GPBC Blog

We have much to report about our trip to the Philippines, but it will be difficult to convey in a blog how much love we bring back to you all from our Global Partner Zoilo; his wife, Betty; their daughter, Dotty; and all our other brothers and sisters in the Philippines. Everywhere we went, Zoilo introduced us as the team from his church in America. We were, as Paul says in 2 Corinthians, “living epistles for all to read,” and we are grateful to say that our Filipino family “read” a lot of love from all of you.

You would be so encouraged by Zoilo and his team’s love, dedication, vision, and selflessness. He is pastoring a church in a city called Malolos (about 45 min from his home) called Greenhills Christian Fellowship (GCF). This is a church he planted some years ago as part of a bigger church network and had passed the baton to new leadership only to find himself pastor again a few years later due to some transitions in leadership (certainly nothing that Wayne could relate to). We got to fellowship with GCF Malolos - our youth pastor, Mike Smith, giving the message one Sunday and one of our worship leaders, Mike Simpson, leading in some worship. We were also invited by the youth/young adults group to share with them some stories of God working in our lives - our very own youth, Anthony Valenzuela, bravely shared his testimony, and I got to share a bit about God working in quiet ways. The whole church received us so warmly - we were instantly attached!

As if pastoring a church in transition wasn’t enough, Zoilo and his daughter Dotty are the heads of AWANA for SE Asia. The vision of AWANA is to build lasting faith foundations for kids all over the world. I think it’s easy to imagine the teaching that is involved in this, but I have to emphasize the whole-life nature of discipleship that Zoilo, Dotty, and team are involved in with the kids. Not only do Zoilo and Dotty travel all over SE Asia to support and train other AWANA teams, they also bought a parcel of land to build Hope Center - a center for children - in an outer-lying area of Bulacan province. This is an area of poverty where, until recently, families lived in temporary shelters along the river. The government has built permanent settlements in this area and there are A LOT of kids! The children wake up, get out of bed and come straight to Hope Center most days. Hope Center is a safe place for the kids to play, learn, and be fed. They are currently building a large building that will be able to house all the programs they do for the kids as well as vocational training for the rest of the family (and the kids once they’re older). Each volunteer told us about how blessed they are to get to serve the children at Hope Center. The love they have for the kids and each other as they serve together is really beautiful to behold. One of the most striking things to see was the group of teenagers who had grown up doing AWANA with Zoilo and team and who are now serving the younger kids.

We got to do three days of VBS with the kids at Hope Center. Over 100 kids came each day and the Hope Center volunteers, as well as some of the youth from GCF, helped run the whole thing. They were leaking the love of Jesus all over the place. In the afternoons, our new local friends would take us in small groups to visit families in the settlements. We would meet the families, pray for them and give them a small gift (from all of you!). We discovered from Pastor Ed that one woman who we had prayed for had been healed and was contacting him to tell him she was coming to church! Zoilo said the very fact that these families would invite us into their homes says that they felt loved and valued by us (you!).

We also got to do a single day youth conference, called Rooted in Christ, where youth from all over the Bulacan area came to Hope Center. It was fun and it was deep. Mike Smith shared a powerful and simple gospel message and then we broke up into four workshops that the youth rotated around to. Smith did a workshop on studying the Bible, Simpson did a workshop on worship, Sally did a workshop on faith, and Vicky and I did one on prayer. Our four youth on the team (Violet, Anthony, Savannah and Hannah) participated in the conference. You would have been so proud of them - connecting so quickly with the Filipino youth and engaging whole-heartedly. It was very inspiring to see how naturally the Filipino youth connected faith with service and how they didn’t just do this as individuals, they did this as whole groups. Zoilo said that after the youth conference he had a whole group of youth come up to him and tell him they want to serve at Hope Center.

I can’t close this post without mentioning that we happened to be in the Philippines for Super Typhoon Carina. We got to have a very well-rounded Philippines experience with that one! We were fortunate - after 12hrs of being various iterations of “stuck” en transit because of the flooding, we ended the day in dry beds, a little tired but safe and well. God provided a way through the flood waters via a box truck that allowed us all to climb in after Dotty knocked on their door to plead for us. Another shout out to our youth - not a single grumble or complaint out of these kids. They were flexible, adaptable and kept us entertained with word games and Moana songs.

We forged such an immediate bond with Zoilo and his family and team that it was painful to say goodbye to them. We experienced the love of God with skin on in the Philippines and gave all the love you sent us with. It was a gift to see the local church there working together, caring for one another and reaching out to the more forgotten people and areas. There are other religious and political groups who are reaching for power but your brothers and sisters in the Philippines are looking for how to pour themselves out in love for others. Sounds like Jesus, right?

Thank you for sending us to represent you!