Philippines: Barangay Tacas | February 21

There is a full moon right now so the tide is crazy, almost too hard to explain without pictures. In the morning the tide is way out and there are people all over walking around digging up crabs and other sea creatures from the sand. There are small pools of water that reflect the sky perfectly. Some fishing boats stuck on land, many others out and about. There’s a lot of activity- people getting food from this source is a way of life here. I have never experienced a sunrise quite like the one we saw this morning. It was stunning. We played with hermit crabs, there were jellyfish everywhere. I wish everyone, everywhere could have witnessed it.

Today was absolutely crazy. Through an agreement with the government to promote better morals, Paul and Marcy are able to go into schools and pass out One Hope Books and share the gospel! Preaching- in schools!

At the junior high there were about 4,000 students. No big deal, right? We went to the principal's office and met with a lot of the staff, telling them that we were Christians representing the Book of Hope, and that we would love to pray for the staff and the school in general. After doing so, Paul told them that we had a presentation and a free book to pass out at all the classrooms, and just like that, they let us begin! We interrupted classes and explained that we were there representing One Hope and passing out free books to all the students, we have a small presentation, and we have the principal’s permission… easy right? Wow. Talk about an uncomfortable task! I never would have signed up for this in a million years.  

In just a couple of hours I had shared the gospel with and led at least 200 students to surrender their lives to Jesus. That’s not counting all the classrooms that Paul, Marcy, Amy, and the rest of our team had gone to! The kids were for the most part very respectful, and very very interested. As I was walking back across the campus I looked in every classroom and saw that most of the students were at their desks reading their One Hope books- that was so cool. While other groups were finishing, we waited in a teachers lounge where they kept bringing us drinks, nuts, junk food, and mayonnaise sandwiches! Amy was a superstar and ate most of one, I did not! The school staff and principal were so incredibly thankful and blown away by what we were doing. It was nuts.

In the afternoon we left for an evening crusade in barangay Tacas. There, we prayed for the people and the alter call was massive! Headaches, heart disease, vision, kidney, intestinal, back pain, and family healings- people were really excited! Afterwards we had dinner served to us at a small church. Rice, vegetable soup with shrimp, fungus, and chicken that looked like goat. They keep wanting me to eat something that is a duck egg with an underdeveloped baby duck inside…. they say it’s a local delicacy.

I can’t believe this is my life. I can’t believe this is Paul and Marcy’s lives!

~ Joel Doorlag