This was the day that God took two little seeds and planted them in the Dulangan Higaunon: Paul and Deb. That’s us. We didn’t look too significant or like much could get done for the Kingdom through us. We were just an ordinary married couple, with our two dogs and a few belongings riding in a jeepney we’d hired to take us up into the mountains. We got stuck in mud along the mountain track and had to dig our way out. Didn’t know where we were going to cook our next meal as we didn’t have a house we were going to. In fact, I asked Paul on the way in as the thought had just occurred to me, “Hon where are we going to live when we get in to the village?” And Paul answered, “I don’t know, I forgot to ask them.”
We arrived at our destination – Kauyunan – about 9:00 pm that night. We had been travelling since 6:00 am that morning and we were exhausted. We were in the chief’s house, there were eyes looking in at us at every crack and we could hear many whispering voices and lowered voices talking excitedly outside but had no idea what they were saying about us. We had mud up to our knees, were hungry, were a bit unsure of how to proceed. That night we slept in our dirty clothes on a hard, uneven floor, inches away from the pig sleeping underneath the house. Sleep came fitfully, the idols on the shelf gazed eerily down at us with lifeless eyes. The darkness we felt was more than just the night.
My mind seemed numb as I surveyed the house we had been assigned by the chief to live in the next day. Something had to be done about the pigs wallowing in a big mud puddle in the middle of what used to be the kitchen until the bamboo floor had rotted out. I had no mop, disinfectant, rags or bucket to make this place liveable. Somehow with a broom in one hand and a bar of laundry soap in a little borrowed dish of water, I made at least the motions of cleaning the dark, dank rooms out. When big rats scuttled into holes in the corners and spider webs clutched at my face, I tried not to react as I was the constant spectacle of the village as group by group, people came and went to watch these strange new people. Bullet holes had gouged holes in the tin roof which leaked like a sieve when it rained and often caused my cooking fire to go out. (At least we were able to catch water in a bucket when it rained which saved us the 10 min walk downhill to the river to get water.)
Little did we know that during our first month in the village, many people hid their children and even slept out in the forest for fear of us as they thought we had come to kidnap or sacrifice their children. Some whispered that we were white spirits and others speculated that we must be gold miners as they saw the shovels and picks brought in on the back of our motorbike to start building an airstrip.
While Paul was busy surveying trees in the forest, working in the heat, building an airstrip with picks and shovels, building a house with only hand held tools, and losing weight at a very fast rate from constant diarrhoea, I was washing clothes in the river, trying to make friends with the women and children, carrying water, trying to cook over a wood fire, and wondering how to survive with no loo, was getting sick and close to needing surgery from endometriosis, nursed our dog back to health after he was poisoned one night, wrote letters back home on my knee as there was no table..... Sweat trickling down our backs and faces was our constant companion, and the heat drained our energy. In one letter, I shared that I felt sometimes like I was having a nightmare only I was awake. People gathered to gamble every day in the centre of the village, particularly the women and at night the men of the village would even gather on our porch to gamble. It seemed to have become a public gathering place. I felt very afraid of two of the men in particular whose eyes seemed wild and evil.
Nine adults and a baby actually moved in and lived in the house with us. This was okay as they wanted to work for us on the house and the airstrip and Paul really needed the help. It was hard though being under constant surveillance and knowing that our every move was being observed and discussed. Meal times became quite hard to plan for as we suddenly had a big family to cook for but everyone helped. One night all the men went out and hunted and in the early hours of the morning breakfast was already cooking away. When Paul and I rose from our tiny, cramped room with floor space only enough to fit our double mattress in, we opened the pot to see frog soup boiling away with frog heads and legs and eyes all mixed in together. In retrospect we should have been more thankful for it, frog soup was a good change from the dried fish, sardines and assorted greens that we ate with rice three times a day.
So maybe a book needs to be written about our first year in Kauyunan .........a condensed account is just too impossible and hundreds of details have been omitted for lack of space and time. Just know that it was a real testing time of our faith, it was a tough time on our bodies because of the heat and the lack of variety in our diet, it was hard on us emotionally as we felt very alone, we had no telephone or radio contact with the outside world and we had no comforts to ease the harsh living standards and at times it felt like we had no friends. Misunderstandings with co-missionaries, rejection of our offers of friendship from the people in our new village and lack of contact with friends and family in our home country made many days seem like the pits. But always, our Best Friend would extend His hand and pull us up even from the darkest moments like when Paul went off in the jungle, carrying the chainsaw by himself, sobbing as he tried to find the right sort of wood we needed for our house.....
But step by step things got done. After two months of back-breaking work, we had the mission plane land on our airstrip for the first time. After 6 months, we were able to move into our own little home. Aaaahhh! Alone at last. Well at least for some moments of the day when we weren’t doing medical work or weren’t out learning language or entertaining our many new friends. Yes!!! We were making friends!!!! Another year went by and we had finished formal language learning and were ready to teach the Word.
The day came, can you imagine the anticipation we felt???? We had been literally working for YEARS towards this goal, and here we were May, 1991, ready to start teaching. By this time we had been married for almost 7 years and we had been living in Kauyunan for 2 years and 3 months. And do you know what happened when we started teaching?
1 Thess. 1:4 'For we know, brothers loved by God, that he has chosen you, 5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.'
The same thing happened to the people in the Dulangan Higaunon as happened to the Thessalonians!! The Gospel came to them with power and the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction and they welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit!!!! The first group who believed numbered 40-45 and most of that number today have either gone on to be with their Saviour or they are continuing on in their faith. These 40+ were quickly spreading the wonderful news of salvation and bringing others to hear the Word. Soon another group of 60 people gathered which grew to 80 and not long afterwards a new group of 120.
Later on that same year that they first believed, the church in Kauyunan sent out bible teachers to teach in Nangkaon and in Tumpagon and more churches were born. Today there are 6 churches in the Dulangan Higaunon and they continue to do outreach and lead people to the Lord. They are mature and wonderful believers who have not lost their first love since they first believed some of them almost 20 years ago. Their numbers continue to grow and they continue to make new disciples. Women are teaching the younger women to love their children and their husbands and men are discipling other men. The youth is growing stronger and stronger and out of the youth group have come new, young church leaders.
We stayed with them until the year 2000 and then they laid hands on us and sent us to work amongst the Tala-Andig people along with three other families from the church in Kauyunan who they have supported faithfully all these past 10 years. In 2008, they sent out a fourth missionary family and they continue to look to the Lord for direction in how to expand their missionary support and missionary personnel.
Whenever we get with the Dulangan Higaunon believers, our hearts melt at the transformation that the Holy Spirit has brought about in their lives and at the power of God manifested in their lives.
For more pictures please click on the second photo album down on the right called the “Dulangan Higaunon Work” and for the continuation of this story click on the “Arriving at Lapoc”.
