Feed the mouths that hunger, soothe the wounds the bleed,
Give the cup of water and the load of bread
Be the hands of Jesus, serving in His stead.
Our PAFCOE students have been finding out that they are God’s hands and feet serving others with His great message of love and truth. Let me share some of their amazing experience with you!
The first student said, “There was this old man who was living alone whose wife had died earlier this year. Only his two grand-children who live nearby take care of him and visit him. When we arrived at his place, we discovered that he had had an accident and bruised his feet. We offered to treat his wounds with charcoal to make them heal faster and he agreed. When we returned to his home in a few days to do the treatment, we found that he was waiting for us. So we cleaned his wounds and did the treatment on him. As we applied the charcoal, we taught his on-looking grandchild how to do it so they could continue doing it for him. They were so happy and grateful for what we were doing! The old man said, ‘I cannot repay you anything for what you did for me, but praise God for treating me as if I was your own father and showing such kindness to me.’ Those words were so touching to hear! I was so inspired to be the hands of Jesus to serve those in need! Those these little acts of kindness and love, we will lead them to Jesus. When we were done with the treatment, one of his family members asked us to treat her too because she had been suffering the effects of a mild stroke. We did a health survey on her and promised to return to treat her the next time.”
Another student said, “My heart was broken and touched as I saw so many smelly homeless people sleeping on the street as we pass to and from our home. We wanted to help them, so many times we didn’t eat the fruits that were served so we could take something to those poor people. One day, on our way to our territory, I noticed an old man hurrying towards the jeepney we were going on. He was carrying a kilo of rice, but hadn’t noticed that there was a little hole in his bag and the rice was pouring out onto the street. I told him about the hole and helped him gather up the spilled rice. He had lost almost half of his rice! But then the jeepney started to move and the old man forgot about his spilled rice on the street and jumped on. I could see disappointment written all over his face. I couldn’t sleep very well that night. The picture of all those homeless children and that old man was printed on my mind and a question started to formulate in my mind – where can I see God’s love through that? Then it occurred to me that these needy men and women are still God’s children who need someone to share with them a message a hope and love. I pray that they will see God’s love through my actions and that I can do my best to give them hope through Christ.”
Another said, “My partner and I gave Bible studies to 3 different families and I was so blessed! But all of them didn’t have a Bible and they had a hard time understanding everything because they don’t understand English too well. So we prayed to the Lord to provide us a way to get a Tagalog Bible for them all to be able to understand. God really inspired someone to sponsor the money to buy them Bibles. And when we went back to our interest and gave them the Bibles, they were so touched and happy! Now they could read the answers of the questions in the Bible studies we were giving them! And we invited them to attend our evening meetings at UP, and praise God, one came!”
And yet another student said, “After our Bible study, our interest confessed to me that the first time she met us, she felt so comfortable with us and couldn’t resist our invitation to have a Bible study. She asked, ‘Why do I feel this way?’ With tears in our eyes, my partners and I said, ‘It’s the work of the Holy Spirit in you.’ She then told us that many people wanted to have studies with her before but she had always refused and made excuses. But when she saw us, she couldn’t refuse and felt drawn to what we had to share. We were so inspired and prayed for her before we left.”
One said, “I really prayed this week that God would give us divine appointments for Him. When it was almost time to go home one day, someone called out to us and told us about a man who was paralyzed. We went to see him and talked with he and his wife. He had been praying that God would heal him and we told them about the NEW START program and how to be healthy by following God’s principles. I was so glad to see their eagerness to try it and see what God would do for them!”
Another said, “Earlier I had written about a young family we had met in the garbage dump who were looking for things to sell to have enough to eat. We had helped them by giving them food and some clothes. This week, my partner and I were walking down the street when we ran into the young man that we had met at the garbage dump. He informed us that his pregnant wife had just given birth. He had built a makeshift house for them against a building near the garbage dump. We visited his “house” and his wife. Just as we were talking together, it started to rain heavily. It was 5 in the afternoon and the mother told us that her baby was wearing his last diaper. She had just given birth the previous day to a beautiful baby boy. So we went to the pharmacy and bought them diapers, baby powder, baby oil and alcohol to clean with. We were so touched for their situation. And that young couple wants to start Bible studies with us next week! I realized that we are just stewards of what we have. We don’t own anything. If we think we have it hard or have so many problems, consider the homeless family with a small son and newborn baby sleeping in a tiny shed of boxes and wood near the garbage dump – no water, no electricity, no bathroom and cramped together in their little place about 1 meter (3 feet) square. Someone’s situation is worse than yours and you can be a blessing to them through what God has given you!”
Blessed to be a blessing, privileged to care
Challenged by the need apparent everywhere.
Where mankind is wanting, fill the vacant place
Be the means through which the Lord reveals His grace.
