Musings and Memories

by: Rebekah



Leading up to this journey I was pretty anxious and a little concerned. I wanted very much to go on this trip, I just didn't know what I was getting myself into! When I stepped off the plane into Manila, I wasn't sure what to think, what to expect... all I know now is that this trip was one of the most amazing times of my life. From beginning to end, this trip was simply unbelievable. Laughter and tears, beauty and sickness, miracles and more... God's hand was over the whole thing. In just three weeks I saw, experienced, and learned so much.



I'm so thankful for each individual who participated in this trip. Every person who went along contributed something grand to the team as a whole. Each person was so wonderful as an individual but they also put into the group something that only they could. Leah is so beautiful in how she unabashedly lusts after Jesus and trusts Him in the most minuscule parts of life. Her compassion for the people around her is vast... just watching how she encourages others is so inspiring. Hannah is the kind of person who will just stop and say "look how amazing God's creation is!" and then keep walking. It doesn't matter how big or how small, she marvels in anything and everything; you can see in her all the time that she just adores her God and his creation. Her smile lights up not only her face but the faces of everyone around her. Carolyn is so sweet and caring - she is the person who will go out of her way to help you in any way she can. She is sympathetic, when you talk to her she listens to every word you say. She is so trusting in God, looking to Him as a child looks to her daddy. This team was originally to be just us four girls so when I heard that two boys were coming along, I was a bit worried! So much for our awesome all-girl team! But what can I say, the team would have been crippled without Steve and Micah. Steve is visibly passionate about God; when he prays you can hear how much he is in awe of God. His personality was a huge magnet for the children... he would often have a crowd of kids gathered around him laughing uncontrollably... they loved him! Micah has a strong and willing heart. He was so protective of the women of the team, constantly putting us before himself. As he became more mature as a man of God, his actions and words encouraged us females to become better women of God... it was a really beautiful thing. The love he has for his Heavenly Father is evident in his life. And then of course there's Francis, and though he didn't travel 20+ hours from America, he was still very much a vital part of our team. Francis is brilliant, yet humble... quiet, but his actions proclaim loudly the love he has for his people. Just by watching what he does or listening to him when he talks to people you can see his complete dedication to God and how excited he is to carry out God's plans for his life. God's power and love flows through him, it's so evident!



Before coming on this trip I felt so overwhelmed with empty Christianity. All religion, no faith. I saw "prophets" blindly prophesy; I saw "great men of God" put on a big show and pray healing over people with no results. I heard Christians sing lyrics with empty voices instead of praise songs full of worship. Then all of the sudden these plans came together and I was swept off to the Philippines on an aeroplane! Almost every morning this team of Jesus-lovers would gather in a small bedroom to pray and sing praises to God. Just listening to my six teammates singing, I could swear I was hearing angels. I don't think I've ever heard worship like that before, it was so beautiful, so pure. I loved just sitting there singing to God with my team... worshiping Him, praising Him, and loving Him through our songs. Then something else happened - something I've never seen before in my life. Hannah mentioned this already in her blog, but it is definitely worth mentioning again. We traveled to Welfareville and set up a medical clinic to go along with a local church's feeding program. There was a baby there... so terribly sick. Just by looking at her you could see that things were not good at all. This baby just laid there limply in her mother's arms. Her eyes were closed, she had a fever, it was taking all she had just for her to breathe! Hannah and Carolyn, after examining this child, knew that the situation was bad - this sickness combined with these living conditions could almost certainly mean death. Seeing this, they took this baby in their arms and prayed for her life and healing. The baby and her mother then went on to see Dr. Francis, receive medicine and instructions for care, and enjoy a hot meal. Later on in the day, Hannah and Carolyn got to see this baby again... she was fine. Breathing easily, looking alert, her fever was gone! Hannah and Carolyn prayed over this baby, believed she would be healed, and she was healed. God powerfully healed this baby through their hands because they prayed and believed! This was, and still is, absolutely amazing to me.



God's perfect timing is another thing that became so clear to me on this trip. Some things happened while we were there that were a long time in the making. It was really cool to look at what happened and say "Wow! Look at everything God did in preparation for this, and see how God's timing perfectly brought all of this together!" Then there were some other things that just showed that God is always watching us and knows our needs. I'm speaking now of what happened a few days before we left the Philippines to go home. I'll try to sum it up in a short-story, but please bear with me... I'm not the best story-teller! We were on our way home from visiting the Tamboan village. To get to this village, we had to go on a 4.5 hour hike. The hike TO the village really wasn't all that bad. The first 3/5 of the hike was entirely downhill, and the rest was just a little strenuous in some parts... you know, some uphill, a little downhill, some level parts. Overall, this hike was pretty moderate. However, the hike BACK was a bit of a different story. When we reached that part where it was all downhill going TO the village, it got really tough. The shade on the path seemed little and far between, and I was rapidly getting very hot. I was actually so hot that I started shaking... which is not so great! I was drinking a lot of my water, as I should have been doing, but that meant I was also running out of water - water that I needed for the rest of the hike. It seemed to me that we just kept on walking and walking and walking, getting nowhere. I was starting to feel so defeated, like I could barely go on at all anymore... it was so hard, and we still had so far to go. But of course, there was only one thing we could do to get back home and that was to keep walking forward, so that's what I did. As we kept going, our water supply kept getting lower, so Steve decided to go on ahead to try to bring us back more water. Micah had already gone up ahead to meet with our hired van to tell them that the rest of us were on our way. Micah was carrying his backpack AND Carolyn's backpack, so dear Carolyn decided to take my backpack for me. I am so, so, so grateful for what she did... if I had been carrying my backpack I don't think I would've have been able to do anything. And, by the way, Hannah all this time had been walking with a pulled muscle in her leg! I don't know how we did what we did that day. Surely it was God's help that was pulling us through. So there we were, still walking, still running out of water, and we see a group of Filipino men loading rocks up into the back of a pickup truck. A truck! A vehicle with a motor that requires no walking! Looking around, you could see all of our eyes filling up with hope for getting a ride to the top of the mountain... we were excited! The men on the truck saw us, waved, and drove on up the hill. So we were still stuck walking. Later, after trudging on for quite some time, we had either run out of water or were dangerously close to it... then we saw that truck again. This time they waved for us to jump on! We walked to it as fast as we could (which wasn't very fast at all), and climbed aboard. As soon as I sat down in the cab of that truck I wanted to cry because I was so happy to not have to walk the rest of the way! Our God is so amazing... right when we had no more water, he provided us with a ride home. His timing is perfect! After we got in the truck we all drove along the road and picked up Steve, who was on his way back to us with water, drove a little farther and picked up Micah, who ALSO had water for us, and kept driving. It seemed like we just kept driving for miles... I knew we were far away, but I didn't know we were THAT far away! I honestly don't know if I would have been able to do it. But God knew that too... so he gave us a truck to ride in. He is so good.



I could keep going on and on with many other stories and details but after a very long blog, I think I'll leave you with this...



One night I sat alone on the beach, quietly singing praises to my Jesus. The waves gently crashed against the shore, the dark sky occasionally lit up with lightning far off in the distance, I sat there taking up handfuls of sand and letting the thousands of grains slip softly through my fingers. Then I asked myself a question... how big is my God? My mind was baffled, I just couldn't comprehend the answer. Staring at the ocean and the lightning, playing with the innumerable grains of sand, I kept asking myself "how BIG is my God?" The only answer I can come up with is that my God is bigger than anything I could ever imagine. My God is more powerful than anything I could ever imagine. My God is great.



The splendor of a King clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice, all the earth rejoice!
He wraps Himself in light and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice, and trembles at His voice

How great is our God? Sing with me!
How great is our God? And all will see...
How great, how great is our God!

Age to age He stands and time is in His hands
Beginning and the End, Beginning and the End
The Godhead Three in One Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb, The Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
You are worthy of all praise!
My heart will sing
How great is our God!

Then sings my soul my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art
Then sings my soul my Savior God, to Thee
How great Thou art, how great Thou art