Outpouring in the Philippines!

Loving greetings from the Philippines! We have been busy!

We scheduled a couple of days of rest upon our arrival to help us acclimate and start to overcome jetlag—and are we glad we did! Our schedule since then has been a bit intense— wonderful, but fully packed!

Baguio                                                                                                                              Celia Soriano and her son and grandson picked us up from our hotel and drove the four hours to this important mountain city on the northern part of the island of Luzon. The last hour was curvy roads as we climbed up from the plains, but Philip was fine, thank God. Since our accident in 2008, he has had some inner ear issues that can be challenging on that kind of roads. We arrived at 7:00 P.M., had a quick supper and headed to a meeting.

After praise and worship, all the kids from their school, Bible School, college students, and teachers came up group by group and presented songs to welcome us. Then they brought us up to the front and sang “Welcome to the Family,” while they filed by one by one to shake our hands. It was sweet!

Then we were invited to sing and preach. The Lord anointed us and we ministered to them from Ephesians 2 and Psalm 139.

Friday was a full day with the area ETH&S and those who are interested. About forty of the one hundred plus group came from a distance, and a number came to renew their vows after many years. Several shared testimonies of the change they experienced in their lives when they fasted 21 days and became Handmaidens.

We reminded them of the history of the Lord’s dealings with our founder, Sister Gwen Shaw, and how she received a mighty anointing as a revivalist when she fasted 21 days. We reviewed the birth and development of this ministry and went on to share how the Lord is leading us, giving us our new name and expanded vision for the Global Outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Their spirits were stirred up and revived to return their homes, communities and ministries with fresh fire and expectations of mighty harvest!

Saturday was a full day of teaching on prayer and redeeming the land. We led one new ETH and one new ETS in their dedication to the Lord and about 19 ETH&S rededicated themselves.

We shared in three meetings on Sunday in the Sorianos’ church. Their afternoon meeting is attended by many from other churches who are seeking fellowship and more of God.

Cagayan de Oro                                                                                                         On Monday, we got up at 4:30 a.m. to be ready to go on the 3 1/2 hour drive down the mountain and to the airport (the traffic wasn’t as bad, so it was faster). Then we flew to Cagayan de Oro on the island of Mindanao and were met by ETH Zeny Pacleb and her daughter, ETH Jeyl Pacleb. On our first full day (Tuesday) we were able to minister to the police of the local precinct, and later ministered to about 70 children whose families are refugees from a typhoon that swept their homes away. They were so sweet! Zeny, some of her family and church members go there weekly to teach them and feed them a meal prepared with love.

Pastora Zeny is a part of a program that has been instituted by the President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte who is a real Believer in Jesus Christ. He has given orders to organize pastors to come into all the government offices as chaplains to bring a “spiritual cleansing”! This includes the police. Zeny is part of a network of pastors and pastoras who come as chaplains/life coaches to meet with squads of police and teach them from the Bible. This program is involving multiple denominations, and many are being born again and discipled, hallelujah!

We could see the glow of Jesus on the officers that she meets with each week.

On Wednesday, we were scheduled to preach to two groups of higher-ranking officers at the regional police camp and that went very well. It was so obvious which of the officers were carrying Jesus in their hearts; their countenance told their story!

It “happened” that there was a large group of trainees and another group of applicants that the Colonel invited us to speak to them as well. Then we went to a school to minister to a class of 5th graders.

After a brief rest, we geared up to minister in a revival meeting in the Pacleb’s church that evening. God poured out His Spirit as a number of the young people received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, hallelujah! There was a lot of shaking and quaking going on! I heard the next morning that some of them were so “drunk” that they couldn’t make it home! Glory to God!

On Thursday we ministered in an all-day seminar for ETH&S, pastors, and others who are interested in going deeper in the Lord. Again, we shared about the history of ETH and the future of Global Outpouring as we seek the heart of our Father, interceding for Him to pour out His Spirit, equipping for and participating/engaging in it.

We laid hands on seventeen as they gave themselves to God either newly or as a rededication. We were delighted that some of them are young people!

 Isuo, Negros Occidental                                                                                             Friday morning, we left the Pacleb’s home at 6:00 to fly to Cebu where we connected to a flight that took us to Bacolod on the island of Negros. We were expecting ETS Pete Snyder to meet us there, but when we stepped out of the terminal, we scanned the street in front of us and to either side and didn’t see him. So, we sat down to wait, still facing the street. As I busied myself with my luggage, I overheard someone nearby talking about how he had preached in church on Sunday. I thought, “Oh! Here we are by a pastor—how amazing! Then I heard the person with him comment something about China. Then I heard the first man ask, “Is Gene still in Jerusalem?” I turned to my right to find the back of a red-headed man and realized that I was sitting next to Pete! He had been watching a different exit of the terminal building and didn’t think that our flight had arrived yet!

I answered the pastor, “No, Gene Little is in Engeltal!” Peter was as surprised as we were to find that we were sitting right next to him!

I could just imagine our angels jabbing one another with their elbows laughing and saying, “Watch this!” as we discovered each other!

If we could only see in the spirit, I suspect that the thing we are watching and waiting for is actually already there, but our eyes are facing the wrong direction to see it! Let’s ask God to tune us in and turn us so that there will be no more delay in making our divine connections that have been there all along!

We happily conversed for a while and the rest of the team (ETH Susan Malone and Dutch Vandervucht) arrived.

We journeyed two hours south with our hosts, Pastors Melecio and Emilynn Parcon. We understand that we will be ministering Sunday morning at one of the local Fundamental Baptist Churches, then Monday through Wednesday will be a Bible training seminar for pastors. Philip and I will be teaching on praise and worship.

Please pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on these Baptist pastors as Peter presents the Baptism in the Holy Spirit. This is his third session with them, so we pray that by now their hearts will be open to receive his message.

President Duterte’s executive order extends to the schools, so we will spend the rest of the week visiting schools and ministering there.

Our return flight to the States was changed to connect through Seoul, Korea instead of Shanghai, but it is delaying us by a day.

Please also pray for the Lord to lead regarding where we should be for our extra day, which is Sunday, February 16.

Thank you for your prayers as the schedule has been a bit intense!

We appreciate your prayers and gifts to help keep the home fires burning.

Your handmaiden and servant,

Sharon and Philip