God Loves Rice!

The churches in the Tumpagon, Cauyunan, Ricodo and Lapoc areas have been going through severe trials because of a drought which started last Oct-Nov. Water sources have dried up in many places, making it difficult to get even drinking water. Washing clothes or bathing in many of the villages, involves a long trek to find water. 

Crops have failed and many of the fields stand dry and parched having produced only a few scrawny stalks of corn that grew to knee-height and produced no fruit.

The Lord laid on our hearts and on the hearts of others as well, to provide relief for our brethren who are in such great need. So beginning last Saturday, we have been extremely busy: the church deacons and elders have been busy compiling lists of all the families in the churches and overseeing the distribution of rice; we have been poring over the lists as well, counting and calculating as well as busy over skype and phone organizing truckloads of rice to be delivered to churches in 47 villages and to 740 families!

 Wing-wing, Rodil, Doydoy, Roel, James, Jerome, Udi and many others have literally been working day and night for several days to distribute the rice and it has been a long haul for them but one that has brought great joy.

We spoke with Rodil and Wing-wing on the phone this morning and they told us that they arrived in Bisigan last night about 8:30 or 9:00 pm and the brethren there could not believe their eyes. They couldn’t stop rejoicing and praising God – some were crying and others were laughing and jumping up and down in joy at God’s provision for them. In all the places they told us God’s name is being praised and glorified and His children are feeling His love and care for them in a very special way.

God has sent help from so many places to provide for this relief project – brothers and sisters here in Australia have helped with funds, a church in Cagayan gave 100 sacks of rice, another brother and sister has given rock bottom prices from their warehouse, a brother has been overseeing the loading of the rice and gave from his own pocket as well….to GOD BE THE GLORY!!

We were translating a verse in 1 John yesterday and I asked one of our translation team, “What are some of the signs of a person in need?” She said, “You can tell if someone is in need of food because there is no smoke coming from their house.” (No food to cook = no cooking fire.) Well praise God today that there are cooking fires going in every house of our brothers and sisters in the Dulangan, Ricodo, Man-ay and Talakag areas!!! 

Today, the last two truck-loads are making their way up to the last villages needing to be supplied and by tonight the distribution of this should be complete. Our brothers and sisters should have enough rice to give them time now to focus on re-planting. A couple of rains have just recently fallen so the drought is starting to break.

Until our Lord comes again, He will continue to care for us, walk with us through the many trials still ahead and be with us always!!! 

 Pictures are slowly coming through to us and I’m sure that in a few days there would be a lot more better ones, but this shows the stockpile of rice in the Tumpagon church as the first load came in.

Aybi, married to Jerome in Tumpagon who is one of the church elders, helping her hubby compile the lists of people in their churches.  They stayed up half the night working on these, trying to make sure no one was forgotten or left out.

 Unloading the sacks of rice in Cauyunan! How we wish we could have actually been ‘on the ground’ helping to distribute the rice and seeing the joy firsthand.

Our brothers and sisters from the church in Cauyunan had a praise time in the church first before they went next door to the distribution area to collect their rice!

Progress Report on the Translation!

The translation of the Tala-Andig New Testament is continuing to progress on schedule!!  Our March goal was to finish 1 Peter, start 2 Peter and finish up to 2 Peter 3:7 and this was completed last week on March the 31st!! Thank you so much for praying and please PRAISE the Lord along with us as we rejoice in the progress He is giving us each month!!!

New Prayer Point for the month of April is that we will finish 2 Peter and also 1 John and finish up to 2 John 1:11.

This is the view I (Deb) have each morning: I look across the desk at my beloved fellow-translator and husband of almost 33 years - working opposite me as we literally wrestle for hours with the words and meanings that we ask God to help us translate as accurately as we can into the Tala-Andig language. Our 5 am start (4 am on Monday mornings) is very precious to us as we seem to make better progress in the quiet coolness of the early mornings.

In the background is Paul's favourite map - the map of the apostle Paul's missionary journeys. A reminder of our Lord's heart for the lost and that He wants us to take the Gospel to the uttermost parts of the world.

Thanks for praying and please keep praying for us every day if possible - we need your prayers so much!!!!

Jubab's Next Step

Three years ago, we came back to Australia to fulfill a promise we’d made to our little boy at the end of our home assignment time in 2009: that if he would agree to come back with us to the field for four more years, that this is all we would ask and then we would bring him back to finish Grades 10 – 12 here in Ballina.

This promise was made to our 11 year old who was broken hearted at having to leave his school here in Ballina back in 2009 where he’d just had a fantastic year doing things he’d dreamed of: being in a classroom with other kids, freedom to ride skateboards along the street, not waking up to the sound of gunshots or having to be confined to a small area because of the dangers of where we lived on the field or the trauma of hearing about people we knew quite frequently being killed …. we didn’t want to take him back against his will.

Jubab agreed and so we went back to Lapoc with him for four more years, he had four more years of homeschooling and the loneliness of being the only kid in the class (although his amazing teachers offset this loneliness quite a bit), he withstood the exposure to the trauma and the danger of life over there in our village. He never complained and he quietly went about everything that happened from day to day, and God always looked after him and cared for him. It was a good time in spite of it also being hard.

Then 2014 came and we came back here to Ballina just as we’d promised Jubab and he started Yr 10 back at his old school here and he has been very blessed. He went on a missions trip to Hungary, he’s made numerous friends, he’s enjoyed playing sports, he has made us very proud through his efforts at school, he has gone through high times and low times spiritually and has grown hugely through all of these, he has gotten to know our family – grandparents, uncles, aunties, cousins - and has loved spending time with them, he has learnt to drive and now drives like a pro ….. for us as his parents, his life has really just shone of God’s blessing and amazing care!

And now these three years in Ballina are almost over and Jubab is preparing to take his next step which a few months ago looked cloudy and uncertain still to him. But God in the gracious and gentle way in which He leads His little lambs, whispered in Jubab’s heart, “This is the way, walk in it …..”

And the direction that God has led Jubab to go next year is to Bible College at NTBI in Jackson, Michigan. This is a really good Bible College and we are thrilled that Jubab has felt God’s leading to go there. He also has family there as one of his cousins (Bobby and Rhesa’s daughter – Bobby is Deb’s brother) is currently studying there.

As well as his cousin, we also have other family and close family friends who will not be too far away so we feel very good about sending him there. Also as far as the distance and cost for Jubab to travel to the Philippines to visit us, it will not be much difference for him travel-wise whether he was here in Australia or in US and we are really pleased that Jubab has chosen to go to NTBI in Jackson Michigan.

Quite some changes are coming up for us as a family the end of this year….our baby is going to fly away from our nest. And we’ll be heading back to live in the Philippines without his beautiful, strong voice filling our days with his singing, without the morning cuddles and kisses before bed at night, without his youthful insight and the deep conversations …… without the inspiring movie clips that he finds and shows us …. without all the joys that his presence brings us ……

But God has been doing huge things in our hearts preparing us for this time and has He been filling our hearts with faith that this next step is good and that He will undertake in every way for Jubab’s life just as He has been doing since before he was born.

Classes at Bible College start for Jubab on January 8, 2017 and we plan to arrive there on January 1 to get him settled in. Please be praying with us as we start to close this chapter here in Ballina and to prepare for the next amazing chapter that God has for us: another journey of FAITH!!!

* If you would like to receive Jubab’s prayer updates which he will send out every few months once he starts Bible College, please let us know as we are helping Jubab to compile a ‘Prayer Update’ address list.

* Also if you use facebook and would like to be part of a Facebook group that Jubab can message with little snippets of news from Bible College life, please let us know so that he can include you in this.

 * If you would like to partner with Jubab financially as he goes through Bible School, please let us know and we can send you his account details. His costs will be $9000 for the year’s tuition and board, not including his travel and personal needs.