Holy Week

Our desire was to plead at the yearly pilgrimage of faithful devotees to Grotto. Holy Week in the Philippines is a major holiday where throngs of people walk, some for more than 45 kilometers away, to Grotto Shrine - a 56 year old religious site dedicated to Semiramis, or more commonly known as Mary (not the biblical Mary). But it was not to be. There were major festivities at the start of the year that has been missed due to the ongoing circus act of this 'deadly virus' falsely so-called, one of which was the Nazareno - a huge festivity of another dead wood that opens a great door for the gospel to be mightily heard.

Today being the day supposedly commemorating the washing of the apostles' feet, we were not expecting a great turn out, but we were pleasantly proven wrong. The market place here in Meycauayan (15 kilometers away) was very much packed, perhaps anticipating little or no commerce in the remainder of this week and so this may explain the cramming going on. After acquiring permission from the administration office we began our work.

We wanted to make the most of out of the day so we opted to travel next to Angat, a place we have targeted for so long (30 kilometers away) but weren't able to take the gospel to. Markets are only allowed to open up till noon under the fancy named "Enhanced Community Quarantine" herding exercise. And so when we got there, it was closed. The place was dead. It was not yet noon, and the heat was very exhausting. Looking to where we can kill time for a quick meal before setting out again, we traveled south 16 kilometers to San Mateo, Bulacan.

We were blessed instead to spend time unwinding for a short moment of the day. This farm is closed, but the kind owners still accommodated us. People were amazed to know how we got passed the checkpoints that did not allow outsiders in. We told them we simply ignored the guards when they tried flagging us down. It wasn't really hard. 

The dear brother was not feeling well today, and so after this we headed home through the route that would have taken us to our second preaching spot, which when we passed it, saw that most of the establishments have already closed. We went straight home instead.

We needed this break as brothers. 

 

I myself needed this brief moment of solitude to think freely and speak with Father. The phone camera does not do justice to the majesty of the scenery. It was amazing to see how beautiful God made this earth, and tragic that our evil as men has ruined it.

I arrived home safely by the grace of God in high spirits, and though tired in my person from the long journey, I was refreshed in holding our bible study for the evening. Ten souls minded to be continuously awed by the beauty of God's holy love. Truly, I do not deserve the LORD's kindness.