Missionaries.....!

We promised in our last update to introduce you to James and JingJing Ladrada, ages 31 and 26, and their little boy Jepoy who are the newest missionaries to be sent out from the Tumpagon church, and here they are!

It is never easy saying goodbye and this was James and JingJing’s goodbye message to their church in Tumpagon which they said with tears and with hearts very full of conflicting emotions – excitement about the new journey before them, sadness at leaving home and family, trepidation as JingJing’s due date approaches in two months for the birth of their second baby and the unknowns of giving birth in a strange place – these feelings and more are very familiar to all who have left father and mother, brothers and sisters, houses and lands.......to serve the Lord in a far-away place.

They have been here in Lapoc for 9 days now, and they will be in the adjustment period for a time where everything is fresh, exciting, strange, lonely, weird, unsettled, unknown, tearful.....for awhile. They don’t feel at home, they don’t have their close friends or Mum and Dad and Jepoy is wondering where all his friends are. So please pray for them. 

We praise the Lord for the way the vision that the Tumpagon Church have along with all the other Dulangan Churches,  to send out missionaries and to support them and back them in every way they can.

And as well as introducing you to James and JingJing who will be helping out here in Lapoc, we also want to give glory to the Lord for the many other lives He has used for the furtherance of His kingdom. If we went through the list starting back from 1992, when the church in Cauyunan sent their first missionaries, Totò and Charlita Sanditan, to Nangcaon right up until this last week when Tumpagon sent James and JingJing here to Lapoc .......well this would have to turn into a book. We praise God for each dear family who left all and went to the places where God called them:

Totò and Charlita Sanditan

Bugsuk and Elsa Duwang

Udi and Jen Sacalon

Jupi and Gagang Mahognay

Rey and JingJing Endag

Biduk Gican

Rodil and Annie Sinan-a

Lita and Eloy Amba

Duyduy and JenJen Alderite

Gabril and Isling Sulatan

Max and Bheng Luminda

Richard and Diding Tamomoc

Ruel and Irene Daging

They are our heroes and each of them have been greatly used. Some of them finished their course and have returned to their home churches or gone ahead of us to heaven, others are still in the heat of battle on the field, others got knocked down in the race but have picked themselves up again and have dusted off the dirt they got tangled up with and they are walking with God again.

But today we want to specifically mention three very special couples who served in Buyungon and have just returned home to their home churches, having completed the task to which their elders commissioned them.  These couples are:

Duyduy and Jenjen Alderite who were sent by the elders of the Lapoc Church in 2008 over to Buyungun to serve for four years with Aussie missionaries Steve and Ros Baird, and to help them establish the already existing tiny nucleus of believers there, to help with teaching the Word and discipling and training of the potential church leaders within the church there.

They went there as newlyweds, and their first child Kyle, was born there. Their missionary training and cross-cultural training (working in a mixed team of cultures) took place on the job which is difficult. They went through many hardships and trials and sometimes wanted to quit, but they hung in there and God really used them in an incredible way. Jenjen discipled the women in the church and trained scripture teachers all the while, going through adjustments to being married, being a new Mum, and being far away from her own Mum and Dad and sisters. Her brother was brutally murdered last year, but in spite of this horrific tragedy, they still kept going and served to the end of the time the elders had asked them to.

Duyduy served and served and taught and taught and there are many believers there as a result of his ministry and also six men who he had a big part in training as bible teachers and future potential church elders who he has now left to Steve as precious spiritual capital to build  upon.  Duyduy and Jenjen are back here in Lapoc serving in leadership capacity in the church.

Eloy and Lita Amba and their son Greggie, were sent by the elders of the Cauyunan Church, also in 2008 to join the team in Buyungon with Steve and Ros Baird and with Duyduy and Jenjen. Their job was to help with maintenance and to set up a clinic and to train health workers. They completed this task as the clinic there is functioning and there are health workers who can continue on the care of the sick and even some who have begun to understand a bit about midwifery.

While Steve and Ros were in Australia, Lita managed all the funds for the ongoing expenses of ministry which is a big job in itself and which she handled with integrity and wisdom.

They went through the same experiences as Duyduy and Jenjen, feeling strained and out of place at times, working through trials and hardships, wondering what was around the corner and if they could make it. But through the grace of God, they did make it and were able to return home to their home church in Cauyunan feeling a sense of thankfulness that they had finished the task the elders had sent them to do.

They were welcomed back to their home with a big family get together as they come from a very large family and they are now back involved in the Clinic ministry in Cauyunan and Lita is involved in women’s ministry, teaching and discipling other women.

Lita by the way, delivered Jenjen’s first baby during their first year in Buyungon which helped them to bond as they had not previously known each other apart from just as casual acquaintances before they suddenly found themselves having to work together on a very close basis for the kingdom’s sake!

Max and Bheng Luminda and their three children went to help out in Buyungon during the time Steve and Ros were in Australia for home assignment. They took to missionary work like ducks to water and just loved it!!

If it wasn’t for the ministries they had left in their home church of Tinaytayan where they are really needed, they would have loved to continue on. In a few years when their church has some stronger leaders and they can leave again, we can see Max and Bheng and their family going out on another mission trip. They are faithful servants of the Lord and have served Him ever since they first put their trust in Him going on 8 years ago.

In spite of Max’s failing eyesight (he has Retinitis pigmentosa) which is slowly eating away at his sight, and in spite of poverty and difficulties, they are some of the most faithful co-workers you could find.

They are much loved in their church and their church is planning a big gathering to celebrate their return last Sunday afternoon.

So this is a message of recognition for these 4 families and their lives and their ministries and for the way God has used them mightily and continues to use them! And it is a message also of thanksgiving for the other missionaries who only got mentioned by name but whose lives would fill books to tell of all that God has done through them and because of them.

“Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.....”  Jn 12:24  These dear ones died to self and brought forth much fruit.  

P.S.  We have ongoing outreach work and ministry continuing almost daily, weekly.........some are involved as full-time as missionaries, others go out for the day, others go and stay out overnight or two nights. Many miles are travelled every week......many hundreds of people being taught. If you would like to be involved in this, we have a ministry fund called the “Tala-Andig Outreach Program” (TAOP) that you could contribute to. Just let us know.

P.P.S.  Are we proud spiritual parents or what????!!!!!!!! To tell the truth, our hearts are just overflowing with pride and joy!!!!!!

24 Hours!

How many meetings, visits, hugs, laughter......can fit into 24 hours?

Well..........last Easter weekend, I was invited to speak at a Ladies’ gathering in Tumpagon. So at 5:30 am last Saturday off we went. The ‘we’ was WingWing (who was driving) his wife Hazel and their little boy Cled, and a couple of church families on their way to visit Tumpagon as well as myself.

By 11:00 am we had arrived in Tumpagon – we knew we were there by the blazing heat that instantly embraced us as we stepped down from the car and by the many reaching arms that greeted us.

By 2:00 pm we were starting our first meeting in the church with over 200 ladies. Some of these ladies had suffered terribly to get there. One dear sister had walked with 20 other ladies from Ricodo, 8 hours hike away. She told me she had never made that hike before because she suffers badly from arthritis in her knees and from stomach ulcers. The trip over was terrible for her: blazing sun, the slow agonizing steps with her legs cramping and terrible pain. But later on she told me, “I wouldn’t make this trip if I was offered 100 pesos for every step, but to hear the Word like we did today and to see all our sisters from so many places, I would do this all over again! It is worth it!”

We sang and praised, we heard testimonies, we clapped, we cried and we worshipped God and I saw sisters in the Lord who had come from every corner of the Dulangan area......and I was able to teach them from Matt. 6:9-13, and from Luke 11:2-4 and to watch their faces drinking in the Word and to see nodding heads and teary eyes as God spoke to hearts. When I handed out the little booklets with my message written in it for them, I saw that for them, this little booklet was a treasure.

And I saw this young lady (above) who I delivered at her birth and named, now grown up into a lovely young lady who sang so beautifully and I saw young women we used to know as children, now grown up, now mothers themselves and taking on leadership roles amongst the women in the church and it really moved my heart to see what God has done and is doing in the Dulangan area!!

7:00 pm was testimony and fellowship time and it was a wonderful time. No one seemed to want it to end and the testimonies, the songs, the fellowship, the prayer went on until 10:30 before we began making our way back to our homes.

I stayed with Bubuy and Wila and Jubab’s brothers and late that night their house was still a hive of activity as Wila had all the women involved in Women’s ministry back to her house to meet and we stayed up to all hours discussing their ministries, praying and encouraging one another. I looked around and in the room I saw two women who are missionaries sent out along with their families from the Tumpagon church to Ricodo, I saw Lita who served for almost 4 years in Buyungon with her family, I saw Elsa, who served with us for almost 12 years with her family here in Lapoc, I saw women like Wila,  Sally, Tatà , Inday, Rita........ elder’s wives, missionaries, shepherdesses, women in children’s ministry......and I just listened most of the time and praised God because these are mature, Godly women who have come of age, who have gone through many trials in their lives and still keep on faithfully because they have learnt patience and perseverance and humility. 

I love them all and later on at about 2:00 am when I finally crawled into bed beside my little princess – granddaughter Charly - I thought about all the choices in our lives that led us to the Dulangan area as young missionaries years ago and I had tears in my eyes as I considered the great things God has done there in spite of us and amazingly – because of us too.

The roosters crowing, karaoke blaring and motor-bikes roaring by woke me up after 3 hours broken sleep to have coffee at 6:00am at one of the elders’ homes with him and his wife, a meeting at 7:30 am with one of our young people who is training to be a bible translator so he can come back and help us, breakfast at Wila and Bubuy’s – a very yummy fish soup and rice which was a surprisingly nice change from toast and vegemite – a dipper bath from the cold water in the bucket which didn’t seem to do a thing to help the sweat running down my back and then we were off to church where I sat and worshipped with our dear family in the Lord from Tumpagon as the church elders led the service, taught the Word and broke the bread to remember the Lord’s death. And I looked at the clock and it was 11:00 am as the service was ending........I could hardly believe all that the Lord had fit into my 24 hours there in Tumpagon!

Goodbyes all-round.....more kisses and hugs from a tearful little granddaughter, more tears as the Tumpagon church said goodbye to their new missionaries to Lapoc, James and JingJing and their little boy Jepoy (who we will introduce to you in our next update)........and then we were off and after travelling through a huge tropical rain storm and passing through many villages who still desperately need the Lord and after climbing and winding up the steep mountains for a couple of hours, we finally arrived back in Lapoc welcomed by the fog and the dogs and our wonderful families and missionary team!

Paul and Jubab had cooked me dinner and sat listening to all my stories until I finally felt exhaustion creeping into my bones and we had to call it a night.

Deb

Life In Lapoc......

Life in Lapoc is sometimes scary, sometimes hugely stressful, always very busy, quite often bone-jarring (when we’re travelling over the rough roads), is surprisingly noisy, never lacking in surprises and keeps us always thrown upon the Lord.

So what have Howells been doing this past month?

We have helped two people have operations, we have visited our brother who is suffering terribly with liver cancer and have searched for pain medication for him, we have sorrowed for 9 people killed in a terrible truck accident along our own Lapoc road, we have held two newborn babies, we have had had at least 6 nights of lying awake for several hours thinking and praying about things heavy on our hearts. We have worked over 320 hours between us on the books of Acts and Ephesians, preparing bible lessons, revising the translation and working on a correspondence consultant check on Ephesians to finalize this before printing. More hours have gone into preparing materials for the youth group and into a booklet on the prayers the Lord Jesus taught, which is the topic this weekend for a women’s convention in Tumpagon.  As well as this, we have spent about 18 hours on our bone-jarring road, doing a supply buy, picking up visitors from the airport  (which we loved doing!) and visiting the churches in Gahiton and Colawingon.  We have individually and together put many hours into counselling and discipling and we spent a couple of hours one morning making a little girl with cerebral palsy feel special on her birthday. We had a teenage school girl who is orphaned stay with us for two weeks and in fellowship with the church leaders have found her a place to live and have helped her set up home when it became evident that she had no one else to take her in. We are praising our Lord along with Ronnie and Aling that after 6 months of chemo, and 9 months since her surgery for colon cancer, Aling’s test results have come back all clear!  We have visited the flood victims and checked the progress of the houses being built for them. We have done a family photo shoot and also discovered that Dad doesn’t like pumpkin mixed in with pasta (he gives it a lower rating than eating a bat)!  All 3 of us have had our moments of exhaustion where we just couldn’t keep going without a rest and all three of us have seen the Lord’s amazing, constant care as we have faced some heavy trials. We (well actually Paul ) have ordered truckloads (literal truckloads!) of cement and gravel and building materials and is in the process of building several buildings for schools, a clinic and the beginning plans for 3 church buildings. We have taught the Word, shared with friends, prayed and prayed, felt at loss, found the way through, kept on plodding sometimes running, haven’t had a sleep in past 6:00 am for months and months (except for Jubab who sometimes sleeps till noon on a Saturday), have composed two new Tala-Andig songs..........and more! 

Through all of this, your prayers and support are the backbone of us being able to keep on in the work here........you are part of God’s team here! Don’t know where we’d be without you and we sure do praise our God for you!