My name is Anna and I recently led a Youth With a Mission (YWAM) Maui School of Biblical Foundations and Missions Team (SBFM) to Hope for the Island.
Hope for the Island is an exemplary example of what it looks like to serve and worship God in every facet of your life. We, as a team, had the privilege to serve alongside the staff and live life with them for two whole months.
We had the expectation to come serve, teach and disciple the staff and community, but as we did, we were served, taught, and discipled by each of them too. Our team was greatly impacted by the staff- their testimonies, their lives and the way they pursue God authentically and passionately.
I believe that Hope for the Island portrays what Jesus has always intended the body of Christ to look like; their lives reflect Jesus and they display His heart so beautifully all throughout the community. Whether we are visiting with the widows or playing with children, the confidence in Jesus that they carry and how the gospel has changed their lives is evident and God is glorified. Because of our time at Hope for the Island, I can easily say that none of us will ever be the same. We were inspired, encouraged, challenged and sharpened everyday.
We loved coming alongside all of the different ministries and spending our free time getting to know the staff and teaching them different content from our SBFM. Each week, we got to spend a day working at the Hope for the Island Organic Farm, which provides organic food for people all over the island and supports feeding malnourished children one meal a day.
Our team of eleven was split up into groups with different staff for kids, youth, and widow’s ministry. One of our favorite memories from our time there, was our time spent visiting and bringing “rice and The Word” to the widows in the community. It was amazing to talk, laugh, pray, and keep them company. One of the widows shared how most people have nearly forgotten about her, but the staff at Hope never have- they always come to check in on her and bring her food every week.
We did Bible studies each week with the young adults, as well as the different young people that volunteer at Hope. We also got to share each week at their Friday youth nights and partnered with the staff as they encouraged and loved on the different youth in the community.
Saturdays we had full days of Kids and Youth Ministry, where our team and the staff would split off and bring food to the kids around the surrounding areas- we would sing, play games and share a Bible story with them.
Our team felt so inspired as we watched the staff serve and love the people in their communities. It is clear that the love they share is a love that comes straight from God. Twice a week in the mornings, different members of our team would teach on topics that they learned in SBFM lecture phase, such as Bible Overview, Ap
ologetics, World View, Spiritual Disciplines, the occults and forgiveness and healing of wounds.
One of our favorite nights of our time there was when all of the guys from our team and the Hope staff guys went with Derek on a discipleship / surf trip. The girls stayed behind. The girls on our team prayed and got encouraging words and verses for the Hope staff girls and washed their feet. It was a beautiful time of being able to worship God and to serve these amazing women that have laid their lives down to serve God and the people of Siargao.
We are so honored to have had the opportunity to go and serve with Hope for the Island. It was a transformational time for each person on our team and the staff is a huge reason why.
God continually amazes me as well as the power of the Gospel- how it shapes and changes lives and how when you really understand what Christ did on the cross, it transforms the way you live and breathe.
The staff at Hope for the Island live lives that exemplify Christ, that reflect the Father heart of God and are an example of the Gospel, not just talked about, but lived out. The Lord is doing amazing things in Burgos and all over Siargao Island. We are so confident and expectant that He has big plans in store for this ministry and that as they serve diligently and proclaim His name boldly, revival is going to strike the hearts of the people and transform this little area into being a catalyst for the entire island to come into relationship with Jesus Christ.
Here are a few testimonies from some of our team:
Camille Wall, 20, Winnipeg
Hope for the Island is a place that has been truly blessed by the Lord and the fact that I got to be apart of it humbles me and I couldn’t be more thankful. One story that impacted me the most there was when we were doing widows ministry. It was the last day we got to see the widows before we took off and flew back home and my group went to our usual widows we go to. And as we went to visit one of them for the last time, we were just chatting and sharing a 
word from the Bible with her, and she starts all of a sudden crying and speaking to Kenneth, one of the staff at Hope for the Island. Kenneth translated that she was saying how grateful she was that we would come visit her and spend time with her and share God’s love with her. She told us that she has no one, and on Christmas she sat alone in her home crying because no one came to visit her and she had no family to celebrate with.
This broke my heart, but at the same time it spoke so much about who the Hope Staff is and what they are doing. They truly are reaching the unreached in Burgos. They are going to the people who don’t feel loved, who are overlooked and who need Jesus’ love. This showed me that it isn’t about going to the most open places and getting the glory for ourselves but its about going house to house, in the hidden places serving the Lord’s children that He loves. This reflects the ministry and the heart the Hope Staff have towards the Lord and towards Burgos. They challenged me to serve the Lord in everything I do, and they showed me that our service and ministry only flows from our love for the Lord.
Chelsea Weibe, 20, Winnipeg
A testimony that happened while I was at Hope for the Island was when we watched a widow come to Christ! She had grown up in a Catholic family and was used to living by the traditional rules of Catholicism. As week by week went by we continued to share with her more about Jesus and the personal relationship He allows us to have with Him. We told her about what it means to sacrifice your life for Jesus and how He deserves our whole life for what He has done for us on the cross. We would pray for her, give her rice, and then go on to the next widows home.
One week, as we were back speaking to her there was a shift in her attitude and emotions. She wanted Jesus, not just the religion but also the relationship. She understood that it has nothing to with what she does but all by what Jesus accomplished. We stood by her as she told her Father that she is coming into His kingdom and wants to live for Him. It was a celebration not only for us in Burgos, but for the Angels in Heaven.”
Danny, 20, Minnesota
My time at Hope For The Island was pivotal if I had to describe it in one word. Not because we had the opportunity to serve the staff through teaching and come along side them in their amazing ministry that they have been provided, but because of who they are as a part of the Church.
They resemble the Body of Christ in such an immaculate way because they live the Gospel. One particular experience of this that stands out to me is when two towns combined for the youth night. Camille had shared a message about following Christ with everything we are. After we had a small group with the older guys and Kenneth brought a message of fire to them. They were talking about how they follow Jesus because they go to youth night and say amen at good things they hear, but Kenneth (hearing from the Lord) interrupted them with the question of “Why do you say Amen?” This took them back and allowed them to evaluate who they are as followers of Christ. And this is what we see repeated in the gospel–Jesus provoking people with deep questions, to meet them where they are at. Luke 8:45-47 is an example of this. The woman touched Jesus and He asks who touched Him, not out of curiosity, but out of intimate knowing of the details of her life and faith.
Kenneth out of his intimacy with the Lord and insight of these boys’ lives was able to pierce the hearts of the boys and cause them to question if they are even serious about following Jesus. This is one example of many in how the Hope for the Island staff live the gospel as well as preach it.
