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We (a sister from the same discipleship group as I) heard that e-Campaign (“e” stands for evangelistic) for the last two weeks of the campaign was in need of more manpower. So both of us responded, including some other better halfers (BH in short, a fellowship for people above 40 yrs old). Before we set off, we were amazed at how God moved so many hearts to respond as it was the biggest team among the six weeks of e-Campaign.

There were 19 of us (as seen in the photo) from Singapore, and we set off to join some others who extended their stay for another week of the campaign.

God is good. When we set off, Manila was actually experiencing typhoon. Our team needed to transit at Manila in order to go to Davao. However, we were not affected by the typhoon at all. Similarly, the day before we returned to Singapore, the typhoon had subsided and the people in Manila were clearing the mess caused by the typhoon.

After the team landed in Davao, the following day Pastor Mike gave us some orientation about the campaign, as well as pointers to note before we start our one-week journey of sharing the gospel in schools after schools and classes after classes.

During the orientation, Pastor Mike used the beatitude and shared that the “ninth” beatitude is: “Be flexible, we shall not be bent out of shape”.

On the first day, all of us were required to meet at the lobby at 5am, even though that was too early for most of us. Then we headed to the center for breakfast, before the group was split into five teams. Each team consisted of about 10 or more people, and the teams set off to different schools to share the gospel to high school students. I believed God knows our team’s limit, and our team ended early for the morning’s sharing of the gospel. We were able to return to our hotel after lunch to rest for an hour before we set off again at 2pm to different schools.

On the second day, my team was assigned to a school with a very big population of students. In the morning session, there were about 4,000 students, and the afternoon session consisted of almost 5,000 students. Oh wow! Thank God three other teams were sent to help our team lest we might be too physically exhausted in sharing the gospel classes after classes. On that day, each of us shared the gospel nine times or more, as compared to other days where we shared less than nine times.

On the same day, before we went for lunch, I went to a class of first year students. After I shared the gospel, one student asked a few questions and this was followed by more questions from students; I was literally bombarded with questions. My heart was touched and lifted up by their hunger for God’s Word and the truth. One of the female students in the class asked me to promise to conduct bible studies with them. I wished I could….please pray that God will arrange someone to lead them. May they learn to find the answers from the Word themselves.

The journey travelling from schools to schools was not a smooth one as the road was quite bumpy. I was moved by a few Americans who served joyfully despite the discomfort in the van. Due to their height, most of them had to squeeze their legs in the limited space in the van.

I had two new experiences on the third day. Firstly, I was assigned the biggest class. It consisted of 90 students, which was a combination of 3 vocational classes, phew!. I thought I might have a hard time gaining all of their attention. During the session, I could sense it was all by God’s acts and grace, as they paid full attention to my sharing. Praise the Lord!

In addition, another new experience was that I shared the gospel to an all female class for the first time, while a female Gospeliter had an all boys' class :P

I also had another new experience on a separate day.  The school contacted SMCI (Students Movement for Christ, Int’l) and informed them there were no classes on that day, so they asked SMCI teams to come on Monday instead.  However, our team was not informed and by divine appointment two sessions of students were also not informed that there were no classes so they came to school. So four Singaporeans BH took four groups of students while I was asked to share with the teachers. Oh wow! I took up the challenge with fear and trembling. I kept praying to God to seek wisdom on what to share with them. I was glad a few of them were attentive, though one of them looked sceptical. May the Lord move them to a personal relationship with Jesus to influence their students.

Most of the Filipinos in the schools are familiar with Jesus but they have no assurance of salvation and most of them understood it as salvation by works. I pray and hope our sharing with them will help them recognise they should have a personal walk with Jesus.

One of the most elderly people in the team is an artist.  He is Arthur and he is 68 years old. It was amazing as on one occasion he was so tired and thirsty, so he prayed a simple prayer and God led him to a group of dumb and deaf students. The teacher invited him and gave him a chair to sit and amazingly there was a water-dispensing machine inside the class. She offered him a drink. He was refreshed and started sharing the gospel to the students, while the teacher translated his words to sign language.

Most of the time, Arthur would always be sketching or drawing, which often attracted many students to crowd round him. Then he took the opportunity to share the gospel with them. What a special gift that God has given to Arthur.

Please pray for more labourers to do the follow-up and disciple these high school students.