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!

Jubab has turned 16!

We are praising the Lord for Jubab’s 16^th birthday earlier this month (this photo was taken on his birthday).

Also, wonderful news: the scripture teachers have resumed teaching this week in the schools that had been affected by the marauders!

Jubab got his Learner’s license last week and has been enjoying the new experience of being behind the wheel. 

Aling and Ronnie sent a message to us asking us to please thank you for all your prayers. Aling continues on the palliative care and is in some pain but not too much they said. She is in good spirits and is being cared for beautifully by Ronnie and her two sons. The family is enjoying a special closeness at this time.

Thanking God for you and for your prayers,

We have a lot of news to share this month and a few pictures. Much of this is copied straight from emails and skypes we have had with church leaders from Lapoc and also from Tumpagon and Cauyunan. 

The church leaders from Tumpagon and Cauyunan have increased their study time together and are finding this very beneficial for their growth and unity. These pictures were taken in the church building in Tumpagon where they were studying together last week.

Prayer and praise points from Tumpagon and Cauyunan are:

1.      Praise God for 8 believers baptized in Pigtau on August 7th.

2.      Praise God that Tituy, one of the Tumpagon church elders who fell into sin some years ago, has been fully restored and reinstated in ministry!

3.      Praise God that Udi, one of the church elders from Cauyunan, was not hurt worse when the scythe used for harvesting rambutan (a fruit) fell on his face.  Udi is our son-in-law and we are so thankful he didn’t lose an eye or get hurt worse. In the past two years we have seen Udi on a very steady growth time spiritually and we have been so thankful to the Lord for him and for his steadiness and maturity.  

4.      Praise God that His Holy Spirit is moving in the churches in Tumpagon and Cauyunan in a powerful way.

5.      Please pray for the Youth Conference being organized for October and for Melecio, Junjun, Aiza, Floramae, Jòjò daw Jerrum who are the planning committee for this conference. Pray that this time will be a great encouragement for the Youth and will spur them on to growth and obedience to the Lord Jesus.

6.      Please pray for a church building needed for the believers in Pinatagan as they have grown in numbers and can no longer meet just in homes.

This concludes the news from the Tumpagon and Cauyunan churches and we now move 120 km south-east to the area of Lapoc where God’s Spirit is also moving in a powerful way!

Prayer and Praise points from the Lapoc area are:

1.      Praise God that the group of marauders who were terrorizing the villages and especially the women, are now on the run and are being chased by military.

2.      Pray for the ladies who teach scripture in the schools as they meet on Thursday, Sept 4^th and one of the things they will be talking about is when to resume the scripture classes in the schools that were affected by these marauders.

3.      Pray urgently please for the latest Gospel outreach into the villages that for now we will call “B” and “D”. There have been some huge obstacles and attacks against the Gospel in these areas and even a plan to kill the bible teachers from Lapoc but God protected them.  They continue to endure these dangers each week for the sake of the Gospel and of the twenty-five people who are receiving the Words of the Lord with great hunger and eagerness in these areas. 

4.      Praise God for Ronnie and Aling’s faithfulness and endurance in this difficult time of Aling’s sickness. She continues on the palliative morphine and is not in too much pain apart from in her pelvic area. She is able to eat and get up but is confined to her home.

5.      Praise God for the passion in the hearts of the Lapoc church to spread the Gospel. Last Saturday, several of the church leaders went to survey a new area where they had heard that there are people wanting to be taught and they are making plans to open up a new work in this new place.

6.      Praise God for 8 new ladies who want to help teach scripture in the schools and have started training this month! Judy and Chariza (also in this picture below) are experienced scripture teachers who have taken on the responsibility of training and discipling these 8 ladies.  Some of these ladies are married with children, others are newlywed, and others are teenagers just finished school.  Pray for them that their lives will bear fruit as they serve our Lord Jesus.