Entire team survives three rolls in bad wreck traveling through Antimonan, Quezon province. We were returning home early Sunday morning after the seminar that weekend.
Left: Tony recouping at home. We were all bruised and sore, but not a bone broken. Alive to fight another day! Right: Pastor Mark and Pastor Joel helping Calli collect our belongings out of the vehicle later that morning.
Except God allow!
After the graduation of our class that evening, we packed up and started our trip home that night. Traveling at night proved to be difficult with hundreds of big trucks on the two-lane road as we made our way to Manila. It had been years since we traveled at night and didn’t realize that trucks are primarily traveling in the evening. I had been driving myself for about 4 ½ hours, and decided I needed a rest. It was about that time that mysterious moisture began fogging the windows both inside and out. We stopped the car several times wiping both inside and out, but it just kept coming.
We were right on the coastal highway. Around 2:00 am our front wheel hit the shoulder on the right side of the road and bogged down in the soft shoulder where it caught on the concrete and jerked the steering wheel out of Calli’s hands, I was typing a message on my cell phone right next to her when we spun sideways down the highway, then it began rolling down the highway straight down the middle of the road, we had past scores of trucks right up to that point but there were none right at that time. Praise God! Then the car came to a halt on its side and I was hanging by my seatbelt. I have never felt anything close to that in my life.
My head busted the windshield and I was a bit disoriented for a moment then I tried to call out to everyone. There wasn’t any answer at first and that was scary. I looked for Calli and found her lying on the concrete where the window was gone on the driver’s side. I heard her moaning and finally started to see her, but only could see her upper body and she was facedown. I couldn’t see her lower body, but she was wearing black pants and her legs were somehow out of sight and under the dash. I told her honey don’t move, several times I thought the car was on top of her lower body, and for a little bit I was scared she was dying. Then I heard Remy and in the meantime the guys managed to get out of the car.
There was a crowd gathering in the village and someone pulled the windshield back where there was a hole big enough to crawl out of. Then I said to Calli, can you move your toes and she said I think so, how about your legs and she started moving around and trying to rise up. Praise God, she was hurt but OK! You can’t imagine my heart jumped for joy as she rose up on her knees and I told her to get out through the hole next to her.
Remy, got out through the back window that was gone also. So I was still stuck, the buckle was stuck because my body was hanging with all that weight on the buckle. I tried to get someone to get knife to cut me out, oh and I shut the engine off too. Then Joel came back in and tried to unbuckle me. He couldn’t get to unlatch either. Then, I thought to wiggle around where I could stand and get the weight off, that worked. By then, I don’t even remember how I got out. More than likely I came out through the back window, but I haven’t asked anyone since.
The police loaded us in their vehicle and I laid on a gurney as they took us to the hospital. They gave us tetanus shots and released us. Three of us needed to be x-rayed for potential head injuries but I don’t think they had the capabilities there. We hired a van and driver to take us to Manila and then that morning we all cleaned up and went to the hospital for x-rays and a checkup. Praise God we had no permanent injuries. We know God was with us all the way! The Police said that the area where the accident happened was accident-prone and that kind of accident people always die. They were amazed that any of us lived through that, but we were not amazed, just blessed because we serve a powerful righteous God that is God! Except God allow, there is no way the devil could kill us or hurt us, Amen? Give Him all the Glory! Thank you Jesus for your protection!
Buhi Camarines Sur Bicol Region, March 18-19
Be the better version of yourself!”
Travelling for 424 kilometers, at least 10 hours drive, the team geared for the next Batch of Stealth Evangelism Class in Buhi, Camarines Sur, part of Bicol Region. Most of the students were first timers in soul-winning and had the breakthrough of their life. Sis Roma was teary eyed as she declared that because of this two day seminar, she has committed to be the better version of herself in serving God through one-on-one evangelism. She experienced God’s love enveloping her while doing the practicums. Everyone has mentioned that attending this seminar is an experience to be cherished forever. Judylene felt the strong need to share the Good News to every person she meets with the power of God while doing so. It made her realize the value of The Gospel and God gave her the passion to win the lost at any cost. Over 600 souls were led to the Lord in this batch and expect to have more than 200 souls every month to be won by the new graduates as this will be their regular weekly exercise of at least two souls each week. I thank the Lord for another opportunity to empower and equip new soul-winners in this part of the country. I myself won souls using this simple and easy technique as we stopped to take our meals at a highway eatery. Glory to God forever and ever! — Ptra Remy Mordeno
The team stopped at a little roadside eatery for breakfast.
God’s ways are not our Waze!
After traveling around ten hours on Thursday south of Manila, we stayed at a little hotel in a city called Isiga. We had been told it was only twenty minutes away from the city we were doing the seminar in. So we got up early the next morning and stopped by the local Jolly Bee (it’s the Philippines answer to McDonalds). But it was closed and would not open for another hour. Things go a little slower when you get away from Manila! So we chose to drive on to San Vicente Buhi Camarines Sur, big name for a little city on the top of a mountain. We typed in our destination into Waze and headed out. After driving a while we came across this little roadside café so we stopped for breakfast there. We had a tasty little meal, and then Pastora Remy began to share with the three people that were running the little eatery. It was amazing God held back any other patrons until she had led them all to the Lord. Then immediately a flood of people began stopping for breakfast.
We ended up traveling over an hour or so to get to the church. Later the pastor said we needed to use Google maps when we were in the province and the app Waze in Metro Manila! He was right, on the way back to the hotel that day it only took twenty minutes! But we knew God had other plans, He had a divine appointment with three precious people who were a little off our intended path! — Calli
Win the Philippines, Win the world!
Let’s do it together!
