short health lectures in each booth and really did a great job!

Having fun teaching nutrition

Teaching how to make a charcoal poultice

Learning how to breathe properly

Teaching about sunlight

The registration team

One student said, “On the first day of our health expo, I didn’t expect that a lot of people will come through. Yes, not so many came, but we see that God was blessing our work, even though we had had challenges in our venue changing at the last minute. I saw in the people’s faces when they listened to the lecture at each booth, such eagerness and excitement to learn more about how to be healthy! I’m so blessed!”

Of course there was massage, too. Some of our students were students at the LIGHT missionary training school before and knew how to do massage very well. They definitely put their skills into practice!

Doing massage

More massage

Teaching about rest

Teaching how to do a hot foot bath

Teaching about trust in God

Taking blood pressure

Busy students

One afternoon, it rained. Oh, no! What would we do? Thankfully, because of the huge tarp overhead and the small booth tents, everyone stayed quite dry. Of course, not as many people came through the health expo screening, but still people came, despite the rain.

Standing on the street to invite people to the health expo

And of course, there was some fun, too! Especially during the time when the people who were coming through were few.

Another student said, “God has been very good to me this week! I’ve seen how God worked so much with our group. One of us got very sick and was not feeling well. All the rest of us were willing to take her part to let her rest. Thank God our group was assigned to the “Water” booth and we were supposed to teach the people about the benefits of hydrotherapy. Through the knowledge we learned, we were able to apply it on our classmate! And when one group didn’t have anything to do, they helped the others and what a great cooperation and unity we all had!”

For around 2 ½ hours, everyone worked hard on giving health lectures, massage, or inviting people on the street to come in. Then at 6:30, everyone was invited into the church (we called it the Manila Center Auditorium) to listen to a health lecture by Dr. Blessey Varona.

Dr. Blessey is a very dynamic health lecturer and all who attended greatly enjoyed the program! Every night, a short cooking demonstration was done to help the listeners know how to cook more healthfully. But you can’t have a cooking demonstration without letting the audience taste what you’re cooking! So that’s just what we did! Almost every night, samples were served and were very popular – especially the night when vegan ice cream was made and served!

At the end, Dad would give a short mental health bite, which was also popular.

This continued for 1 week and those who attended greatly enjoyed what they were learning!

Yes, friends, healing does come naturally! Follow God’s simple steps for health and you will see the difference!

Stay tuned for more stories!