Another ministry day down in the Philippines! Praise the Lord for good health, safety in travel, and fellowship with companions!
Wednesday was primarily a workday around the Word of Life camp. As a group, we were assigned multiple tasks throughout the morning. The men were chosen to move rocks and break apart large patches of concrete, as well as bag mounds of dirt for new use for a house being constructed. As this was happening the women were priming and painting an exterior of a different house, and painting each other for fun in the process. At roughly noon the staff at WOL blessed us with freshly harvested coconuts and plantains from the trees. We finished our work of rock moving and painting, then gathered for lunch and a run-down of the rest of our day.
We then had a couple hours of free time to rest before our night of ministry and basketball, which was spent swimming and playing card games as a group. Around 6 pm we departed to a local court for our program of ministry and basketball, right as heavy rains hit us. We arrived at the courts (which were already starting to flood) and realized that we likely were not going to play our exhibition games. Despite the weather, we were able to share our program, starting off with my testimony, then followed by a skit, message, and small group (we postponed the games to Thursday morning at WOL). We then had a little bit of a surprise party for Nathan, as this was his EIGHTEENTH BIRTHDAY LETS GOO!! Needless to say, we all sang to him and, unbeknownst to us, the locals even baked cakes for us, and enough to share with everyone at the court. This truly defines the caring, loving people we have interacted with here in the Philippines, never missing a moment to encourage, or show love to everyone around them. To wrap up the night, we decided we couldn’t completely miss basketball, so we had a little bit of a half-court shot competition. Naturally, the kids loved this and cheered for each other as they attempted the shot. We then took our last pictures and said our goodbyes (although a short lived one as we will see them in the morning).
After our day, we headed back to camp and decided to play some card games as a team and with the nationals, a well spent, highly competitive, time with each other.
For tomorrow, we will play our exhibition games in the morning, as well as volleyball and basketball ministries/tournaments in the night. As we continue with our service, we ask for your prayers with travel, wisdom, and strength to share the Love of Jesus to all that we encounter. We additionally ask prayers for Kerri, Ella, and Logan as they will share their testimony’s tomorrow!
- Much Love, Eli Tlumach and the Philippines team