It is exciting to see how God works and how He orchestrates things when we let Him lead.

We had baptisms scheduled for two different congregations, and we decided to combine them to increase the festivity of celebration. We invited our lowland church in Ipeyu, Malis to come to Kemantian for a weekend of camping and fellowship. As the date approached, it dawned on us that we should invite all our congregations to come and make it a camp meeting. Invitations went out, and we laid plans.

As the camp-meeting date approached, I felt the pressure mounting. I was supposed to develop several sessions on marriage and family, but I had not found time to do so. I presented my predicament to the pastoral team, and we prayed about it. In the end, we decided to do the marriage-and-family program another time. In its place, we would let the Spirit lead, have various church members give their testimonies, and have lots of Biblical preaching and prayer.

It was a great relief to me. I went into the camp meeting much more relaxed since I didn’t carry the bulk of the teaching. It was wonderful to see and hear how God is working on people’s hearts. There were testimonies and songs from each church, and there was a spirit of camaraderie and brotherhood. It was encouraging to the unconverted to hear the Christians tell of their struggles, failures and victories.

There were 150 people in attendance from each of our four established congregations. Also, Niksun and two Taw’t Deram men arrived just before sundown on Friday with a first-hand report of what God was doing on the other side of the mountain with our new work among the Taw’t Deram! Despite the large size of the gathering, it was not stressful—definitely a God thing! Each group brought their own food and did their own cooking. We had a Sabbath School workshop on Friday afternoon and then watched on Sabbath morning as the people put into practice what they had learned. On Friday afternoon, I gathered a volunteer group to learn a new song in Palawano to sing for church. In an hour and a half, the choir had learned the new song in three-part harmony and presented it beautifully Sabbath morning.

Everyone was struck by the pervading spirit of brotherhood, even among members who had never before met. It was a taste of heaven. It thrilled us to see how many were impacted by the gospel. The work here is making great strides and has spread far north, south and west of Kemantian.

There were people in attendance that were not church-goers. One young man expressed that he had never felt so much a part of something before. He said he had tried drinking and gambling so he could be part of a group, but here he had a different feeling—one he didn’t want to lose. After a young woman gave her testimony about how God had delivered her from demonic harassment, she experienced a relapse. But the Lord delivered her again, and it spoke deeply to her heart that she needed to live wholly and completely for Him so the devil could not take advantage. Her brother, previously a strong Adventist but now wallowing in self-pity, prayed with us for her through her harassment, and it spoke deeply to his heart about his need to be right with God.

Several people expressed how happy and light-hearted they felt during the meetings, but that when they left to go to their homes, a sadness and heaviness tried to envelop them. We, too, have experienced this and know the devil seeks to keep us and our people in a deep lethargy.

Pray for us as we continue to battle him and press on to retake God’s territory!

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