Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Testimony from the Philippines

Captain Virene of Small World Christian School, FoundationBaguio City, Philippines wrote to us about her testimony.
The Lord has done great things for us, we are glad. Psalm 126:3 (ESV)
This whole experience has shown so many things to us about God's grace. from start to finish is a story of how God has been so gracious and loving. the quote of William Carey "Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God" has been echoing in my ears and in my heart even before the exact dates of the camp. my prayer was, "Lord, show Yourself great and mighty"...
Praise God for His Grace in processing of papers:3 of the girls didn't have passport so they had to rush the processing of their passports. one of them got her passport, 1 hour before we checked in the airport in clark. 1 had to renew her passport which also happened quickly.
Then, one of our girls was questioned in the immigration because her passport will be expiring in 5 months. we thought we had to pay P50,000 fine or worst, she would have to fly back to Philippines earlier. but praise God that she was allowed to go in.
Praise God for His Grace Providing for us:God has been so gracious to provide all our needs and He even gave more than enough. thank God for His sweet surprises as well.
Praise God for His Grace in Protecting us:flights were smooth and they're even 5-10 minutes earlier. He has been our strength before,during and He will continue to be our strength even after the camp (that's for sure!!!).
Praise God that none of the girls hyperventilated (which sometimes happen because of too much weariness). praise God that He did not allow our foot to slip (Psalm 121) when we were trekking the slippery terrain. Praise God that we had restful nights and safe travels. Praise God, indeed!
Praise God for His Grace in enabling us to relate to people:we're not Chinese nor malay speaking people. we can only speak Tagalog, Ilocano and English. but praise God that He enabled us to relate not only thru language but more thru the love of God. It wasn't easy but His grace carried us through. I miss all the people there in the camp. I wish there were more time to get to know everyone but i know that His timing for everything is perfect. Hope to see you all again someday.

Praise God for His Grace in helping us to know Him and know ourselves more and more.through so many experiences, God enabled us to see more of Him and see our weaknesses and the things that we need to continually learn. He is indeed so great (Psalm 104) that we can never limit Him. He has shown to us great and mighty things we could never imagine.

Praise God for His Grace in our pursuits: God used the camp to challenge me for several things: 1) to learn Mandarin and or Malay, even little by little, to be able to relate to more girls and hope to minister to them God's amazing grace; 2) to start praying about organizing an international camp so that more of our girls will be able to meet nice people like you. please pray with me regarding these pursuits.

all in all, it's a story of God... His grace upon grace, and may He be glorified.
Virene Azarcon
Captain, Girls' Wing
Small World Christian School
FoundationBaguio City, Philippines

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