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Old Friends in SG

Carla and I have been in Singapore for a couple of days now. It’s been great ministering to (serving) the young professionals, youth, and the different church services.

One of my personal highlights is reconnecting with old friends. There’s so many! One of the two that stand out is my friend Raymond Hernandez. We were classmates in Sunday school growing up, but had not seen each other in almost 20 years. Yesterday we were reconnected and we were both celebrating what God has done in each other’s lives.

Emily, myself, and Raymond - It was cool how we grew up being led in worship with Emily on the keyboard and yesterday Mon played that role.
Emily, myself, and Raymond – It was cool how we grew up being led in worship with Emily on the keyboard and yesterday Mon played that role.

The other person was Mon Villanueva. Mon was one of the more mature college kids back when I was in high school  in our youth group days. He was very fruitful in making disciples as an Architecture student in UST. This was 14-15 years ago, so our campus ministry, especially in UST, was not that big.

He and the other Christians there had to contend with negative perceptions against them. They had to be sensitive to the rules of the school, while being obedient to Jesus’ command to make disciples. And they had to find time for all of their ministry activities with the huge demands of an Archi course. Lastly, they had to balance their own personal lives while dealing with some of the family issues all students face.

The only picture I have of us together from those days. We played the roles of the robbers in the story of the Good Samaritan.
The only picture I have of us together from those days. We played the roles of the robbers in the story of the Good Samaritan.

But he and others like him continued to make disciples. I remember how we would all celebrate with him as a few of his classmates and schoolmates got discipled. There was even one time that he was able to pray for his professor who he was nervous wouldn’t be open to it.

Besides this, he’s been faithful in discipling other young men, in fact, many of them are following Jesus today, partially through his influence.

I was happy to tell Mon when I saw him that our campus ministry in UST today is one of our biggest in the Philippines – something that was unthinkable during his time. And I thanked him for investing himself so selflessly in it during his student years. It’s amazing how the faithfulness of today has HUGE effects on the future.

Thanks for not giving up in those days bro!
Thanks for not giving up in those days bro!

Whatever you’re doing now, if you are doing it by God’s grace, it will bear a harvest one day. Nothing is wasted, nothing is unnoticed by Heaven. Whether it’s a big work or a seemingly small one, you will see fruit from it.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9

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