Memories of Dizon

Just recently, we got a letter from a young lady named Flor who loves serving the Lord and it brought back memories of her Dad:  a guy called Dizon. 

Twenty-six years ago, as Paul was surveying where we would locate, Dizon, a datu (chief) of Tumpagon, stuck the muzzle of his M16 assault rifle into Paul’s chest intending to kill him. God intervened and Paul wasn’t harmed and in the years to come, Dizon became a brother in the Lord and a friend to Paul.  

God took Dizon home to heaven some years ago and his widow and five children have continued on for the Lord. One of his daughters, Flor (not even born when we first moved in) wrote to us this month and sent us the photo below of the group of children she teaches about Jesus every Saturday morning. 

She said in her letter, “I’m continually thankful to our Lord for all He is doing here. There are always going to be the dry times and the times of discouragement but the Lord is constantly here, encouraging me and giving me joy….I love serving Him and I love going from village to village spreading the gospel and I love teaching children…. I miss you both and thank you so much for being my spiritual father and mother…..”   Love Flor

Dizon had no idea that the outsider he wanted to rid his village of was God’s messenger. He had no idea that in a few short years from then, they would be part of the same family – God’s family.

Today Dizon is with Jesus and his family continue in the work of the Gospel. The next missionary sent out from the Tumpagon church may even be his daughter Flor. 

Newlyweds and New Missionaries!

This is Ayan and Sarah, arriving a couple nights ago in Lapoc to join our Lapoc missionary team. Ayan has actually been part of the Lapoc work since he was 12 years as he is the son of Bugs and Elsa, our co-workers there from the start of the work until recently when they returned home to Cauyunan.

This was their wedding day which Paul was thrilled to officiate at during our last trip there in June. We didn’t know on their wedding day that come September, we’d get a skype call from Ayan and Sarah wanting to talk to us about their joining the Lapoc missionary team as this is the direction the Lord has been leading them. Their elders in Cauyunan had already given Ayan and Sarah the go-ahead to talk to Rodil who is now the team leader in Lapoc, and also to us, to see if we would want them to join our team.

Rodil told us he would welcome Ryan’s help and as for us, we were THRILLED!!! We saw this as God ramping up the translation team so that we can GET THE JOB DONE and finally complete the Tala-Andig New Testament. As a young teenager, Ayan wanted to be a Bible Translator, and after finishing high school in Lapoc, he went on to complete a University Degree and also Bible Translator’s training in Manila. So Ayan will be a big help to us as we go into over-drive to complete the remaining 45% of the Tala-Andig New Testament that is still before us.

Please pray for Ayan and for Sarah as they settle in to missionary life as newlyweds and as they make the many adjustments that are ahead of them. Especially for Sarah as she is still very young and she will need courage and strength in the Lord to endure the hardships that life in Lapoc will hold for them. 

 Last night she was exhausted after the emotional roller-coaster of leaving their home and families and making the long trip. The ladies gave Sarah a wonderful, warm welcome when she arrived but it wasn’t long after this photo and she had to go to bed as the day had already held enough for her.

We ask you to pray for our whole translation team as we prepare for this new stage of translation. We are excited! We are ready! We need your prayers!!!!

Please pray for each member of the translation team – ourselves, Nanah, and now also Ayan are the primary translators. Ann-Ann, Jie-Jie, Lalyn, Hazel and Yeng-Yeng and sometimes others also help with various aspects of the translation.

Please pray also for my Dad, Bob Bagley, as he begins radiation treatments tomorrow for his cancer. Please pray that it will not damage any of his organs and that the Lord will use the radiation to extend Dad’s life on earth for many years if this is part of His plan. We would love to have Dad with us still on this journey.

 

The Work Of Jesus Is Continuing Through His Body!

Ronnie, Aling and their family continue to trust God as they journey through Aling’s cancer and pain. They have seen some strange things happening. Aling has been having a lot of pain in her lower pelvic area and recently, a bulge started protruding through her groin and she became unable to walk. A few days ago, this bulge opened up and drained and the bulge has disappeared so the pain is a lot less and she feels like she may be able to start walking around her house again soon. Aling always has either Ronnie or her eldest son Yeng-Yeng (behind her in the picture) with her, caring for all her needs and this has been a very precious time for their family and with the Lord Jesus.

Remember the 7 men who graduated from the bible school in Lapoc last July?  Well in the short 3 months since they graduated, the Lord has been doing GREAT things through them. They are teaching over 1600 people in one place and they also have over 10 followers of the Lord Jesus who have asked to be trained as Evangelists and Bible teachers as they also want to help with spreading the Good News and they have been busy training and discipling these up and coming Evangelists. We can do nothing but shake our heads in amazement at what God is doing. He is opening up doors that we never even dreamed would be opened!

Mourning is going on in the church at Tinaytayan as one of their church family was murdered yesterday and the relatives of the murderer are also part of the church family so things are very difficult at the moment for the church in Tinaytayan. Please pray for Max and Dodong who are the church elders there. They need much wisdom, boldness and grace to keep the church in unity and focused on the Lord Jesus in the midst of such a terrible trial. 

School children are not only hearing the Gospel and getting saved but they are also being discipled and taught key doctrines in scripture to help them grow and to teach them to follow Jesus and obey all of His ways. Yesterday, the scripture teachers in Lapoc spent a whole day training and studying their new scripture lesson plan on the book of Acts. How we praise God for the vision and the passion He has given the scripture teachers that they desire to see the children they teach, not only saved but also grounded in the Word! What hope there is for the children in Lapoc and the surrounding areas, like these twins girls (photo above), born recently in Colawingon, who will grow up with a Gospel witness!(The two ladies in the photo holding the twins are RI teachers who have been faithfully teaching scripture in schools for many years.)

Last month, the believers in Cauyunan sent a delegation to Sinicabog with an offering that they had collected to pay for a church building that the believers in Sinicabog need but cannot afford to pay for themselves. The generosity and the sacrificial giving of the Cauyunan church is a great tribute to the working of the Holy Spirit among them. 

How can we begin to praise God for the Great Things He has done and is doing? We feel like John who said, “Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.” John 21:25   The work of Jesus is continuing through His Body!