The Team: In mid-August, Karissa and I travelled to the Philippines with a very small contingent of three others from the Mission: Keauna Preheim, Camil Shoulders, and Wanda Alger.
We were hosted by Jon & Marcia Tulio, who are the Directors of the Deeper School of Kingdom Living in Bacolod City.
This was a small team in number but a powerful team in the Spirit. Keauna is a powerful Pastor, who attends The Mission and also pastors a church in Vallejo; Camil is a strong worship team member at The Mission, while Wanda has been attending and serving at The Mission since the early 1990’s and carries a pastoral grace.
The Deeper School: We taught three nights in the final week of this year’s Deeper School, and we hosted one night with Deeper Alumni. There were 25-30 students attending each class, and the Spirit was moving powerfully throughout each service.
The strength of our team was showcased in so many areas: they led worship, they taught, they flowed in their gifts, they prophesied, and they were used in so many healings, both physical and emotional.
We spoke on identity, the prophetic, the nature of God, and we ended our time with a blowout session on the Baptism of the Spirit and Fire. Joy broke out so powerfully, and the normally quiet Filipino students were laughing, rejoicing, dancing, and falling to the ground in such ecstatic joy in response to the moving of the Holy Spirit.
Citywide Outreaches: We had the extreme privilege of doing several outreaches throughout the Bacolod area. We had the honor of going through an area where a number of people live in the lowest level of poverty, and were invited into the modest dwellings to pray for people. We witnessed many healing miracles such as of healing of asthma, eyes, and knees, just to name a few.
We also spent time at an outreach in the same area that ministers to school children. They provide lunches for students, as well as a providing a safe place to come after school for tutoring. There were well over 100 students there the day we visited. I was stunned as a young 16-year-old girl approached me with a big smile on her face, and asked me if I recognized her. And I did. Four years ago, I had been in this same area and had met this young lady, by the name of Purple, then 12 years old. Now she still had that same beautiful smile, but everything else was different. When I met her before, she was a wounded, angry girl from a broken and violent home. With the help of this Children’s Center and their wonderful team, she is a healthy lover of Jesus, doing well in school and loving her life.
There was another occasion when we got the opportunity to visit a different part of Bacolod and walk through the villages with leaders from the city. Again, we were invited into homes to pray with the inhabitants. And again, we saw such loving, wonderful people who responded to prayer, and we witnessed miracle after miracle of healings.
We were also invited into a children’s receiving home, that housed children from the ages of three up to eighteen, who were homeless or had committed some crime. We brought them lunch and purchased flip-flops for each of the children, and spent time talking and praying with them.
I personally had the opportunity to minister in the jail/confinement area with four 16-year-old boys, who struggled with drugs and violence. I was able to share about my history with the same struggles, and what Jesus did for me. I had a wonderful connection as the young men kept touching me and wanting me to pray for them.
I ended our time there by going to another cell and praying with an 18-year-old who was in confinement for violence. He had what appeared to be a serious rib injury. I asked if I could pray with him, and he allowed it. Then, as I was praying, his eyes got huge and he asked that was happening, because there was so much heat on his ribcage. He then declared all of the pain was gone. He began breathing deeply and turning his upper body from side to side without pain. He was stunned! I was able then to witness to him about how much Jesus loves him, and prayed for him.
We had so many encounters like that throughout the week. Keauna, Camil, Wanda, and Karissa also have story after story about people of all ages whom they touched with the love of Jesus on this trip to the Philippines.
