In Cebu, we were hosted by The Living Christian Church (TLCC) and had opportunities to serve alongside their ministries, as well as with the organization, Operation Mobilization. Through these ministries, we were able to see the very poor and unsanitary living conditions that many of these Cebuanos live in – from villages made of just plywood and aluminum metal roofs to children and families who live on the streets of Cebu. Yet we were also encouraged to see how open the children were to the gospel and learning from the Bible. Praise God that the second language in Cebu was English, so we didn't need much translation during our time there.
It was amazing to see God use both Raymond and I to preach his gospel in various settings – to the children mostly from wealthy families at a private Christian school, to men who were previous or current drug addicts at a Christian drug rehabilitation center, to pregnant women and/or young mothers who most likely were from the red light district, jails, or living on the street in need of care at a maternity clinic started by a young Christian woman who saw a need for providing free care for these women and babies. Praise God that he gave us a word to speak and that we witnessed many desire to follow Jesus!
We also helped Uncle Marshall provide spiritual leadership and covering for the 17 high school and college students and Josh, that were a part of the Vision team. We helped facilitate daily devotions and ministry debriefings, which was always encouraging to see how God is speaking to each person so uniquely and intimately. We also led the team in listening prayer for one another – where they would seek to listen to God's heart for another team member. We would do this by having some team members line up and close their eyes, and have them pray for their other team members without knowing who they were praying for, so they would have to rely solely on God's voice and seek what He wanted them to say. We hoped this exercise would help them pray with God's heart as they would have many opportunities to pray for others. It was so encouraging to see these young people step up in obedience and faith to serve God and one another.
Most importantly, we were reminded again and again of God's goodness and love for us during our time there. Praise God that he protected us and answered prayer – we were both not sick at all during our time there and were able to sleep well and enjoy the food there! God gave us good team unity and favor with the students. A highlight of this trip was just seeing how the love of God truly transforms hearts of his people. We were so blessed to meet Uncle Alex, who attended TLCC and truly had the gift of hospitality. He went out of his way to give us endless rides, provide delicious and expensive fruits and desserts for us, and just showed us constant love and provision – as complete strangers! He did not even work for the church, but just showed us this love just because of his love for Christ and for blessing others. He even took Raymond and I to the airport, and since we had a few extra hours, he invited us to his home to meet his family (who gave us a delicious home cooked meal), and showed us around his workplace, even though he had a 4 a.m. flight the next day. He could have easily just taken us to the airport early, but blessed us and loved on us. I must admit we were both truly inspired to think about how we could show God's love and hospitality to others.
We can't believe our time in Cebu is over, but we will never forget the things God taught us and allowed us to experience there. Thank you so much for each one of you who prayed for us and supported us financially. Your love and support truly show us what a great God we serve and what a blessing it is to be able to serve Him.
Touched by God's grace and love,
Raymond and Diana
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