Catie Smith

My Encounter with Jesus
Someone once told me that the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, but the love of God is the highest wisdom. My earliest memory, around the age of four, is a moment of feeling terrified at the idea of being separated from God. At that moment, I asked Jesus to save me from my sins. He came and has never left me since. I grew up in a loving Christian home and was very involved with church. On my road to earning my B.S. in chemistry, I was heavily involved with campus ministry, leading Bible studies, organizing major events, discipling in evangelism and prayer. Part of me was genuine and honest in these activities, but I had a deep struggle in my heart. Doubt crept into my mind, sin snagged a foothold, and guilt ruined the peace in my life. My double-mindedness brought me to a crossroads. To make a long, beautiful story short and sweet, I pleaded with God to show Himself to me. I had a radical encounter with God: the doubt became strong faith; the guilt became security in my Father God’s love; and the sinful addictions lost all power. GOD IS AMAZING!
Ministry in the Philippines
I moved to the Philippines in 2014 as a career missionary with ACTION to follow God’s call on my life. I’ve invested in language & cultural studies and learning from other missionaries. I communicate daily, preaching and teaching in Tagalog and Hiligaynon languages. In 2015, I found my current corner of the world in Iloilo, Philippines in relocation housing for locally displaced people. Prioritizing prayer first and working with my neighbors and the local church, we have witnessed God do wonders in our community. I do my best to be wise is creating as little dependency as possible on myself and approaching ministry in a very holistic way. My greatest thrills are helping people encounter Jesus and empowering those around me to live out their God-given dreams and discover their identity in Christ. Here are some of the very practical ways we are currently showing God’s love to our community:
- Running a learning center & library with 800+ books that is open for the whole community to use. Through this, we are helping kids catch up to their appropriate grades, stimulating dreams and creativity in our community, and teaching our community about Jesus.
- Hosting breakfast for 30+ kids every Saturday. You can’t learn if you are hungry. For five years we had breakfast every school day because of the many malnourished kids, but in nearly two years time, we eliminated malnutrition from our community while supporting local farms and empowering the mothers in our community to lead and participate in the breakfast. As the need was met, the breakfast has transitioned to only be a weekly event.
- Sponsoring 11 college and high school students through our own work-study scholarship. These students are being discipled and are active in the ministry at the learning center— a place many of them grew up in and are now happily ministering.
- Aiding in livelihood projects to help families get out of poverty level income. We do this with wisdom and with people we are discipling, as the Lord leads.
- Hosting a fellowship for the mothers in our community to study the word of God and support each other in prayer and encouragement.
- Hosting annual youth summer camps and evangelistic Christmas parties where people are always gifted with the opportunity to respond to the gospel, and we have baptisms every year at the camps.
- Living daily life with God and discipling and evangelizing through actions and words. Hardly a day goes by that my neighbors and I aren’t exploring God’s word to find encouragement, answers to problems, and guidance for the day. I aim to show people that there is no separation between spiritual and secular, but that God wants to be involved in every aspect of our lives.
In addition to discipling this remote community with the activities listed above, I also travel and teach at mission schools and do targeted outreaches to expand the Kingdom of God in more unreached areas.
Please check out my blog and newsletters - they are especially designed for you couch adventurers, out-of-the-box thinkers, Jesus freaks, God-seekers, and internationally curious folks. I covet your prayers above all else. No matter if you are partnering by reading, praying, being a friend, or giving financially, I’d love to have you along for the adventure!