Going around the Philippines to witness for God, this is one
of the major cities, the sixth most populous and third largest city by land area, that I’ve never been to --- the Latin City of the country. So,
when the invitation from an Indonesian friend, brother Jerry Karundeng came to
translate during his evangelistic campaign, I prayed and God consented. Praise
God for another place to be, another people to mingle and witness to, and another experience in soul-winning to glorify His name.
It is a place where people speak broken Spanish or Chavacano. Even though, I am like in a Spanish setting and it was wonderful to learn some common words and greetings (i.e., bienvenidos means welcome). Arriving at
the place, I was fetched by two ladies who were brother Jerry’s Bible students; one was Mylene, who was a Roman Catholic. Also, for a missionary like me and for some others, it is really a comfort zone to stay in an air-conditioned room: thank God for the comfortable accommodation at the old Zamboanga Peninsula Mission building. Praise God for unexpected
things!
So, what had transpired in my adventure with God in this
field? Well, let me ask you first. Have you had an experience of ‘change in plans?’ Well, I had a lot and
this is another story about that. Surely, I can (and I’m sure you can) testify
that His thoughts and plans are higher than ours. Certainly, "often our plans fail that God’s plans for us may succeed." {Prayer 112.2}. Humans make plans but God is still in control. I am grateful that God does that according to what He sees best; lest everything will be a mess. Praise God for changing human plans that humans will not be exalted but His name and His work alone. Let me share how God just
did that and how have we been greatly blessed in the end.
As I’ve mentioned, I was invited to be a translator; but for
some reasons, human [a church leader's] decision have changed; so, brother Jerry told me, few days before the
opening night, that there was no need of a translator since most of the people can understand english. I already had my flight booked and it would be a waste not to go. So, I submitted to God’s
will despite the change and I was given the privilege to be the overall program coordinator instead. Apart
from that, I prayed that God would give me an additional work so I can maximize
my time to serve Him in Zamboanga City. His crystal clear answer was to do visitations and use the right arm of the gospel. I did that
with a layman at first but opted to go by myself days later. One important
thing that we, I and brother Jerry, learned when visiting was what inspiration has penned:
So true! Many times, we search for people from farther away first than the one nearest to
us.
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| The wound after taking out the charcoal-aloe vera poultice |
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| Tatay Abraham in dressed wound |
One day, as I and the layman was inviting people from a slum area, not so near the venue, God led us to a man named Tatay Abraham. He was lying inside their house
and I asked if he was doing okay. Then I found out that he had been in such
condition for two months and had this big, pussy, and spoiled meat-smell wound
with visible phalanges in his feet caused by diabetes. It was hopeless so the doctors
recommended amputation for his case but we gave him hope in the Lord. He and
his wife was at first hesitant to accept our help because they don’t have
money to pay; but they were so glad and grateful to know that our services were free. So, we came
back to him after getting all we needed to clean and dress the wound. From then,
I alternately used onion and garlic and charcoal with aloe vera for poultices; had him drink the potent anti-inflammatory turmeric tea; and used onion
and garlic water (where minced garlic and onion was soaked) or guava water (from boiled guava leaves) for disinfecting. After five days of counseling, treating and mingling
with Tatay Abraham and Nanay Fe (his wife), I began to share about Jesus’ love and care
for them: that He is the only one Who can heal; and taught them the importance of asking
forgiveness for unhealthy lifestyle especially the 'whatsoever we eat and drink' aspect. As days passed, being
more careful of what he ate, with his wife's help, Tatay’s wound were not attracted by flies anymore, he felt less pain, no more puss, and the dead tissues have peeled off. Instead of thinking for advance death, now he
has hope of getting the wound healed, arise, and walk, by God’s grace. Praise God for the wound that was already going towards complete healing when I Iast visited Tatay.
Visitations were not just about medical missionary work but also
bringing people back to the church. God had guided me to know a woman named
Helen. She’s from my hometown and a neighbor of my relatives. She is the
leader of Urban Poor Organization in the area. She had not been going to church
for quite some time and it was good to meet and know her. We invited her to the meetings
and she did and was exultant for the review of our doctrines, her faith in God, and her accountability of being an Adventist --- being a light in her community. She also enjoyed coming with us to the prison for some Sabbath days in sharing the gospel and the love of Jesus to the inmates there. Praise God for recommitting her life to the Lord!
Visitation was not just about medical missionary work, not
just bringing people back to the church, but picking berries from the nearest.
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| Praise God for the children's receptiveness! |
On a sunny morning, I was walking alone or should I better say, with my angel. I prayed that God would help
me to invite people from the nearest to attend the seminar and He answered. I was with my blood pressure apparatus and glucometer then. I went to the bakeshop near the street and in
two carenderias and offered the customers a free BP
check then invited them to the heath lectures. They expressed their interest to attend; but sadly, not one came
from them---that was fine. Out of the blue, God has another direction for me to go. Just across the street,
few walks from the site, I walked in a compound where the livelihood of people
is to dry fish. I met this little girl named KC and asked her where her mother
and their house was. It was a sweet walk while holding her left hand. As we draw closer, she went ahead eager to introduce their house and her mother. I stood outside the door of their house and told her mother that we have a Bible
program for the children and asked permission for her child to attend. It was an inspiring and encouraging smile from KC when her mother said yes! One is not enough so I asked her if there were more children
in the compound that we can invite. At this point, the program for the children
was not a plan (at all) and I haven’t even told
Kuya (or brother) Jerry about it yet. But God intentionally placed the words in my
mouth. We continued walking and KC led me to the houses of her other children friends. And not just that, even the older siblings heard of the invitation and they were the ones who approached me if they could attend. Praise God! I got
the little berries plus the bigger ones! I was also able to invite the children from the house that
is just beside the venue. Sooo near! This encounter led to the start of the Children’s
Bible Prophecy program on the 22nd of November and lasted for a
month.
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| They always enjoy coloring! |
During that one month, we had an average of 20 children attending from ages 6 to 14 years old. There were only two among them that came from an Adventist family and the rest were lambs to be won to Jesus. The
children learned a lot from Bible truths connected with Bible stories, enjoyed
coloring, loved singing scripture songs, challenged with memorizing the memory
verses, and always excited to do the crafts. After they learned about the
Sabbath topic, I started to invite them on God’s holy day in church and they
came. I've always prepared a Sabbath treat for them and they unknowingly ate a full
vegetarian meal. They liked it!
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| Kuya Jerry, Mylene, and I had fun cooking and eating with them! |
For this seminar, I was not only teaching the
children but doing some wholesome cooking demonstrations for the adult, too. And the
children were not left out to that – we enjoyed our own cooking time together, as
well. I had assisted them in cooking their lunch and they learned cooking
without oil and other harmful ingredients. Praise God for one of the practical duties that has been sown and the children learned!
The children were subject to the enemy’s attacks, too. He
desires to sow bad seeds in their hearts but God is watching. KC, the one who
introduced me to the other children, sad to say, her family moved to another place so she
wasn’t able to finish the program. Even though, I Praise God for her instrumentality that gave birth to the children's program! Her older sister, Reyzel, and the oldest among
the group, Jessa Mae, realized, as the testing truths were presented, that the
program was not of and for the Catholic’s. So the children told me that they are not
going to attend the program anymore. Reyzel totally stopped attending while Jessa Mae didn't show up for few days. Thus, there were two whom Satan may seem to have gained a hold of; but two were replaced. Who were they? The two children from the house just beside
the church. Remember, I invited them; but the mother said that they were so shy. Nevertheless, everyday these children kept hearing and seeing us just beyond their concrete fence: the stories, the singing, the activities, the joyful fellowship. Finally, they got interested; then their friends, who were already attending the program, fetched them in their house and they were in --- in to the children's program! Not just that, later, another girl from the same house joined us and they
attended until the end. Praise God for adding more children! Though these three who later joined didn't become fully ripe, Praise God for the seeds sown that will surely start to grow and bear fruit for Jesus!
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| Singing scripture songs during their graduation day! |
The Bible studies went on with the children and decision
cards have been filled up. Some of them have decided to accept Jesus as their
personal Savior and Lord through baptism. But it was during the 3rd
day before the graduation that I’ve made a final appeal for those who wanted to
be baptized. Hands were raised but clearing should be done beforehand. To close,
out of the 6 children who wanted to be baptized, 5 were cleared and ready for
the sacred rite. One of them is Jessa Mae. She is the oldest among the children
and was along with Reyzel whom the children reported to me that they’re not
going to attend the meetings anymore because it was not a Catholic program. God
was indeed watching! Satan was defeated in holding her. Jessa kept attending the program until the end because she was willing to listen and to learn about Jesus and the Bible. She was the one
that I least expect to get a positive response from. But God was working in her
heart – her decision to be baptized was fixed! I really Praise God for Jessa's faithfulness and determination. Currently, she is bringing her younger sister and mother to church on Sabbaths to worship; she is constantly reading, studying, and learning from her new Bible, new EGW books, and the book Daring to Ask for More; she is leading/guiding the other children who were newly-baptized in their Sabbath school classes; and she would decidedly go to church on Sabbath, though it's far, whenever their teacher Mylene (a newly-baptized as her) can't be in the church nearest to them. Praise God for this little lamb who tries her best to be a missionary in her own house; and in the future, looking forward to seeing her as a great missionary for the Lord in the mission field!
The five children were blessed with new clothes for their
baptism, Bibles, and Steps to Christ. Getting them prepared for the baptism and
seeing them buried in the watery grave was a great and indescribable joy! After
receiving their Bibles, it was a delight to see them marking in their Bibles the
memory verses and scripture songs that they’ve learned from the program. It was even more inspiring
to hear the words from their own young lips,
‘I wanted to be a missionary.’ Praise God for this experience with the children from berry-picking!
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| PRAISE GOD FOR 9 SOULS! Left to right: Brother Jerry (Adult Evangelist), Melvin, Mylene (now discipling---teaching what she has been taught through giving Bible studies to the children and to her non-Adventist friends), Gabriel (the young boy who always attends not just the children's program but the adult's too which has given him a good foundation of Bible truths), Sister Uzel, another sister from adult's meeting, Dra. Nichole Bisquera, Janet, Jessa Mae, John Peter, and the Yours truly (the Child Evangelist) |
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