Coria Brock:

A mission trip going to Philippines is more like a personal vacation to me. Not only because this was my fourth time there, but it was a reunion with many brothers and sisters I have known for many years. Some of them became a family to me even before I married and moved to the United State. One special sister in Christ is actually the person who told me about Jesus.

 

My life has crossed paths with them for more than fifteen years, and some things that have happened during that time are now Christ’ testimonies. On the last day of our trip, the pastor, my dear brother and friend, shared one of these testimonies with me…

 

“Sister Coria, do you recognize the TV we use as monitor that is hanging in front of you? (I surely had no idea) This is the TV that belonged to you and that I watched when I visited you at your apartment in Hong Kong. You freely gave me this TV when you left Hong Kong to move to the United States. I was blessed to receive it, and we are still using it today.”

 

He then told me more, “Do you remember that someone broke into our church after your last mission trip to the Philippines five years ago? They stole all the sound and music equipment at the church, and they took the TV and laid down in front of the church door. Yet, they must have forgotten to move it to their car because this TV was the only thing we had left, and it is a miracle!”

 

A miracle God had made so that a testimony could be shared on that specific Sunday!

 

While on this trip, I witnessed unbelievers accept Jesus, those who had turned from the faith come back to Christ, as many who were following a religion come to truly know Jesus is their Lord and Savior. Yet, this is not a onetime thing to me. I live my life for Him every day. I am a missionary sent out from my homeland to the United States. I live here and I bring my faith with me. When God sends me out to any part of the world, it is just a part of my missionary journey. My life with Christ does not change whether I am in Hong Kong or the United States. With every decision and action that I make I am serving my Lord. I am ALL IN to go to wherever Jesus calls me to!

 

For the record, this may be a mission trip, however, it is truly about a life-long relationship. There may be challenges, but my life reflects the love of Jesus. Thank you, God!

 

Christopher Brock:

I am always excited to go on mission trips, and for this one I would say that I was even more excited than normal. I was excited to get to see my friends and brothers in sisters in Christ who I have now known for years. I also knew that on this trip there would be ample opportunity to teach the Word of the Lord, which is my passion.

 

Beginning on the first day of work we began to visit different churches and share the Word with the believers. Over the course of the trip the team had the opportunity to share in nearly a dozen churches over eighteen services and outreaches.

 

One of the highlights for me was on the first Sunday that we were there. On that day the team split up into five groups of two. Thirteen-year-old Wyatt went with me, and we went to three different churches to teach the Word. We got to drive through many towns and villages in the province of Pangasinan and meet many wonderful people. We also were blessed to have some great food at the churches as well. It was truly a blessed day.

 

There were many other things that happened but one thing that really touched me was to see the unity of the Body of Christ as we worked and served together. God is doing amazing things all across the world and it continues to be blessing to be a part of it!

 

CJ Brock: 

I thought it was an amazing first mission trip, and I am very thankful that God put me on that path to go to the Philippines. I had tons of fun, and I loved spreading the word there.

​

Benjamin Hunt:

Revelation 7:9-10 says:

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”

 

From the beginning of my adulthood, overseas missions have been something that I've always felt called to. I've been on 2 short-term trips in the past. Once to Honduras and once to Morocco. Those trips were different in that the central drive of each trip was not necessarily to work or speak in a church setting. They were more seed planting and home building- literally helping build some cinder block homes in Honduras. 

 

This trip was very different. We were there to speak and share in churches. On this trip, I felt the Lord calling me to encourage His people. In sharing my testimony and message, I was, hopefully, able to encourage congregations to step out of their comfort zones- that God can and will use them as beacons of the love of Christ to their neighbors, families, and friends. It was amazing that the Lord opened the doors to these churches and blessed me and my family to be able to participate in their worship and to be so privileged as to be able to pray for the pastors and the people in their congregations. 

 

I love interacting with people from other cultures. I love learning about their customs and the way they live their daily lives. The people of the Philippines are warm, welcoming, and caring. I admire their love of family and the way they take care of each other. Some folks we met had never spoken English to a foreigner before but that didn't stop them from being kind and gracious. 

 

 As our team heard me repeat many times, the highlight of this trip for me was to engage in powerful worship of our Lord with believers from nearly the opposite side of the earth. The reminder that despite differences in our skin color, language, and cultures, we are all created in His image. When I get to worship with fellow believers, even if I don't understand every word, I am awed by the wonder of our God and brought to tears by the thought that what I got to experience on earth, is just a tiny taste of what heaven will be like! 

​

Mandy Hunt:

It's difficult to put into words how the trip impacted me, but I will do my best. It really started before we left and even before we had the funds to go. Since we had William, I have had a desire/dream to go on a mission trip with our whole family, so I was so excited that God was going to make it a reality. We knew it would take a lot to get us there, but Ben and I had complete faith that God would supply, and of course He did. It was so awesome for Ben, myself and boys to see God do that for us ….. because it was WAY more than we could afford on our own. 

 

There are so many things I could tell you about where we saw God's hand at work, but that would take up too much room on the website. Lol 

 

Most people that know me, know that I am more comfortable behind the scenes, but God decided to push me way out of my comfort zone. We had more places to speak than the original 4 speakers (Chris, Coria, Ben and Lina) could be at, so that meant I had to step up and speak at one of the churches. I was asking Ben over and over, Babe, I don't know how to do this, where do I even start?? He gave me thoughts and advice and I prayed and prayed and prayed and the only thing I could come up with was the story of my life and the “Nevers” (things I didn't want to do) I told God. So, I wrote it all out and the first day I was supposed to speak, it was just me, Chris, Wyatt and William waiting for our rides at the hotel and I was asking Chris for advice and he gave me some good techniques that really helped!! I also had people praying for me back in the States, because I was so concerned about only speaking what God wanted me to and not my own words. God is so amazing because both that night and the Sunday morning that I had the honor to speak to the same church (which wasn't supposed to be that way, we were supposed to speak at different churches each time, but God made it happen for Will and I to go to the same one) I had amazing peace and no fear at all and barely had to use my notes. 

​

I also felt God leading me to share about my brother’s death. While I have had unexplainable peace about his death, I never expected that one of the reasons for his death would be for me to share about it on a mission trip and be part of my story. 

 

As I said, there are so many things I could tell you about. But, the other few things that impacted me was serving alongside my husband, boys, dear friends, and getting to know the Filipino people.

 

Lina is Filipino, and was a part of our team the whole time. I am so thankful God gave us the gift of becoming friends. She gave me words from God when I was allowing the enemy to cause insecurities and she is a huge inspiration in the boldness of telling people about Jesus and the love He has for them. 

 

God put me out of my comfort zone, gave me peace and showed me how He uses things, especially from storms you go through and that  you never thought would be part of your story,  for His Glory. I am not one to come to tears easily, but when I think of all He has done, it starts to bring tears of awe and joy.

​

William Hunt:

It was a wonderful trip. The people were all so incredible, seeing so many young people dedicated to Christ and pastors who are my age, it was all so encouraging. I made many friends whom I'll have to return to and visit in the future. I won't forget the little children that talked, played, danced and laughed with us. God has a great plan for the Philippines and is already hard at work with them