I first met Zak & Kim Fast in February 2012 at a local church in Winnipeg. They were visiting that Sunday. Kim approached me after seeing a presentation I did that outlined what God was doing in the ministry on Siargao Island in the Philippines. She asked me if we would accept volunteers to serve in the Philippines.
Well, almost one year later in January 2013 this young couple were on their way. Here is part of their story.
Elaine Van Ryckeghem
From Kim:
Before arriving at Hope, like most things in life you have preconceived expectations about how things will be. I came from working in a missions atmosphere for quite a while and my overall experience was definitely to work very hard and be very busy.
Prior to our acceptance at Hope, we filled out an application. One section we filled out mentioned the questions “Are you able to live and work in close proximity?” as well as, “are you in good enough shape to work long hours, standing and in heat?”. Coming from a camp environment these things seemed quite possible, so I was not worried about the physical requirements that might be needed, in fact I was quite excited for them.
Expecting to work hard physically and mentally, and then forcing yourself to slow down, is definitely a challenge to overcome. Especially thousands of miles from your normal, when you are living on island time with people who speak a different language.
We were given the opportunity to run with a young adult program, trying to engage people our age with the desire to dive into the Word. We were starting our own group, forging our own path and it was rough every step of the way. Planning talks and nobody shows up,but when they do, feeling unsure if they’re understanding. One time having such a successful beach day with games, food and sharing time and then the next week no one is there. Not knowing where anybody lives and having people leave when you finally think a connection has been made. God does promise hardship and there certainly were rewarding moments in sharing our personal love for Christ. We were given the opportunity to share verses that speak against much of what the youth have been taught growing up. These were verses that demonstrated the free grace of Christ; grace given, not earned.
I prayed many days that this experience would be life changing and that God would meet me there, and these two things I believe did happen. There is no better place to experience the Glory, Power and Majesty of God the creator than to see it in His creation of nature or children! Much time was spent playing with kids or watching the waves come in over a beautiful sunrise. The relationship that grew with Jesus was worth every hard or frustrating moment.
Those moments where you know that a smile, a hug, or even a goofy look is the only way in that moment you can spread love and accepting that God can even work through something so simple is such a special reminder that we can only plant the seed. God does the watering.
Now looking back at my time at Hope, many different memories and thoughts come to mind. The purpose of the mission and the vast number of kids and youth that are reached by the Love of Christ is for sure something to praise the Lord about.
The Hope staff (better known as the Hope Family), are such an amazing group of loving individuals that it is really not surprising that this ministry runs well and does such a fabulous job of loving others the way Christ loves them. The way they allow and invite so many people into their lives and home, whether local or foreign is definitely a lifestyle that needs to be modelled.
The way a Christian walk should look like was shown to me by the Hope Family. Luke 10:38-42….
[38] As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. [39] She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. [40] But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
[41] “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, [42] but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
I look back on my personal experience with joy, confusion and some sadness. My time at Hope was definitely unforgettable. The organization reaches many lives with Christ’s love and it was very evident in our time there. We met some incredible people that I feel I learned from more than I served.
From Zak:
As Kim also mentioned, we came to Hope with expectations to work hard from sun-up to sun-down. That being said, we certainly spent some time questioning our reasons for being at Hope – especially in the early period. The island culture and the laid back attitude of Hope proved far less busy than we had anticipated. Undoubtedly we were grateful for the time we were able to spend in devotion and prayer, and the beautiful setting in which we could get to know each other better, but we had envisioned working with kids all day, every day.
The times that we did work with the youth, primarily evenings and weekends, we were blessed to be a part of their lives. Through simple tasks like playing basketball and volleyball, fantastic friendships were formed. The language barrier created some difficulties when we tried to communicate the Gospel, so we did our best to model it with our actions and attitudes. I also took some time to teach drum lessons to some of the boys in the youth program. There were between four and six of them every lesson and only one electric drum set, so the tasked proved both daunting and interesting.
The most direct evangelism that we took part in was the young adult ministry. We were given the opportunity to start it from scratch and make it look however we wanted. Excited at the chance, but feeling somewhat overwhelmed we did our best to get them out to afternoon activities or evening Bible studies. Often times these invitations would go unanswered and we would be left with an evening to ourselves, wondering what we could have done differently to get them excited about the Bible. We were able to connect quite closely with one young adult, and we were grateful for the chance.
Overall, Hope for the Island is an incredible place. It is literally being the hands and feet of Christ to so many people on an island that has no idea what Christ is really about. The women of Hope demonstrate Christ’s example on a daily basis and are self-sacrificial in their non-stop ministry. The island is beautiful and the culture is so friendly that it is hard to say goodbye. Visitors to Hope are treated like movie stars in the nearby town of Burgos and we were no exception. It was a cultural experience unlike any we had ever had before and we are forever grateful for it.
It is difficult to sum up a life changing event in a few paragraphs. There were difficult weeks and wonderful weeks. We laughed and we cried. We saw God working in the lives of so many people, and also spent time questioning His calling of us to Hope. We don’t know the impact we had on Siargao Island and I don’t expect that we ever will. We do know that we were stretched and developed individually and as a couple, and that we were privileged to have played any part in Christ’s plan for the people on that wonderful island. God is doing wonderful things through Hope for the Island, and we count ourselves blessed to have been witness to it.
