Please Pray For Deb's Dad

Yesterday morning we woke up to some bad news. Grandpa, with tears, gently broke the news to us that my Dad has cancer in his kidneys. (Mom had called the evening before while we were out.) He has a 7 cm tumour in his left kidney and it has also spread to his right kidney and to the lymph nodes near his aorta. He will see a urologist in 2 weeks time and then most likely will have surgery to remove his left kidney and maybe part of his right kidney, followed by chemo.

Our first reaction was that we were devastated but as God has calmed our hearts and helped us to work through our initial shock we have come to realize that the prognosis for Dad might not be as bad as we think and we need to just wait and see what God brings about in the days ahead.  It glorifies God if we wait patiently and trust Him and take each day as it comes and don’t jump to the worst conclusion.

We have also heard this morning from our special friend who is a doctor, that he has seen many patients with cancer in the kidneys who have lived and functioned quite well with just part of a kidney for many more years.

Please pray for Dad and Mom (Bob and Jan Bagley) through these next days and weeks as they wait to see the Urologist and face many unknowns. And pray for direction for us and for my younger brother and sister and our children, as we all go through this and deal with this in our own ways. Pray that we will glorify God through this time of Dad’s cancer and recognize all the amazing facets of God’s incredible love and provision.  

At this stage we are planning on returning to the Philippines as planned in 3 weeks time and shortly afterwards, I hope to make a trip to Australia (Probably in March) to see Dad and Mom and may need to make a couple of trips during the year. Paul and Jubab will probably remain in Lapoc during that time and Jubab will continue with his school there.

At the end of the year it will be 4 years since we were in Australia and we will be returning to Australia for home assignment and this may be a good thing that we can be closer to Dad and Mom and be a help to them through this time.

We very much need your prayers – this year’s journey is looking like it may hold many mountains to climb and many rough patches of road to travel and we need to hold tighter than ever to our Lord’s hand.

Season of Refreshment......!

We arrived safely in the US and are so thankful to the Lord for His care for us as we travelled and for the rest He is giving us here! It doesn’t seem possible that it is over 3 weeks already since we left Lapoc but this photo of us sharing a meal and enjoying family time with our uncle and aunt and some of our cousins is evidence that we really have been transported out of our familiar and remote mountainous missionary life into a totally different country and life-style!

Please pray for the ministry team we have left behind in Lapoc during the 2 months we are away. We are hearing regular reports via Skype from our co-workers back in Lapoc and we praise the Lord that there was no loss of life in the recent typhoon that passed right over Lapoc. We did lose 2 bridges though, so our trip to Lapoc will take a lot longer now as we will have to go around the long way to get home. Please pray with us that they will rebuild these bridges quickly.

As far as our family is going, it has amazed Paul how much ‘lighter’ his body and his soul feel already as he allows himself to enjoy the refreshing rains of rest and change of pace. We all felt very groggy from jet lag for about a week, and I (Deb) immediately came down with a bad cold but I am over it now and we are all feeling re-energized and so, so thankful to the Lord for this time away that He has given us and Jubab is thoroughly enjoying meeting other young people and making new friends.

We have been enjoying sharing what the love of our lives – Jesus – is doing amongst the people groups we love in Mindanao, and also seeing what He is doing amongst His people here. One of the highlights was sharing at an AWANA group and the most amazing thing happened. A little tiny girl, about 5 years old, had some questions for us at AWANA that she wanted to ask us so she could fill out her book in the section called, “Interview a missionary.” And at the end, it said in her book, “Pray for your missionary.” So she put her book down, stood there right beside us, and in a very audible voice prayed, “Dear God, please help the missionaries teach people about Jesus and..... God, please keep them safe, Amen.” It was so precious it brought tears to our eyes. 

When you see this picture of the beautiful, clear skies the Lord has been giving us, you will have an idea of the wonderful, peaceful days we are having.

Last week we had a wonderful reunion with family – my Uncle, Aunt and cousins and their families.

This week the Lord has brought us to Amish country in Pennsylvania where we are having a family break at the moment – something unplanned, and it wasn’t on the schedule, but God worked it out for us!  

We have loved being in the country, the open fields, the beautiful farm animals, the Amish way of life of driving buggies and ploughing their fields with horses or mules and the country restaurants with the wonderful Dutch-German cooking. These little goats on this farm were enjoying showing off and were quite happy to show us their expertise in climbing and jumping.

Yesterday we were also blessed to see a wonderful production on ‘Jonah’ at a theatre called Sights and Sounds, and it was a real thrill to us and a memory we will treasure.  The picture below is outside the theatre with the Lion and the Lamb statue – how wonderful that our Saviour is both our Lion and our Lamb!!!

Our time with Grandpa is coming up next – and knowing my Grandpa and his love of story-telling, eating ice-cream, watching old videos and playing board games – this is going to be a very special time with him leading up to Christmas and to his birthday the day after Christmas. Shortly into the new year we are scheduled to speak at a missions conference and then begin our journey back home to Lapoc.

We praise God for you and for your prayers for our safety as we travel and for this time to be one of healing of our wounds and sorrows so that God can shortly take us back into the thick of the battle. 

Statistics...!

Every week, teams of evangelists, Bible teachers and church planters leave from here on their motorbikes and travel to many, many outreaches and church plants where we are evangelizing, teaching the Word and discipling and training new Bible teachers so we can continue to further our outreach amongst the Tala Andig and Higaunon peoples.

Teams like the group here in this picture (photo taken at Lantod). 

These teams are amongst God’s elite evangelists - you would have to search a long time in this world to come across many teams as dedicated as these men and as skilled in spreading the Gospel! Rain hail or shine, they leave each week as they have been doing for the past 10 years or so. Our hearts, when we see these faithful servants of our Lord Jesus.....well, the feeling we have is indescribable!!!!

2012 has been a year with many, many trials, hardships, attacks from Satan and discouragements but with this has come HUGE ADVANCEMENTS FOR THE GOSPEL!!!!!

So, let us share with you some statistics of what God has been doing through us and you and our Tala Andig and Higaunon brethren as we have all partnered together as a team this 2012. Thanks so, so much for partnering with us this year in prayer, financial support and encouragement.

* New outreaches into Sinicabog, Bayanihan, Talid-talid, Malunong, Basak, Mauswagon, Miarayon, Awang and Patpat. 

* Over 300 unsaved currently being taught evangelistic materials to bring them to faith in our Lord Jesus.

* A huge push on training new bible teachers and evangelists – there are 51 men currently being trained to teach the Word as well as 16 women.

*  21 Churches planted so far in total over the course of our ministry.

*  7 Villages currently in evangelism stage and others on the drawing board.

* Plans currently being made to send a 2 family, full time missionary team to the strategic village of Man-ay.

Grace.....!

This is Grace Tart and she is the delightful new evidence of God’s grace in Ben and Leonie’s lives!!!! (You can read more about her on Ben and Leonie’s blog – there is a link to their blog from ours.)

Leonie delayed her return to Ballina for the birth for as long as she could and still be allowed to fly on the Airlines, and Ben followed five weeks later and thankfully made it in time to be there for Grace’s arrival!

We are so grateful that three weeks later, Leonie and Ben both felt God leading them for Ben to come back here to Lapoc to finish up Jubab’s Year 8 school year. We know it is a huge personal cost for them and we just praise God for them and their willingness to serve. It has been a huge blessing to have Ben back here at this time and Jubab’s school year is almost finished.

Please pray for Ben as he endures the loneliness and the hardship of isolation and as he spends this time here away from his two beloved girls. Pray for a safe journey for him as well on his return trip to Aussie in a couple of weeks.  

They plan on returning in January for the new school year and we can’t wait to meet Grace!