Scenes from Cagayan de Oro

What a surprise it was to arrive and find a big banner across the front of the auditorium announcing the coming week's DVBS seminar.  A smaller one hung in front of the building.  I spent some of the time teaching on general principles of ministry to children and the rest of the time getting the students ready for their summer ministry of holding Vacation Bible School in churches throughout the area.

The boys sat on one side of the room, and the girls on the other.  So when we broke into discussion groups, it was usually a group of all boys or all girls.

Do you need to go somewhere that is too far to walk, but not on the route that the jeepneys and buses travel?  Then you need a bicycle with a side cart.

These vehicles are actually a small van body built onto a motorcycle.  They usually travel the smaller streets and have regular routes.

Do you need to have something carried?  You might be able to hire this young man to do it for you.

Security guards abound.  Every store and shopping mall has at least one.  They inspect your bags and purses when you walk in.  If there is a perceived threat, you might have to leave your shopping bags with them while you shop.

When we think of reaching out to Muslims, we do not always think of the Philippines, but Mindanao has many Muslim faithful who live there.  I encountered these ladies in the mall, and they graciously allowed me to take their picture.

More Than Bravery

Mindanao, the southern island in the Philippine archipelago, is known for trouble.  An active rebel movement called the New People’s Army has kept the Philippine army busy for decades.  While we were there, they killed eight soldiers in a town not far away.  In addition, an extremist Muslim group, Abu Sayef, periodically makes the news with its activity.  Years ago they captured New Tribes missionaries, Martin and Gracia Burnham, and held them for ransom.  When the army tried to set the Burnhams and the other prisoners free, Martin was killed in crossfire.  We were grateful that Abu Sayef was quiet that week. 

IPM has a missionary family there, and we wondered what they would be like in person.  There were things we already knew.  We knew that Glen Namoc and his wife have a burden to reach Mindanao and other parts of the world for Christ.  We knew that 31 years ago, they began a Bible institute to train young men and women to become missionaries, church planters, pastors and other church leaders.  We knew that they call Mindanao their home.

In other parts of the Philippines, people think that those who live in Mindanao are either trouble or brave.  The Namocs know about the reputation of Mindanao, but they do not feel brave.  Mindanao is home to them, and just as you and I would deal with difficulties in our homeland, so do they.  Yet even though they do not feel brave, we found something more compelling than simple bravery.  We found a profound dedication that we do not often see, not just in them but in the others who stand with them in their ministry.  We found students eager to learn and to find ways to serve.

Where in the U.S. would you hear stories of:

• a husband leaving his wife behind for four years in order to plant five churches in an unreached part of the island?
• students eager to finish their education in the city with all of its amenities to return to the primitive village lifestyle in order to plant churches and share the love of Jesus with their neighbors?
• a willingness to go hungry in order to attend Bible college?  We heard of one student who often went without lunch because he did not have the ten cents he needed in order to pay for lunch.
• farming families willing to give up their children’s labor in order for them to attend Bible college and go into the ministry?  (Imagine what it would be like if a farmer in the U.S. gave away his combine to further the gospel.)
• a willingness to go into areas known to be infiltrated by terrorists in order to preach the gospel?

  

  This year's graduates singing at graduation.
  White robes signify a 1-year certificate and black robes a 3-year degree.

• being told to leave your motorcycle helmet off so people know who you are and do not attack you?  It also lets your friends know where you were last seen.
• selling a plot of land you inherited in order to buy a motorcycle so you can reach into the mountain villages?

As we heard more and more stories like these, Charlie asked Glen, “What are you doing in this ministry to encourage this kind of dedication?” 

He shook his head, apparently dumbfounded that we thought he was doing it. 

We finally realized something.  Wholehearted commitment is not something you can program into your students.  It is, instead, a work of God.  Although they are doing all they can to encourage the student body toward wholehearted dedication to the Lord, the credit is due not to him, but to the Holy Spirit who is at work in the students’ hearts.

February Highlights

Looking back, these are some of our blessings from this month.

Twice a month our church goes out into the neighborhoods to visit those who need encouragement and to share the gospel.  In February, Charlie was the prayer partner as one of the men in our church led a young man to the Lord.

We attended a Valentine's Banquet in our church.  In addition to a fine dinner served by the teenagers and an excellent message on marriage, there were also some games.  Charlie and I won the word game and came home with a prize.

Charlie flew to Iquitos, Peru, and from there took a boat downriver to Mazan where he and a couple other men from IPM held a pastors conference.  While they were there, God answered these prayers:

The town of Mazan

• Safety for the men when their boat hit a log at full speed and had to pull over for repairs.
• Encouragement and growth for the pastors who attended.
• An ability for Charlie and the other speakers to complement each other in their teaching, thereby giving more in-depth understanding of the subject matter.
• God is growing His church in the Amazon.  One church Charlie attended was almost double in size from his previous visit last summer.

While Charlie was gone, I went through the small neighborhood where we live and invited the ladies over for a morning coffee.  Six women and one teenager came, and it was a good time of getting to know each other.  When they left, I handed each one a rose.  It is my hope that this is beginning of some lifelong and eternal friendships.

Our church held a missions conference while Charlie was gone.  By the end of the conference, they came within a few hundred dollars of meeting last year's goal, and they decided to raise their faith promise giving by 28%.  This is a huge blessing to the missionaries who attended who are raising support to go abroad.  They can now add our church to their list of supporters.

Charlie arrived safely home on Sunday afternoon, in time to celebrate together with our church on their victory of raising their faith promise goal.   

January Highlights

Looking back over the month, here are a few highlights:

1. At the beginning of the month. we went to Minneapolis.  When I walked into my brother's living room, four of his five children got up to give me a group hug.  One of them had just flown in from Kuwait and another was getting ready to return to England.  I was able to see the fifth the next day.  It is so seldom that those five people are in the same location at the same time that I knew I was blessed when I got to be there then.
2. I was able to catch up with a few friends in Minneapolis while Charlie attended classes at Central Seminary.

   

   Amazon River, Peru

3. A photographer friend agree to take pictures for our new prayer card.  
4. We are participating in the children's ministry of our church here in Georgia.  
5. Details for Charlie's trip to the Peruvian Amazon came together, and he is now booked and getting ready to go. He will be teaching in a pastors' conference.
6. I attended the funeral of my friend, Char, via live-streaming.  What a godly example she was to me throughout the years that I have known her.
7. I am working on the children's ministry class I will be teaching in the Philippines. 
8. I am almost ready to send the "Lost in the Desert" curriculum to the printers.
9. On this, the last day of January, we walked into a church to give some Spanish materials to them to take on a missions trip to Nicaragua.  When the teacher of the ladies' Sunday school class saw me, she asked to share the Word with a ladies' Sunday school class. I did not go expecting to teach, so I looked back at the things the Lord was teaching me this week in devotions and shared from Psalm 18.
10. Then tonight I got to hear my husband preach.  It was a good end to a good month.   

Christmas Card Blessings

I took the Christmas cards down today.  I decided to leave them out longer this year than usual.  We were gone for the first two weeks of January, and when we returned, there were some Christmas cards in the mail.  I just could not bring myself to let go of them when I had only just received them.  So they have continued to decorate our house long after the other decorations came down.

We received a fraction of the number of Christmas cards we received in previous years.  I understand some of the reasons for this.  Postage rates have climbed so high at the same time that gasoline prices drop that I feel I should visit people rather than send them a card.  Okay, that is not practical.  I would have to drive the entire country and even to other parts of the world.  Still, it is expensive and social media greetings are so much easier and quicker.  After all, with one "Merry Christmas" on Facebook I can reach out to hundreds of friends.  Or can I?

When I read a "Merry Christmas" on Facebook, I do not assume that someone is thinking about me when they posted it, but when I receive a card in the mail, I know that a friend took the time to think about me and send me a card.  I received a tangible expression of that person's care for me when I picked up my mail that day.  Then, when they took the time to add a note or include a newsletter, I also get caught up on their news.  That, too, is a blessing.

As I pulled the cards down off the door frames where they were hanging, I reread them.  Here are some of the special blessings I found in them:

• Memories we shared during the year.
• A desire to get together in the new year.
• Photos of children who are growing and friends whom I have not seen in years.
• Expressions of commitment to pray for us.
• A couple cards included gifts for our ministry which we submitted to IPM for our overseas travel expenses.
• A reminder that we are privileged to be a part of a huge body of Christ.

One card stands out.  It read, "We are sorry that we cannot commit to your ongoing ministry.  We have more than 100 ministries which we support which makes it hard to give a lot to anyone, but sometime in the new year, you will receive a gift from us."  One hundred ministries!  Wow!  And this dear couple included us in that 100.  What a blessing it is to me to know them, especially since I know they pray for us as well.

The Christmas card tradition may not last.  Hopefully, it will be replaced with something even  more meaningful.  But I, for one, have been glad this year to enjoy the gift of Christmas cards once again.