My God shall supply…

Philippians 4:19 (a very familiar verse) says, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Does God really supply all my needs? Does He really take care of my life the way He has promised? Yes!  A few days ago, here at PAFCOE, we witnessed this promise of God coming true for one of our students.

Vera* joined PAFCOE right after she finished the 1,000 Missionary Training program and was excited to learn more about how to work for God. As with most of our students, she had no money, no sponsor and no possibility of getting the necessary funds to pay her expenses here at PAFCOE.

So what should she do? 

Every day, Vera prayed earnestly for God to provide for her expenses. As she listened to the lectures, participated in outreach and did her assignments, this problem of no money weighed on her like a heavy burden from which there was no relief.  Vera found it hard to concentrate in class, because she was so occupied in thinking about how she could do something to get the money she so desperately needed.

Of course, she knew this promise (Philippians 4:19), but would God actually fulfill it for her? Yes, He did!  He who reigns in the heaven and upholds all the worlds, cared for even Vera and provided a way to pay for her expenses. This is how:

Last Friday night, Vera, her classmates, and we staff gathered in the church for the vespers service. The speaker for the sermon that night was an Adventist Doctor who specializes in kidney transplant and was the first Adventist Doctor in his field.

After the meeting, I noticed that Vera was happily talking to the Doctor and having a great conversation with him. I could tell that she was obviously delighted to see him and assumed that they were friends. As everyone began to leave, the Doctor and Vera came our direction and he said to me, “Do you know Vera?”

I said, “Yes, Of course! She’s one of our students.”

He smiled and said, “Well, she was one of my high school classmates and I’ve decided to sponsor her tuition at PAFCOE.”

Then Vera spoke up and said how surprised she was to see him, since they had not met since their graduation and now God brought them together again and provided through her old classmate, a way for her to continue studying here at PAFCOE!

Vera thanked God over and over again and said that now she would be able to concentrate fully on her studies and lectures as the heavy burden of not having financial assistance was lifted from her. We were all touched at how God really does provide for all our needs – in ways we never even thought of!

Praise God for caring about us!

*Not her real name.

Changed plans and changed lives!

Sometimes we find that our plans change.

Anything strange? Not really. We all have times and experiences when our nicely laid plans come grumbling down, leaving us wondering what God’s plan for us is.

This week at PAFCOE, we definitely experienced changed plans!

Every batch, we have a one-week health expo before our evangelistic meetings to bring in interested people and this time, it is scheduled to start this Sunday – September 1.  We had made arrangements to use the Philippine Heart Center as the venue, but just a little more than one week before the health expo is to start, they cancelled their agreement to let us use their place.

So now what? The flyers were already on the press just ready to start printing.

We had only a week to find another place to hold the health expo.

Changed plans…

But we remembered one of the Lord’s promises which is, “…. in every difficulty [we should see] a call to prayer.” Desire of Ages, page 667.

So we began to pray earnestly for God’s leading and God directed us to have the health expo right here at the Manila Center Church. Thankfully we were able to call to tell the printer to stop the flyer printing until we had made a decision for what to do and just in time, the flyers were ready for distributing to the surrounding communities.

Changed plans, but it meant changing to God’s plans.

And God doesn’t just change plans, He changes lives, too!

Here is the testimony of one of our students:

“My life before I met Christ was full of anxieties, fears and uncertainties. I was a kind of person who had a lot of worries. Yes, I believed in God and His existence, but I didn’t know much about Him, especially His character and as a result, I had a lot of doubts about things around me and the future. Because of those uncertainties, I always found time to murmur and complain. I always focused the time to look upon the negative side of things, instead of focusing on the good side. I might look okay outside, but truthfully, I was gloomy, sad and fearful inside.

Then I met someone who introduced me to Jesus, not by words, but through his life. This person seemed to be very happy in his life despite all the difficulties he is facing and always found good in everything. That fixed my thoughts on the God that he knew. Then, little by little, I started knowing who God really is. I found out that He is a living God who looks ever all His creation with love and that not a single one is neglected. I started to how Him as a being that is not distant and different but loving, compassionate, and understanding.

Since then, I am trying to live my life in complete trust to Him. Yes, I still have trials and difficulties in life – most are even bigger than before. But I have learned to fully put my trust in my God. He is bigger than all my problems put together! I have learned trust and faith and now, He is still teaching me lessons about them. Now, I can live today and do not fear in the future because I know there is a God who holds it.”

Yes, God changes plans and changes lives too! And sometimes he uses people like you and me to help someone see what God is really like.

How true it is that:

“Often our plans fail, that God’s plans for us may succeed.”

In jail…

Last Sabbath, I found myself in jail. 

Yes, in jail! What was I doing in jail? Keep reading…

Imagine living day after day of your life behind closely guarded gates and high walls.

Imagine having no electronic gadgets to communicate with the outside world.

Imagine not having the freedom to go anywhere you wish at anytime.

Imagine what it would be like to be an inmate in a jail.

How did I get to be in a jail? No, it wasn’t because I had committed some crime that landed me there. It was my desire to be a blessing and minister to the inmates inside the jail. Here’s the story:

In April of this year, I had the privilege of meeting a lady Doctor who goes once a month to the ladies’ jail here in the area. During our conversation, she mentioned to me about her mission project there at the jail and invited me to come and speak to the ladies for a Sabbath worship service. I was unable to go at that time because of my schedule, but always kept it in mind and determined that as soon as I could, I would try to visit the jail she had spoken to me about.

And last Sabbath was the day! I was really excited, since I had never before visited a jail anywhere, let alone in a foreign country! The Adventists have been working in this jail for more than 20 years and have raised up a church inside with around 50-70 members (if I remember correctly). Each Sabbath, one of the churches in the area goes to the women’s jail and does the service for the ladies living there.

To get inside, we had to leave all our personal belongings in a locker, bringing only our Bibles with us. After making sure who we were, why we were coming in and getting a stamp on our hands, we passed through a huge iron gate and entered the women’s jail.

Inside was a community, complete with small shops for buying beads, food, cloth, etc. After passing several large buildings, we came to the small chapel that the Adventists use each Sabbath. Already the service had started and the little church was full to overflowing.

Many of the ladies came to greet us and welcome us to their church. As I listened to the inmates singing the same hymns we sing in our churches outside, it brought tears to my eyes. They really sing with all their heart and soul and really mean what they are singing about. So often when we are in church, it’s easy to just sing because that’s the thing to do without really thinking about what the song is really saying and whether we mean it or not.

But not in the jail. Those ladies sang with such meaning and sincerity and it really touched my heart! I had the privilege of speaking to them about God’s forgiveness and how He will forgive us no matter what we’ve done or how evil we’ve been if we just ask. As I looked out over the congregation, I noticed several ladies crying and wondered to myself what their story was.

As I spoke, hearty “amens” came from all parts of the congregation and I would see they were really listening and understanding the message from God’s Word.  The message ended with a solemn reminder that when we receive forgiveness from God unconditionally, we must also forgive others for what they’ve done to us. I was so blessed to share that simple message with them and to see the joy and happiness they had found in Jesus!

After the program, all the ladies were given laundry soap, bar soap and some food for their meal, for which they were very grateful. Many thanked us for coming as they went back to their respective places.

As we slowly made our way back to the gate (and freedom), talking with different inmates along the way, I mentioned to my friends, “We came here to encourage them and bless them, but we end up being the ones who are encouraged ourselves!” Everyone agreed this was the reason they kept coming back Sabbath after Sabbath to the women’s jail.

Soon, we stepped through the big gate, past the guards, collected our bags and realized how easy it was for us to come and go with such freedom. But those inside are not so fortunate. Some of them have stayed there for months and even years. Some will spend the rest of the lives inside.

As we traveled back to our respective homes, all I could say was, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” And yet, though we had gone to give, we had received a richer blessing in return.

My friends, if you’ve never visited a jail or done jail ministry before, I invite you to enter an often-neglected mission field and you will be richly blessed for doing so!

Remember what Christ says to us: “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Wherever it might be, God wants you to work for Him! :)

I would love to share with you some pictures of the time we spent there, but no cameras or cell phones were allowed inside.

Outreach in the rain!

“It’s raining again!”

This was a common phrase that we were using here at PAFCOE this week. Why?

 

Because this is the rainy season in the Philippines and during this time, typhoons are very frequent “visitors” to the islands, drenching everything in their pathways with plenty of rain and wind. Low areas almost always get flooded when a typhoon comes through and sometimes the water gets very deep.

During this week, schools cancelled their classes, banks and some other businesses closed and it seemed that for some people, life came to a stand-still. But life at PAFCOE did not stop!

Some of the heavy rain reaches this level.

And neither did outreach!

Outreach in rainy, windy weather?

Yes!

Some students were not thrilled in the least bit to be going out under such conditions, but they did anyways and we praise God for the many stories and testimonies of what He is doing through them – despite the bad weather conditions.

This testimony comes from a lady who hasn’t been an Adventist for that many years:

“It was so amazing to meet all sorts of people. We are all so different in so many ways, and yet God continually show His love for all of us, including those who don’t know Him yet. I saw myself in these people over and over. I was one of them not that long ago. I saw in their responses of how they reacted to our invitations to do studies, how funny it is to be on the other side now and how God has a sense of humor! I am so blessed and privileged to be learning how to be a better soul-winner!”

God’s protecting hand was seen in this student’s experience:

“We’ve experienced that a big angry dog is about to bite us. We immediately prayed silently that God will help us and not let us get hurt. Suddenly, the dog started running away, while we were thinking he was about to bite us. God really protected us and we are so thankful to Him!”

Some students have no money in their pockets since they came here by faith. This is how God provided for one of them:

“I was so amazed that God is so good to me and my partner even though I don’t have even one peso in my pocket and yet He provided just enough for us to get out to our territory for outreach. For 2 days, every time we had to do outreach, God used someone to give a little here and there in ways that I had never expected. God really supplies all our needs when we are going out to work for souls for Him!”

And always when they are out on outreach, they are being witnesses for Christ and it’s not just in what they say. This is from another student:

“I was so inspired during our outreach this week, especially when we were going door to door, doing surveys. I saw that people were watching us and noticed what we were wearing and immediately knew that we were children of the King. I was so inspired to be a good witness in wearing good Christian clothes!”

People do watch what we wear, what we say and how we act!

And the students themselves are inspired in sharing their faith. Here’s another testimony:

“I encountered so many inspiring experiences this week! But what inspired me the most is when people we are talking to get interested and immediately accept our invitation to do Bible studies. We met some that were so interested and so hungry to learn from the Bible and they want to keep studying with us and for me, that was the most rewarding experience!”

Though the weather this week was not ideal, outreach continued on and stories of how God is changing people’s lives through the students keep coming in. No matter what the conditions are, God has promised to be with us and bless our work as we seek to win souls for Him!

Thankfully, at least for now, the rains have stopped and outreach will be much easier next week (hopefully!). Yet, in any case, here at PAFCOE, we are so excited to be working for the Lord, rain or shine!

Stay tuned for more stories!

Our class (front view)

Our class (back view)