Honeymoon in Boracay Island with Divine Appointment

Weddings and honeymoons are always associated with fun and adventures, where to go, where to stay, and plans on what to do.

But of course, it is always expected that the couple during honeymoon aimed for privacy and fun being together as husband and wife. My case is very unusual. I married my husband in a situation where I can say that only God can do such thing. I met him in the internet. I will not go into details about that but suffice it to say that I got saved in the internet and God has given me a wonderful gift, that is, my husband. We received the blessings of God in a small church in March 2006.

I am blessed to be married to a good man. But it was quite hard for me in the very beginning because we do not live together. I lived in the Philippines and he lives in America. Our means of communication is through cellphone and chatting in the internet through yahoo messenger. Because of the 12-hour time difference, it was easy to chat morning and evening. But sometimes we talked 3 times in a day. Tough isn't it? It was really hard for me and for my husband too. Not only we missed each other, but the thought of living 10,000 miles away was tearing me apart. The only thing that gives me consolation was our yearly "Honeymoon." You might wonder why? Sounds weird. Yearly honeymoon? Well, we call it "honeymoon," because our being together was very precious. Just imagine, seeing your husband or your wife once a year and just for a duration of 2 weeks, that was really very memorable.

Our first honeymoon, of course this was after we were married. This was in Cagayan de Oro City. We spent it at Pryce Plaza Hotel. It was one of the beautiful hotels in Cagayan de Oro. That was very significant for me. I never had a honeymoon before even in my past. It was fun, but after the end of that 2-week vacation time of my husband, the happiness was replaced with pain because he will be going back to America without me of course. That really hurts. Yet, we have to endure the pain.

During the first months of our marriage, I invited my husband to live with me in the Philippines. I had hoped that we will be together so soon. He agreed to move with me and planned to sell the condo unit where he lives. As I said earlier, that my husband is a good Christian who is a strong believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was instrumental of my salvation. He is also my best friend and my mentor. We both love each other unconditionally. I consider him as my wonderful gift, my bonus from the Lord for being saved, and a proof of God's love to me. Let me tell you that before I got saved, I was the worst sinner of all. But God is so good. He is a God that saves.

So, because of the plan for him to move with me in the Philippines, we agreed that he will see me and spend time with me once in a year for 2 weeks to have our sort of "honeymoon" until he will be able to settle all the things that need to be settled before he comes to the Philippines. That was it! But within 14 months the condo did not sell. That was the time that the market started to go down. I guess that was really a blow to my hope. Then, an idea came to him which we believe, wisdom from God that instead of him coming to the Philippines to live with me, I will be the one to come to USA to live with him. Let me tell you that contrary to most expectations and misconceptions that "marrying an American" will be a good passport in coming to the United States of America. This was not true with me. I did not really like the idea of living in America. I guess I just did not want to leave my family and my country. That was my problem. I had a week to think about that. We both asked the guidance of the Lord. Finally, I agreed to come to the U.S.

But prior to my coming here, we spent our 3rd honeymoon in Boracay Island in January 2008. Boracay is a beautiful island. It is not that big though. It is only 1 mile wide and 3 miles long. It is one of the famous beautiful beaches in the Philippines. As you can see in the pictures that I have posted here, it has a unique beauty. It is called the "island paradise." It is the favorite of both foreign and domestic travelers because of its sparkling crystal clear water, powder-fine white sand and the authentic Filipino hospitality that cannot be found anywhere else in the world. Boracay is also one of the progressive communities in Tourism and industry. During the time when we were there, there was an on-going construction of another big hotel. It was really a beautiful place. Most of the people who own businesses there especially the hotels and beaches are foreigners.

So, my husband and I met in Manila on January 19th and spent 2 days only in Best Western La Corona Hotel. That is our favorite hotel since our first meeting in March 20, 2006. It is because the rate is very reasonable, good food, clean, and we felt safe there. Besides, we believe that God anointed places and business establishments if we ask his kingdom to come and peace for that place.

On January 23, 2008, we flew from Manila to Kalibo, Aklan. Then from Kalibo airport, we rode in a van for 2 hours to Caticlan, a small city in the coast where a ferry boat will take us to the island of Boracay.

I was expecting that we are going to spend time together just the two of us, away from our family and friends. That was really the idea of choosing Boracay in the first place. I was so excited! At last, I will be able to see the world famous Boracay beach, one of the prides of my country.

So we checked-in at Boracay Hills. It is a small hotel but it has good facilities. It has 10 rooms all equipped with air-condition, mini-bar, cable TV, hot water and telephone. You can also enjoy the swimming pool, outdoor cinema, gym and spa. It has internet access and conference facilities and complimentary shuttle service. I really enjoyed the peace and tranquility of Boracay hills. I slept that first night with full of expectations. But we did not know that God has also a plan for us even during that "honeymoon." We were praying our devotional and reading the bible very early that morning when suddenly my husband said "I think I am going to prayer-walk on the island."

"What? But we are here to enjoy ourselves. Oh no, please say you are just kidding. This is a kind of a special trip."

Well, my husband said he was not even thinking about prayer-walking. It just suddenly popped-up in his mind. He asked me to pray and if I wanted to go with him in prayer-walking.

Actually, I had a long talk with the Lord about that, and I told God that may be he can set aside the prayer-walking this time. May be we can do that in some other time. This is purely for pleasure. I heard from the Lord telling me... "Do you think you are here just for that pleasure thing? You are here for a purpose... just you wait and see." I was a little bit dismayed. But I always honor the thoughts that come from God. I really believe that was from the Lord. I was trying to reason but of course, we always follow the voice of God, which is the Holy Spirit in us, the small voice in our hearts.

So, I said: "Okay Lord, if that is what you want us to do, then we will prayer-walk as you say.”

We started our "honeymoon of divine appointment” that day. We took the map with us and trying to figure out where we go first. So, we walked in the neighborhood of Bantud, Manoc-Manoc, Malay, Aklan, Boracay island. Then we felt inkling to follow a small access road from the main street. Along the way, we spotted a middle-aged lady working at her garden. As I looked at her, she is in her late 40s. In my mind, I silently blessed her.

Then my husband suddenly said "Wait! I think I would like to say hello to that lady. Do you want to do that too?"

I don't really know what prompted me to say, "Yes, I would love to say hello to her."

Sounds crazy isn't it? We were strangers and she might not welcome us, but when we say hello to her, she had a very welcoming smile. We introduced ourselves and then we started to talk to her about Jesus. That lady had a very sad experience in her life, especially in her love life. But the most wonderful thing happened; she was as open to received Jesus Christ as Lord and personal Savior. Halleluiah! I did not know that I will feel so happy just praying for that lady and letting her pray the salvation prayer. One thing that we have noticed, her face was so sad when we talked to her at first but after she got saved, her face glowed. I even posted our picture here. You can tell that she looks so happy and well, I am smiling very big too. Can't help it. I guess that is really my branded very big smile.

We left her with a merry heart. We were so happy too and proceeded to the beach where my husband finds an internet cafe to check his bank account. After that we tried to find our way home because it is getting late in the afternoon. It is going to be dark so soon. But we could not find our way. We could not figure out the map. God is so good! We prayed that he will guide us to our hotel and there it was! We were both relieved to be back safe and sound in our hotel. But that serves us a lesson because we did not bother to hire for a guide.

We asked God that night to send us a guide to take us to the high places and the strategic areas which we could pray and ask the presence of God's kingdom to come. Guess what? God sent us a guide who is a Christian. He guides us to the high places and the places where he thought that really need prayer. Some of these places we took pictures. I posted it here.

We continued our prayer-walking with the help of our guide. Then Saturday came, we were planning to find a church to attend a church service. Lots of church of course, but we wanted to find a born again or a Pentecostal church. Then our guide invited us to come in a small church. It was a very small church. The pastor was very young, but he was very spirit-filled. One can tell anyway because of the Holy Spirit that is in us. What we did not expect was that we will be asked to give testimony. The Pastor asked Tom, my husband to give his testimony and also an altar call for those who wanted to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and personal Savior. I was expecting that may be 1 or 2 among the people who were attending that service will stand up. But to my surprise, almost all of them stood up and received Jesus! In my estimate maybe there are 15-25 including the kids who received salvation at that time.

The remarkable thing is: That small church was located in one of those areas we prayer-walk. Do you think that was natural? It was God! He is really moving even in places where it was not expected to happen.

That was not the only salvation; some of the personnel at Boracay hills also got saved. One I could not forget was Jane. She was a kind of very smart and gifted lady, a nice one too.

So you see that was the reason why we had that divine appointment, even on our supposed to be honeymoon because there are souls out there who really need Jesus. It just happened that we made ourselves available to God.

On our way back to Caticlan during our departure day for Manila on January 30, 2008, the driver of the van we hired also received Jesus. He was supposed to pick-up a passenger, but ended up instead of taking us to the airport. That was God! He was calling for those souls who are willing to submit to his will and has opened their hearts for the Lord. I could still remember how I talked to him in our language about Jesus for the 2-hour trip from Caticlan to Kalibo airport.

I could not thank God enough for that wonderful time in Boracay. What a wonderful, awesome and miraculous God we have!

It turned out that we had fun more than what we expected during that vacation. It was one of our wonderful times during that 3rd honeymoon. Salvation in Boracay!

So, if ever you want to spend another honeymoon, or a vacation, be ready because God might give you a divine appointment or assignment that is not expected and not part of your plans.

God needs our time, our willingness, and obedience.

We did not spend so much time privately during that honeymoon but it gives us so much fun watching people getting saved.