The last few months, my prayer letters have gone out a little bit late, but here I am on July 2, and God is pushing me to write. So, here we go! The last two months were incredibly busy as we prepared for our first-ever Youth Camp here at Truth Baptist Church of Dapitan, but honestly, I’m having a hard time right now remembering anything that happened before camp! It was just last week, but it feels like everything preceding it was an eternity ago. If you’ve ever run a camp, I’m sure you understand what I mean by that. God truly gave us a great week. Our guest speaker, Emirson Ubas, did a great job, and God really worked in the hearts of our young people! It was a small camp by any estimation, just 16 campers, but when you consider the fact that most of my staff have never been a part of a camp before, the feat they pulled off is truly impressive! They stayed on top of their own responsibilities, while also jumping in without hesitation when new needs or problems arose—most of them due to their pastor’s lack of foresight. 😊 It was a growing experience for all of them, and as their pastor AND camp director, I couldn’t have been more pleased!
Thank you to all of you who prayed for our camp. The Devil fought very hard to prevent certain young people from attending. Camp registration was scheduled for 2:00 Tuesday afternoon. All the way up to Tuesday morning, we weren’t sure if all of our young people would be able to come, but God stepped in, crushed Satan’s devices, and gave a great victory! Our young people made many wonderful decisions, but I think I am most excited about the decision made by Jacob Acopiado. Two or three months ago, Jacob answered God’s call to preach, and the battles began immediately. He got discouraged and began to struggle in his Christian walk, and in the weeks preceding camp, I wasn’t sure where he was going to land. I’m thrilled to say that at the final service of the week, Jacob came forward and reconfirmed his decision to preach God’s Word! (Just as a side note, when you read the “Dividends” section to the right, you will notice that Jacob was my soul-winning partner this past Saturday. During our time together, I was thrilled to see Jacob lead two young men to Christ!) Please pray for Jacob. Along with his decision to preach, he has also decided to attend our Bible institute here at TBC, and that leads me to my other major prayer request for this letter.
During the weeks leading up to camp, God made it increasingly clear to me that it is time for us to reopen our Bible institute. I’ll be perfectly honest; it’s not something that I am pushing for, but God has made it abundantly clear—IT IS HIS WILL FOR THIS TIME. So, please pray for our Bible institute, please pray for our students, and please pray that God would give me clear direction and a boatload of wisdom! Thank you for your prayers, support, and friendship.
Dividends on Your Investment
I have found in soul winning that God often uses small, seemingly insignificant details to get us where we need to be. Such was the case this past Saturday during our regularly scheduled soul-winning time. When we first arrived at the soul-winning area, for some reason, I was incredibly thirsty! So, after I dropped off all the other groups, I parked the jeepney and started looking for a sarisari store. For those of you unfamiliar with the Filipino way of life, the average Filipino lives day by day. The phrase “Give us this day our daily bread” fits perfectly with the Filipino culture, provided you change the word bread to rice. Due to this day-by-day lifestyle, small roadside stores are a major part of Filipino life. and for some reason, they are called sarisari stores.
Okay, back to my story. After getting out of the jeepney, my partner (Jacob Acopiado) and I quickly spotted a small sarisari store up the road and headed that way. At the store, I purchased a bottle of water, and as I took my first swallow, I saw a teenage girl sitting under the porch roof of a small house right next to the store. I immediately felt that she was the one whom God wanted us to talk to. Jacob and I quickly walked back to the street and then towards her house. When we got there, I found out that her name was Wendelyn, and though she was shy, she was very open to the Gospel. As I began taking her down the old Romans Road, her grandmother appeared in the doorway of the house. (Scary music please!) If she had chosen to put a sign on her forehead that said, “We are strong Catholics! Why are you talking to my granddaughter?” it wouldn’t have been any clearer than the vibes she was putting out! I smiled and greeted her and waited to see if she would kick me off her property, but she didn’t. So, I turned back to her granddaughter and started witnessing again. I had already decided: If she intends to stop me, I’m not going to make it easy for her! Her granddaughter wants to be saved, and I’m going to give her a chance! So, I just kept on sharing the Gospel while Grandma stood in the doorway and scowled silently. She then walked behind me and started questioning Jacob, but she still didn’t try to stop me, so I just kept on going! Every step of the way, I expected her to interrupt me and force Wendelyn to go inside, but something held her back. After about 20 minutes, Wendelyn bowed her head and sweetly trusted Christ! Soul winning still works— even when Grandma isn’t happy about it!
Yours for souls,
Mike Morrissey