The Wildest Yet!

In my last update I mentioned that I had a hunch that the girl who had been caught stealing might have had some sort of spiritual attack or something, and I was very right! Two other times we had prayed with her I knew something was not right, her movements and actions did not seem normal at all. On Friday night during our prayer meeting I finally got my confirmation that there was demonic activity going on. When Rodel sat beside her to pray with her I noticed that she rocked forward hard and became upset so I went over to assist him. When I sat down and started praying, the girl threw herself onto the ground and I knew that she had a demon inside her. Rodel and I continued to pray with her and she became more violent and tried to move away from us. One of the other leaders came over to hold her down and she continued to shriek at the top of her lungs, which was honestly one of the worst things I have ever heard in my life! We prayed and prayed for a few minutes without much luck and all the scared youth came in and laid hands on her and prayed with us. Rodel then called them off and told them to step back and I continued alone to pray with her as Rico held her down. I demanded her to say that she is a child of God, and after commanding her in the name of Jesus she declared it, and then I made her say that she is redeemed by the blood of Jesus. After that it was as if she passed out and we all began to sing together. After we sang some more I went and prayed with her again and she woke up and grabbed my hand and I new the demon was gone. It was absolutely the craziest thing I have ever experienced in my life. I had been reviewing a book I read with a part about demon possession, and I am sure glad I did because it gave me a good idea of what I was going to have to deal with. It was profound to me to see how powerful God is. When I spoke of the holy blood of Jesus the demon went crazy and she screamed so loud, as scary as it was, I saw first hand how powerful God is, and the authority God has over all things especially demons. It was an experience I will never forget, but after speaking with people about it here, for sure it wont be the last time. The very spiritual culture of the Philippines opens many doors for demon possession.

On a much lighter and happier note it was Bunso's birthday yesterday and we surprised him with a cake. He came in the church and all the lights were off and we turned them on and brought out the cake and started singing. He did his best to hide his tears but we all saw and it just about gave me some. How many birthdays had he spent in the back of a jeepney alone, and now he has a family, it truly was a very beautiful moment! The boy continues to amaze me! Yesterday I came home to find my house cleaned from top to bottom even the cloths folded on the shelves. He is respectful and intelligent and shows so much potential and I am very happy that God brought him to us. He is now part of the family, and I could not be happier about it. We will continue the process of reconciling with his family, but we are not going to rush that because we don't want him taking off again.

Thank you all for your prayers and love, as you can see we must be doing something right because satan sure does like what he sees. Please continue to pray with us as I feel like this is just the beginning of what is coming.

Brett