Gods Grace Upon Us

Hi friends!

Today is my last day in Asia! WHATTTTT!!!! That’s crazy to think about, we are officially over halfway through the World Race, and we are currently in transit to head to a new continent. Our time in Southeast Asia flew by, we just spent the last week debriefing with our whole squad on all God has done, and praying into what we hope to see in the rest of this race.

In my last blog I shared some about what our ministry was like in the Philippines, but I want to share some more of what we did and some testimonies of how God moved through our ministry and our team.

Throughout our time with Wipe Every Tear, we each served breakfast to the women from Red Street at least once a week. There were some incredible testimonies from these breakfasts. One that really stuck out to me was one morning when I sat down to talk with a woman, I’ll call her Emily. I got to share the heart of Wipe Every Tear with Emily, and also talk to her about how Jesus is the motivation behind everything we do. She opened up to me about her struggles and how she feels so stuck working on the street. She even told me that her eldest daughter is now working on the street, and as she was telling me all of this, I could hear the heartbreak in her voice. Her story was devastating, and it’s only one of thousands. But after a heartfelt conversation I got the opportunity to pray over her, and the Holy Spirit truly moved through that prayer, it brought both of us to tears. After a long hug, I was able to pack up some food for her to take home for all of her kids. Please keep “Emily” and the other women of Red Street in your prayers, that God would show them a way out and light the path.

This is a picture of me and my squad leader Jessie serving breakfast.

After a week of outreach in the bars on Red Street, Wipe Every Tear hosted a banquet for the women on the street. At this banquets they received a free meal as well as some giveaways and grocery packs! WET takes this opportunity to share more with the women about what WET does and how they help women from the bars. Below is a picture of my team plus Coach Kenny, who is the founder of WET, at the banquet.

During our time with WET we got to know many of their staff members, whom we all addressed as “Ate” which means sister. Some of you may know this story, but for those who done, I have a really cool floppy hat. I bought it with some friends back in Charleston, and when I was packing for this trip, I don’t know why but I felt like the Lord was telling me to bring this hat with me. I knew that it must be for someone I would meet on this trip! Turns out it was for our sweet friend Ate Mich! She spent so much time with our team and she is truly such a light. She has such a fun and sweet personality, and she LOVES to dance. I prayed about it, and decided the hat was for her. Here is a picture of me and Ate Mich, and the hat in question!

Okay, now as usual I want to let you guys in on what the Lord has been teaching me personally and walking me through! Something that has been so incredible to witness throughout this entire race is God’s grace. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says “My grace is sufficient for you.” And this has taken on a whole new meaning for me throughout these past 5 and a half months. I always knew it to mean that Gods grace was sufficient to forgive me for my sin and my shortcomings, and of course that is true, but His grace goes so far beyond that. Grace refers to God’s unmerited favor, love and kindness toward humanity. I have walked in God’s unmerited favor in each country so far.

In Thailand I saw Gods grace in some really difficult conversations that I had, which were way out of my depth. Somehow I always knew what to say, in these situations that I was not equipped to speak in. In my time as a team leader I saw God’s grace in the way that He carried me, and the ways He supernaturally intervened and spoke on my behalf. God’s grace was SO sufficient for me in Thailand.

In Malaysia, I personally walked through a lot of inner healing dealing with some hurt and trauma from my past. And in that season of deep inner healing, the Lord had brought me somewhere where I was surrounded by my entire squad in an all squad month, I had both of my squad leaders there, and I was not the only team leader. He allowed me to walk through that healing in a safe place, where I was surrounded by people who loved me and wanted to help me walk through it. That was God’s grace.

And then in the Philippines, I saw Gods grace in our home every time we walked through the gates into our home in Angeles. The city where we were living was obviously a pretty dark place, and every time we left the gates you could feel a heavy presence of darkness and hopelessness. Yet, Gods grace gifted my team with a safe haven. Our house was filled with laughter, joy, music and prayer.

God’s grace also extended into our last week of ministry in the Philippines, and He really redeemed our perception of the country. The majority of our time was spent in Angeles, which is a city dedicated to sex tourism. But during our last week the local church invited us on mission with them to go and visit 2 local tribes. The first tribe was called the Dumagot people. We took a boat to get to their home and we spent 1 day and 2 nights in fellowship with them. I got to share a message with them in church, we spent time praying for them, and did a whole lot of swimming! Their home was beautiful, and it was such a blessing to get to see another side of the Philippines. Our time with this tribe was something that I will cherish for the rest of my life. It was such a gift to get to visit them.

We also went with our local church to visit another tribe in the mountains called the Aeta tribe. We only spent the day with them, but they welcomed us with open arms. Our church has opened a location in the mountains for them so we got to have lunch with them and host a church service. We also had the opportunity to go around and pray for the families of the church in the community. Our time with both of the tribes was so fruitful, and I’m so grateful that our church invited us into that ministry with them.

During our time in Angeles we also worked very closely with a church called Church So Blessed (CSB) and they truly made such an impact on all of us. They are a powerhouse of a church. This 100ish person congregation actively facilitates and manages 10 different ministries, and they are always looking to expand. They treated our team like family for all of the time that we were with them. I cannot possibly thank the pastors enough for all that they did for us and the way that they loved us while we were there. Please also keep CSB in your prayers, that they would receive an outpouring of new church members, and volunteers to help with their ministries.

This is me sharing a testimony with the church about how a man from drug rehab who I prayed for gave his life to Jesus!

These are some of our sweet friends from CSB enjoying a popsicle together mid service (too cute not to share haha).

I can truly say that the Philippines was such an incredible blessing. It was by far the hardest ministry that I have done so far, but I am blown away by how much the Lord taught me throughout our time there. I am continually blown away by Gods goodness, and how much He is willing to do to get to each one of His children. He really is a good good Father, and I learn this and see it more and more every passing day. I am so beyond grateful that God brought me here, and I am so excited to see what’s next!

Africa here we come 🙂

As always I would be so grateful if you would be willing to come alongside me in prayer!

• Pray for Wipe Every Tear- that they would continue to have women come into their care, that breakfast outreach would reach more and more women, and that God would break these women out of bondage.
• Pray that the customers of Red Street would be convicted of what they are doing and that they would repent, and turn to the Lord.
• Pray for Church So Blessed, that the Lord would continue to sustain them, and bring more help. We also are praying for more testimonies to come out of their current outreaches. For example, people in the prisons, at the hospitals, or from the drug rehabilitation centers coming to know Jesus!
• Prayers for our team heading into Ethiopia, that we would continue to love and serve each other well!
• Prayers for my teammates who are still support raising. There are 3 people on my team who are still raising support and have upcoming deadlines to meet in order to stay on the race. Please pray that the Lord will bless them with His provision. If you have any stirring in your heart to help them also I would love to talk to you more 🙂

Thank you all for loving me, for praying for me, and for taking the time to read this! I cannot believe how blessed I am to know you all. God bless you and keep you.

Hugs and prayers,

Amanda