What a Whirlwind!
First of all, THANK YOU to all those who generously funded our family to go on this mission trip and all those who were praying for us and for the mission.
Through fundraisers, craft fairs, and generous donations, we raised the amount needed for each of us to be fully funded for this mission. The week before we left, we had been praying for the remaining amount still needed and we received a few last minute donations which added up to the exact dollar amount we needed! Not one dollar over or under! God provides what we need. Every possible thing that may have kept us from going, God took care of before I even had the chance to worry about it! Preparing for this trip and watching God work in our lives was really faith building, and we hadn’t even left yet!
We left on February 11th and returned February 24th, 2025. About 37 hours of travel each way! We had 9 days of ministry in the central Visayas region on the island of Negros. Unfortunately, most of my family came down with a terrible flu right away, but the ground team took good care of us and we had lots of people praying. I knew God was going to do big things because the enemy was trying so hard to keep us down! We joined in with mission work as soon as we were well enough.
Even though I never felt 100% well while there, each time I was ministering in a classroom or during our nightly crusade concerts, I felt fine! I pushed through and God gave me the strength and energy I needed whenever I was doing His work.
Results of Philippine Mission 2025, Team 2:
Towns Ministered in: Sibulan, San Jose, and Amlan
Crowd: 9,551
Salvations: 9178
Bible Studies: 24
Bibles Given: 124
Book of Hope: 8641
Potential Churches: 5
What We Did There
During the day, we went to public schools where we were welcomed to share the gospel in classrooms. Each and every classroom I went in, all the kids were so excited to learn the Good News. We used an Evangelism Cube or, for older kids, the 3 circles method to explain the gospel story. They were all so ready to give their lives to Jesus! They prayed the prayer of salvation with us and then we’d pray with and for the teachers. One little boy in one of my classes started crying after he prayed for salvation. He looked up at me with tears streaming down his little cheeks and said, “that made me cry!” I started crying and said, “It made me cry, too!” and gave him a big smile. I really wanted to wrap him up in a great big hug!
Each child received a Book of Hope, which is an interactive picture book of the gospel story to teach them more about Jesus. We also shared ways they can learn about and grow closer to Jesus, through prayer, reading their Book of Hope or the Bible, fellowship or surrounding themselves with friends who will encourage them in their faith and doing good things, and telling others about Jesus. Then we’d invite them all to the concert that evening.
Later on, at the concert we would see many of them again and dance and play with them before and during the music.
Some of our team would walk around the neighborhoods passing out flyers. We were in poorer areas and it was definitely an eye opener to see the homes of these beautiful people. There were dirt paths wound between makeshift or patched up houses with whatever materials they could find. Lots of garbage and it didn’t look like anyone had fresh water. Kids were carrying water home with large jugs.
After music, there was a funny drama and then we’d begin to get more serious with one of us sharing a testimony, then a Biblical message, a serious drama and an alter call. So many people gave their lives to Jesus!
We would share ways to grow closer to Jesus and pray with anyone who wanted prayer afterwards. We saw many miracles of healings and felt the weight of heavy burdens lifted off of people. What I really love is that CMC (Church Multiplication Coalition) works with local pastors to follow up with each person and help them grow in their faith. After prayer, we’d get each person’s information and invite them back the next day for a free Bible. The next day part of our team would return for follow up, go over the gospel message again, give out free Bibles and the local pastor would start Bible studies right away.
Team 2, Visitors and Ground Team
See more photos on my Instagram or search hashtag #Philippinesmission2025.
Videos
Recap of Team 2:
Nightly Drama:
Family Adventure
For my own family, there are so many blessing that came out of this. We had never been outside of the U.S., so this was a fantastic adventure for all of us. And a great finale to the geography studies we’ve been working on the past two school years. It was eye opening to be immersed in a different culture and language and to see how they live. The Filipino people are so friendly and welcoming. I’m thrilled my teens could have this experience.
It was a huge stretch for most of us to speak in front of a crowd, especially for me to share my testimony, which I had never shared publicly before. And to pray out loud with people; that was absolutely terrifying at first. I pray with kids often, but not adults. My son discovered mission work is not something he wants to do. He does not like crowds or loud noise and felt overwhelmed most of the time. I was so proud of him for the moments he pushed himself to be involved, especially public speaking, knowing how hard that was for him.
I watched my 14 year old daughter thrive. She’s always been a natural leader and actress, but there were still a lot of new and scary elements for her as well. She was the only one in our family who didn’t catch the flu, so she got herself up early and and was out each and every day working with the team at every school and concert. I was so proud of how hard she worked and all the good reports I received from others on the team. She was nervous about the prayer lines (praying with people after the concerts), but that actually became her favorite part. Her faith grew as she watched people get healed and saw what a difference she could make by choosing to be Jesus’ hands and feet on this earth. Every evening she was excited to tell us stories about people she prayed for.
My hubby and I stumbled through as best we could, through our illness. But it was still very worth it to be there and be as involved as possible. It’s good to be home and we’ve needed a lot of rest to get completely healthy and back to our regular time zone and routines.
I highly recommend taking a family mission trip, or sending your kids on a mission trip with your church or other trusted group. My oldest daughter went on a mission trip to an orphanage in Mexico with our church youth group many years ago and it changed her perspective on what is important in this life. I hope you and your family find an opportunity to get involved. If you can’t go, you can pray for and help to send others.
Get Involved
For details on joining or supporting future Philippines Missions, go to Callis Team Missions.
Thank you for sharing including all the pictures . Sorry it took me so long to get around to reading it. Thank you for your letter to remind me