Led By the Spirit

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Romans 8:14 ESV)

Amid an abundance of tearful goodbyes to our DTS classmates on the Vanuatu outreach team, we left the Marine Reach Training Base in Tauranga, New Zealand at about 5pm on Thursday, headed for the Philippines. We drove to the airport in Auckland, where we flew out at about midnight. After an 11 hour flight, we stopped in Hong Kong for a rushed layover before flying on to Manila (another hour and a half flight). Upon arrival, we realized that we needed to apply and pay for visa extensions before immigration and customs in order to save money. This turned out to be a very long process (three hours!) as we had to gather up the money and wait for the paperwork to be processed. This time was not all wasted, however, as we eventually began praying and speaking to people in the airport. It definitely demonstrated the constant need for flexibility and patience on our outreach, and God’s ability to use even time that seems wasted to us.

Having finally left the airport, we got our first wonderful experience of Manila traffic riding in the back of a jeepney along with all our baggage for a whole hour on what should have been a 15 minute drive (our driver got lost). We arrived at our hotel, ate dinner, and went to bed early (beautiful sleep in a bed!).

The Jeepney has become our main form of transport

Saturday morning started with devotions led by our leader Dan followed by worship together with the medical and worship teams in the hotel’s business lounge. After lunch we headed out to the massive Mall of Asia via another fun jeepney ride. It was huge, had amazing aircon, and an ice-skating rink. It epitomized one extreme of the high-contrast environment in Manila, where wealth and severe poverty exist side by side. We wrapped up the day with a quick trip to pick up our two remaining students at the airport, Steven and Mishelle Chand.

On Sunday morning, we rose early and after a quick breakfast we piled into a jeepney and a van to go to church with some friends of Marine Reach. The jeepney, which is supposed to carry around 20 people max on a good day, ended up carrying 30 people for the hot, smelly 30 minute ride to church. At church, some of our group were blessed to be able to work with the children. The rest of us enjoyed an energetic church service, complete with enthusiastic worship, intelligent preaching, a number from our own worship team, and a testimony from one of the medical students.

Nicole, Mishelle, Paul and Lindsay helped with the kids ministry at the King's Church

Listening to the sermon at Kings Church

We drove home and after lunch and a nap we met to prepare for a prayer walk around some nearby karaoke bars and “gentleman’s clubs.” Near where we are staying there are two solid blocks of clubs that we found and felt we should pray for. We began praying for the first block and the Holy Spirit led several of us to pray that a spiritual “wall of truth and conviction” would be created outside the clubs. We felt that as men approached the club and walk through this spiritual “gate” they would be pressed to see the truth of themselves before a holy God, convicted of the wrongness of their sin, and see that true satisfaction is only found in God. Consistent with this concept, the main focus of our prayer over this block seemed to revolve around the men associated with these clubs, both the owners and clients. We spoke to one of the security guards, who appeared to approve of what we were doing, although one of the owners just laughed upon hearing what we were up to. Still, we felt like our prayers were having a significant spiritual impact over the area, to the point that the owner may soon see an effect on his business due to our actions.

The second block turned out to be even more involved. The concentration of our prayers this time turned immediately to the women caught in the business of these clubs. We felt to pray for the girls there to understand their value and worth in the eyes of God (the only eyes that really matter). Finally, as we turned to leave, a few girls from the clubs opened a second-story window and began calling to our team. They were probably wondering what these strange foreigners were doing pacing around in front of their clubs, waving their arms around and talking to themselves. The girls on our team asked them to come down to the street and soon five of them came out a side door. The girls on our team began talk to them straight away, get to know them, and love on them as best they could. In the meantime, the guys retreated and immediately began praying for our ladies and their interactions with the girls from the club.

One member of our team was praying that we would have the opportunity to form a more solid relationship with these girls that would demonstrate a genuine love for them. God answered this prayer soon after when the girls asked if we would like to come inside and continue talking and praying with them off the street. After quickly praying for discernment from God, three guys decided to accompany five of our ladies inside, while the remainder of the group continued interceding outside. The girls in the club were supposed to be aged 18 to 25; however, some of them appeared much younger. They cheerfully gave our team members a guided tour through their workplace and reminded us it was “for adults.” They understood the darkness of the world they were living in and how we might perceive it as Christians. However, we did not look on with any feelings of judgment or condemnation. How could we, knowing what we know about their situation and about the grace, mercy, and love that we ourselves have received from God? The girls showed us their dressing room, allowed us to pray for them, and one of the girls even prayed for us in tagalog. We left hoping that we would have the opportunity to see these girls again and continue the relationship we had begun.

It could hardly be clearer that the events of the past few days have been orchestrated by God. As we have been sensitive to his Spirit, he has proven faithful to lead us and provide all kinds of opportunities for us to reach out, bless others, and be blessed ourselves. Already in the first day of ministry we have been able to do exactly what we came here for – to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.