February 24, 2025 – San Lorenzo and Vincente's

    Yesterday has been the most memorable day of the trip thus far. I woke up around 6:00am. Johanna was still fast asleep in her bed. I came downstairs, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and then I began cooking breakfast for the both of us (Bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich). As I was completing the cooking, Johanna walked downstairs at the perfect time,

    After breakfast, I gave Johanna her daily gift and letter/poem/song. We listened to the song on the portable speaker, and she was absolutely delighted. The song for the day is entitled, 'This To My That.' We hugged each other for several minutes, whispering sweet endearments into each other's ears. Neither of us were willing to let go of the other. When we finally let go, we decided to listen to some contemporary Christian music on Youtube. We got up and danced (although neither of us know how to dance exactly) to several songs. I was holding her in my arms, and she was holding me in her arms. We both picked some songs to dance to, and both of us were on fire for love and for the Lord.

    Shortly after our dancing, Angel and Ferds arrived at our transient home. Ferds brought his tools , and we were able to replace the kitchen faucet with the new one I bought in no time. We made sure there was no leak after the installation. We didn't see a leak, so the new faucet was successfully installed. While we were working on the sink, Angel and Johanna were busy preparing sandwiches to giveaway at the food giveaway in San Lorenzo. Once they completed making the sandwiches, Ferds and Angel left to go back to their house, and Angel got ready to come to church with us. Before Angel returned to the transient home, Johanna and I cleaned up around the home, and then we called a trike to come pick us up and take us to church (Angel, Johanna, and I).

    We attended Angel's church which is Victory Church in Lipa (a branch of Every nation Church in BGC). The worship band was absolutely amazing and the pastor (Pastor Aaron) was very charismatic, funny, and jovial. I didn't understand the message all that well because the pastor spoke in Tagalog for the most part. From what I heard, it was about Christians or people either taking the broad easy path to destruction, or the narrow, hard path to heaven. He also mentioned about either building your house on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ or building your house on the sinking sand. He told us that it is our choice which path to go down. They have a very large sanctuary, but still the church was absolutely packed. There wasn't enough seats for everyone, so many people were standing the entire message. It's not like that in the states. Many of our churches are empty and numbers are dwindling. It just seems to me that the Americans are no longer on fire for the Lord. Here in the Philippines, the people have a zeal to worship the Lord and hear the Word of God. We need revival in America!

    Afterward, Angel, Johanna, and I took pictures at the front of the church, and Angel introduced me to her pastors...Pastor Mark and Pastor Aaron. We greeted one another with joy and gladness, and we shared stories with one another. From there, we went to Robinson's Mall to meet Ate Dhel and her family. (Ate Dhel is a long-time friend and mentor of Angel and Johanna). They drove us back to the transient home, we loaded up all the food in their red minivan, and we headed to a poor neighborhood called San Lorenzo.

    In San Lorenzo, we were able to have the food giveaway in a small chapel. We met the people and we graciously accepted into their presence. We brought all the food into the chapel and 20 families (all women representing their families) entered into the chapel. I was able to pray a blessing over the attendees, Angel welcomed everyone, Ate Dhel gave a word of introduction, and Johanna shared the Gospel with the people in Tagalog. At the end of the message, Johanna and I closed with a word of prayer, and then we gave out the food. We had just enough food to give away to all the women gathered there. We had absolutely no food leftover. God is good and his hand orchestrated this gathering. All the women were very thankful for the food they received, and after saying goodbye we all departed from there and took a jeepney to Vincente's Restaurant. I will add that I was able to meet Angel's mom at the gathering, and I was greeted by several warm smiles by all the other ladies in attendance.

    Vincente's is a beautifully decorated Filipino restaurant in the neighborhood of St. Vincente's in Lipa, Batangas, Philippines. They serve the best authentic Filipino food I have ever had. We ate pancit with fired chicken, beef bulalo, and lo mei noodles. We had a delicious vanilla Filipino dessert as well. This was one of the most excellent days of my visit here in the Philippines. It was such a joy to serve alongside Johanna as a team for Christ, sharing food and the food of the Gospel to so many people in need. During our dinner, Angel, Ferds, and Johanna were talking mostly in Tagalog which is fine by me. I ate so much and indulged in the luxury of these Filipino delicacies.

    We left Vincente's and made our way back to the transient home by jeepney and then by trike. Like I said, we had a most wonderful day. The day couldn't have been any better. Once back at the transient home, Johanna and I watched Youtube until we fell asleep on the couch. We woke up and realized that we dozed off. After that, we retired to each of our respective rooms and called it a night. God bless you all and thank you for taking the time to read about my experiences here in the Philippines. God be with you all.