FAIR SUNSHINE

It was a very long ride under the scorching heat going to Tondo, Manila, where we met up with the small group of mothers who are part of the ministry of two of our very own mothers in Bulacan. Our dear pastor brother Jordan served them with a proper presentation of the gospel, and a study on the attributes of God. Accompanying us today was our brother Jhet, and two of our youth servants. I was working through the night to meet my deadline today in time for submission so I can join the brothers in serving, but I helplessly dozed off around 6AM only to be awakened again by 9AM. God graciously gave me a steady hand all through the long ride. I felt a bit dizzy early on the drive but my head cleared midway. The study began 1PM and ended an hour later, after which we immediately rode back. We arrived home safely by 7PM, just in time for the rains to fall.

Two mothers in the church took it upon themselves to travel 36 miles weekly on public commute to bring the good news of Christ to their former neighbors. Our church is poor, I thank the LORD for that, and these mothers support their own fares out of their own pockets. May the LORD be their exceeding reward. Two of our youths also accompanied them on this particular day, one of which was not allowed by her father to go because of the imposed quarantine, but she went anyway. It is worth noting that the commute home in the evening takes four to five hours. Especially under quarantine. The public transport refused to take them further than where he intended to go, and even charged them unfairly. So they were forced to go down under the rain to be stranded in an inconvenient part of the road where getting a ride is next to impossible because of the sizeable number of people who were also stranded. The church prayed and tried getting a cab for them online without success, but...

Balut, Tondo is a part of Metro Manila that is both famous for its history, and notorious in its infamy, linked to its poverty and volatile environment. Inversely, it is also surprising to know that there is a sizeable number of active Christians who go door to door, taking the gospel deep into the tenements, evangelizing the residents, We learned this from fellow laborers who stopped by to give us water and encouraged us to continue. This pleading, which was just this September, is interjected with a sermon on a passage on the book of Esther, an important message that we can appropriately apply to our times - when those who hold the light choose instead to hide it solely in church activities, hip mission trips, and plain cowardice - under a bushel so to speak. Who knows, that perhaps the reason you became a Christian in this generation, is for such a critical time as this? The story for this video is found here . Please keep us in your prayers.

We were supposed to preach in the city but a sudden invitation swayed our plans. After asking and waiting on the Lord for confirmation, if indeed this was his will, it was impressed upon me that I needed to heed this one. Despite my apprehensions, I thrust myself into the hands of the Lord. Tondo is infamous for its hardened population, criminality and poverty. Debauchery here is an accepted norm. This is the hiding place of some of the lowest of the low. I was surprised to find out that there are a lot of active ministries here, if they be real ones though, I do not know. The people are used to hearing the love gospel, and was visibly struck with the open proclamation of sins that everybody is guilty of but no one talks about. The wrath of God and his holy hatred for everything evil, safe to assume, is never mentioned. This was confirmed when the lady pastor we were with (yes, a woman who calls herself a pastor) told us the people has never heard of God's anger, only his love...