Note from Naomi

A Note from Naomi's Heart
The past few months have been almost surreal to me. I can’t help but feel strongly that my perceptions about my experiences are really quite different than what eternity will record. Heaven may record our “losses” as gains, our “failures” as successes, our sicknesses as true health. I know this isn’t profound but sometimes it’s the simplest truths that seal my hope and steady my faith.

So much has happened it’s hard to believe how quickly things can change. God is always constant and I take so much comfort in that.

In the midst of all the changes, I was caring for a dear Christian Filipino sister who had terminal cancer. She was a pillar in her church and a leader among the believers here. On Oct 22, Mama Aida went to be with Jesus. She finished her race victorious! Thank you all for your prayers since I first shared with you her diagnosis of terminal lung cancer over a year and a half ago. God did so many miracles in and through her during that time. She touched my life in ways I can never begin to articulate. I know that God gave me an incredibly precious gift in our relationship, I truly treasure her and I always will. I can’t really write about her right now because a white girl sobbing in an internet café might attract the entire population of Manila! But someday I will share more about this incredible woman of God and what God showed me through her life and death.

Red, who is a Filipino nurse, a single Mom, Mama Aida’s daughter and my precious sister has left Ireland and moved back to the Philippines to pursue full time ministry and being a mom to her children. I believe she will be working closely with us in the days ahead.

I have just rented a 5 bedroom house very near the apartment where I lived before. Filipino cities are broken down into small neighborhoods which are called barangays. The barangay I live in is called Addition Hills and is in the same barangay as Welfareville, the largest slum area in metro Manila.

The house is currently being used as a missions base for all we do. Harvest Church, our Filipino congregation, also uses it for facilitating various missions and ministry. When I first saw one room in the house that we rented, I “saw” young girls from Harvest church dancing. God put it on my heart to "dance again” and I felt I was supposed to pour into them something I had vision for but never the time. Last week we met at our house and the dance team leader, Ate Marisse, asked Michelle and I to pray over each of the girls and ask God to impart a new passion and freedom in worship dance. The anointing of God was so present. God is really doing an awesome thing in these young women and it's such a gift to be a part of!
Recently we began adding bunk beds to the bedrooms in preparation for a new vision God has given us. We call it “Safe Refuge.” It’s a vision to rescue women who have been enslaved by the sex industry. I’ll share more about this vision when I am in the US during January.

Last week Michelle, Red and I were in Welfareville meeting doctors and nurses there about health programs, both existing and needed, looking for new ways we can help. God has been stirring in my heart to pursue feeding programs and more primary health care.

The Time magazine cover story few weeks ago (Oct 16) was all about how Diarrhea kills more children around the world than TB, Malaria and HIV combined! Simple oral rehydration solution can save so many lives.

I wonder how many of those children who are needlessly lost, God might have used mightily for eternity? How many people might one saved child reach for Jesus that I never could? In a very real sense, I can reach untold numbers for Jesus by giving a drink of salt and sugar water to a child with diarrhea (and by teaching others here to do the same.) For this reason, during December Red and I are teaching some very basic primary health care to the members at Harvest Church, so they can to be Jesus to the people around them.

In this season of change, God has given me Haggai 2. “This Temple is going to end up far better than it started out, a glorious beginning but an even more glorious finish: A place in which I will hand out WHOLENESS and HOLINESS”

Pray for us!

Naomi