A Gideon International Scripture Blitz is one of the most significant mission outreach programs in all of Christendom with many hundreds of thousands of copies of the Word of God going into the hands of the youth of the world. The 2 week blitz to the Philippines in January this year was truly epic!
A team of 24 international men joined many local Gideon and Auxiliary members in Cebu City for the first week before flying into Manila for the second week.
The blitz was initially planned for February but brought forward which was to our benefit because, unbeknown to us, President Rodrigo Duterte, an uncompromising national leader, had declared that January was National Bible Month for the entire country and the last week which we were in Manila was National Bible Week!!
With that edict, we had free rein in all the national senior high schools with assemblies or room to room placements where we could proclaim the good news of the Death & Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Amazing!
The numbers were staggering with our team placing 4200 by 7:30 am one morning. There were also times of one on one witnessing amongst the mayhem and pictured here is Kent Erb of Georgia leading our driver Hosea Roy to Christ at the end of a day’s activities. It was such a joy to sit with him for our 3 hour return to the hotel as he tried to explain this “new feeling I have in my whole body.”
You will all now be familiar with Philippians chapter 1 vs 27 “…that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel.” (KJV) This trip for me was a lesson in that.
The trials we faced were unrelenting and exhausting.
I cannot begin to explain the traffic in this country. 4:00am was a sleep-in and breakfast was something you had before leaving Australia! One night our hotel caught fire at 3am. Alarms were going off in rooms. We got down to the lobby with water everywhere. Meanwhile a volcano south of Manila was erupting and all flights were cancelled and it was not known if we would get out of Cebu.
A few of the men had received news of unexpected family illnesses back home and one had arrived with no luggage. In all of this, no-one complained or acted inappropriately.
We thanked the LORD each night and committed each new day into His care.
It made me so proud to be a member of The Gideons International. Thank you for your prayers for myself and my family in my absence.
Patrick Jones
Article taken from Australian Gideon magazine, June 2020