Philippines 2019_Day 5_Thursday

Sharing at Orus Prison

Michelle

Speaking in public is one of my greatest fears. It is also my first time speaking in front of people. I remember telling God, “Lord, I surrender this sharing into Your hands, let Your spirit guide my mouth to speak". Then off I went to the little wooden pulpit in front, with a trembling heart.

My message was about forgiveness. Through the story of Joseph in the book of Matthew, I shared about how when we fully receive God's unconditional love & forgiveness, it enables us also to have the capability to release the same measure of forgiveness to others and ourselves. To forgive doesn't discount the pain we feel, but it is a willful choice of surrendering and releasing the pain to God again and again and allowing Him to heal our soul.

During the closing, I felt blessed being able to lead the prisoners into a prayer of letting go of their past hurts & unforgiveness, speak forth His healing & restoration to take place in their hearts and reminded them with Romans 8:28, that God could take the worst thing in our life and intended it for good.

Ai Seok requested me to perform some songs as the prisoners presented their self-composed songs for the team last year. I was happy that I get to share my original "You Are Enough". It is the first song I've ever written, and it is a song about how I am always enough for Him, regardless of how inadequate I feel most of the time.

I ended my sharing with another song - "Reckless Love" by Cory Asbury. It’s a song about how His love always chases us down no matter how far we’ve drifted away from Him. The prisoners stood up with their heads bowed down, worshipping in their hearts and remembering how much God loves them and has forgiven them despite what they have done in the past.

Shortly after that, the prisoners performed a couple of self-composed Tagalog worship songs for us. With a guitar and a handmade drum set (made up of empty tins & buckets), they sang their hearts out as though this is a church service. Such a beautiful sight to see when people present their alabaster worship to the Lord. As I sat across the barbed wires watching them sing, what I saw was not a group of prisoners, but a group of changed men with worshipful hearts.

It reminded me not to lose heart during challenging times. That we can still raise our Hallelujah in the middle of the storm, even if a quivering “yes” is all you have at that moment. Your best is always good enough for God.

We brought with us a wooden baptism pool, and on this day, 12 more were baptised in the name of the Lord! We held a simple baptism ceremony and each of us get to pray a baptism prayer over them. What an honor to witness and participate in this important moment of their lives!

Medical at Orus Prison 

Edwina

We headed to Dolores first before taking the van and some of us went on the tuk-tuk! In fact one of the tuk-tuk had the baptism box on top of it! The set up of this prison was different. There were some huts built on the outside with families of the prisoners staying with them, and some prisoners who we presume required higher security stayed in a fenced area.

We were all sharing the same space, with one group sharing at the end to the prisoners, with worship songs being played non-stop, the medical clinics were held in the middle of the room and the dental clinics at the other corner maximising the sunlight available.

It was a very hot day and we were literally just dripping off sweat. I felt for the young men who were in prison for various reasons. In fact, I noticed that there was a trend that they came with, which was mainly that of chest pain. Clinically, there was no medical problem I could find in them, but when speaking to them, I could see that there was fear and anxiety that they were holding on to. Men as young as 19 or 20s, being in prison, not knowing what to behold of their future, I cannot even imagine what goes through their mind!

Jason

Following the long day at the prison, we stopped at the plot of farmland purchased through donations last year. They have been using this land to grow rice.

This year, BLi sponsors helped to raise funds for a tractor. A tractor is very important to the working of the land. It reduces the number of human labourers and cuts the time taken to tow the land. This enables the workers to spend their time with family or on other projects.

The tractor albeit being machine operated, still needs a lot of manpower. Due to the possibility of it being stolen, the engine has to be removed every day, carried up and down the river and transported back to the orphanage for safekeeping. But yet, they are just so grateful for what opportunities this and the rice mill can provide them.