It would appear that the Lord has expansion planned for the work
over here once again. So far over the past 25 years we have opened up 4 mission
stations across a wide area and many churches have been planted and leaders and
teachers trained and discipled. Well it seems like the Lord is directing us to
open up another new horizon - (Bisigan-Bangkirs-Tignapuluan areas). Each time
the work expands it is with many growing pains, many sacrifices needing to be
made, people giving their lives to be used, funds and effort also. God is the
great provider of everything we need from people to wisdom to our very strength
and breath, and once again we are wondering --- What is God going to do
this time.
Our prayer often is – “Lord show us where you are
working and let us work with you”.
In our last update, Deb mentioned that the guys were going out
on a survey into a neighbouring area. Well they have been and come back and
below is a transcript from the survey report which our Higaunon co-worker Rodil
recorded. We will put what he said in a different colour below.
Quote from Rodil
“From Lapoc, us elders and leaders left at dawn and we set off, stopping first
in San Aquino to pick up our fellow leaders there and then continuing on to
Lantod. There were 17 of us and we found the road very rough – even for
motorbikes. Some of the ‘road’ had become overgrown with weeds and brush, there
was lots of mud and in some places, parts of the ‘road’ had washed away. We had
a guide with us called Danny who comes from this area but as we passed through
the forested area where many rebels and groups of bandits live, even he was
nervous.
We got to a village called Unsi and found the road there was paved for a short
distance. People stared at us in fear as we passed and one woman in particular
looked terrified of us and we wondered if her family was in hiding from the
police.
From the village of Unsi we could look down and see the Bisigan area and we saw
scattered villages in the forest. Just past there we came to Bangkirs, a
village at a crossroad where a road comes up from Tignapuluan and there is an
occasional truck or jeep that comes up that road to Bisigan. At Bangkirs there
are a lot of houses, power lines have reached there so electricity is
available. It is located on a hill and has easy access to the whole area
because of the crossroads. I think this might be a good place we could consider
locating a missionary team. I don’t know though what the water situation is
like there as we didn’t see their water supply.
Next we continued up to Dongguan. There are a lot of people there almost purely
Higaunon. Only one religious group has infiltrated that area that we saw –
there is a catholic church there. The government is currently constructing a
highway which they started in Unsi and which will go right through the centre
of Dongguan. This highway is the Illigan-Aglayan pass.
Currently Ruel and James, our missionaries from Ricodo, are teaching a group of
30 people in Dongguan. They are listening well and starting to love the Word
and are currently being taught the Good News about salvation in Jesus. Ruel and
James travel there and stay overnight every Tuesday. They also teach a second
group in another nearby village called Malumpayad but we didn’t get to see this
group.
We arrived in Dongguan at 10 AM and Ruel and James were in the middle of
teaching and we saw all the people gathered to listen. By about 11 AM we
continued on to Ricodo and found the roads steep and dangerous and some places
where there were some steep drops on the side. James and Ruel bring
machetes with them and some weeks they have had to hack their way through
fallen trees and other debris.
Amazingly, we met some of the road crew coming along with two bulldozers and
the next day when we came back, the road was cleared and widened and now even a
vehicle will be able to get through apart from the dangers of landslides as all
the edges are still very soft.
This part of the road went through quite some distance of uninhabited areas of
forest but then we came to Ricodo in Rogongon where again we found many houses
and villages and lots of people. We were very excited to arrive at Ricodo and
to see Ruel and James’ homes, their families and the work they are doing. They
have everything organized and well-kept and they are working hard at their
ministry. From where they are located they can travel out to the areas of
Illigan or across to Tumpagon. God has established the church in Ricodo and now
they are reaching out through 22 km of forest to the village of Dongguan.
We came home to Lapoc the next day but when we got to the cross-roads at
Bangkirs, we took a different road and came back via Man-ay and Tignapuluan. We
saw that these places have electricity, schools, lots of houses and the people
seemed open and friendly. Some women asked us what we were doing and we told
them that we are spreading God’s Word and they seemed interested. God is no
doubt working in people’s hearts there and preparing the way for His Word.
Man-ay would be another good place for a missionary team with its central
location and large community.
Just down the hill from Man-ay is another big village called Litig and beyond
that is an even bigger place called Tignapuluan where we noticed that Jehovah’s
witnesses and other religious and cult groups have already come and set up
buildings.
These areas we believe are where God wants us to reach out to next with the
Gospel. We saw huge unreached pockets of people and over beyond where we
surveyed is another whole group of unreached people in the Mambuaya area and
all the way from there to Tagpangi.
We need to work together in teams: we can put a full-time missionary team into
the Bangkirs-Man-ay area and help them from all sides, from Lantod, Ricodo,
Lapoc and all the other churches. As we did the survey, we felt so impelled
with the need to reach these areas with the Gospel…….”
From Paul again:
We are planning on doing a secondary survey in October. Please
pray with us as this area can be dangerous and the roads bad. Pray that we will
be able to make friends even with the rebels and bandits and maybe even reach
them eventually with the Gospel. Pray that we will shine for our Lord Jesus as
we travel and that people will be drawn to listen to His Word.
We are thinking perhaps by the middle of next year we may be
able to have materials prepared and start building some housing for the
missionary team. We don’t know yet who this missionary team will be comprised
of – there are several families in our church here in Lapoc and in the other
church plants, who are willing, prepared and equipped spiritually for the job.
So pray with us (our team here and all the church leaders) for God’s clear
leading in who He has chosen for this special job.
Overwhelmed by the task but confident in the Lord, Paul and Deb
(on behalf of us and all of our Higaunon and Tala Andig Co-workers)
