JESUS
and the Filipino Kids

I had been a Christian for two years (I was saved in 2013) when God sent me to the Philippines.

Shortly after I started a new job as a career advisor in a media institute, I was told the company would close for two weeks during the summer holidays. I asked God what He wanted me to do during my holidays. He replied, “Write children’s songs in Tagalog. There are not many Christian songs for kids in Tagalog.”

Since I didn’t speak Tagalog (Filipino), I figured I would write songs in English and have them translated into Tagalog. I asked God what He wanted me to do with the songs when they were finished. “Make animated videos for each song and put it all in DVD format. Go to the Philippines and give the DVDs free of charge to orphanages.” I had four weeks to complete my assignment.

In Austria depending on your work contract, you can receive double your salary in the summer. It’s called holiday money, or Urlaubsgeld in German. In the winter you can also receive double your salary. It’s called Christmas money, or Weihnachtsgeld in German. With my holiday money I bought my flight ticket to Manila, booked a hotel there, and paid for the production of my five hundred-plus DVDs.

On a Saturday afternoon the Holy Spirit inspired me to write beautiful songs in English. As I wrote them down I chose which ones would be translated into Tagalog. There were seven songs in total. The next day I attended a church service, and God pointed out to me the person who could translate the songs into Tagalog. It was a Filipino man I had never spoken to before. When I told him about my assignment, he said he was delighted to help. Less than a week later he sent me the translated lyrics by email.

Of course when I looked at the translation, I couldn’t understand a word. The Holy Spirit told me to simplify the songs. I tried to argue by saying I didn’t speak Tagalog and therefore couldn’t modify the translation.

“Trust Me,” He said. So I looked at the three translated texts, and step by step the Holy Spirit told me which words to remove. He kept on repeating, “Keep it simple. Keep it simple.” By faith I deleted words to keep the song simple.

The following week I heard someone humming at my workplace. When I looked to see where the melody was coming from, I recognized a young Filipino man I had spoken to once or twice before. The next day I told him about my project. He said he was a Christian too and agreed to sing the songs. On top of that, he was a guitar player!

It was a Saturday afternoon when we met at my workplace, and he had forgotten to bring his guitar along—but coincidently we found a broken guitar lying there. No one knew who the guitar belonged to, so that’s the guitar he used. When I showed him the lyrics in Tagalog, I expected him to complain because I had deleted many words. To my surprise, he didn’t. He sang the songs as if he had written them himself. The seven songs were recorded in four hours.

I recorded, arranged, and edited the songs on my MacBook Pro X using a Yeti microphone and Logic Pro X software.

Most of my friends were telling me not to fly to the Philippines. They were concerned because I was traveling by myself, didn’t know anyone there, and couldn’t even speak Filipino. But I trusted my supernatural God—and that was enough for me.

In my transit flight from Vienna to Abu Dhabi another miracle happened. I was sitting next to a lady but decided to change to a seat I thought would be more comfortable. A stewardess saw me in the new seat and asked me to go back to my previous one. I was disappointed. Then the lady next to me introduced herself. She was from Australia and was traveling with her pastor husband back to Australia. She inquired about the reason for my trip.

She couldn’t believe no organization had sponsored me and that I didn’t know anyone in the Philippines. After speaking to her husband for a short while, she said, “If you run into any trouble in Manila or have financial difficulties, let us know, and we will send you money.”

Wow! God, You set me up to sit next to these amazing people! Thank You!

It felt good to be in the company of this lovely Australian couple.

I arrived in Manila on a Saturday. My hotel (the BSA Twin Tower Hotel) was in Ortigas, a central business district. As soon as the Wi-Fi was connected in my room, I went online and searched for orphanages. I made myself a list and had it printed out at the hotel reception desk. I started my assignment the very next day. During my days there I usually left my hotel early in the morning and returned late at night.

After a few days God spoke to my heart and said I should also distribute DVDs to churches, daycare centers, schools, kindergartens, and everywhere else I could find children. I also gave DVDs to people I was sharing a bus, jeepney, or metro with.

I went all over Manila (north, south, east, and west) to reach my various destinations. Many of my destinations were not even on my list. I found them “by chance.” I traveled by bus, metro, train, jeepney, motorcycle, tricycle, taxi, and foot—always asking people for directions. Thankfully for me, they all spoke English. When I would share the reason for my trip, I usually received this response: “Why didn’t God send you to Africa? Africans really need help and you’re African.”

I would reply, “I don’t know. Ask God, not me.”

I noticed that after giving me directions or receiving the DVDs, the people would give me a concerned look and say, “Please take care of yourself. Please take care.” I found that very strange.

On one occasion I decided to take a tricycle taxi to save some money and asked the driver if he knew the address I was looking for. Confidently, he said yes. It was a lie. He kept on stopping to ask people for directions. I was starting to dislike the guy.

“You don’t know where you are going, do you?” I asked.

He simply replied, “Just relax and enjoy the ride.”

How rude! I thought. “Well, it’s a very expensive ride. I could have taken a taxi for this price. We have been driving for fifteen minutes now and you still don’t know where the place is.”

“We will find it,” he responded.

Just when I was contemplating getting out of the tricycle, God said to me, “Look at his shoes.”

I looked at his shoes. They were old flip-flops.

God continued, “You know it’s very difficult for him to work with those shoes—especially during the rainy season.”

“This guy is already ripping me off, and I should give him more money so he can buy new shoes?”

“No,” God said. “You give him your shoes.”

“What? These are brand new EUR 100 Nike sneakers. I bought them especially for this trip. There is no way I’m giving him my new shoes. Besides, these are women’s shoes and I’m sure we don’t have the same shoe size!”

God continued, “Your shoes are grey and blue. A man could wear them too. Go ahead and ask him for his shoe size.”

Like a spoiled, annoyed child, I asked the driver for his shoe size. Of course—we wore the same size! Before I opened my mouth again, I was hoping the driver would answer no to my next question. I asked him, “Would you wear shoes like these?” I showed him my sneakers.

“Yes, your shoes are very nice.”

So I said to him, “Please stop the tricycle and let’s exchange shoes. I want to give you my shoes as a present.”

“What? Why?” he asked in shock.

“God just laid it on my heart that with the job you do, you need good shoes, especially when it starts to rain heavily.”

He didn’t know how to respond. I tried to convince him some more. Then he said, “I cannot give you my shoes. They are too old and too dirty.”

“Okay,” I said. “So take me to a nearby shoe store and I will buy a new pair of shoes for myself so I can give you these. Is that all right with you?”

He said yes—in total disbelief. We found a store close by and he helped me choose a pair of flip-flops. “Are you sure?” he asked me again.

“Yep.”

Believe it or not, after I gave the driver my sneakers, we found the place I was heading to within a few minutes. We had actually been going in circles for fifteen minutes! Surely God had done this on purpose so the driver could have shoes that would last him for a long time.

Two days before I was scheduled to fly back to Vienna, God told me to send DVDs to Christian radio and television stations in the Philippines, which I did. On the day of my departure I still had some Filipino money left and decided to buy Bibles in Tagalog and distribute them to the hotel staff. I took a taxi to the airport and, of course, shared my story and gave the driver a DVD. When I got out of the cab, the driver waved his hand good-bye and said to me, “See you in heaven, my friend!”

In the airport’s waiting area I sat next to an older man with a very friendly face. He was Filipino and wanted to know what I had been doing in his country. I told him. He asked me if I was not afraid. “Why afraid?” I asked.

“Manila is a very dangerous city—especially for tourists and women traveling alone.”

“Really?” I asked in total shock. “I didn’t know that. I went all over Manila during these two weeks—night and day. Everyone was always helpful and nice to me.”

He shook his head. “Manila is very dangerous. There are a lot of bad people, drug addicts who attack, rob, rape, and kill. My brother was attacked and killed by a taxi driver. He was still young.”

I looked at him, still in shock. “I’m so sorry to hear that about your brother. I really didn’t know Manila was dangerous. I took taxis several times and the last taxi driver even told me that we would see each other in heaven.”

He looked puzzled. “A cab driver said that to you?”

“Yes,” I replied.

It was time to board the plane. When I sat down in my seat, I leaned against the window. I was still in a state of shock. I said to God, “You sent me to such a dangerous place? I can’t believe it.”

God said calmly, “My daughter, aren’t you safe in the plane on your way home? I kept you protected under My wings”

“Oh.” I said. “That’s true. I’m on my way home and You have protected me.” For the first time I understood why people had given me concerned looks and asked me to please take care of myself.

When God gives you a vision, an idea or a plan, He will confirm to you in many ways that the idea came from him and help you all the way. My trip to the Philippines is not only my testimony, but a demonstration of how amazing God is and an invitation for you to renew your faith in Him.

When you say “yes” to something God has placed in your heart, God will:

• fight for you.
• do the impossible for you.
• train you.
• give you fresh ideas.
• teach you to see things from His perspective.
• connect you to the right people.
• supernaturally protect you.
• take care of your needs.
• reward your faith and obedience.

Through your faith and obedience to do what God placed in your heart, you will witness:

• how wonderful and powerful our God is.
• how lives are being transformed and impacted.
• … and much more!