We had 30 people coming for dinner, so I knew my day would be a busy one. First, get the kids off to school. I went downstairs at 6am to pack lunches and start breakfast. No sooner had I put the frying pan on the stove when I suddenly heard the frantic voice of my neighbor, Juan, calling at our back door. It turns out that his daughter, Julie Anne, got into a bike accident on the way to school. Julie Anne is 10 years old
and had not been going to school for the past couple of years because her parents haven’t had the means. Sean and I were concerned for Julie’s schooling, so just last week we got the family connected with our missionary friend, Jeff Long, who runs Cuattro Community Christian School.Through the Lord’s provision, the school is able to give the kids all the uniforms, all of the school supplies, and even lunch every day! Sean and I bought her a pair of nice shoes and socks to go with her new uniform, and she was really excited.Well, yesterday would’ve been Julie’s 3rd day of school. She climbed onto the bicycle as usual with her dad, but while they were on the road, her foot got caught in the spokes of the wheel and they crashed. Julie’s foot and ankle were really injured, so Juan sat her on a bench at the side of the road while he pedaled back for help. She was still sobbing when her mom and I got to her in the van. I was relieved to see that nothing was broken. Only a few cuts that could easily be stitched up. She was really upset about her shoes, though! (One of them was no longer usable).
When we got to the E.R., they were able to see her right away, but I was a little surprised that they were completely out of sutures. Imagine, a hospital out of stock on stitches!!! They suggested I go to the pharmacy just outside the building to purchase some so they can proceed to stitch up her wounds. “ No problem”, I said, and rushed out for my mission. Turns out, ‘just outside the building’ meant 4 blocks away. (Had I known this, I would have taken the van . . . but I didn’t discover this until I was already 2 blocks away and still hadn’t found it). Oh well, I hustled and it was good exercise. I bought extra sutures to leave behind at the E.R. for the next person who might need them. The whole time, Julie’s mom was panicking and worrying. I had opportunities to share with her about God’s goodness , and how he cares for their family and knows everything that happens to them. We had Julie back home in a couple of hours. Ok . . . so back to my day. I got home about 11am and cooked lunch for the workers We still have construction going on and I like to feed the workers every day. (One of them is Julie's dad). All the while, Sean was upstairs working on his sermon for this coming Sunday, with Bella and Tyler playing in the next room. I walked into the room just in time to see Bella like this:
It appears Isabella had discovered Mommy’s make up . . . Only, the red tube she thought was lipstick was actually mascara. I checked inside her mouth to make sure she didn’t try to eat it – and I found no signs of black on her tongue or her teeth, so I am guessing she probably really did think it was lipstick. But then, that doesn’t quite explain why she also put it on her arm and her legs, now,does it?
Well, anyways, since this mascara was waterproof, I knew trying to wash it off in a bath wasn’t the answer. Instead, I grabbed some cotton balls and a bottle of baby oil and voila! It worked like a charm!
Good thing Bella’s clean up didn’t need water, because right after that, just as we were about to do the dishes, we discovered that the water had suddenly stopped working. That’s right, no running water in the house . . . on the day 30 people were coming over. After some phone calls, I learned that our meter was inadvertently put under someone else’s name, and so the bills were never paid, and they cut off the supply because of it. We had credit in OUR name with the subdivision, but it seems no meter was ever assigned to it! I would need to go to the Manila Water office to have them change the account name to ours. But when I got there, they said that before we could even make changes to the account (like the name), the balance needed to be paid in full, which meant that I would have to go to the bank, make the payment, and then return to Manila Water with receipts showing payment, before they would be able to turn the water back on. Ok, no problem. An hour later, I was done. God is good. We would have water in about 30 minutes. I could deal with correcting the credits, etc. later. Now, back to getting ready for company.
Got back home about 4pm, just in time to start preparing dinner for the guests. Still no water. The 30 minutes ended up being 3 hours—and we got water back just before 7pm. Guests arrived at 6pm with dishes piled all over the kitchen and no running water in the bathroom – but praise the Lord, it was only for the first hour or so. I was able to have dinner ready in time and everyone brought additional food – it was really quite a feast!
What made this gathering special is that all the guests were the students from Sean and Mark’s Monday night class of Old Testament Survey as part of the TMAI Philippines program. They normally meet at GCF, one of the larger churches in Manila, but since this was the last class meeting for the course, they all agreed to meet at our house for a change. These are not the typical picture of what students look like. They are
pastors, elders,& ministry leaders. They have maturity, experience, and a whole lot of heart! It was a joy getting to know them. We had a wonderful time of fellowship followed by worship and prayer. 
Before everyone went home, we gave out pew bibles for senior pastors to take back to their churches, (thanks to Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California). The pastors eagerly accepted and carried out with them whatever number of bibles their churches needed.
Some of the ministry leaders expressed their gratefulness to the Lord for the TMAI classes they have been taking. It was very moving to hear how they were blessed. I thought I would share a clip of what one student shared:
Brother Mon and a few others walked over to visit with Juan and his family, praying over Julie Anne and her injuries, and then using the Evangicube to share a clear explanation of the gospel in Tagalog. Juan prayed with Brother Mon for Christ’s forgiveness and committed his life to Christ. It’s wonderful to know that Juan went from a man bearing the weight of his daughter’s accident in the morning, to a man humbling himself before God in the evening.
Yesterday wasn't just an interesting day, YESTERDAY WAS AN AWESOME DAY!
