Day 7 (14 Dec 2011) Part 2

After the second evax walk, we assembled and gave a short account of our evax walk. Apparently, the president in one of  the universities had received a death threat, hence they enforced strict rules regarding visitors onto the campus. So, the reason we couldn't get into the university is kind of spiritual in a sense. We had to then immediately head towards our respective lifegroups, 'cos it was evening already. Me and Nilla, who were in one group, couldn't join Lala's lifegroup and had to split up. I joined Allan, Myrna and Judith's lifegroup while Nilla went with Paul and Florence to a different location. My group quickly hopped to a supermarket to buy snacks for the lifegroup before taking the super-crowded LRT back to the Technological University of the Phillipines, the same area where we did the evax walk in the morning. Yep, no time to shower. All part of doing missions, people. Yeah!

The lifegroup was held in Saint John United Methodist Church from 6pm onwards. Our objective for the evax walk that morning was to invite the students we talked to to come for evening lifegroup that same day. So, we waited outside the church building until it became dark, for a few reasons (1) Waiting patiently for our invited contacts to come (2) The caretaker who was meant to open the church up for us was late. In the end, none of the new contacts came. But hey, the seeds have been sown and God will make it grow. In the meantime, let's start lifegroup!

So, there was me, Allan, Myrna and Judith, and there were the Filipino students: Cor, Ruffa, Paula, Jolibee (wut?) and Chino. Chino did the icebreaker, Cor shared her life testimony, Ruffa conducted the worship (I even remember the songs, King of Majesty, Nothing in Impossible, Our God, All the Heavens), Allan and Judith both shared a testimony, me and Myrna...well...because of the way things turned out, didn't do much. I happily munched on snacks.

Here's the group in all its pixelated glory!

p.s. Please don't ask me why I was making that face.
p.p.s. I looked at the photo again and asked myself, where was Allan? And I was like...ohhhh...

The church was being used by another group at the same time so we couldn't stay for long. Going to the toilet was interesting, because there were no lights in the area. Anyway, I saw a swing reminiscent of the ones I saw in my childhood in many Malaysian houses. And these guys got to it before me.

We headed back to the LRT after saying our goodbyes to the students. Go Chino! He was the only guy at lifegroup that day. We hadn't had a proper dinner, so I was a bit hungry. Well, fast forward until we met up with the other group and shared our experiences. Well, I was a tad jealous. Why, you say?

Well, it's not so much they had their lifegroup on the rooftop of a building, but it's because their pictures aren't pixelated. Okay, maybe having lifegroup on a rooftop (Level 41) is pretty cool.

That's the last time we will work with Hope Manila. As much as we have encouraged them, I think we were even more encouraged. All these students had exams coming up during that time, and they were so close to one another, people with simple faith. There were times where it seemed discouraging but still they pressed on, winning souls for Jesus. Please keep Hope Manila (and perhaps the whole church in general) in prayer and God will open doors for those who believe and persevere. Amen!

Next, final chapter! We go to jail, do not pass 'Go' and do not collect $200! Gasp!