How many meetings, visits, hugs,
laughter......can fit into 24 hours?
Well..........last Easter weekend, I was
invited to speak at a Ladies’ gathering in Tumpagon. So at 5:30 am last
Saturday off we went. The ‘we’ was WingWing (who was driving) his wife Hazel and
their little boy Cled, and a couple of church families on their way to visit
Tumpagon as well as myself.
By 11:00 am we had arrived in Tumpagon –
we knew we were there by the blazing heat that instantly embraced us as we
stepped down from the car and by the many reaching arms that greeted us.
By 2:00 pm we were starting our first
meeting in the church with over 200 ladies. Some of these ladies had suffered
terribly to get there. One dear sister had walked with 20 other ladies from
Ricodo, 8 hours hike away. She told me she had never made that hike before
because she suffers badly from arthritis in her knees and from stomach ulcers.
The trip over was terrible for her: blazing sun, the slow agonizing steps with
her legs cramping and terrible pain. But later on she told me, “I wouldn’t make
this trip if I was offered 100 pesos for every step, but to hear the Word like we did
today and to see all our sisters from so many places, I would do this all over
again! It is worth it!”
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And I saw this young lady (above) who I delivered at her birth and named, now grown up into a lovely young lady
who sang so beautifully and I saw young women we used to know as children, now
grown up, now mothers themselves and taking on leadership roles amongst the
women in the church and it really moved my heart to see what God has done and
is doing in the Dulangan area!!
7:00 pm was testimony and fellowship
time and it was a wonderful time. No one seemed to want it to end and the
testimonies, the songs, the fellowship, the prayer went on until 10:30 before
we began making our way back to our homes.
I stayed with Bubuy and Wila and Jubab’s
brothers and late that night their house was still a hive of activity as Wila
had all the women involved in Women’s ministry back to her house to meet and we
stayed up to all hours discussing their ministries, praying and encouraging one
another. I looked around and in the room I saw two women who are missionaries
sent out along with their families from the Tumpagon church to Ricodo, I saw
Lita who served for almost 4 years in Buyungon with her family, I saw Elsa, who
served with us for almost 12 years with her family here in Lapoc, I saw women
like Wila, Sally, Tatà , Inday, Rita........ elder’s wives, missionaries,
shepherdesses, women in children’s ministry......and I just listened most of
the time and praised God because these are mature, Godly women who have come of
age, who have gone through many trials in their lives and still keep on
faithfully because they have learnt patience and perseverance and humility.
I love them all and later on at
about 2:00 am when I finally crawled into bed beside my little princess –
granddaughter Charly - I thought about all the choices in our lives that led us
to the Dulangan area as young missionaries years ago and I had tears in my eyes
as I considered the great things God has done there in spite of us and
amazingly – because of us too.
The roosters crowing, karaoke blaring
and motor-bikes roaring by woke me up after 3 hours broken sleep to have coffee
at 6:00am at one of the elders’ homes with him and his wife, a meeting at 7:30
am with one of our young people who is training to be a bible translator so he
can come back and help us, breakfast at Wila and Bubuy’s – a very yummy fish
soup and rice which was a surprisingly nice change from toast and vegemite – a
dipper bath from the cold water in the bucket which didn’t seem to do a thing
to help the sweat running down my back and then we were off to church where I
sat and worshipped with our dear family in the Lord from Tumpagon as the church
elders led the service, taught the Word and broke the bread to remember the
Lord’s death. And I looked at the clock and it was 11:00 am as the service was
ending........I could hardly believe all that the Lord had fit into my 24 hours
there in Tumpagon!
Goodbyes all-round.....more kisses and
hugs from a tearful little granddaughter, more tears as the Tumpagon church
said goodbye to their new missionaries to Lapoc, James and JingJing and their
little boy Jepoy (who we will introduce to you in our next update)........and
then we were off and after travelling through a huge tropical rain storm and
passing through many villages who still desperately need the Lord and after
climbing and winding up the steep mountains for a couple of hours, we finally
arrived back in Lapoc welcomed by the fog and the dogs and our wonderful
families and missionary team!
Paul and Jubab had cooked me dinner and
sat listening to all my stories until I finally felt exhaustion creeping into
my bones and we had to call it a night.
Deb
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