There’s a lot of backstory going on in this picture and it’s awesome. Straightforward, what you’re seeing is our teammates ministering to members of the community during our graveyard shift with the city’s first responder rescue department. Nico, Jerry, Lourdes, and Rosie shared the Gospel, got to build relationships, and gave out four Bibles to several families and two security guards. Those families work at night with their children digging through trash for recyclables and food and it’s the only way they can survive the next day. All of these people know us well because of our ambulance and the rounds we make. While the team ministered, Joseph and I manned the radios and made our presence known at our designated location on the side of the busy street watching for trouble.
It took a lot to get to the point where we have the privilege and right to be a fixture in the community that people can trust with their problems and emergencies while having the direct support of the government. If you don’t know, the Philippines has reverted back to a strict quarantine lockdown. Tomorrow, in fact, we will enter the strictest phase as Covid cases have increased beyond what has been seen during the entire pandemic. Our team is in line to get vaccinated...but in the meantime we’re still on the active docket to transport Covid positive and suspected patients in our ambulance. Don’t worry about us, we’re experienced with using PPE and have been doing this sort of thing for some time now, and it’s all coordinated by the government going through a rigid process before and after the transport. But if we could just get our vaccines sooner rather than later, even with the seemingly subpar concoctions that have finally been donated by wealthier nations in the region, we can breathe a little better. But it’s going to take an act of God to get it because of how few doses are available in this country, even for those of us on the extreme front line.
Anyway, we’re thankful to be able to serve in this capacity, giving us unencumbered access to pray for people, share the love of Jesus, give out Bibles, and provide food and medical aid to the poor. There are times where we have to deliver food to a Bible study we facilitate and the checkpoint soldiers rush us through and the police salute us as we roam the empty streets with bags. In addition to those scenarios, imagine the challenge of entering guarded Muslim compound communities even without the pandemic. For us, we enjoy unrestricted access and their kind hospitality. The only reason we can do this is because our teammates have gone through certification trainings as medical first responders, our NGO is legally accredited and recognized by the government as a humanitarian aid organization, and we have a fully registered and functioning ambulance rescue company endorsed by the city.
It took a lot of time and investment to get to this point. Our local, full time missionary team of just over a dozen people aren’t only vocationally skilled, they also had to undergo missionary and discipleship training. They know how to engage people, share their faith, start Bible studies, and boldly lay hands to pray. And they’ve obviously figured out how to cope with the dangers our projects bring.
Ironically, one such danger outside of rescue work is building playgrounds. Just a few hours before this picture was taken we spent the day digging holes in a boulder infested plot of land belonging to the Hope Center, our headquarters and the site of our partner home church Hope for the Nations Church. We sweated in the hot sun, lugging equipment, and performing the strenuous work that comes with installing our third playground. Heat exhaustion, falling into holes, injuring hands and feet against playground equipment and tools...not things we necessarily anticipated. It’s a good thing we have EMTs and an ambulance on hand!
Thank you for supporting this ministry. Without you, our missionary team would not exist, the Hope Center would not be ours to manage, no Hope Playgrounds, no Hope Rescue Ambulance, no Hope Feeding Programs, no educational initiatives, no Bibles to distribute...no Samson ministry in the Philippines. Please be encouraged by this post and see how your partnership in the Gospel is transforming lives!