Testimonies
Last week Tony and I saw God do a miracle.
We found out that a very good friend of ours (a young man) was in jail. His family have not been able to see him for 3 months and have been heartbroken.
Tony and I really felt we wanted to visit him in jail, but we were strongly advised not to go to the jail. We prayed together and we felt God say to us, "Go to the jail, I have already opened the door for you." We didn't really know what we were doing, but we obeyed Holy Spirit and went.
Upon arriving at the jail, we spoke to the guards at the front and told them we wanted to visit our friend but we didn't know what the procedure was. They let us into a waiting and security area where we met with the top prison guard. We saw a sign that said 'no face mask, no entry' and everyone going into the jail was wearing a mask so I wasn't sure if they would let us in.
After a time of waiting, they told us they were trying to find our friend, amongst the 5,000 other men in the jail, and we got in the security line to have our bags checked. A few minutes later we were escorted to a room where our friend was waiting for us!
It was really emotional and wonderful. We were allowed to hug him and spent almost an hour together, talking, praying, laughing, crying. He was a surprised as us that we were there! And we all thanked God for His miraculous favour in opening the door for us to visit.
The men in the jail receive meals each day, but the portions are small. The guards allowed us to buy our friend food to last him a whole week, and hygiene products. What a blessing that we not only got to see him, but also provide him with some essential things.
It gets better...we have amazingly been given permission to visit him every week while he is in jail (which will be a few more months). We feel so blessed and honoured for this opportunity. We will be buying him food and hygiene products each week. We would really love some support in this, because we can't do it alone, if you would like to help provide directly for this young man, please contact us, even a little goes a long way.
So another miracle happened yesterday! We were able to take our friends father (also our very good friend) to the jail to see his son! It was a really emotional reunion and we were so blessed to be a part of it.
We were able to go into the prison, and sit in one of the 'dorms' with all the other inmates! Not only were we able to minister to our friends, but loads of other men too. We shared the gospel with loads of people and prayed with many. It was so amazing. Jesus literally opening the door for us!
Next week we are going to take them all Bibles. The Philippines Bible society are partnering with us and giving us hundreds of filipino Bibles for free! Amazing!
We were there for over 2 hours, so many people to love and pray with.
Thank you to our friends who believe in us, your prayers and support are making this happen. Please contact us if you want to be involved in the work we are doing in the Philippines.
I love this photo of one of our friend's children in Tondo napping amidst these difficult days. Sleeping soundly. Total peace. No fear. No stress. No anxiety. Complete trust that their Mama will take care of them.
Friends, I hope you are experiencing His peace in the current situation you/we find ourselves in. I hope you know you are loved. Needed. thought about. Prayer for. I hope you know deep peace, in times of uncertainty. Joy instead of despair. Beauty for ashes. Strength for your soul. Love in your hearts.
He is right there waiting to wrap His perfect peace around your life. Its His gift to you. I hope you receive it today.
"Pour out all your worries and stress upon Him and leave them there, for He always tenderly cares for you."
1 Peter 5:7 TPT
We can't believe the fire in Happy Land, Tondo was just over a week ago. It feels like weeks already. So much has happened.
We are overwhelmed by the love and support that has been flooding in. God is so good and kind. He does not bring the storm, but He does bring beauty from it.
We were worshipping today and the lyrics, "up from the ashes, Hope will arise" really touched my heart. Because we see so much HOPE at this crazy time.
We see a community coming together in unity. We see NGO's and organisations, with different visions, coming together to bring emergency relief. We see families standing in the ashes and praising God for His goodness. We see the hungry being fed, the thirsty having a drink. We see individuals driving a van full of donations to Tondo. We see people smiling and hear people laughing. Yes, there is pain, grief, heart ache and destruction, but, Faith Hope and Love is louder.
To the precious people who have reached out to us [you absolutely know who you are], we have been able to not only reach out and help some of the families we know and love, but we have also been able to partner with multiple charities on the ground who are doing an amazing work. Churches and organisations that our hearts connect with their way of helping and loving.
Thank you to those of you who care about us, and the ones we love. We are so blessed by your sincere hearts🧡🧡
There are so many pictures [we could post loads of the rubble, the ashes, the donations being given out], but this one really encourages us. It's of one of our amazing fellow missionaries and co-workers praying for a beautiful lady in the evacuation centre, who has lost everything. We zoomed in so you can see her face. In the midst of her pain and confusion, she simply closes her eyes to recieve peace from her Heavenly Father.🙏🏼🧡
You see, it's not actually about what we can do to help, how many mouths we can feed, or how many photos we post. It's simply about stopping for the one in front of us [wherever we are in the world], and then stepping out of the way so that they can have an encounter with the One who loves them the most 🧡🧡
We were so excited today as we visited some friends in Aroma, Tondo. We gave Bible's to the mum and dad and the children. 💛
Last time we were with them their teenage daughter was in bed really sick with chicken pox. 😢
The dad had found us in the street and asked us to come to his home and pray for his sick daughter.
It was one of those days when our pockets were empty, we didn't have any money to give them for medicines, or for food. We didn't even have any water, i had already given mine away!
The sun was so hot that day and we were dripping in sweat! In fact, one of the women in the community gave me an umbrella to protect myself from the sun 😍
So we were now in the home of this man asking us to pray for his sick daughter and our hands were empty. But our hearts were full of love for them and we hugged the family and listened to their struggles.
We then simply put our hands on the sick daughter and spoke God's healing power over her. 🙏🏼💕
Then we left.
Today we asked after the daughter and the mum told us she was at school and that she was healed and 100% healthy and back at school just TWO days after we prayed for her. 🙌🏼🙌🏼😍
She said, 'this was a miracle from Jesus'.
Yay!! 🙌🏼
I love how it's never about us, or what we do or do not have. It's always about Him showing His love and power to others through us. ♥️♥️
[photos of the youngest child loving his Bible today. He kept kissing it after we gave it to him 😍😍]
Today I was invited to speak at a local police station to a group of women police officers. It was such an honour to be part of it and something wonderful that the government is requiring for all police officers to attend. We had a great time together, laughing, talking, reading the bible and praying for one another. It was also very moving to have the surprise opportunity to encourage the prisoners in the jail there. Most of them are there for drug related cases. I wanted to hug everyone but we held hands through the bars as we asked God for His strength and grace.
The cell that the men were in felt to me like a cage. 160 men in extremely cramped conditions with one toilet and one electric fan. Sleeping on top of each other and hanging from the bars to create more space. But everyone greeted me with a smile and nodded as I told them they are not alone and God loves them. Mercy triumphants over judgement - everyday - and once again I am so honoured that we are here for such a time as this.
