God of wonders

Today was an interesting day.... the things that we plan are often not what God has planned and the unexpected and the desires of our hearts that we think are not possible are often what God has in store if we only have faith.. I mean that by... this morning as I indicated in an earlier post, we were planning to have two new youth come into our orphanage today.  As we were making preparations and coordinating the travel of the 2 kids families to the orphanage we were informed that one of the boys (Nonoy) will not be coming to our orphanage due to him feeling unsafe and not wanting to leave his grandmother.  We of course hated to hear that he is no longer interested in being a part of our family...but as usual, God knows the desires of everyone's hearts.

Judy Ann, did come to the orphanage; was processed and is spending her first night in the orphanage with us today.  Judy Ann's mother is a gambler, and has her children working for her.  They have been victimized and abused by their mother for most of the lives.  Due to her mother's abuse Judy Ann who is 13 years old is now in the 2nd grade.  We sat together today for close to an hour talking about her goals, the reason she want to come to the orphanage and the life that she has lived up to this point.  Her eye glimmer with hope and wonderment as we talked about her having her own bed, going to school everyday and catching her up on her grades so that she may graduate from high school and potentially college.  Judy Ann is now with a new family... and will be learning about grace, love and forgiveness this week from the mission team and for weeks to come from the orphanage staff.

We then had another applicant come by "Rondell" (I think that is how you spell his name) with his mother.  his circumstances have changed and his need to have a place where he can eat and a safe place to sleep has dramatically increased.  Through a long screening process and interview; I am 98% sure that Rondell will be spending his first night with us tomorrow night.  I look forward to how this will work out...

We discovered yesterday while at the grade school that there is a young boy who does not have a home has been brought to school by his older sister for several months.  The boy is literally homeless at a very young age (I think 7 but not sure) and seemingly has no one to take care of him but his sister who lives in a home somewhere in the community.  We had no place to put this boy until now...and due to Nonoy not being able to come in..this has freed up a space.  I do not know his name and I don't have good details on his circumstances...but I do know that there are no such things as accidents or coincidences and I am prayerful that we will be able to provide this young man a home.

I will try to be brief about other updates.  Due to God opening up doors from the summer missio team; the kids at the orphanage are really enjoying playing music and learning how to play music.  We purchased musical instruments today and have identified a teacher so that our kids will be able to have a worship team to sing praises to God!  Furthermore, our kids are hungry for God's Word and to grow spiritually.  There have yet been more doors opened and we will be having church/worship at the orphanage this coming Sunday with our youth leading the worship and Mitch and myself structuring and sharing during that service together.  We hope to give everyone a chance to respond to entering into a relationship with Christ this coming Sunday which will include not only our kids but their families as well.  Another thing that we are planning to do is to offer an opportunity for our kids to become members of our church by the means of baptism.  Please pray that the youth in our orphanage and some (if not all) of their family members become believers and desire to be baptized.  We are truly unsure of what their response will be.  So.. saying all of this..it appears that we are in the process of starting a church this week.  We had no idea or plans to start a church on this mission trip.  But people, resources ... and I believe God has opened up doors and opportunities for this to occur... and we simply want to respond in obedience.

Personally...please pray for Sheryl (my wife) and I.  We have been looking at opportunities and ways to go overseas to live so that we can serve Filipinos full time in mission work.  Today, I met a good friend of Andy Stanley who is a full time missionary in Cebu who is looking to plant a church.  That group have been praying to find others who are called to serve Filipinos and help plant a church in Cebu Philippines... I am not sure if Sheryl and I are the ones that they have been praying for... but we are prayerfully going to inquire with them and learn more about the need. 

Thanks for all of your prayers and support,

Dustin