Peace Settled Over The Valley…and there was stillness in my soul.

Fourth of July weekend, was vacay time for several of my student-volunteer teams so they took off to Puerta Galera for some much needed R&R. I saw this as my golden opportunity to finally make it up river in Easter Samar, the area I lived during my summer mission in 2006. I wanted OUT of the city!

Immediately upon arriving in Brgy. Arroganna, I climbed down the broken, crooked steps to the river bank, sat on a pile of ply wood and gazed at my beloved river.

Those are the most soothing sights of my entire Philippines experience – nowhere else in PI feels more like home! I spent the months of June and July of 2006 up the Dolores River, going house-to-house sharing the gospel with an un-reached people group, the Warray Warray. We went to 26 villages that summer and had the most amazing encounters with the miraculous power of the Almighty God!

My heart had been burdened for years for this people and what was to be of them, now that I was not there. Nehemiah Teams has sent a team to that river every year since, even 2010. I got to meet with the team and hear about the ministry they were doing. They even told me about one man who mentioned me by name and said I shared the gospel with him, he then asked the team to come do a Bible study in his home. Wow! God you are so good, to let me even have a glimpse of the harvest being done in a place I toiled many years ago – and it only got better from there.

Sunday, July 4th, many back in the States were eating hot dogs and hamburgers, playing wiffle ball out in the yard with the kids, and finding a good spot to lay down a blanket for the evening festivities – fireworks! I love fireworks. However, July 4th in the Philippines was much different:

It was the 1st church anniversary for the church in Arroganna, coincidentally a church that directly resulted from a Nehemiah Team that went there and began seed sowing in 2008 and the team that followed in 2009. Christians from several villages along the river came; it was a great day of food, fun, and fellowship. There were three ladies from a barangay that I had visited in 2006. Since several teams have been there, when I asked if they remembered me, they at first called me "Becca," a girl who came the year after me. I said, “ No, before becca, the first visitors” and they excitedly said “O, yes, the song!” I was so excited! They did not remember my face, or my name, but they did remember the song I sang in Warray Warray – “Ikaw Ang Kusog” (You Are the Strength). Who cares about me? They got the Message!

After anniversary festivities the real fun began! Naomi ( JourneyWOman to Eastern Samar) and I had some “bucket list” experiences we thoroughly enjoyed! The afternoon proceeded with pony-ride-esque trips around the field mounted on a water buffalo, or carabao as they are known locally. “How do you get carbao grime off?” you may ask, run through the village, leap through the air off the small wooden dock into the river, and repeat. If that is not enough refreshment for you, swim across the river and back against the downstream current with an entourage of about a dozen plus kids - or at least that’s how Naomi and I did it! We then sun bathed with the remnant of afternoon light on the shore, or until a mud fight broke out and we were caught in the middle - not exactly a Sandals Beach Resort, but definitely more character!

Right before the sun took its final plunge and the night sky rose in its full starlight glory, we strolled up the hill to an overlook that viewed into the dusk illuminated river valley. The sun set and so settled my soul for a people who were once so lost. Witnessing a church anniversary and seeing so many Christians where there was once none, gave me such a glimpse of the faithfulness of an Everlasting God. He has done great things on my river, and brought eager steadfast workers. The Warray Warray will be reached and I am so blessed to have had such a small part. Hindi basta basta!

Romans 10:14

"How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believed in the one of whom thay have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?"