Today is a national holiday celebrating freedom from martial law! Pretty cool to be here during a holiday. There are a lot of Filipino families coming out to the oceanside today to have parties for the holiday, and one group set up right in front of our place and has a revolving pile of meats and fish cooking. Needless to say, my mouth will be watering all day.

After breakfast (red hot dogs, rice, eggs, bananas, fish, mangos) I led a long worship set. We then split up, prayed, and had a small group Bible study. Paul and Marcy told us that Amy would be preaching at the crusade tonight! Earlier we had been told that because of the curfew, we would have to do the crusade in the afternoon. But the captain had given us permission to do it in the evening! This was a huge answer to prayer because doing it later in the evening is much better; there’s more people because everyone is done working, the fire dancing is way cooler, and the darkness allows for more privacy when praying for people.

As soon as we arrived in barangay Bayunan, the pastora invited Amy and I to go see the Barangay captain- sure, why not? Turns out he was so happy to have us! His wife made us TONS of food. Amazing food. Food I’ve never seen or eaten before. It was all delicious and she was so honored that we loved her food. We got to spend a lot of time with them because the pastora had already gone around the community and invited everyone to our healing concert. How cool is that! I’m constantly blown away by the excitement and energy the pastors and missionaries have here.

The concert went really well! I did the greeting in the local language and had a Filipino woman translate it into English! That shocked everyone. I said that it was my first time in the Philippines, and I felt like this Barangay was the most beautiful Barangay, and also that the captain’s wife makes the best food in the whole country! The crowd loved it and I had so much fun. Amy brought the word with a message on the Great Banquet and absolutely nailed it. Like drop the mic type of nailed it. Paul continued and led a huge alter call. I was in the back of the crowd helping encourage people on the outside to come forward- this was the first time I witnessed some people reject it and walk away. Not a good feeling, but the vast majority of the community, including the captain, stepped forward and responded.

We prayed for healing for over a hundred people again. Amy even got to pray over the captain! Nobody specifically told me they were healed, however a young lady who was previously distressed and suffered from double vision just walked away with the biggest smile after prayer. A young man who said he had had a migraine for basically ten years also left with a smile. At the end of the night the captain told us that he now wants a church in his barangay. I’d call that a successful crusade!

Paul ended the night by telling me to prepare a sermon on trust, honesty, and integrity, and that we’d be leaving at 7:30am. I better start reading!

~ Joel Doorlag