that [we] may bear more fruit

- The following is an update about my outreach team for the Philippines (that I promised about a month ago). I sincerely apologize for the delay, but I also have no excuse, yet again. -

As the lecture phase of our DTS comes to a close, the anticipation and preparation for our outreach phase commences. In about three weeks, our school will be sent out in teams to serve for eight weeks in Detroit, Central Europe, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, and the Philippines.

On February 10th, myself and "Team Bearfruit" (aka The Philiqueens) will begin our journey to the city of Davao in the Philippines. We have been getting to know and love each other's personalities, unique skill sets, and hearts as we prepare for outreach in our weekly meetings and intensive (unexpected) mission simulations.

Team Bearfruit!! [From left to right] Caro from Germany, Robynn from California, Anna from Ontario, Carolin from Germany, Morgan from New Brunswick, Aly from Michigan, (me), and Grace from West Virginia

When we arrive in Davao, we will have the blessing and honor of partnering with a local church called God's Light Mission Church (GLMC). As our group leader, Robynn, so simply put it:

"Pastor Ely is basically handing over his church to us for eight weeks."

Pastor Ely's vision for our time there is for us to be engaged in teachings within the church services and Bible Study sessions, to see many communities and families reached, to participate in park evangelism, to visit and speak with schools and police officers, and to lead worship services. This will be a very relational outreach, as one of our biggest goals is to build personal and intimate relationship with the community and the members of the church there.

We'll start every weekday morning with group devotion and prayer for the day to ask God what He might have in store for us, but a typical week for us will (probably) look something like this:

Sunday: Morning & Evening Worship Service, 10-11:30am & 6-7:30pm

Monday: Day off

Tuesday: School Visits & Evangelism in Samal Island, Davao (every other week)

Wednesday: Church Bible Study, 6-8:00pm

Thursday: Home Bible Study, 6-8:00pm

Friday: Prayer Meeting, 6-8:00pm

Saturday: Street Evangelism (every two weeks)

Each of us on our team will have a different role to contribute. I will be in charge of all communication with our home base in Brisbane (follow us on instagram @thephiliqueens), and I will also be partnering in the planning of our children's ministry with another team member, Carolin.

We're a bunch of goofs and I love it a lot

As we have been preparing and praying for our time in Davao, God has been speaking to each of us about what His own vision for our team. He continues to bring us back to the nine fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

One of our team members, Morgan, got a picture from God of our whole team as a tree of various unique fruits. Each of us have felt a specific fruit of the spirit and physical fruit as one that represents who we are - which sounds really strange, I'm well aware - but it's been very helpful in discovering the different ways God has gifted us to serve.

(In case you were wondering - my actual fruit is a peach and my fruit of the spirit is gentleness.)

We've seen this theme of bearing fruit in another passage we've felt God leading us back to - the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. The parable of the sower is a story Jesus told about a farmer who scattered his seed on four different types of ground. The seed that falls on good soil produces an abundance, while the seeds that fall on the other ground are unable to produce fruit.

I could take a long time to actually dissect this parable and all that it is saying, but I'll leave that to you to look into on your own if you're interested, and I'll just give a brief summary of what we've been noticing and learning about the parable. Jesus tells His disciples that the seeds that yield a good crop represent those who hear and understand the word of God, and build deep roots in Him as their Father.

Team Bearfruit about to pray before going out to evangelize in Brisbane earlier this month

We feel God revealing to us that in order to be an effective team and "bear fruit" during our time in the Philippines, we need to not only hear God, but understand Him and His word. This is something that I have been feeling God is calling me into personally since the beginning of this school, so it's interesting to see that He is challenging our whole team to do this as well and, therefore, hold each other accountable in this.

We know that God is calling us into deeper scripture study and personal intercession time for our outreach. We feel Him telling us to ensure that our hearts and minds are prepared for full-time ministry that stretches each of us, and to honor the role that He and Pastor Ely are allowing us all to step into. This church is going to be in the hands of eight young women, ages 18-24, for eight weeks. I am unbelievably grateful that I live in a time where my voice and my thoughts as a woman can be valued, both by society and by the church.

Our personal vision for our team is to creatively share God's heart and His love to the people of Davao and GLMC. We hope to be firmly rooted in the good soil of God's word, and to be sensitive to the Spirit in all of our ministry.

All eight of us are so excited and grateful for this experience, and though it feels like there's still a lot to prepare, I know that, as a team, we are ready for all of the challenges and all of the good things to come.

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DTP (Down to Pray) Points:

- For one of our team members, Grace: that her remaining funds of about $600 USD would be provided (here is a link to her GoFundMe if you're interested in giving / sharing!)

- For our team leader, Robynn: that she would continue to be encouraged in her leadership and have confidence and assurance in herself as a leader

- For discipline in prayerfully preparing our team in heart and mind for ministry

- For God to be speaking to and opening the hearts of the people we'll encounter in the Philippines

Thank you all again, so SO much, for partnering with me in this mission. I'm unbelievably grateful for this chance to learn, grow, and serve.

Praying that the new year has been treating you well and giving you many reasons to smile!! As always, feel free to reach out and ask me any questions you have about what I'm doing and how I'm doing. And if you have any prayer requests, I'd really love to be in prayer for you.

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." - John 15:2

-bw