over the hump

Well it is hard to believe that we have finished the scheduled services. I think I spoke 15 times plus the services that were done by Wesley, Greg and Pat. We were able to see 400-500 decisions for Christ that is in the college not counting those in the high schools that responded. The campus minister, Pastor Harry, was a great spirited guy of very short stature, but a funny guy! He did a great job of getting information on all those who responded. Now they will follow up and start Bible studies for those to disciple them in their new faith! The college leadership stated that they were surprised at how well the students responded to us. They had not expected to have so many responses but were very pleased.

Our host pastor here in Bacolod has been Pastor Gil Fernandez. He has been a minister from heaven, taking us anywhere we wanted or needed to go from a bank to get money or to our places for service, or to the best places in town to eat. He has been so very helpful as an interpreter of culture and coming from a pastors view, he helped us all greatly in understanding how people view us to how they respond to invitations, to the fact that it is against the law to divorce here! The greatest cultural problem is poverty but the greatest problem is always sin! Pastor Gil's wife Leah is a teacher at West Negros College and her help in working with us there was again an unexpected blessing! I know that Pastor Gil will be reading this blog...so to him I say, we love you. You were a true servant to us!

We were able to see some of the country side one day we went to a place known as the Seven Falls. But you had to hike up and up and up to see each of the falls. Only five of us made it to the 6th falls where we could swim... wow what fun. Only Daymond made it to the 7th fall and he also discovered a community of people at the top. We saw people drying rice on the road and the cars just drove around the rice.

I guess one of the unexpected adventures for Dawn and Luke and myself happened out of our ignorance. We all had been to eat at a special place called Bob's. It was late that night and being very tired we decided to leave before the others to get back to the room to be in bed soon. So we stepped out to find a taxi but after waiting a while and seeing no taxi's to call we decided to ride the local transportation which is called a Jeepney. It is a vehicle with no windows and no doors and you just get into the back when they stop and it goes. We thought that it worked like a, taxi just tell the driver where you want to go right! Wrong! After taking off it seemed that the driver spoke little English. But what little we could understand he said that his route did not go to our location so we rode and rode and rode. Then we stopped he said we need to transfer to another Jeepney that would take us to where we needed to go. Remember we were stopping every little bit picking up people and dropping them off. It is like riding in the back of a cattle car! So we rode some more going through some very dark parts of the city really having no idea where we were. Then we stopped again the second driver telling us to transfer to another car that would take us to where we needed to go! Needless to say by this time Dawn was praying nervously and Luke was uneasy as well! But then a young lady got on and sat next to Dawn. Dawn asked do you speak English she said yes. She asked her if she knew where West Negros College was and she said she was a student there… praise the Lord! She said we were now very close to the school and to our hotel. Praise God. The next day when we were at the school Dawn ran into the girl and again thanking her deeply that she had been our help.

Well today we are packing to go back to Ilo Ilo to maybe have a couple of days to relax and hopefully go to the beach! We are blessed and the whole team has worked like champs with a spirit of whatever it takes attitude to make it happen. Mimosa Lane is thought of well because of the team that God put together! Church you’re a blessing to share the journey with! Keep praying that we will make it back safe and sound. Until next time!

In His Grace,

Rocky

another day at the office

Well it's Tuesday here. It gives new meaning to working a day ahead when we are a day ahead. I still don't get all that time line stuff and my body doesn't either therefore God said "let there be jet lag." It is hard to believe that we are only starting Tuesday. It feels like we have been here a week because of the pace of the schedule. Plus we have rented music stuff such as keyboard, amps, guitars, which has to be moved...sometimes several times a day to give us the ability to have worship. But so far it has been well worth it! They have responded great to the songs that Pat prepared before hand and it has been a great blessing to worship with God's family in this place.

We are sharing the teaching responsibilities although I am doing more than most. I have preached five services so far and one of those I was given the topic about an hour before the service. Wesley has preached once, Greg Ray has preached once, and this morning Pat Webb will be preaching. We have seen several indicate decisions for Christ although it has been with a show of hands, they have not responded well to walk down front type of invitation.

Yesterday I preached to the largest group thus far and I had wonderful liberty and felt the spirit of God in a powerful way! Thanks for your continuing prayer support for the team. We are tired but no one has been sick and we all have a tremendous team spirit! Yesterday Luke shared his testimony to a school assembly and he did great! The kids loved having Leah and Luke with us and Leah heard many shoots of "I Love You's" and some of the kids have thought that Luke looked like Harry Potter. The kids were lined up wanting their autographs!
Well must go the service starts at 7:30 A.M.!

Until next time!
Bro. Rocky

Monday the journey continues

Well, here I am again blurry eyed and believing God for another day to serve him. We arrived after many hours of travel to the airport at Manila at midnight . Our next flight was not until 5:00A.M. and we had to wait outside the airport because it did not open until 1:00 that morning. Korean Air Lines was a nice experience, they are all so gracious. We got to our hotel room at about 8:00 Saturday morning after traveling or waiting somewhere for 30+ hours. We rested for a little and at 1:00 we went to a mall for lunch. They do random checks of the car trunks going into the parking lot by security and at every entrance they pat down everyone and check bags! I can see the day when that will be our practice as well! The mall was overrun with people. It was like shopping the last day before Christmas but each store had many workers, almost like personal assistants. Our first service was Saturday at 6:00 P.M. but they started thirty minutes late. The service went from 1-1/2 to two hours before I was to speak. There was no air conditioning and it was very hot even with lots of fans! The little church was packed with people standing outside. Farle was doing a concert with the money given to the church. Several indicated the need for salvation and many indicated the need for help with personal struggles. They fed us after the service and we had a wonderful time of fellowship. They are a very gracious people, welcoming and sweet! The next morning we went to the First Baptist Church of IloIlo. This is Farle's home church so he was on his best behavior because his mother was in attendance. We hurried after the service to eat and go back to the hotel, pack everything and get to a boat for an hour ride to our location for the week. We also had a service that night at a local church. Our worship leaders, Pat and Carolyn, are doing a great job with all the group serving as a mini choir. The people are responding in a wonderful way! We ended the day at a golden arches for a late burger. It's Monday morning and I woke about 3:30. I guess I am still on Texas time. Well got to go, our first service is at 7:30 so here we go and today we start at the university sharing Christ with the students! Much to share later! God Bless and keep praying! Rocky

sleepless in mesquite

It was the night before.... well it is not Christmas but the feeling is much the same at least when I was a kid. We will gather as a motley crew at the airport three hours before we leave and the rest is as everyday in the hands of God! As far as this blog goes this is my first shot at such a thing and after some reading you will know why! But I hope that my honesty will not be too revealing and that my fall from whatever pedestal I may have been on will not hurt me or others too much. At this time I am filled with anxious anticipation, uncertainty, fear of several levels of the unknown, yet with a sense of clarity that what we are doing is right so the outcome is up to God to define! We will attempt to be faithful with each days opportunity and be open to the unscheduled God moments! So until next time know that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Mimosa Lane and with what God will be doing in you until we meet again! God Bless! Rocky