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.
