Philippines: Barangay Batabat | February 24
Woke up and made coffee, then wrote out sermon notes. I wrote about unity in diversity, and taught about the word Maranatha, and the eternal promises of God.
That morning we split up and I arrived at a local church just before the service started. The pastor's son led worship and played guitar, then they had a drummer and keyboard player. The worship was so good and everything went amazingly well! At the end of the service I was asked to lay hands and pray for each person individually- around 100 people. Then they prayed for me! I got back to base just as Amy was returning from the church that she spoke at. She preached to about 100 people in an open shelter type building out in a field and spent well over an hour praying over all the members of that church- how awesome!
At 4:30 we headed to the barangay Batabat, where we were having an event at a Public Elementary School. Shortly after arriving, Amy and I were invited to go to the principal's office. The principal's name was Princessita Lloritta, and her office was over the top decorated with pink curtains, pink everything! She was so pleased that we had come to her school. I told her that we would love the opportunity to pray over her and her school if she would allow it. She was happy to receive the prayers and brought her son in for prayers as well. I still can’t believe that we’re able to go into schools and teach the gospel!
Shortly after the event at the school had started, the power went out. But the band didn’t miss a beat- literally! The drumset, being the only acoustic instrument, just kept right on going for about 5 minutes while people went to get a generator and hook it up. When the lights came back on, the song took right off where it had stopped. It was cool to see them work through that with such peace. We learned that not only had the Barangay captain come, but he had brought all his officials, and the police department! Amy did the greeting, Sara was the speaker, and Paul followed with another massive alter call. I greeted the crowd in their local dialect, “Good evening beautiful men and women!” They loved that. After a message about God’s healing power, the people lined up and well over a hundred received healing prayer. Many, many people suffering from chest and back pain. One woman came to me in tears over pain in her whole back. After one prayer she was partially healed, and after two prayers she was completely healed! We prayed over heart issues, addictions, coughs, headaches, joint pain, tumors, goiters, and more. A mother brought a young boy forward who was demon possessed and he was delivered. Wow! God gave Marcy knowledge that she had brought him to a witch doctor, so she asked the mother, and she admitted it. In that moment she gave her life to Jesus and committed to starting a Bible study in her home after we sent a local pastor to her home to clean out the idols and evil spirits- that’s a win! Today was such an incredible display of the healing power of God, and what a privilege it was to be there with Paul and Marcy on the front lines! We got back to base close to midnight, completely exhausted. After talking with our children we were fast asleep. What a day!
~ Joel Doorlag