I got up early this morning and used the time before breakfast to prepare for the Pastors' and Leaders' Conference that will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday. Breakfast would have been without my daily mangoes if it had not been for Andreas and Katrin who still had a couple. Whew! That saved the day!
After our customary pick up at Bo's Coffee (no arm wrestling this morning), we made our way to Kingdom Life Butuan's new place for their morning service. It was a great joy to see their new place that is much cleaner and bigger and has space for growth. They have 2 floors with several rooms for the main worship hall, kids' room and space for children's activities. It is a great venue but since they have only recently moved in they still need to make it completely their home. After worship in song, Frances was invited to speak and she shared a powerful message on our righteousness in Christ and how the believer's default position is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). It is one of our foundational Kingdom Life messages and so important for the Body of Christ to receive revelation of this amazing truth. It was great to spend time with the church and to see old and new faces. The church is growing and we are so pleased with what God is doing with KLB. Pastors Julius and Roszel, Aaron and the volunteer leaders are doing a brilliant job in creating a loving environment for many young children and youth to feel accepted and helping them to grow in Christ.
After lunch, we made our way back to KLB to be part of their afternoon children's church meeting. Once again we had great fun with the kids and I spoke to them about the reality of God and how we can experience Him in our lives. Using the story of the Emperor's new clothes, I demonstrated how although we cannot see God, we can be certain that He exists. In response the team prayed for the children to be filled with the Spirit and blessed them. It was another special time.
We then went for our traditional Halo-Halo a coconut-based icecream with jelly, cornflakes and slithers of fresh coconut - lami (yummy), followed by a short stop at the Butuan Market where we looked for the best mangoes for tomorrow's breakfast.
This evening KLB organised a special event to welcome us to Butuan. These guys are amazing! For a month they have been preparing this event that included traditional dances with self-made costumes and props! It was simply beautiful to watch them perform with such joy and enthusiasm. We felt very honoured indeed and are very impressed with the talent in KLB.
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17
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