WE’RE HOME!
Sunday night’s service will be the official wrap up from our Philippines Missions Trip, so you might hear some of this twice, but I still wanted to give you a quick rundown of what a blessing the Philippines Missions Trip was.
It was your prayers that got us through! After using all three hours on issues with our flights at LAX and all three hours on our layover in Manila, we all made it with all our luggage! That’s a miracle in itself!
We had church that evening, and it was a treat to see a great number of folks already faithful to a church that just started in August! When we began planning for this trip back in 2023, Pastor Stephen Trimble had no idea if we would even have anything to come see, but in just 6 months, they had land, a building, faithful church staff, and a core of new believers learning the absolute basics—who God is, what the Bible is, who Jesus is, what salvation means… I mean, the absolute basics.
We slept well on Wednesday night and launched into a public school outreach the next morning. This was their first outreach of this kind, and it was moving to see the kids treat Americans like celebrities. We were not in a tourist area, so many of the children had never met anyone from the US. Pastor Ipoy preached the Gospel, we gave out little treats, took some pictures, and prayed for God to use those Gospel seeds we planted.
Throughout the next days we prepared for that Sunday’s Friend Day with outreach, Bible clubs in the neighborhoods, visits, and serving by cleaning up the facilities. God blessed with over 140 in the afternoon service, and 6 saved at their first youth activity that afternoon! One of the adult visitors returned the following week, and the missionary is continuing to follow up with all the other new contacts from Friend Day.
The next stop was visiting Missionary Mike Reap in Manila. If Mindanao was the baby church, the Berean Bible Baptist Church in Manila shows what happens when you stick with it for 40 years. Pastor Reap wildly undersold the Wednesday night service, saying it was “just a handful of people” and making it seem like it would not be all that special. Well, it was special! The place was packed, the orchestra was full, and about half the church was in the choir of what felt like 100 voices! The teen and adult choir sang, our group had a couple of specials, and the midweek service felt like a conference. Our missions support is going to some worthy causes!
The final part of our trip was in Siargao. This island is known worldwide for surfing, and we enjoyed the time relaxing after the missions trip portion was done (most families added on these few personal days). We attended Bible Baptist Church at the recommendation of Matt and Theresa Hughes, and it was amazing to see the Gospel work in the Philippines the same way it works here—it’s the same Book, the same hymns, the same worship of the same God! Their church had us sing and preach, and we were honored again to be treated like royalty.
The Filipino people are some of the most kind, gracious, and respectful people in the world. It is not necessarily and “easy” field at all—the missionaries still have to sow a LOT of seed before reaping a harvest—but it seems like God is blessing there in a special way. I’m excited for you to hear how God worked in the group’s lives. Be sure to be back in Sunday night! 🙂
– Pastor Ryan