North Cemetery is a vast city in itself. Many of the tombs are bigger and better ‘homes’ than any of the thousands (millions?) of poor in Manila. And many of these poor take up residency in the tombs. Owners pay up to $6 a month for a family to take up residency. This provides a roof and area to sleep in exchange for making sure no objects (iron fences, photos, etc) are destroyed or stolen. Some of the owners also provide a drinking water supply for their ‘tenants.’
It is in this place that we had our second annual healing crusade. It is reported to me that our particular area is for sale, the bones have been removed and take to Europe somewhere. There are three crypts, two adult and one child, but a fairly spacious floor area some 6-8 square meters under the roof, which is crumbling cement. Our hosts have the key to the iron fence gate.
Most of our group is very young children and their mother
s, with a contingent of teenagers hanging around outside, sometimes moving in and out. We have several lively songs, and I preach a message about Christ, his love, his healing power. A woman experiences relief from the usual back pain and fatigue, and with this, others come forward. One woman is quite fearful, for breast cancer has caused pus to be flowing from her breast. I didn’t get details, I have difficulty enough getting the basic information with the language! After prayer, she said all pain had disappeared. I had her go into the back with one of the ladies on our team to check it out. They came back and reported that the pus flow had nearly stopped. We prayed again, they checked again and reported just a pinpoint of pus remained. Relief and joy flooded her face!
s, with a contingent of teenagers hanging around outside, sometimes moving in and out. We have several lively songs, and I preach a message about Christ, his love, his healing power. A woman experiences relief from the usual back pain and fatigue, and with this, others come forward. One woman is quite fearful, for breast cancer has caused pus to be flowing from her breast. I didn’t get details, I have difficulty enough getting the basic information with the language! After prayer, she said all pain had disappeared. I had her go into the back with one of the ladies on our team to check it out. They came back and reported that the pus flow had nearly stopped. We prayed again, they checked again and reported just a pinpoint of pus remained. Relief and joy flooded her face!
Then some of the teens started coming in. I am not sure of the stories, but the change in faces, and the fact that others came in for prayer told me that something was taking place when I prayed for them.
One of the interesting facets of North Cemetery is the ‘Condominiums.’ I noticed some last year, now there are many more. These are high rise 2x2x6' square tubes piled upon one another, crypts awaiting sale and occupancy of dead bodies. In the meantime, many become places of refuge for the squatter community.
Surely our small gathering is not even a sampling of the lives in this strange community in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world!
--HK--
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