A day of rest

Genesis 2:2
"And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made."
Today is Sunday, our Sabbath. Early this morning, we all woke up for our morning devotionals and quiet time. Some of us stayed in bed and read, while others walked out into the shallow ocean waters, and sat upon the coral reef, and met with their maker.
As the sun began to warm the island, the team made their way over to the Caniogan Bible Baptist Church. The church has been built over the last two years, and has still a ways before completion. Approaching the church our eyes laid upon a basic concrete foundation, dirt floors, and cement brick walls. Men, women and children stood outside the church to greet us, with smiles and hand shakes. “Magundan Omaga,” the team exclaimed, which means good morning in Tagalog. We were then escorted to the front row of the church. Pastor Aguedo Carino opened us up in prayer, and then led us through his message. He emphasized the importance of having a meaningful personal devotional time, and the necessity to be in fellowship with God.
Next, the younger children of the church performed a series of songs giving praise to God. Children as young as 5 years old, stood in front of the congregation, and recited scripture after scripture. In awe of such dedication to memorizing the living Word, a big applause was given in return from a very impressed group of HSE students! For some, tears rolled down thier cheeks, while others were humbled and convicted to see how much these children knew the word of God.
After service, we were surprised by a authentically cooked meal, prepared by the hands of the church body. To see these beautiful people, living in homes without roofs, and beds made upon dirt floors, come out and share the little they had with us, was very humbling to say the least. Our meal consisted of fried fish, sweet rice, papaya, ochre, and pancit! It was amazing! But what was even more amazing was to see God in every person at the picnic. Their hearts of servitude permeated out of every single one of them. Gods presence was clearly there. At the end of our meal, the team ran and played with the children, sang songs in their native tongue, and sat and listen to elders to glean from their wisdom.
Looking around, seeing dogs running to and fro, cows laying in the meadow, rice fields upon rice fields all around us, hearing the laughter shared between new and old friends, it was impossible to not feel the love that God was so freely bestowing upon us.

1 John 3:1
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."