Starting off the New Year right

January 5, Monday
Our team just got back to Surigao City today. We've spent the last 10 days in the islands of San Jose & Talavera. We spent 3 days in San Jose helping out with a youth camp with the theme, "Knowing Your Identity". The kids were 12-20 years of age and they were so on fire for God, they definitely know how to worship. We asked if anyone wanted to come up for prayer and a few came up and we prayed over them. Kaitlin and So Jin prayed for a 17 year old girl and Kaitlin prayed that God would baptize her in the Holy Spirit and she started praying in tongues and the Holy Spirit came upon her and she felt backwards, weeping. Directly after, Britton and I were praying for a guy and he also got laid out in the Spirit. That was just the beginning of God using us as a vessel to bless others and give new revelations of God. The last night in San Jose the camp had a fun/culture night and we all agreed it was the best time we've had on outreach yet. We played games and people did skits and we had worship time. The island people know how to have fun.

We left for the island of Talavera on the 29th and were pleasantly surprised to arrive on a beautiful island with plenty of palm trees and seashells. We all had an awesome time in Talavera, but we were all pushed to our limits as well. We only had electricity for the first 2 days we were there, because it rained the majority of the time. We also had to shower outside out of a well in the ground. There were a few too many instances with spiders and cockroaches. Rangi found a cockroach in his pants and a centipede in his shirt, he screamed like a girl haha. We got to organize a children's ministry 2 different times, and told bible stories, played games, & sang songs. The children were really blessed and the parents were grateful too. We got to do door to door evangelizing and saw God use us in amazing ways. We went out even though it was pouring rain but it was definitely worth it. We all ended up giving away money, personal items, and words from God. Zach had a vision from God to go to a specific house on the island. Before we walked in Kaitlin got the word "mourning" in her mind and we found out the people had just lost their son the month before. She was able to share the story of her family's loss and we prayed over them and all felt a spiritual release. We truly believe God sent us their to release them from the burden and pain of losing their son. The second house we went to before we entered we instantly had the impression of "healing". After talking to them for a few minutes we found out their Grandfather had been very very ill in bed with a lung disease for 6 months. The family had tried every kind of medicine but he wasn't getting better. Zach, Kaitlin, and I gathered around him and started praying and then the Holy Spirit came upon us. We started praying in tongues and asked God to heal him, after a few minutes of intense prayer and faith we all felt a sudden release of healing and a sudden overwhelming joy entered our spirits and we began rejoicing because we knew that God had healed him. The sick man looked up and told our translator that he felt lighter inside and that he could breathe again. Later on we saw him sitting outside his house for the first time since 6 months. We give all the glory to God and His amazing miracles. We also experienced team bonding and growing with each other in completely new ways.

We got to lead a church service as well and Kaitlin gave an awesome & heart warming testimony, Saila then talked on humility and you could tell the crowd really recieved it, Rangi did an awesome job closing with his testimony and a word of encouragement. The island kids were so sweet, so much different than the city kids. They followed us around from morning until night and never asked for anything. They also saw us off in the morning at 5:30 a.m. and cried as we said our goodbyes. We left the island feeling like we had truly made a difference in so many peoples lives. The experience wasn't easy and it pushed some of us past our limits but we're all so thankful for the eperience.

Favorite things about the week- Seeing God heal, building relationships with broken children, feeling a spiritual breakthrough
Least favorite things about the week- Stepping on cockroaches, getting attacked by mosquitos, rain, saying goodbye to the kids, seeing Tristan go home

Touching hearts & changing lives...

Hey everyone,
This is Taylor. Thank you for your patience. Sorry I haven't been writing in this as much as I had planned to, but our schedule is so packed all the time so it's hard to find the time.
Here's an overview of our ministry for the last one & a half weeks-

A lot has happened in Davao so far, it's been such a rewarding experience. We took over a youth ministry with over 300 people and did the "Everything" skit and Kaitlin did an amazing job with her testimony, the crowd was really responsive and they enjoyed it.
We also did a prostitute ministry and that was really intense, it was good to reach out to them and I definitely think we planted some seeds but to that first hand was so difficult for all of us. It was so devastating to see these girls as young as 16 selling their bodies for money. We prayed over them and afterwards 2 of them gave me their phone number so hopefully we'll be able to help them.
We went to Agdao, which is a really poor slum area in Davao. They have a youth night and so before the ministry time we went out and invited young people to come and watch. About 30 people came and we did the "Everything" skit which had a really huge impact on them. Britton & Rangi shared their testimonies and you could tell a lot of the people could relate to it. After all of that we had small groups and it was awesome how open all of them were, they really shared their hearts with us and we left there feeling like we had accomplished a lot and helped shape a better view of God for them.
We went to a home for physically and sexually abused girls, it was so touching. The moment we walked in we could feel the Holy Spirit and good vibes in the room. The girls were between the ages of 4-18 and they were all so beautiful and full of life. When we walked in they sang a christmas song to us, and I went to the front and shared a short testimony of my life and sang them a song. Saila also gave a short testimony of her life and spoke encouragement and wisdom over them. Kaitlin went up to the front and just told them how beautiful they all were. Kaitlin and I had baked cookies for the girls the night before so we handed those out, and then we had small groups. It hurt my heart to hear their stories and to hear about their abusers and the difficult things they have been through at such a young age. After that we asked them what they want for Christmas and then when we left we bought them Christmas presents. We go back tomorrow for their family day and to give them the gifts.
We also took over a youth ministry for supported teens. Tristan and I led worship and it was awesome, we all really felt the Holy Spirit while we were worshiping and everyone knew most of the songs. So Jin, Britton, and I shared our testimonies, it's tough because we have a translator while we're speaking, but I believe that each of our testimonies really touched someones their hearts. We did the "Everything" skit and after that Zach shared an overview of his testimony and did an altercall and everyone came up to the front! There were about 20 people between the ages of 14-19. God gave me a specific word for this one girl before I even talked to her, and I felt like I should ask about her mom. She said that her mom is an alcoholic and treats her really badly, I was able to pray over her and she gave me her phone number afterwards. It was a really powerful and impacting time of ministry.
There's many other ministries we've done this week but I just spoke on the ones that stuck out to me the most. Other people will contribute to the blog as well so you'll be able to get different perspectives of what we're doing.
We have all enjoyed having Josh with us this week, he brings such unity and we all have a lot of fun together. We'll miss him but we're glad for the Manila team to have him for a few days.

Favorite thing from this week: mango shake, having a generous heart, making children smile
Least favorite thing from this week: Josh leaving :(

Davao ministry

Time flies... we've been here for almost a week now. Visiting different ministries with children and youth mainly, schools, churches and streets. The base is very hospitable and the facility old but good. We have some geckos running around and girls had rats in their room, but by the grace of God all things just cause us to grow. Tonight we went to do our drama and testimonies at a big youth meeting, around 350 people. It was really powerful! Afterwards we went ope-air-evangelizing, just spoke with different people in a park and the Lord moved, the one who is mighty to save! 10 young people; 8 guys and 2 girls came to Christ after we spoke with this group who were all dancers ages 15-17. It was one of those unreal moments when you just realize we are dealing with supernatural things... what would cause a bunch of teenagers listen to story about virgin birth of Jesus, actually all the way from creation because they didn't know much, to the cross and the Holy Spirit? If it wasn't for God and eternity in their hearts. They all prayed for forgiveness of their sin and it's so awesome to think about teh fact that God just uses us even if we are not feeling like what we say makes sence. All glory to the faithful one! I'm so proud of this team, I'm sure there are a lot more testimonies with other team members and one day in heaven we will know the full story. :-) prayers make all the difference.

Arriving in Manilla..

Sunday, November 30

After a full day of travel with 3 different flights, the last one being 10 hours long we finally arrived in Manilla on Thursday around 10 p.m. We arrived at the YWAM base in Manilla and all passed out right away. We woke up at 6 a.m. the next day and found that we only had 2 showers to be shared between 17 people, and the only water temperature we get is cold.

We have breakfast at 7 a.m. every morning, so we ate breakfast and then proceeded to orientation. Mitch & Fidel de Castro gave us some basic information and tips for living in the Philippines. We were then split into teams for the Amazing Race, the teams were:

Saila, Rangi, Zach, Kaitlin, Alana

Michelle, Brittany, Bryan, Ahruem

Taylor, Britton, Tristan, So Jin

Kelly, Gram, Rene, Jordan

We were all given Filipino guides & we left promptly at 9 a.m. to begin the adventure. We had to take a jeepney, which is the most popular means of transportation in the Philippines. We traveled all over the Philippines, seeing some of the richer areas as well as the poorer places. It's insane how they have the slums right next to the wealthy areas.

Today we went to church, and ironically the pastor is from Austin, Texas. We also went to the most hectic & busy mall I've ever seen. It had 4 levels and we all got lost in it quite a few times. You would think they were having a dance party because the music is so loud. Luckily, they had the best comfort of home: Starbucks  :). The sizes are very different here, and most of us have to wear at least XL to fit into the clothes. The weather is very humid and hot, it rains once a day so that helps to cool it off a bit. 

Our whole team is bonding so much here, and we're all sad to split when our group goes to Davao and the other stays in Manilla. The people are very friendly and hospitable here. The food is pretty good too, today we ate fish with the heads still on them but they were delicious. We also have rice at every meal including breakfast, this morning was eggs & rice. 

Tomorrow we'll be practicing dramas & skits for the ministry.

More later...

God bless,

Taylor