“You must love the Lord your God with all your HEART, with all your SOUL, and with all your MIND.”
Matthew 22:37

This verse is being spread all through San Roque. We teach them this verse on the first day of camp and recite it every day with a closing song that has this verse in it. They love the song and I can hear them now singing it all day long 

Camp 1- Purok 1a-1b:
Our first week of camp was well some what hectic but so much fun! The first day of camp we had over 88 kids, however as the week progressed the number went down because it was harvest week for the community. So a lot of the kids work in the fields to harvest the rice. The first day we started to teach them the theme verse which is Matthew 22:37 and we sing many songs one being the theme song with this verse in it. In the morning we have class with the younger kids up to ages 12, and in the afternoon we have bible study with the young people. With the younger kids every day we teach them a health lesson and incorporate a story from the bible. When I tell you each day you may wonder “how does this story go with it”, but hey we were trying and we only had 4 days to plan so…..it works ha ha. So the first day we teach on keeping your ears clean and share Jonah and the whale, the second day we talk about the importance of keeping your hands clean and tell Cain and Able. On this day we teach them how to wash their hands and we wash them for them, also we cut their finger nails. On the 3rd day we teach on the importance of eating the right kind of food to help you grow, using Zacchaeus. On the 4th day we teach Water is life and safe drinking water is so very important! With this lesson we share the gospel and also the story of the Samaritan Woman. The last day is closing ceremony, we make invitations for the parents to come and see their kids graduate from health camp. They love to get certifications here, it is a big deal. So it was so cute we were suppose to start closing ceremony at 2 but its Filipino time so it didn’t begin till around 3 b/c all the kids were taking baths and dressing in their best clothes! It was so cute and they were so excited to sing all the songs and recite the memory verses for their parents. At the closing ceremony we share the gospel with the parents, we feel like this is a very crucial time b/c this may be the only time the parents hear it. We encourage the children every day to share the story they learned each day with their parents, but we the Holy Spirit is in control, we are sharing and its up to Him from there  I love the time with the young people! We had about 6 the first day and now we are doing bible study every day with 4. I become attached to one young girl her name is Angelica, she is one of our only 6 believers in the community. But she is such a strong girl, she really is searching for guidance and discipleship. She is 14 and is the 3rd girl out of 7 kids. Her mom pulled her out of school this coming year b/c they need to send the 2 oldest to college and don’t have the money to pay for her to go to high school. This really broke my heart, b/c she has a heart to travel and she is so smart! I believe she is a blessing form God b/c she has become our other translator, her English is Maayo! (good) Please pray for her and that God bring a way for her to finish school. So the other young people belong to Catholic faith or the Mocadian cult. Again please pray for the young people, they come to all the bible studies and answer the questions after the bible study, so they hear it, but don’t believe it in their heart. So we have been spending a lot of time with them and they travel with us to the different puroks to help with the camps. Also every day at 4 we have bible study on average we have about 6 or 7 but its growing!! Praise God now sometimes 10 or more, we are running out of chairs, so now we are looking for another place to meet right now its in the health clinic.

Camp 2- purok 2
Every morning we walked for about 20 min to this purok. Our first day, we saw all the kids sitting in the hut waiting for us! Oh this made us smile so big, we excited b/c they had remembered from 2 weeks ago! This week went very good as well, we had 21 kids and in that 4 young people. We didn’t become as close with this purok b/c we live in the first place we did camp however these kids were different from the first camp. They were so quiet and respectful! See hear the children just talk all the time when you talk, even in church or a host speaker, so when these kids didn’t, it was so great! This camp was laid out just like the 1st camp and we shared the gospel with the young people so now they attend our bible studies too! I am very excited to go back this week and continue these bible studies and help them see Jesus. Again they know about him, (well some) but they don’t believe him. There is a lot of cults here that have a man proclaiming to be like Jesus so to them he was just another man. Oh its so sad! The enemy has a strong hold on this village.

In purok 2 we entered a house that I had felt an oppression come over me and begin to pray, later finding out they practice chants, along with believing in spirits and ghosts. We have found out more about the Mocadian religion these past few weeks, again I ask that you pray against the enemy and that the Holy Spirit would fill San roque. The other night I went on the top of our mountain and begin to cry for the people, I could hear all the loud music and drinking from up there just wishing they could see the Lord, see what a compassionate and gracious God He is. I wish they could see that you don't have to get drunk all the time and I want them to realize they have a purpose! The verse that kept coming to my mind was that one day all the nations will procliam you are God! I know whatever happens in this village God has already won and that we as believers are called to follow him and trust Him. And that has been my prayer, that me and my team are following the Holy Spirit and our hearts and ears are open completely to Him.
God has really been teaching me these past few weeks to become a World Christian which is a christian with a global persepective. I can't wait to share more on that and what God is teaching me so that I can pass that to you and help challenge you!

This is are last weeks in the village so please keep me and my team and the people of San Roque in your prayres! Thank you and I look forward to sharing with you all God has shown me and hope to encourage you by becoming a World Christian! I love you all and please know I pray for you as well! God is strengthen me in that area too! :) Power of prayer is huge and I am so humbled to know I can go before a God who cares and listens!

In His Embrace