Last week we had one
of the missionary families from our work in a place called Ricodo come to spend
the day with us. They have a motorbike and they left their place about 6 am
from Ricodo which put them here about 9am. So we had about 6 hours with them before
they left to go back home.
We have quite a history with this
couple as the wife, JingJing, was brought to us in Cauyunan back in the
beginning days of our work, 'dead'.... back when she was a child, aged 12. She
had malaria and went delirious with fever, until her fever went so high she'd
stopped breathing and so they had rushed her to our house from where they lived
in Tumpagon. The night they arrived with her and laid her down on the Clinic
floor, she was unresponsive, basically dead. Her parents were new believers and
we gathered around her and we prayed and God started her breathing again. We
couldn't give her any medicines or fluids orally because she was in a coma, but
we inserted all the malaria medicines and fluids rectally which kept her alive for
the next 4 days until she came out of her coma!! And slowly she recovered but
she had what seemed to be fever-coma induced psychological problems. It took
about a whole year for her to return to her normal self.
Years later after she was married
and pregnant with her second child, her and James were sent by the Tumpagon
church to Lapoc for missionary training with us and a couple years later they
were sent out to Ricodo to work with another couple over there. While they were
in Lapoc I delivered her second child. James woke us up at midnight and I went
to their house and had James go wake up one of the young neighbor ladies,
Nanah, who I was training to deliver babies. While he was gone, it was just
JingJing and I in the house for about 15 or 20 minutes and she was groaning and
panicking because the pain was much worse than her first labour. I was glad
when James and Nanah arrived and I had some extra sets of hands because we were
able to get her up from the bed and into a standing position which eased the
pain slightly by shifting the baby's position. She was having unusually
terrible pains in her lower back (probably because her bub was facing up and was
fairly large) and it was quite a job calming her and reassuring her through the
pain she was having but eventually she made it through the labour and he was
born at 7 am (a very dark purple colour and he didn't take a breath for about
60 - 80 seconds or so which was very stressful). They asked me to name him and
I named him Aiden. He is now in kindergarten which gives a bit of an idea how
long ago that was. Anyway, just reminiscing a bit .... but this is the James
and JingJing who visited us last week.
Paul bought 3 beautiful bangos
(milkfish - the Philippines national fish) before they came, and we had them
ready in the fridge all de-boned and ready to fry. We marinated the bangos overnight
in white cane vinegar, salt, pepper and garlic and when they got here we fried
it until it was crispy. This dish is called 'daing bangos' over here. We also
had a bowl of chicken livers (a delicacy) ready to adobo which we served with
boiled eggs once it was cooked. For the rice, I mixed part glutinous rice with
normal rice and cooked it with grated ginger and coconut milk. Food is a
beautiful way of enjoying time together and celebrating the joy of just being
together!
Every week when we have different
ones of the church leaders and missionaries out here to stay, one of Paul's and
my goals with the visit is to spoil them with lots of good food and to make
them feel very loved and appreciated as they are pouring their lives out for
the Lord and the Gospel. It wasn’t all just about the eating though! (Although
that was one of the very enjoyable parts of their visit!) We also had several
hours to talk to them about their work, their plans, their marriage, their
co-worker relationships and to pray with them as well before they left to go
back home to Ricodo.
Days like these ones with James
and JingJing have to be some of the highlights of the ministry of the Gospel! How
sweet the fellowship is with fellow labourers of the Gospel!! We love to cook
for them and serve them and to help them on in their journey in any way we can.
As you think of James and
JingJing, and their partners in the work, Roel and Irene, please pray for them.
Daily they face the demands and joys of building the church and spreading the
Gospel. They are doing a great work in Ricodo and we rejoice with them over the
30 new believers that they just baptized last month.
PS. Ricodo and all the different
villages we mention are all churches that have been planted by the believers that
we have been training and discipling for the past 30 years: believers from our first church in Cauyunan
and then from other churches as we have been able to plant them. Today there
are approximately 30-35 churches all up in the areas where we work and about
127 bible teachers teaching thousands of people each week. It is almost too
much for us to fathom.
