This is Dungguan,
still early in the morning not long after sunrise and this little group of
about 22 adults had already gathered under a make-shift shelter to hear the
story of Jesus’ resurrection. While Paul taught there was a pig that wondered
through, some dogs and chickens, children were wondering in and out…..but in
spite of these distractions they listened hungrily and we could see that many
of them had just put their faith in the Lord Jesus as their Saviour.
You can see some of them listening in the
photo below – how they listened intently and with joy as they heard about the
finished work of Christ on their behalf. In particular, I watched the little
lady with the white hair and the young Mum beside her who was holding her
new-born baby and they hardly blinked as they just drank in the Word of God.
The young man on
the left of the picture was struggling within himself as Paul was teaching and
my heart was praying for him that whatever spiritual struggle he was in the
midst of, he would just surrender it to Jesus.
It was no easy trek
to reach this little village of Dungguan – very rough roads and no amenities
along the way. Parts of the road were quite muddy and it started to rain just
before we arrived so the guys on the motorbikes stopped to get their rain gear
on. We had 4 large, retired laying hens in the back of the car who were intended
to be dinner that night when we arrived at Dungguan and they had to be rescued
numerous times from the backpacks and bags that kept falling into their box.
Upon arrival, all
21 of us were received in a little house that belonged to the couple who host
the bible study each week. The cooking fires filled the house with smoke, water
for washing was carried in plastic containers from a little spring about 20 min
walk downhill, the bathroom was any private bush you could find…..the people
were gentle and quiet and very, very needy with lots of sick children and no
medical help available apart from the little town which we had come through
hours before. Everyone got fed and the dishes got washed in the semi-darkness
and we all lay down Tuesday night on our grass mats in our designated areas.
Paul, Jubab and I had a little room all to ourselves about 5 feet wide and just
long enough for Paul’s feet to stretch out. During the night we were woken
several times with bugs on us (I got a harmless but sore spider bite), the
floor boards were digging into our rib cage and it was totally uncomfortable…….but
these small discomforts were utterly meaningless compared to our purpose for
being there – to help lead the souls of men and women and children from
darkness and hopelessness into the light and hope of a relationship with the
Saviour!
Apart from
Dungguan, we also saw the villages of Tignapuluan,
Salimbal, Man-ay, Bangkirs and Malumpayad. At Malumpayad, there is a group of
about 10-12 people who are listening to the Word who are being taught each week
by Ruel and James - our Higaunon missionaries from Ricodo. Ruel is one of the
elders from Tumpagon, sent out as a missionary two years ago along with his
wife and baby daughter. James and JingJing recently joined them in the work.
Ruel was instrumental in opening up this area to the Word but they need help.
We are praying
about sending two missionary families from here to locate in perhaps Man-ay and
to work alongside Ruel who travels to that area from Ricodo one day a week. The
needs are huge and there are thousands of people living in those villages we
mentioned above.
All of the 14
church leaders from here who went on the survey with us, are excited about
doing missionary work into that area. Lord willing, two of those men will be
the ones to take the big step and actually GO there! All of them would go if
they were sent but there are two in particular that are prominent in all our
thoughts and plans who it appears God may have chosen for this enormous task.
Interesting note is that I thought the wife of one of these two men would be
negative towards going and not willing to give up her comfortable life here and
her close proximity to her family, but when I asked her yesterday what her
thoughts would be if the church leaders sent them, she said she has already
been talking about this with her husband, wondering if they would be sent and
she said that she is willing go and ready if God sends them!
PLEASE BE PRAYING
WITH US ABOUT MISSIONS INTO THIS NEW AREA!!!
