When I arrived in the Philippines to train and preach, I lost my voice as I finished preaching the first sermon. Every day after that, my voice was gone UNTIL it was time to teach or preach. Then, while I was teaching, my voice would be normal. As classes ended, so did my voice. “What is God doing?” turned into, “Look what God is doing!” God says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit!” Our question marks are God’s exclamation points.
Our coworker, Pastor Diawa, preached for just a few minutes on Sunday when he collapsed, and was rushed to the hospital. After four days in the hospital with a bleeding ulcer, the question I saw on Leony’s face was, “How are we ever going to pay for all of these hospital bills?” Yet, God already had an exclamation point prepared for her. Just before I left to go to the Philippines, a supporter met me and said, “When you get to the Philippines, see if you can find a pastor or church planter who has a medical need. Pay for their medical care, and we will provide the funds.” God had already paid their hospital bill before Pastor Diawa became ill!
Highlights of this trip show how God turns what we think is a period into a comma. I was pleasantly surprised when I went to preach at the first church Joy and I helped start in Tarlac City. After our missionary team left Tarlac, the church struggled. Now, the church not only is healthy, but it has grown near to near capacity of their large sanctuary, and they are planting two daughter churches.
At summer camp in Mangaldan, I led a workshop on discipleship and training youth leaders. Both before I arrived, and after I left, these youth workers led camps in two other provinces.
I was also invited to lead a church planting seminar for a group of seven churches in the Capas area of Tarlac province. After the seminar, the churches invited us to return to teach two more church planting seminars this fall, with the rest of the churches in their region. Whenever we think we have come to a stopping point of an opportunity, God adds a comma, and gives us even more opportunity than before!
We also love God’s ellipses. Those three dots … create anticipation and suspense. Ruth and Joy are in Romania right now, helping lead sports camp for Wurmbrand Christian School. This will help Ruth see God’s plan for her life after high school by…
For the last two weeks, Rebekah and Gunner have been in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico with 30 young people and adults from the church where Gunner is youth pastor. This will change the lives of these young people by…
God turns question marks into exclamation points, periods into commas, and introduces the future with an ellipse. Best of all, with every … He promises, “I know the plans I have for you.” Thank you for letting us partner with you to see what that future holds for the work God has given us, multiplying workers for world missions, and for church multiplication in the Philippines.
Servants together,
David & Joy & Weaver Family
Prayer ?’s and Praise !’s Footnotes:
1 Praise God for supporters who are faithful. Pray with us for four new supporters during our summer trip up north (we would love to see God stretch that into even more!).
2 Filipino church planters are praying with us for funds to come in for the Motorcycle Assistance Project, where workers can buy ministry motorcycles over 36 months interest free, cutting costs in half.
3 Pray for wisdom as we write discipleship materials for the Philippines, and for Shades Mountain Christian School. Praise God we will help lead a summer workshop to train key student disciple leaders.
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