Safely
back in Lapoc! Praise God!!!!
We
have slid back easily into a different ‘world’ which Lapoc really is compared
to life in the West. Funny thing is though that this ‘world’ is so familiar to
us that it all just seems normal when we get back here. How we praise God for
refreshing our hearts and souls and minds through our time away, for the
wonderful time with Grandpa and with many dear friends and co-workers in the
work of the Gospel who we spent time with during our trip…..it was all so very
special.
It
will be another 7 weeks before we see sight of a town again so we stocked up on
7 weeks’ supply of groceries as we came through Cagayan and took Jubab to the
orthodontist amongst other things. Just an aside, I (Deb) had my
bi-annual check-up which showed up active endometriosis and my right ovary is
almost entirely occupied by a cyst so this will need some watching. I have some
follow-up Doctor’s appointments at the end of March.
We
also met up with Nayumi, Dondon’s widow, and she stayed with us overnight in Cagayan.
We stayed up late that night talking, until we just couldn’t keep our eyes open
anymore, and it was so good to see her. She told us that as the time has passed
since Dondon’s death, the initial relief she felt that Dondon was no longer
suffering and the numbness has been replaced with the painful grip of
loneliness and the intense longing for his companionship and there are times
the days seem very bleak to her. We were glad that we could spend time praying
with her and reading the Word and comforting her and we are so glad that she is
able to identify her feelings and talk about them and we know this in itself is
a healthy part of her healing process.
The
news about my Dad is not real clear yet but it appears that he has a cancer
that can be treated with chemo in a tablet form so we are waiting for more news
on this after his visit to the oncologist. All of your prayers and
encouragements and thoughts of us have been the Lord’s outstretched hand to us
during this very difficult time.
After
packing up supplies and leaving the town behind, we made our way up to Lapoc,
with a quick stop in Lantod on the way to see the progress on the church
building and it is going amazingly well considering all the difficulty with the
roads and the bad weather and the bridge being washed out making it very hard
to get building materials on site. One bridge was totally washed away in
the recent typhoon as you can see from the photo below.
This
is the first obstacle we came to on the road home to Lapoc where you can see
that the bridge was totally torn off its moorings and washed away.
The
good news though is that there is an old bridge that was in existence a number
of years before this one was built and it was still pretty intact. So light
vehicles are able to cross and we are so thankful that we didn’t face any
delays as we travelled.
The
difficult thing is that heavy loads of cement and building materials all have
to be shuttled across in small loads and transferred to another truck on the
other side so you can imagine the huge job it is to get building materials up
here now.
Thankfully,
God’s plans and time table cannot be frustrated or hindered by any sort of
obstacles and He has undertaken in amazing ways while we were away to help the
team of guys that Paul had left in charge of the Lantod church building and in
just a couple more weeks it should be finished and the believers there will
have their own place to meet. It is so timely as the make-shift lean-to’s that
they erected as temporary meeting places have been cold and leaking and very
difficult venues to study the Word in and to worship in together.
Lantod
is a place where three languages are spoken and Arabic is taught in the local
school because of the strong Islam presence. People from all 3 of these people
groups have come to the Lord and the Lord has established a small church there.
This place is a key area needing special prayer cover. As you pray for
Lapoc and the ongoing battle for souls that is being waged here, please keep
Lantod a high priority prayer point.
We
have been able to touch base with the elders from Cauyunan, Tumpagon, Limonda,
Anlagan, Lapoc and Tinaytayan and also with the missionary team from
Kalamalamahan this past few days since we have been home and we have been
touched and greatly blessed by their steadfastness and fervour for the Lord
Jesus. We have some wonderful stories to share with you but we’ll do that
in our next update in a few days.
Here we are as we
dropped into Lantod – arriving just before the rain – to see the nearly
finished church and the guys just preparing to pour the cement floor. We were
so thrilled to see this building standing where nothing had been before when we
left.
Please
pray that the believers in Lantod will very soon be meeting in this building
and that this provision from the Lord for them will greatly encourage their
hearts. Pray that they will be diligent and faithful to meet and to study the
Word and to praise and to pray and that they will stand steadfast through the
trials which are plenty. And pray that in the three different people
groups represented in this new church will have beautiful unity and will
genuinely love and serve one another.
About
two hours after this picture was taken we were driving down our driveway in
Lapoc, hugging our team-mates, lugging bags and boxes up the steps and drinking
in the Lapoc sights and sounds.
Our
first evening back here ended perfectly with dinner together with our whole
missionary team and seven other neighbour families who all brought food and
soft drinks to welcome us home. Ben and Leonie’s baby Grace I think got the
most cuddles as she was passed around and cooed over by everyone and she didn’t
seem to mind all the attention!
Here are some other photos for you of our first day back. We will continue this story in our
next update. For now we better go and get an somewhat early night as this
is our first quiet night to ourselves since we arrived.
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| Jubab enjoying time with Yingying |
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| Dinner together on our first night back |
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| Bridge repair sign |
